ThePOKERFACE BIOGRAPHY Raised in the West London London overflow Town of Bracknell from the late 70’s, right through the 80’s, the brains behind thePOKERFACE are Matt Downer and Ian Moules, two school friends, who shared a separate but similar pass time of collecting interesting film samples through old tape machines they got together musically with the advent of D&B and the natural progression was to discover an even bigger passion for making music. With influences as far and wide from 60's Rock n’ Roll/pop like the Beatles, Jimmi Hendrix, the doors and Pink Floyd, to 70's Funk (The Meters) and Old school American Hip Hip of the late 80's- early 90's, (Big Daddy) Kane, LL Cool J, Run DMC, Cave Man, and British Hip Hop (HiJack), Electro, Ska....the list goes on and on...but it wasn't until D&B rose from the Hardcore Rave culture, which used the film sampling ideas loved by Ian & Matt that things really started to happen. Ian bought a Sampler (AKAI S2800) and a workstation Keyboard. This was to be the birth of a long standing development, starting from D & B (jungle) and then into the breakbeat scene. "We were there right at the start of the Breakbeat culture but were just too damn slow getting it out, as we didn't have a ‘pooter. We did it arse about face. All our stuff was too damn untidy ever to release as we couldn't control all the elements as much as we wanted. In those days, everything was just too expensive for a couple of 16 year olds to go out and buy. We just couldn't afford a Mac! They were about 3K in those days!!" Infact, it wasn't until a millenium holiday tour of America & Hawaii that the penny dropped and it was now necessary to go and spend some proper cash on creating a studio. A G4 and Logic Audio, A Mackie 24/8 analogue desk, EMU E-6400 Ultra Sampler was bought in to add to the prophecy and other synths we had. It was then time to work out how to use all this new gear. "We didn't realise that this on its own would produce fairly muddy results, no where near clear or precise enough for a CD quality track, thus discovering the need for Compression. We bought one, a Behringer, it helped, (without understanding the science and maths of it) but even then, this was not that good...we started to think we were pissing in the wind. We then bought a Focusrite that was better, as you didn’t need to understand compression to use it, just use the presets and go! But we later found that this was not up to the task either. Looking for perfection they worked tirelessly at perfecting mixing bass and drums, with the very modest of outboard equipment. "you see if you want to go analogue, you must have quality analogue gear. You’ve got to look at what your trying to achieve compared to your budget. I mean, I read mags and people ask, “I don’t get it. How to the Prodigy get their Bass like that?” Then I look at their kit list and laugh, they’re using a soundblaster sound card on a mac running cubase Etc etc. Well, you aint gonna get it using Logic, Cubase or anything standalone.
Its all about high end outboard artificial enhancement and quality outboard sound sources that creates that real punch. We’re talking the land of MANLEY, ALAN SMART, SSL, AMS NEVE, names you’ve never heard of until you go out looking for the real deal, not the Turnkey world of consumer music gear. Sampling quality real analogue bass synths coupled with Valve Eq’s and Valve Compression. That’s how its done. End of story. However, None of this comes cheap. These days a lot of people are chucking their studios away and using self contained computers and clinically dead sounding digital mixers….(RIP D8B). We never bought into that although it does make things easier, however you can end up with transparent music, where everyone sounds the same, cos everyones using the same soft synths and the same sequencers on the same computers with the same sound cards and the same influences. We wanted our own style, our signature. To be different and therefore carve out our own neiche. We say if your serious about making music, don’t listen to Music production mags where they inspire you to make your tracks sound like X or Y. Close off from listening to everyone else. The chances are you’ve listened to a lot of music by now and you should have an idea of your direction, and what you want to hear, then get it going…..that’s what make YOUR music sound like YOU. Of course this can be disasterous, but the cream always rises…” ThePOKERFACE have their first release out now on vinyl with Essential Direct. Same Old Thing Cat No: POKER01. It’s a funky blockparty breakbeat and Acid house crossover.
“ We made these tunes a while ago on an older setup”. It was out on promo in 04, exclusively at Vinyl Addiction (FingerLickin’ Records), great for a stomping funk filled Friday night, - Apparently MO WAX boss and UNCLE producer James Lavelle spent his own money on it!
the B-side is more of a summer track, especially because of the piano breakdown and acidic build-up.
“ We could see Fatboy Slim playing this one”. We sent him a vinyl but we don’t know if he ever got it!!….. Out now on limited vinyl release through Essential Direct at all good record shops and on MP3/vinyl at Dirtybeatrecords.com.
 | Well if its good enough for Carl Cox then its good enough for you, grab a limited copy whilst you still can... Latest tracks can be found in your local record stores |
For Live Performance Bookings please contact me Back |
