ARTIST INFO

 

FingaThing are a two piece live and recording outfit consisting of scratch wizard Peter Parker on turntables and Sneaky on Double Bass. Parker explains how the two met, I used to commute to Manchester from Crewe, where everyone is into Dexy's Midnight Runners, to go to Eardrum and watch him (seminal Manchester Hip Hop night still going strong), but we never spoke properly. We met for the first time doing the Grand Central Sound System, providing back-up for Rae Christian. Sneaky adds,: It was the Tony D tour, and when everyone else was having a break, we'd keep messing around together.

 

It was obvious something was coming together. The fact we'd been given a chance to do something quite serious... we were both just totally into it, overwhelmed really (beams). Eventually, it was just me and Sneak and Mark and Steve, and they used to say "Why don't you do that thing you do in rehearsal tonight? We just slammed it and the kids that heard us thought it was mental says Parker.

Peter Parker was discovered by Mark Rae of Grand Central records, when judging the 1997 DMC Mixing Championships - where he came second in the UK finals - and it wasn't long before he became a fully-fledged member of the Grand Central turntable squad.

 

Enveloped by Hip Hop culture at the age of nine years old, Parker was first inspired by Streetsounds' seminal Electro series. Trying his hand, first at breaking and then graffiti he soon realised his full hip hop potential was not in spray can art but in the art of turntablism. For years he honed his hip hop technique on his mate's decks before finally getting the cash together to purchase his own set of 1200's. But there's a bit more to it than that as Parker explains.
"I could pretend I grew up with funk and jazz, but any jazz I heard was totally abstract and off its rocker. My dad was a big Thin Lizzy fan. At school I swapped a copy of Oink, this really naughty kids magazine, for a tape to tape player and a cassette of Electro 6 and Electro 9. It was early 80s, the hip hop craze was in and I'd never heard anything like it before. Everyone started wearing name trainers rather than British Home stores and I started wearing sweat-bands because a kid above me wore them! I also started skating and listening to punk and proper, hardcore hip hop with loads of swearing and abusive language (laughs).

As those who have witnessed him will bear testament, his live shows are both awesome and awe-inspiring. His pure technical displays using classic 70s breakbeats and underground hip-hop have hypnotised many heads and gained him many fans. He is also a member of the Cutting Crew along with Statik and ex-DMC World Champion DJ Noize.

Sneaky is a classically trained Double Bassist. He attained Grade 8 with distinction in 1992 and went on to further his musical education by taking a BTEC (Oldham College) and a BA (Hons) in Popular Music and Recording (Salford University). I started playing double bass 20 years ago, the cello when I was 5. My parents are classically trained musicians so I grew up in a very musical house, explains Sneaky, a well known face on the Manchester music scene having established himself as resident at nights such as Eardrum at the infamous Dry Bar.

All this lead to Sneak appearing on several albums including guest bass on Mr Scruff's Get A Move On from the 1999 album Keep It Unreal (Ninja Tune) & some session work with Lemon D (Metalheadz) and Dillinga.

www.fingathing.com