ARTIST INFO

 

English:

(German version further down)

 

Like many of today’s drum & bass crews, Alex and Jay go way back. "I was right into hip-hop and breaking back in the day"’ says Alex, "While Jay was into his rare groove, funk and soul. I had some little bits of equipment right back in about 1983, and had tried putting together an album, but it was rubbish."

 

Another stab at production came in 1991, when Jay and another friend  of theirs, (Andrew Riches, or as he would later be known, ‘Richie’), decided to join Alex in a bid to make tunes. Once again, the results were decidedly iffy: "We called ourselves the Plastic Clothes Mechanics, because Alex worked in a plastics factory, Richie worked in a clothes shop and I wasn’t a mechanic!", laughs Jay. "It was a steep learning curve as we got ripped off in the studio mastering to an audio cassette, the pressing plant laughed at us when we turned up with that! In the end we got it pressed, all good fun."

 

Alex joined forces with another friend/producer Danny Demierre (who would later become Flytronix) to form ‘Hyper-On-Experience’. This was one of the first wave of proper signings to Moving Shadow in 1992 and they produced a number of old skool classics like ‘H.E. Anthem’ and ‘Lords of the Null Lines’ . In 1993 Jay put his vast record collection together With Richie’s to become another classic  Shadow act – ‘JMJ & Richie’, responsible for such cult tunes as  ‘Hall Of Mirrors’ , ‘Free La Funk’  and ‘Montana.’

 

Despite these other projects, Jay and Alex  planned to work together and in 1994 formed the E-Z Rollers and released the first single .Following this they compiled ‘Storm from the East’ , a collection of tracks that showcased the regional  talent emerging from the East of England. For their own production work, the pair decided on a vocal approach and enlisted local friend  Kelly Richards. Their first long-player together, ‘Dimensions Of Sound’, arrived in 1996. Its gentle, jazz influenced hooks, solid moving beats and melodic keys, were wonderfully enhanced by Kelly's smooth vocals. Cuts like ‘Rolled Into One’, ‘Jazz Talkin’ and ‘Dropping Science Part 2’ helped make the album the classic it is today.

 

Their second album, ‘Weekend World’,was released  in 1998. It was an album that hit the spot at least as much as their first, focusing even  more heavily on those impossibly groovy basslines that had been overtly  hinted at on ‘Dimensions of Sound’. Infectious singles like ‘Tough At The Top’ and the even bigger ‘Walk This Land’ , a cut that got to an astonishing No.18 in the UK charts after being used for the British flick, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, sent the E-Z Rollers popularity rocketing and prompted a re-release of the album in 1999.

 

The E-Z third album for  Moving Shadow “Titles Of The Unexpected” was  released

in October 2002, this included some very special guest appearances such as old school rapper Doug.E.Fresh and disco diva Sharon Brown.

 

Since the ‘Titles’  LP E-Z Rollers  have concentrated on their label Intercom Recordings. Intercom has featured the Rollers  huge single ‘Crowd Rocker’ taken from the two Lickable Beats compilation’s. The label is currently gearing up for E-Z Rollers fourth artist album which is due out June 2007. The album is called   ‘Conductor’. The 1st single from the album is called ‘Rancho Notorious/In The City and was released Febuary 2007. The E-Z Rollers will  support the album with a full live band and DJ gigs, you can check out the band and new songs at myspace.com/ezrollers or intercomrecordings.com

 

 

Deutsch:

 

Seit anfang der 90er sorgen die E-Z Rollers um das Produzententeam Jay Hurren und Alex Banks fur konstant hitverdächtigen und innovativen vocallastige Drum&Bass Produktionen.

 

Der internationale Durchbruch gelang ihnen 1998 mit dem Album "Weekend World" und der Hitsingle "Tough At The Top" und in vielen Ländern in die Charts einstieg.

 

Vielen dürften Die E-Z Rollers auch durch ihren Hit "Walk This Land" bekannt sein, der 1999 auf dem Soundtrack von Guy Ritchie's bahnbrechenden Film "Bube, Dame, König, Gras" (Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels) erschien und es bis auf Platz 18 der britischen Charts schaffte.

 

Erst im letzten Jahr erschien ihr Album "Titles Of The Unexpected" das unter anderem den legendären Oldschool Rapper Doug E. Fresh und die Souldiva Sharon Brown featured. Das Album erschien als Doppel-CD und enthält neben der Studio-Version auch einen Live-Mitschnitt eines Ihrer Konzerte. Ihr eigenes Label "Intercom" bescherte der Drum&Bass Gemeinde im letzten Jahr mit der  Compilation "Lickable Beats" einige hochkarätige Clubhits.