Mr. C
Mr. C |
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Richard West (born 2 January 1964, London) is a British DJ, musician, actor and rapper, who uses the monikers Mr. C and Sycophant Slags. He is best known as the frontman for The Shamen during their most commercially successful era. West is also a house music DJ and co-owner/co-founder of London's The End nightclub with Layo from Layo and Bushwacka. He is considered a leading proponent of tech house, a fusion of house and techno music. In 1995 his DJing talents came to the attention of UK rave promoter/record company Fantazia who asked him to mix their new album Fantazia DJ Collection 3 - Back to the Old Skool. He's also mixed CDs Psycotrance vol 1[1], X-Mix 6 on Studio K7, Sunterrain 100% unreleased on his End recordings imprint & most recently Superfreq Express on his Superfreq label.
Music career
West started MCing in the London clubs aged only 16 and soon earned a reputation as a fast talking vivacious rapper working with LWR radio’s Ron Tom, Jasper the Vinyl Junkie & Jazzy M. Mr.C then hooked up with Colin Faver & Evil Eddie Richards to became resident rapper at Camden Palace going on to MC for Colin Faver on the then illegal Kiss FM.
Myster-E
Mr.C went into the studio to record his 1st house track with Eddie Richards as Myster-E , as a reference to ecstasy, in 1987. This inspired Mr.C to become a DJ to learn more about his beloved House & Techno music so in late ‘87 Richard took to the decks.
DJ Work
Mr.C has since organized, promoted & been resident DJ at: Fantasy (‘88), Base (Dungeons ‘89), Release (91), Harmony (92), Drop (93), Cyclone (94), Vapourspace (94 & 95), Flavour (The End 95 & 96), Subterrain (The End (95 - 2002) & Superfreq (The End/Junk Club/Worldwide 2002–Present).
In December 1995 Mr.C opened The End Club in London with Partner Layo Paskin which eventually closed just over 13 years later, on January 24, 2009.
Plink Plonk Records
Mr.C is founder & owner of Plink Plonk records, cofounder of End Recordings & cofounder & owner of Superfreq Records. Mr.C has recorded under the names, Myster-E, Nu Jacks, Bass Bureau, The Shamen, Mantrac, Somnambulist, Animus Amour, Killer Loop, Mr.C & Tom Parris & Mr.C & 16B.
Mr.C is best known as front man of the pop group The Shamen with whom he notched up a string of top 10 hits including Move Any Mountain & the group's most famous single, Ebeneezer Goode.
The Shamen also won a highly coveted Ivor Novello for "Songwriters of the Year" in 1992.
He took a hiatus for about 5 years doing regular gigs in many clubs around London.
2004 to Present
Richard's currently recording solo as Mr.C or as the Sycophant Slags with his production partner Adultnapper with releases on Sexonwax, End Rec, Hallucination Ltd, Superfreq records, Bombis Records & Poker Flat Records & has EP’s due later in the year under both monikers.
Mr.C also runs & promotes Superfreq events, which is now in its 8th year & ran monthly at Mr.C's club, The End until it closed down in January 2009. Superfreq now has monthly residencies at the brand new Cable Club in London Bridge, London, starting June 13, 2009 & as runs bi-monthly events at Junk Club in Southampton & various locations in Calais. Superfreq has accomplished 5 successful seasons in Ibiza, 3 at Club Underground & the last 2 seasons at DC10. Superfreq took a summer off last year in protest at the way the authorities we treating the good people that were bringing the commerce to the island, but is back this coming season with Superfreq, every Thursday night from June 11 until October 1 at the brand new spot BoHo. Superfreq has also completed its 5th annual tour of South America as well as doing regular events with Made Events in NYC & at WMC Miami & regular events at Avaland in L.A. Superfreq has also done one-off shows the world over including U.S.A, Canada, Mexico, China, England, Spain, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Lithuania, France, Croatia, Greece, Latvia & Russia to name but a few places.
Influences
He states his influences as; Ska, Funk, Dub, Disco, House, Electro and Techno.
Guest appearances
In 199 he was interviewed by Melinda Messenger and he performed his Shamen song, "Universal Nation".
References
External links
- Mr C at MySpace
- Mr C Profile at The End's website
- Interview with DJ Times, 2000
- Official Facebook Fan Page "Mr. C Info", 2009