Artist Of The Month – Chase & Status (October 2013)

Pharrell Williams hails them as, ‘The most exciting producers in the UK today’, Rihanna considers them ‘the backbone’ of her record ‘Rated R’ however this isn’t enough to quench the musical thirst of multi-award winning, platinum record selling producers, writers and musicians in their own right, Chase & Status. The duo, who account for bigwigs Jay Z and Snoop Dogg as fans, as well as drum and bass’ finest Andy C, Hype and Pendulum; enjoy heavy rotation in the hands of dubstep royalty such as N-Type and Skream; and have each release enthusiastically supported by Radio 1 tastemakers Annie Mac and Zane Lowe.

Chase & Status is composed of Saul Milton (Chase) and Will Kennard (Status). In addition, MC Rage & Andy Gangadeen also make up the live band and they both help Chase and Status when recording and putting together albums and so are also considered as members. Will and Saul met in London through their mutual love of Drum and bass in the mid-nineties before later cementing their friendship by DJ-ing together at Manchester University. While, Will studied History of Art at the University of Manchester, Saul studied English and Humanities at Manchester Metropolitan University.

2004 saw their first production, a remix for Future Cut, which was followed by a series of drum and bass anthems for the biggest underground labels including ‘Duppy Man’ for Breakbeat Kaos and ‘The Druids’ EP for DJ Zinc’s trendsetting Bingo label. Despite a number of releases on Ram Records and consistent DJ-ing around the world, Chase & Status managed to mastermind and release their debut album ‘More Than A lot’ in 2008. Packed with the kind of drum and bass anthems that have helped build their reputation, it also features tracks which show the diversity of their work: such as ‘Pieces’ featuring Plan B and the Radio 1 A-List single ‘Against All Odds’ featuring Kano. The album proved to be a thrilling journey through the UK urban scene and truly deserves its title. One track from the album, ‘Eastern Jam’ was even spotted by Snoop Dogg who newly released it in April 2009 as ‘Snoop Dogg Millionaire’.

Come 2009 and Chase & Status began crafting their, now renowned, live show which they debuted at the BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend that year. Their live set up includes the legendary Andy Gangadeen on drums and enigmatic front man, Rage as their MC. The show features an exhilarating mixture of lighting, video and guest appearances from vocalists of the likes of Plan B and Tinie Tempah as well as rising stars Delilah, Liam Bailey, Maverick Sabre and Mali who all appear on ‘No More Idols’. The live show still continues to draw in record attendances through two years of headline festival appearances, five sold out UK tours, three sold out European tours, two sold out US tours and repeated festival appearances across the globe from Coachella to Big Day Out, Ibiza Rocks to Summersonic in Japan.

Having signed both a major publishing deal with Universal Publishing and a major record deal with Vertigo / Mercury Records in 2009, the duo smashed straight into the Official UK Top 10 with single ‘End Credits’, their second collaboration with UK vocalist, Plan B which featured in the gritty British movie ‘Harry Brown’ starring Michael Caine. In the same year, the duo also established the independent record label, More Than Alot Records (MTA Records) which boasts of quite a few exceptional tunes by noteworthy artists such as Nero, Josh Butler, Ben Pearce & Sion among others.

2010 saw their next release ‘Let You Go’ feat. Mali which undoubtedly became the anthem of the Summer festivals along with ‘Hypest Hype’ featuring the grime artist Tempa T which was released as a free download. At the onset of the end of January 2011, Chase & Status released ‘Blind Faith’ feat. Liam Bailey, which entered the UK singles chart at No. 4 and is the bands highest charting single to date. One week later, their hotly anticipated second studio album ‘No More Idols’ was released and went flying straight into the No.2 spot on the UK Album Chart second only to Adele’s worldwide record smasher, ’21’.

Not showing signs of taking things easy, Chase & Status were soon back with another musical masterpiece. Spring 2011 saw the release of their highly acclaimed single ‘Time’ featuring the vocal talent of Delilah before the astonishing,  ‘Hitz’ featuring Tinie Tempah was released later that year. The seventh single to be released from ‘No More Idols’ came in the form of their anthemic collaboration with Sub Focus on ‘Flashing Lights’. They went on to become one of the biggest selling artists in 2011 selling over 1 million singles in the UK alone and the album did not leave the top 40 for 35 weeks. The album has now achieved double platinum status.

Will and Saul began 2012 with a Brit Nomination for ‘Best British Group’, a well deserved credit for their enormous success in the UK and an amazing recognition of drum and bass music by such a prestigious awards ceremony. Early 2012 also saw the duo release their ‘Live at Brixton Academy’ DVD capturing their phenomenal live performance at the legendary venue on their recent UK tour.

The pair also headed back into the studio the same year to begin work on their next album and have generated quite a buzz of late ever since the announcement of the name of the upcoming album, “Brand New Machine” and its tracklist. Two of the tracks of the album, ‘Lost & Not Found’ and ‘Count On Me’ have also been brought out much to the delight of the fans, whats more ‘Count On Me’ has even been given a stunning remix by electronic music superstar, Steve Angello.

Chase & Status in the studio with the legendary, Nile Rodgers!

Surely not many acts can headline a dance music festival and be invited to play the mainstage at a festival like Download but Chase & Status have done all that and more, going on to also headline the humongous, Global Gathering and SW4 Festival as well as playing a host of other festivals across the UK, Europe and the USA.

Check out some of the most notable tunes by Chase & Status now:

Chase & Status are set to bring their grand DJ set to the NH7 Weekender in Pune and we just like each one of you cannot wait to see the duo’s awe-inspiring tunes being hurled at us live. The festival is a 3 day affair which is set to be showcased from the 18th to the 20th of this month. So, mark your calendars and watch out for Chase & Status!