Mr. C

For other uses, see Richard West (disambiguation).
Mr. West
Birth name Richard West
Also known as East LA Tek, Sycophant Slags, Indigo Kidz
Born (1966-01-02) 2 January 1966
Mile End, London
Origin Holloway, London
Genres House, electronica, dub
Occupation(s) Singer, rapper, record producer, DJ, actor
Years active 1987–present
Labels Superfreq, Get Physical Music, Poker Flat, Adjunct Audio, Wagon Repair Records
Associated acts The Shamen

Richard West (born 2 January 1966, London) is a British DJ, musician, actor and rapper, who has used the monikers Mr. C, Sycophant Slags and Indigo Kidz. He is best known as the frontman for The Shamen during their most commercially successful era. West is also a house music DJ and was co-owner/co-founder of London's The End nightclub with Layo from Layo and Bushwacka!. He is considered a leading proponent of tech house, a fusion of house and techno music and has been credited with coming up with the genre. In 1995 his DJing talents came to the attention of UK rave promoter/record company Fantazia who asked him to mix their new album Fantazia DJ Collection 3 – Back to the Old Skool. He also mixed CDs Psycotrance vol 1,[1] X-Mix 6 on Studio K7, Sunterrain 100% Unreleased on his End recordings imprint and most recently Superfreq Express on his Superfreq label.

Music career

Richard West aka Mr. C was born in London in 1966. He started MCing in the London clubs aged only 16 & soon earned a reputation as a fast-talking, vivacious rapper working with LWR radio's Ron Tom, Jasper the Vinyl Junkie & Jazzy M. Mr.C then hooked up with Colin Faver & Evil Eddie Richards to become resident rapper at Camden Palace going on to MC for Colin Faver on the then illegal Kiss FM. Mr.C went into the studio to record his first house track with Eddie Richards as Myster-E, which was released in August 1987. This inspired Mr.C to become a DJ to learn more about his beloved House & Techno music so in late 1987 Richard took to the decks. Mr.C has since organised, promoted and been resident DJ at: Fantasy (1988), Base (Dungeons 1989), Release (1991), Harmony (1992), Drop (1993), Cyclone (1994), Vapourspace (1994 & 1995), Flavour (The End 1995 & 1996), Subterrain (The End 1995–2002), Superfreq (Worldwide 2002–present) & Super Disco Freq (LA 2010–present).

In December 1995 Mr.C opened the legendary night club The End in London with Partner Layo Paskin & then AKA bar three years later, which celebrated its 13th anniversary in December 2008. The End & AKA closed its doors for good on 24 January 2009.

Mr.C is founder and owner of Plink Plonk records, co-founder of End Recordings & co-founder & owner of the Superfreq label. Mr.C has recorded under the names Myster-E, Unity 2, Nu Jacks, Bass Bureau, The Shamen, Mantrac, Somnambulist, Animus Amour, Killer Loop, Mr.C & Tom Parris, Mr.C & 16B & the Sycophant Slags. Mr.C is best known as frontman of The Shamen with whom he notched up a string of top 10 hits including "Move Any Mountain" & the UK number 1 hit "Ebeneezer Goode". The Shamen also won a highly coveted Ivor Novello award for Songwriters of the year UK in 1992. Richard is currently recording solo as Mr.C & is also doing collaborations as the Sycophant Slags with Francis Harris aka Adultnapper, as the Indigo Kidz with Affie Yusuf, with [a]pendics.shuffle & with Omid 16b, and has recent releases on Poker Flat, Wagon Repair Records, Get Physical Music and Adjunct Audio. Mr.C's EP, "Something Strange Part's 1 & 2" with [a]pendics.shuffle has caused a real storm in the second half of 2012, as did his recent remix for Fractious on NB records. Mr.C has been extremely busy doing remixes for Mikael Stavöstrand & David Scuba, Francis Harris, Xo Chic, Joint Custody & Affie Yusuf & also has his solo EP "I'm gonna Give You Some" & his new "Smell The Coffee" album, as well as collaborations with Affie Yusuf, Omid 16b & [a]pendics.shuffle all due for releases during the first half of 2013.[2]

Mr.C runs and promotes Superfreq events, which celebrates its eleventh year in March 2013, having run monthly at Mr.C's club The End until it closed down in January 2009. Superfreq now has two residencies in London, the first of which happens eight times each year at the luxury members club Paramount, on the top floor of Centre Point, while the second is a bi-annual residency at the legendary Fabric. Superfreq also does regular events in various venues in Los Angeles and Calais, as well as holding down a quarterly residency at Junk Club in Southampton. It also has new quarterlies starting at Tree House in Miami & La Santanera in Playa Del Carmen in 2013, and a bi-annual residency starting in Brooklyn, NY. This is in addition to bi-annual events in San Diego, Chicago and Moscow, and annual events in Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Dallas, Denver and San Francisco, plus one-off events the world over. Superfreq has accomplished seven successful seasons in Ibiza: three at Club Underground, two at DC10, one season at Blu, and three events at Aura, plus in 2011 & in 2012 hosting events at BPM, WMC, Kazantip and ADE festivals.

Superfreq Record Label

Superfreq has released eight EPs from various artists and one mix CD by Mr.C, but has been a dormant record label since 2006. Superfreq relaunched in February 2013.

Influences

He states his influences as; Ska, Funk, Dub, Disco, House, Electro and Techno,

Guest appearances

In 1999 he was interviewed by Melinda Messenger and he performed the song, "Universal Nation" with the Shamen.

On 23 January 2014 he was interviewed by Sacha on Ideal Clubworld Radio.

References

  1. ↑ Discogs
  2. ↑ Yoder, Sean-Michael apendics.shuffle & Mr.C "Something Strange" review , Ibiza-Voice.com, Retrieved 12 May 2014.

External links

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