Substance

“flips from modern floor fillers to classic joints … similarly impressive as guests Cash Money, De La Soul and Kool Herc”

(INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY)

“truly a demon of the scratch it and see school of mixing … coming to a four deck fiesta near you”

(I.D MAGAZINE)

“combines turntable trickery with club promotion savvy”

(SOCIETY MAGAZINE)

“plays his own distinctive blend from future funk to atmospheric jazz”

(FLYIN – TV CLUB GUIDE SHOW)

“awesome display of turntable trickery”

(ESCAPADE MAGAZINE)

In 2008, Chris DJ'd across the globe taking in dates in Sydney, Bangkok, the French Alps, Stockhlom, Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Biarritz, Berlin and of course London, returning to a number of those locations for repeat bookings in 2009.  In 2010, Chris undertook an 18 date tour of Australia and Asia.

 

Aside from guest appearances at hundreds of clubs in the UK and overseas, Chris’ most notable residencies past and present include Ministry Of Sound, Cargo, Herbal, 93 Feat East and 333 in the UK, Softly in the UK & Barcelona and Headshell in the UK & Amsterdam.

Chris’ original live ensemble, the Substance Hip Hop Orchestra, performed a live session on Radio 1’s One World Show in 2002 following a series of well attended UK shows.

 

In 2008, Chris was invited to join the line up of a new live act, Maylight (pictured above), a BBC New Urban Music Bursary funded 7 piece ensemble featuring vocalist Lizzy Parks (Tru Thoughts) and pianist Rob Barron (Nostalgia 77 / Ninja Tune).  Within months of forming, the band performed shows at Birmingham Symphony Hall’s new live venue and London’s Royal Festival Hall to a capacity crowd as part of London Jazz Festival.  The band will tour upon release of their forthcoming LP. Festival bookings are in place for Summer 2012.

Chris' first taste of radio was a live performance on Radio 1’s One World Show in November 2001 with a return visit in March 2002.  Chris appeared on DJ Food ’s ‘Solid Steel’ BBC Radio show in July 2002 and again in 2005, the show being syndicated to 18 countries worldwide.  Chris joined the BBC’s ‘new black music’ station, 1 Xtra, as one of the station’s 2 hip hop mix DJs in summer 2002 and was a regular feature of the station’s Saturday night mix show throughout 2004.  Since leaving 1Xtra, Chris has been a prolific radio guest DJ with appearances on radio staions including New York's Brooklyn Radio, Sydney's FBI Radio, Melbourne's PBS Network amongst others in locations from Ibiza to Tazmania!

Over the years Chris’ DJ performances and interviews have appeared on various TV shows on stations including MTV Base, BBC2, Rapture and Live TV. This year Chris has made regular appearances on World Champion DJ Mr Thing's live broadcasts for Spine TV's Funhouse show.

 

In 2011, Chris was selected to contribute a soundtrack to a vignette on British Nigerian triple jumper Phillips Idowu as part of Channel 4's coverage of the World Athletics Championship in South Korea.

 

Chris’ first studio project, which included collaborations with Mad Flow (Big Dada) and others, was released on the Different Drummer label, for whom he compiled the Lyric Superbrand L.P, in 2001.

 

REVIEWS:

“consistently high quality” 4/5 (MUZIK)

“a solid series of jazz inflected cuts” (MINISTRY)

“a highly creative project” (STRAIGHT NO CHASER)

“concious, abstract, jazzy, different and a joy to hear … if you like music, you’ll love this” (BIG SMOKE)

“real live sounding instrumentation that will fill any enclosed space with jazz club presence” (BREAKIN POINT)

“one of the best of the bunch … shows a lot of talent” 4/5 (BIG DADDY)

“a mix of philosophical rap and simple crafted beatery” (INTERNATIONAL DJ)

 

In subsequent years Chris has been involved in various remix projects for the likes of Mercury Award nominated TY & Aphletik (Above the Clouds Recordings), Chords (Jazz Fudge / Warner Bros Europe) and Lizzy Parks (Tru Thoughts).  More recently, Chris has released a slew of unofficial remixes gaining him a loyal online fanbase and is currently producing an EP for BBC New Urban Music Award winning Maylight.

 

Chris released two official mix albums for the critically acclaimed BBE label (some time home to artists including Pete Rock, Kenny Dope, J Dilla and Jazzy Jeff) in 2011 as well as two seven inch singles for the Breakin Bread label, the first of which topped Fat City's best sellers chart for all genres and all formats over a 4 month period.

Chris’ 2008 mix album ‘The Diary’ is widely considered the benchmark recording of its type, broadcast on over 30 radio stations worldwide and downloaded tens of thousands of times.

 

DJ REACTIONS:;

“Great! I couldn't take it out of the CD player. I just needed to hear what was coming next!" (ANDY SMITH - Portishead)

“So deep … Incredible stuff” (DJ YODA – Genuine Records)

"Serious DJs and collectors will swear Chris has been raiding their collection! A mixtape king no question." (OLLIE TEEBA - Herbaliser)

“Megamixing at its finest… Original and essential!” (DJ PLUS ONE – The Scratch Perverts)

“An amazing piece of work!” (MR THING – Former World DMC Team Champion)

 

PRESS REVIEWS:

“A Masterpiece” (THE GOOD VIBE)

“Phenomenal” (DROWNED IN SOUND)

"A true masterpiece.  An amazing, amazing accomplishment" (LAZE)
"Unquestionably cool and vital" (75 OR LESS)
"Truly amazing.  Effortlessly fresh" (WEIGHT OF A NICKEL)

“Epic … A Masterpiece” (CROOKED TONGUES)

"This blew me away… a piece of genius work" (MUSIC IS MY SANCTUARY)

 

Subsequent mixtapes include a commissioned mixtape for a major sports brand and a number of other themed mixtapes, many of which have been online 'hits', downloaded in their tens of thousands.

Chris and Substance have enjoyed product arrangements / sponsorship from the likes of Diesel, Levis, Carhartt, THTC, Two&Eight and others.  Chris (and his record collection!) appeared in a billboard campaign for Lee Jeans Japan.

To read about other artists involved in the substance club nights, click here