Krafty Kuts and A.Skillz will perform at The Big Chill 2009.
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Krafty Kuts - Biography

When you enter a DJ’ing competition, having never DJ’d before, and get to the finals, you know you must have chosen the right career path - Krafty Kuts was born. Having been responsible for the massively successful Finger Lickin’ Funk EP, remixes of Flint and 2InDaBush as well as DJ’ing regularly under the Finger Lickin’ banner, Martin is now firmly part of the Finger Lickin’ family.

He was voted Best International DJ at the Australian Dance Music Awards and the Face of Breaks 2003 at the International Breakspoll Awards. These were the ultimate accolades for his efforts. However, this success didn’t just happen overnight.

Krafty Kuts’ first ventures on the wheels of steel occurred in the mid 80’s when he was bitten by the hip-hop and Electro bug. It was during this period that he developed his cutting and scratching skills, which are now a trademark of his party rocking sets.

While Krafty Kuts was rocking down the house with his DJ skills, he was also busy working on his own music. In 1996 he was signed to FSUK, one of the Ministry of Sound’s offshoot labels. 3 EP’s were released to critical acclaim, along with ‘Gimme the Funk’; a one-off release for Fatboy Slim’s label Southern Fried that was hammered by every DJ worth their salt. The success of these releases led to Krafty Kuts becoming one of the most in demand remixers within the UK dance music scene. Today, the list of people Krafty Kuts has remixed reads like an A-List, including the likes of Jurassic 5, Utah Saints, Arthur Baker, Eric B & Rakim and the classic ‘Humanoid’ by Stakker Humanoid. His remixing talents were cemented at the 2003 International Breakspoll Awards, where he won Best Remix for Afrika Bambaataa’s ‘Funky Heroes’. As well as dishing out killer remixes, he’s also managed to compile ‘Slam The Breaks On’ 1 & 2, both classic overviews of the breakbeat sound.

Whilst producing and remixing, Krafty Kuts has also managed to maintain his Djing commitments the world over, playing alongside such luminaries as Fatboy Slim, The Rolling Stones, The Prodigy, and Roni Size. Amazingly, Krafty still manages to hold down his residency club at Supercharged.

Krafty’s seminal music has been used for a Coca-Cola advert, Playstation 2, and for Guy Ritchie’s film ‘Mean Machine’. In 2003, he, along with production partner A Skillz, released their album ‘Tricka Technology’ on Finger Lickin’ Records to critical acclaim featuring hip hop legend Kurtis Blow as well as new talents Real Elements and ever reliable funky bass player Dr Luke.

Today, Krafty Kuts is still working harder than ever. At the 2004, 2005 and 2006 International Breakspoll Awards he took out the much coveted BEST DJ award,also winning best Breaks DJ at the recent M8 awards in Ibiza and has been booked solid ever since. Krafty has finished working on his debut solo album on Against the Grain featuring collaborations with Tim Deluxe, Ashley Slater, Be Spoke, Dynamite MC, Dr. Luke, A.Skillz and the Scratch Perverts, among others. In the words of Krafty himself, the album is going to be a monster!

www.myspace.com/djkraftykuts

A.Skillz - Biography

His incredible deck talents involve fusing funk, hip-hop and breaks with his unique style of scratching and mixing, whilst his reputation as a true party rocker has won him prime-time slots across the UK at FabricLive, Spectrum, Chew The Fat, Supercharged, The Boutique and Sugarbeat as well as gigs around the world at major events, festivals and music industry parties such as The Hit Factory (New York), WMC (Miami) and Field Day (Sydney). Ladies and gentlemen…. this is A.Skillz.

In 2003 A.Skillz released his debut album TrickaTechnology alongside Finger Lickin’s very own Krafty Kuts. The album was a nod towards musical influences like De La Soul, James Brown and Jurassic 5, true Finger Lickin’ Funk that enlisted the talents of some of the world’s best hip-hop and funk artists including Kurtis Blow, Real Elements and Ashley Freakpower Slater.

February 2004 saw A.Skillz and Krafty Kuts team up on the TrickaTechnology Tour with live MCs from the album playing shows all over the UK. The duo then went on to DJ together leaving audiences and dance floors astounded with their skills on four decks and four CDJs, playing at Glastonbury Festival, Pacha (Ibiza) and a live session for Steve Lamaq on BBC Radio 1.

In October 2004 A.Skillz then embarked on his first solo tour of Australia which saw him play to sell out crowds in all major capital cities, gaining new fans and respect from fellow DJs along the way. He followed this by extensive gigs in the UK and a busy studio schedule producing music for Channel 4 (Talk Back), Renault (TV advert) and Sony Playstation (Gran Tourismo 4).

A.Skillz kicked off 2005 in January with a mini-mix for Annie Mac that was later voted best mini-mix of the year by Radio 1 listeners, beating industry heavyweights such as Basement Jaxx, Mylo and Scratch Perverts. He followed this with a series of remixes including The Fort Knox Five and a re-rub of his own track Simple Things, together with a multitude of gigs including 10:15 (San Francisco), Snow Bombing (Austria) Mystery Lands Festival (Amsterdam) Homelands (UK), Live 8 After Show Party (London).

2006 & 07 were massive years. First came ‘Export 02′, his funktastic first mix album for Finger Lickin Records, a release that continues to fly off the shelves with it’s frenetic fuse of funk driven hip-hop and bass heavy breakbeat. Following that came a massive 27 date tour of the UK, sponsored by Vodka giants Revolution catapulting Mr Skillz to nationwide acclaim.

‘08 has possibly been the boy Skillz’ finest year. He’s clocked up some serious air miles playing across Australia, Canada, America, and Europe whilst continuing to produce the finest in dance floor bangers including Strawberry Jam Forever, L.S.D and his highly sort after party monster Come Together. To end the year on a high, he has been hand picked by none other than soul and funk pioneer Norman Jay to provide the beats for his very own Good Times Live new years eve bash!

But be warned boys and girls…. if you think that’s impressive, the best is most certainly yet to come!

www.myspace.com/djaskillz

Krafty Kuts and A.Skillz will perform at The Big Chill 2009.
A-Z line-up | Buy tickets

Tags: askillz, fingerlickin', krafty kuts
Posted in Artists 2009, Festival | 3,029 views |

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