|
Concord Dawn consists of 2 passionate musicians, Matt Harvey (aka Matty C) and Evan Short (aka Kiljoy). The NZ born duo, have been making waves in the world of electronic music for many years now and have been tagged as "NZ’s pioneers of Drum and Bass".
They have released their distinctive sound on legendary labels including Hospital Recordings, Timeless, Renegade Hardware, Moving Shadow, DSCI4 and Commercial Suicide, as well as up and coming labels including Freak, Heavy Rotation, Redlight, Cyanide and BSE Recordings.
International heavyweights such as Grooverider, Goldie, DJ Hype, Ed Rush, Dieselboy, Bad Company, Total Science, Digital, Trace, Klute, Bailey, Fierce, Marcus Intalex, Kemal, Cause for Concern and many others have been playing Concord Dawn tunes for the past few years, proving that its not just homegrown pride that has contributed to their success here in New Zealand.
Concord Dawn have earnt a fearsome reputation for their live performance, with extensive touring in Asia, America, Europe, Canada and Australia. In addition they have featured at almost all of the major dance festivals in New Zealand, including Big Day Out, Phat 05, the Gathering, Alpine Unity, Destination, Rippon, Splore, X air, the X games and numerous University Orientations.
The duo have been musicians and friends since they met at school at the young age of 11. Once they discovered their mutual love for music, they formed a band together and started jamming every afternoon, playing tunes from Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones! A few years later they fell in love with the rave culture. Evan was given a jungle mixtape from friends at school that awakened his musical passion. It had classics such as Disturbance by Hyper on Experience and tunes from DJ Crystal and Kenny Ken. Around that time, Matt was checking sets and became highly influenced by DJ Aaron, one of the founders of the NZ drum and bass scene. The pair were instantly drawn to this new sound, and began experimenting with creating their own, "Jungle combined a lot of the music we were into at the time. It was a mash-up of Rock, Jazz, Hip Hop, and had the energy of dance music".
The boys met up again at audio engineering school and began writing tunes. Almost immediately they began working on their self titled debut album for Auckland based electronic label Kog Transmissions. The album was received well by the local audience and they began their first foray into the vinyl market with two 12 inch releases taken from the album. This was followed in quick succession by their second album 'Disturbance', which was both a refinement and an expansion of the energetic sound they had become well know for. This consolidated their local fan base and began to attract interest from overseas.
Evan then relocated to London for 6 months and upon his return they commenced work on album number 3, 'Uprising'. The exceptional response to the album's first tunes resulted in their first signings to UK based labels, and their first overseas gigs. 'Morning Light' was the first release off the album and was a huge breakthrough tune for the pair. It was both a success in the club and on commercial radio, debuting just short of the top 100 in the UK commercial charts. In November 2002, 'Morning Light' featured on the Mixmag cover CD (alongside other Concord Dawn tunes 'Aurora' and 'Take Me Away') mixed by John B. It also appeared on DJ Craze's 'Live in Puerto Rico' DVD and on DJ Bailey's 'Soul Thunder' mix CD.
'Don’t Tell Me', with it’s energetic lyrics and gritty bassline, was noticeably different to anything the duo had ever done before. Due to it's originality and dance floor popularity, it got snapped up for the March 2004 Mixmag cover CD, mixed by Grooverider & Fabio. Accompanied by 'Ninja' (another tune from the 'Uprising' album) it also featured on the very successful drum and bass arena mix cd, mixed by Andy C.
'Raining Blood', a heavy metal influenced tune, was the third single off the album, which showed the pair’s diverse knowledge in music of all forms. When the much anticipated album finally dropped in 2003, it achieved gold sales in just 3 months, which was unprecedented for a NZ DnB release.
'Uprising' won Best Album and Best Electronic Release at the 2004 B-Net student radio awards, and the duo were nominated for Best Electronic Act' at the Vodafone music awards 2004.
Following the release they returned to a hectic DJ schedule to the far flung corners of the world. In between touring, they found time to begin formulating the ideas for their next release 'Chaos By Design', which will be the second album from their own imprint Uprising Recordings. Their success has created high expectations from punters worldwide, which has made them step their game up, to create an album which will not disappoint even the harshest of critics. Concord Dawn have matured as artists, finding a harmonious blend between old and new. 'Chaos By Design' incorporates their knowledge of the history of jungle, and maintains their reputation to push their own limits and explore new territory.
Band Members:
Evan 'Kiljoy' Short
Matt 'Matty C' Harvey
Artist Website
|
