Roni Size
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| Roni Size | |
|---|---|
 Roni Size DJing at the Savoy, Cork City 07/10/05
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ryan Williams |
| Born | 29 October 1969 Bristol, England |
| Genre(s) | Drum and Bass |
| Occupation(s) | DJ Producer |
| Years active | 1988-present |
| Label(s) | Full Cycle Records Thrive Records |
| Associated acts | Reprazent Breakbeat Era |
Roni Size (born Ryan Williams, 29 October 1969 in Bristol) is a British music producer and DJ who came to prominence in 1997 as the founder and leader of Reprazent, a drum and bass collective. That year they won the Mercury Prize for their album New Forms.
Roni Size resurrected Reprazent in 2008 with the release of a deluxe edition of his Mercury Music Prize winning album 'New Forms' on Universal. 2009 is shaping up to be another busy year for Roni with the release of a new Reprazent album, a new Roni Size album, DJ shows with Dynamite MC and a Reprazent tour across numerous continents.
Roni being from Bristol is a big Bristol Rovers fan and can often be seen at matches.
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[edit] Early life
Williams, son of Jamaican immigrants,[1] grew up in the Bristol suburb of St. Andrews. He cites reggae as one of his early influences. He was expelled from school[1] at the age of 16 and started attending house parties run by Bristol soundsystem The Wild Bunch (a predecessor of Massive Attack). He learned the basics about music production at his local youth club[1] before setting up his own home studio. So, after being expelled he walked straight into Sefton Park basement project, which allowed youngsters to try their hand on the decks, the mixing desk, drum machines and samplers. Here he learned the basics and his brother's comprehensive collection of Studio One records gave him material to work with[2]. After setting up a home studio and buying a sampler, a musical master of production was in the making.
His future musical partner, Krust, enjoyed an early alliance with fame as part of the Fresh 4, whose "Wishing On A Star" reached the Top Ten of the UK Singles Chart in late 1989. Williams, Krust, Suv and DJ Die founded Full Cycle Records.
With the help of Chris Lewis, Roni set up WTP (Where's The Party At?) record label as part of Circus Warp. From that Full Cycle and Dope Dragon were established in 1993. Bryan Gee was an early admirer, holding on to their tapes whilst at work at RCA recordings. When in 1994 he set up V Recordings, Krust had V001 with 'Deceivers EP' and Roni and Die had V002 with their debut release, 'Agility'.
[edit] Musical style
Williams describes the mélange of influences as intuitive: "If Krust walks into the studio and his head is nodding, that's enough. I know I've got a result there. He doesn't need to touch a button or tell us what he thinks, 'cos we already know what he's thinking."
Much of the acclaim centred around Size's melding of the new with the old - the propulsive jungle beats accompanied by live drums and double bass. The band - Williams (compositions/programming), DJ Krust, Onallee (vocals), Dynamite MC and rapper Bahamadia (a former protégé of Gang Starr) - came together on Bristol's highly fertile and disparate club scene. As a result, Reprazent drum 'n' bass is equally informed by hip-hop, funk, soul and house.
[edit] Career
In consolidation of their mainstream breakthrough, Reprazent set out to become the summer sound of 1997 with a series of festival appearances (including Tribal Gathering). 'Roni Size & Reprazent', took the world by storm with their New Forms LP. Winning the Mercury Music Prize boosted their international status and the world awoke to the sound of Roni Size and Full Cycle. The singles from the album all featured the unmistakable vocals of Onallee whose call for the music in 'Brown Paper Bag' is a signal all ravers still respond to[3]. 'Heroes' and 'Watching Windows' are also modern day classics. The album went platinum and, surprised by their new massive fan base, Roni and the boys returned to the studio to concentrate on their output for V and Full Cycle & Dope Dragon.
Williams subsequently teamed up with DJ Die and Leonie Laws in Breakbeat Era, before returning to Reprazent to record the second album, October 2000's In The Mode, which included guest vocals from Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine and Method Man of Wu-Tang Clan. In 2001, Roni returned to the studio and started working with Tali who had recently arrived from New Zealand on her album 'Lyric On My Lip' In this time he also produced 'Touching Down' - released in October 2002. This, his first truly solo album, included 16 brand new dance floor smashers mixed into one hour's set and includes the massive singles 'Playtime' and 'Sound Advice' and is one of the biggest selling independent d&b albums to date. He came back to 'V' in 2005 with the release of 'Return To V' which included the top 20 hit 'No More' with Beverley Knight plus 17 further vocal collaborations with artists such as Jocelyn Brown, Vikter Duplaix & Rodney P.
Roni Size resurrected Reprazent in 2008 with the release of a deluxe edition of his Mercury Music Prize winning album 'New Forms' on Universal. Reforming the band, complete with original members Dynamite MC, Onallee and highly acclaimed bass player Si John alongside Yuval Gabay (Soul Coughing), D Product, Jay Wilcox and Pete Josef, Roni Size and Reprazent toured some of the biggest festivals in Europe including Bestival, Glastonbury, Lovebox, Exit and Rock Herk. As a result, they were amongst the nominations for best dance act from the UK Festival Awards.
2009 is shaping up to be another busy year for Roni with the release of a new Reprazent album, a new Roni Size album, a Reprazent tour of Australia, North America, the UK and Europe as well as committing to his usual packed schedule of DJ shows[4].
The year begins with a one-off Reprazent show at Komedia in Bath on 4th Feb courtesy of Essencia [5] before the band tours Australia as part of the Good Vibrations Festival. In addition to the live shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Gold Coast, Roni Size & Dynamite MC will also play four DJ shows. Following on from Australia, Reprazent will be back in North America for the first time in seven years as one of the headliners at Ultra Music Festival and Coachella Music and Arts Festival 2009.
[edit] Discography
- Music Box (1995)
- New Forms (1997)
- Ultra-Obscene (1999) with DJ Die under the alias "Breakbeat Era"
- Through the Eyes (2000)
- In the Mode (2000)
- Touching Down (2002)
- Touching Down, Vol. 2 (2005)
- Return to V (2005)
- New Forms² (2008)
- Dirty Beats
- Share The Fall
- Triphop Drum and Bass
- Circles Remix
- Sing
- Switchblade
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Mac Randall: Reprazenting Bristol. Yahoo! Music, 01/02/2001 (Interview with Roni Size and DJ Krust)
- ^ ref name="Resident Advisor2009" A Cardew: [1]. Resident Advisor Biography 21/01/2009
- ^ ref name="Resident Advisor2009" A Cardew: [2]. Resident Advisor Biography 21/01/2009
- ^ ref name="Resident Advisor2009" A Cardew: [3]. Resident Advisor Biography 21/01/2009
- ^ ref name="Komedia Schedule 2009" A Cardew: [4]. Komedia Schedule 21/01/2009
