BEN CHAPMAN

Ben Chapman is a DJ, producer, remixer and songwriter from the UK. His earliest music memory is of sitting backward as a kid, “beating the hell out of the sofa” with drumsticks to Top of the Pops. 

 

Chapman got his start as a DJ when a friend gave him his first drum machine and an echo box. From there he DJed every house party that would have him. Always passionate about “making a racket” and a self-described non-musician, Chapman says punk rock changed his life. “I would show up with my turntables, a sampler, a pile of records, and a drum machine...those parties, in squats in the middle of nowhere... at silly hours of the morning, were absolutely brilliant.” DJing naturally led to creating original music. At one of these parties, during Prince’s Lovesexy tour, he remembers Prince and George Clinton dancing in the front row to Ben’s first original single Don’t Let My Funk Die (Orange Records). 

 

With club culture sparking up all around in the 80s, Chapman found his home in house music. “Deep house was a massive eye-opener for me”. From there, he became known as a remixer, and got more involved in creating original music. 

 

In a show of poetic justice, Chapman ended up creating the Top of the Pops opening titles track, a Led Zeppelin “Whole Lotta Love '' remix, which aired from 1998-2003. He has remixed Jesus Jones, Blur, Tasmin Archer, Seal, Adamski, Babylon Zoo, Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin, Roachford, DJ Krush, Monsoon, Tamyra Gray, and produced Atomic Kitten, Holly Valance, Kylie Minogue, and others. He has since left it as pop music “did not serve [his] soul”. 

 

There’s Always One is a set of Ben’s original live mixes from his London sessions with remix artist and engineer Danny Hyde in 1990 at the Matrix studio. He used a B Series SSL desk (which happened to be the same Phil Collins used for “In the Air Tonight”), itself as an instrument, making artifact noises and sending sounds into feedback loops. His drum machines were a TB303, 909s, and a rare Rackmount 808.