Rolling Deeper

Born in Glasgow Markee always gravitated towards new sounds and as a teenager was attracted to the Sub Club where the Slam Boys were helping to usher in the new era of house and techno. Hearing this new clubbing soundtrack greatly affected his desire to produce electronic-based music tracks. A move to Bristol exposed Markee to the emerging styles of ragga, breakbeat, and hardcore techno, markee had bought his first sampler, and conscious of this fresh new sound and local talent he quickly started his own night Ruffneck Ting and this is where he met his long-term collaborator, Darren Beale aka Decoder. The duo pursued a tech drum & bass soundtrack with their next label venture Breakbeat Culture, as well as running label Tech Itch, and Breakbeat Culture record shop and parties. At the same time, Bristol came into its own with the ascent of Massive Attack, Tricky and Portishead as well as groundbreaking drum & bass DJs like Roni Size, Krust & Die. Markee pursued his interest songwriting and forming a band . “Although I had got into production through tecnhology and was happy making instrumental music, I still wanted to get back to writing songs and do the band thing.” He began searching for vocalists and in 1999 found lead singer Sian and Kosheen was born. Kosheen signed to independent Moksha Recordings the same year and released 3 singles, which generated grass roots support. The band began recording their debut album ‘Resist’ the following year, which was signed and released by BMG Records in 2001. In the meantime the single ‘Hide U’ had blown up in the clubs before crossing over to the UK charts at No. 7. Upon release the ‘Resist’ album album charted at No. 8 and with the release of two subsequent singles ‘Catch’ and ‘Hungry, it was propelled to half a million sales, which in effect made it the most successful drum & bass album of that time. By now the band had recorded enough new material for a second album ‘Kokopellii’ and since becoming a successful live act and festival favourite, a selection of the tracks were written with live audiences in mind. The album charted at No. 6 in the UK and first single ‘All In My Head’ hit No.7. The follow up album ‘Damage’ was signed to Universal in Germany and released on Moksha in the the UK, as have been 2 further albums ‘Indepdendence’ in 2012 and a fifth studio album ‘Solitude’ in 2013. Through all this Markee is the central figure, writing the music and songs as well as producing and engineering the albums

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As published on Resident Advisor