Steve has enthralled crowds the world over with both his Thrillseekers Live and DJ sets. The Ministry, Gallery, Gatecrasher and Godskitchen have all born witness to his fluid mixing, unique style and highly energetic performances. It's these sets that saw him crack the DJ Magazine's ‘Top 100 DJs’ chart for the first time in 2004, and more recently break the top 50, coming in at no. 45, in Oct 2006.
Steve started out making electronic music while working for the computer games developer, Manic Media. Whilst living in Chipping Norton, on the Oxfordshire border, with a relatively basic home studio he constructed the trance milestone "Synaesthesia". Signed and released by Neo Records in 1999, at the height of the trance boom, it went on to sell over 12,000 copies on its initial UK release.
With its vibe on the subtler side of the genre it took more than a year to fully realise its own potential however. Its road to full-blown chart success was assisted in no small part by Paul van Dyk. He took the record and gave it a six month long, gig in, gig out battering. 2000 saw PVD sign it to his own Vandit label, remix it and with the inclusion of a vocal from Sheryl Dean it entered the UK top twenty in Feb 2001. As a standalone track it has rocked a million clubbers hearts across hundreds of countries. It still appears in a huge cross-section of DJ's all time top tens today.
Whilst still closeted in Chipping Norton, Steve took it upon himself to learn the art of DJing. It was initially born purely out of a desire to see how his records worked in the mix with other tracks, and as a tool with which to improve their properties for the DJ. This quickly turned into a desire to see them, first hand, fire up a floor. Realising how, in the ever changing world of dance music, DJ'ing was starting to go hand in hand with production, Steve began to apply even more energy to perfecting the skill. It was around this time that he was approached by Neil Stacey who had just opened his Connected DJs Agency. Neil was also more than aware of the rapidly expanding desire from punters to see their production heroes DJing. Within six short months Neil had Steve playing at the biggest and most influential clubs on the planet. From Gatecrasher to the Gallery, on to Passion and the Ministry, he has delighted clubbers with his pinpoint mixing and passionate performances.
Steve was always one for quality over quantity and whilst other trance producers belted out one sound-a-like track after another, he focused on creating a catalogue he would still be happy with in 20 years time. Following "Synaesthesia" came "Dreaming of You" which was released on Ministry of Sound's Data label and in the UK alone, featured on 14 compilations. From there it would be over a year before Steve produced another Thrillseekers track.
'NewLife' was originally passed to Ferry Corsten in December of 2003 when Steve went over to The Netherlands to co-produce 'Sublime' – the opening track on Corsten's Grammy Nominated ‘Right Of Way’ album. Ferry smashed it as an exclusive for six months driving demand through the roof. It was around this time that Steve decided to add another string to his bow with the opening of his own label, Adjusted Music. 'NewLife' was the first release and to date it has been compiled on to 15 compilations worldwide. Adjusted's second and forth outings were the in-demand re-releases of 'Synaesthesia' and ‘Affinity’ (which was originally released under his Hydra moniker). As well as releasing his own tracks, Steve focused on bringing in new talent to the label. He inked both Evolve’s ‘Safe to Dream’ (ADJ003) and Deep Voices ‘Alone Again’ (ADJ005) to Adjusted. His remix of the former showcasing for the first time a deeper, more housey slant to his production. This musical shift ignited fully with the release of his forth single ‘By Your Side’ in 2006. Featuring the vocals of Gina Dootson, it brought with them a more thought-provoking, lamenting edge to Steve’s music.
Any biography of The Thrillseekers would be far from complete without mentioning his side-projects and collaborations. Immediately following the success of ‘Synaesthesia’ Steve went on to launch a new moniker for MOS subsidiary, Incentive. En-Motion was born and with it came "Truth" in 2000 and "Getting Away with It" in 2002. In the adjoining years he also pushed forward partnering in collaborations with Andy "Pulser" Perring as Insigma ("Insigma’/’Open Our Eyes"/"Avalon") and with ATCR owner Tim Stark under the name Rapid Eye ('Never Going Back'/"Circa-Forever"/"Stealing Beauty"/'Santa Cruz'/'Absolut').
Steve's remix career started pretty much the same day as "Synaesthesia" was promoed. Since then he has revamped, remapped and reshaped in excess of thirty other artist's tracks. From Sonique to Sholan, from Tiesto to Timo Maas (twice!) and from Chicane to Cequenza, he has lent them all his awesomely melodic, electronic touch.
Synasthesia
The Thrillseekers Lyrics
Jump to: Line by Line Meaning ↴
The Unfortunate Result Of Spare Time
The Unfunny
Just be clever for clever's sake, starin' at the ceiling into shadow-fakes
The circle-smokes in the ladies room only got you as far as the roles assumed
A glimpse of the perfect crime is just a reverie away
Whadaya say we hang there a while for expediency's sake?
Cut and dry, we'll bid good-bye to the unfunny
Their personality inspires like a five pound bag of fertilizer
Like living in a house with fifteen cats, you're unaware of the stench when a line goes flat
A glimpse of the perfect crime is just a reverie away
Whadaya say we hang there a while for expediency's sake?
And fantasize the great demise of the unfunny
Set 'em up, we'll drink a cup to the unfunny
Just be clever for clever's sake, starin' at the ceiling into shadow-fakes
Trying to sound intelligent just for the sake of it, staring at the ceiling watching imaginary shapes
The circle-smokes in the ladies room only got you as far as the roles assumed
Stereotypical behavior in the restroom is only going to take you so far
A glimpse of the perfect crime is just a reverie away
The idea of committing the perfect crime is just a daydream away
Whadaya say we hang there a while for expediency's sake?
Shall we stay there for a while just to save time?
And fantasize the great demise of the unfunny
Imagining the downfall of those who lack humor
Cut and dry, we'll bid good-bye to the unfunny
It's clear and simple, we'll say goodbye to those who lack humor
Their personality inspires like a five pound bag of fertilizer
Their personality is as inspiring as a bag of fertilizer
Like living in a house with fifteen cats, you're unaware of the stench when a line goes flat
Similar to living in a house with a lot of cats, you don't notice the bad smell when a joke falls flat
Set 'em up, we'll drink a cup to the unfunny
Let's raise a glass to those who lack humor
Contributed by Sadie R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.