The Dust Brothers
Tom Rowlands (b. Hanley-On-Thames, England) and Edward Simons (b. Dulwich, London, England) first met in 1989 at Manchester University. Inspired by the Hacienda venue, they decided to launch their own club, Naked Under The Leather. The trajectory continued to a point at which musical recording was the next obvious step, and in 1991 they released Song To The Siren. This conceptual performance—all breakbeats, airhorns and diva vocals—was a powerful statement on their love of club and hip hop culture. Rowlands was still a member of indie-dance band Ariel, who enjoyed a minor hit in 1993 with Let It Slide, but this career was soon jettisoned in favour of the expanding sound of the Dust Brothers. They were invited to remix for locals Lionrock, as well as the Leftfield/Lydon opus Open Up and Saint Etienne. Maintaining their own recording track record, they issued the 14TH CENTURY SKY EP on Junior Boy's Own and a follow-up 45, Kling To Me And I'll Klong To You. Both revealed their craft, that of crushing hip hop beats with a sheen lifted directly from the rave/acid scene of the late '80s. The MY MERCURY MOUTH EP which followed secured another batch of Single Of The Week Awards. Further remixes for the Charlatans and Prodigy followed. Huge fans of the Beastie Boys, they are not the popular rap production crew of the same name who worked on their Paul's Boutique opus.