With the release of the 'Subscribe To The Vibe' album! Britain's top nightclub ABUNDANT showcases a bevy of top dance produces. DJ Coopoid reports.

So what is Quipo's "Warning" warning us about? "Well, it's a warning about being hot or cold," Cameron explained. "God hates lukewarm Christianity. God has warned about it in the book of Revelation, chapter three. You will never find happiness being lukewarm. There's this horrible thing about having your feet in two worlds: one foot in Satan's kingdom, and one in God's kingdom. The song is a message to myself rather than being pharisaical about it. I don't want to get comfortable in my Christianity."

How about T Wac's "I See You"? Is that just as meaningful? "Zarc and I wanted to put something a bit poppier together. There is a bit of plagiarism going on - it sounds a bit like Simply Red," Cameron confessed. It's about the fact that God is not just a feeling or a sensation. God is more than that. I can see God in other peoples' lives and I can see God in my own life. Not seeing visually, but in the way others live their lives. It's hard to live your life as a Christian if all you live is through feelings. Feelings are good, but actually seeing God at work in other people and in your own life is far more important, I believe."

Myth: aka Si Levell

OS1
Rob May is the keyboard player for acid jazz funk band Beehive. His production partner is Ant Norris, a Christian who doe| a lot of work in the underground dance scene in London and produces sample CDs. Rob first met Steve Baker at St James The Less in London, where Beehive were doing a gig and Steve was DJing. "He told me about this album he was working on," remembered Rob. "I'd done a bit of dance stuff in the past with OS 1 so I asked him if l could submit a track. He obviously agreed and the track has turned out to be one of the most memorable and commercial on the album. It's also Steve Baker's favourite. "l absolutely love that track," he said.

The vocalist is Elisa Emery, comedian Dick Emery's daughter. Even though the track is really worshipful, she's not a Christian (or wasn't at the time of recording, anyhow). Rob explained that "she sang on a sample CD Nosh (Ant's nickname) produced. He's put a lot of Christian singers on these secular sample CDs, which is really positive and a lot of the stuff he gets them to sing is Christian based and worship orientated. Even the non-Christian singers!"

Rob is understandably very pleased with the finished track and is planning the release of more material. "We're working on an album at the moment and we're doing another track for Movation Records, a compilation album Zarc is putting together. That should be out in the autumn and will be a mix album. A lot of what OS 1 are doing now is drum 'n' bass kind of stuff."

MYTH
There is actually a mistake on the album cover here: tracks four and five are shown the wrong way round. Confusing or what? But we shall help you out. "Set Me Free" was produced by Si Levell, whose name will be familiar to some because of the Home Truth single "Surprised By Joy" released towards the end of 1996. That song was produced by Si and Steve Baker and is also on the Dbass label.

Si is currently busy with home groups and Alpha courses run by his London church, Holy Trinity Brompton, and has also been involved with the music there. About two a half years ago he produced a worship tape including dance versions of songs sung at church, which is how he met Steve Baker, as Si recalled. "He heard the tape and called me up. It turned out that we had a lot of mutual friends. I'd started going to the Abundant club anyway, and we just got on like a house on fire from the word go! He's a DJ and I'm a songwriter and we worked quite well together. We had similar musical ideas and a similar vision of why we wanted to write music. We both had a vision for producing credible dance music in the secular market place that has a strong Christian edge to it.

"Set Me Free" has complex origins. "It started off with an American preaching tape called 'That's My King' which inspired me a lot. For 'Set Me Free' we changed the lyrics a lot and changed the whole feel of the track. Like a lot of songs, it evolved and went through various phases.

"We recorded it in Leeds, at an all-night session, and I had to work the next morning. I'd written the vocal line already and Steve (Marriot-Johnson) basically wrote the lyrics. We recorded the gospel choir and then added his vocals. It was very much a collaboration between the two of us. He's very easy to work with and a very talented guy.

NATIV SOUL
Nativ Soul is the production team of Martin Howes and Trevor Loveys. They met at a Bournemouth church called Bliss, which is part of the pioneer network, and now "co-own a studio, make music, hang out and pray together." Martin is a DJ involved in various clubs around Bournemouth and has known Steve Baker for many years, as he recalled, "He came down to Bournemouth for a year to work with us when we were doing the youth work (at church) four or five years ago. We used to DJ together so when he started the Abundant club, he invited me to DJ there and we've been doing stuff together ever since."

Ultraglow: aka Marc Cooper

Martin and Trevor have previously released instrumental material on a Bournemouth-based label, which has received good recognition in the underground scene around the country. Also they plan to release some stuff on their own using the name Second Nature. "Live For Life" is the first track released using the name Nativ Soul and is the first vocal track they've been involved with, though they never met Steve Marriot-Johnson or the Voices Of Praise. Martin explained. "We just did the instrumental and Steve collaborated with the choir to sort out all the vocals. We've not been able to go into a larger studio and lay down vocal tracks ourselves yet, but that's something we hope to do in the future. The production we do is deep house music on a US kind of vibe. A lot of the stuff that influences us is American house from Chicago and Detroit, labels like Casual Records and Defender Music.

FERNO
Ferno's "Love Change" is one of the harder tracks on the album, with a driving rhythm, cutting synth riffs and repetitive vocal samples. Yet it still manages to be uplifting, with the exclamation that "Your love is changing me."
Little is known about the producer, Ferno, and he's certainly not an easy man to get hold of, but Steve Baker can fill us in on a few details: "He's one of the DJs at the club, and is a brilliant house music DJ. He also plays at the Ministry Of Sound and other big clubs in London." This kind of pedigree shows when you hear the track.

ULTRAGLOW
When Marc Cooper had his first track released on the classic 'Cross Rhythms: Sanctified Dance From The UK Underground' N-Soul compilation, he used the pseudonym 'The Flood". (Read about it in the July 1995 issue.) He dropped the name because it was too similar to that of "Flood", U2's producer.

So where did the name Ultraglow come from? Marc told me, "When Rebecca from Dbass called me to ask what I want to be called for this new album, I was actually in my mum's bedroom. I was looking at her make up and saw this foundation stuff called Ultraglow! I looked a bit further and saw some perfume with the word 'fragrance' on it. So there you go!" And l thought it was going to be a deep and meaningful answer!