UNKLE

They met in Brighton in 1994. At that time Richard was at college but was more drawn to the bleeding-edge drum'n'bass scene than media studies. He was DJ-ing on pirates with Ed Rush where he met engineer Ils. Following the hook-up with James Richard and Ils released singles on the Mo' Wax offshoot Excursions. "We clicked," says James and they began hanging out together. Richard would join James on his DJing jaunts. Driving back from a gig one night in 1998 James heard Richard singing along to the radio. He had been looking for a central character to front 'Psyence Fiction' and believed he was sat right next to him.

"It sounds cheesy but when you see something in someone you think, 'I know they can do that'". Richard decided to learn to use equipment to programme beats and armed with an acoustic guitar and a fetching falsetto set to work on his own songs for the second UNKLE album.

In 2000 they moved into an Old Street flat together. It proved a very hedonistic time, a lost weekend that actually proved quite fruitful. James was excited about the subterranean house and breaks emanating from Fabric where he held a residency on Fridays. Sometimes the subsequent parties carried on until Tuesdays.

They set up a studio in the flat, played and worked hard messing around with ideas day in, night out. Doing remixes and bootlegs to play out they created UNKLE Sounds.