“Elite Force unites the sometimes warring factions of electro house, techno, and breakbeat, like a peace keeper who values the spirit of cooperation and tolerance. He was forged in the fires of breakbeat, which has always had a habit of sucking in sound…
“Elite Force unites the sometimes warring factions of electro house, techno, and breakbeat, like a peace keeper who values the spirit of cooperation and tolerance. He was forged in the fires of breakbeat, which has always had a habit of sucking in sounds that pass by. Elite’s sets are like a team performance, with tracks coming from all corners of the bass-driven sector, to create a vibrant hodgepodge of boundary-pushing dance music….“ [beatport 2009]
Simon Shackleton’s Elite Force project began way back in 1996, debuting on his own newly founded Fused and Bruised label with a series of peerless 12s and remixes. After five successful years winning plaudits from the likes of Fatboy Slim & Jon Carter, he put Fused and Bruised on the backburner to concentrate on production work. After several years with Whole9Yards and Moonshine he became a primary artist on Adrift Recordings (formally known as Kingsize) before moving on to build his own empire under the U&A Recordings banner.
Often credited for being a lynchpin in creating the tech-funk ‘genre’ (an amalgamation of breaks, house, techno and electro) he has released a series of massive singles in the past few years, finding broad support from DJs and musicians across the board, including the likes of James Zabiela, Sasha, Crystal Method, Laurent Garnier and Fatboy Slim to name but five. He has also regularly collaborated with Meat Katie on a number of chart-topping singles, as well as establishing a well-respected techno alias, DUSTBOWL with the Lot49 chief.
As a remixer, Elite Force has always been in huge demand, with legendary re-workings for the likes of Grandmaster Flash, Crystal Method, Jungle Brothers, Stereo MCs, UNKLE & Infusion all contributing to his reputation as one of the most creative and effective remixers around.
Elite Force’s music has also been the soundtrack to many a movie, with a huge list of impressive A-list credits to his name, including the likes of the Matrix, Charlie’s Angels, Arlington Road, Mortal Kombat, Crow, The Bone Collector, The Jackyll, Spiderman 2 and his music has appeared on a wide array of TV shows, from CSI to Top Gear, from Football Focus to LA Doctors. He’s also soundtracked a number of computer games, including no fewer than 5 FIFA games, several of the Wipeout series, The Matrix and Motorstorm 1 & 2.
On the decks, Elite Force has been a prime mover since 1990 when he cut his teeth playing huge student nights and self-promoted acid house nights in the South West of England, before moving up to London and ultimately gravitating towards his tech-funk style, with which he now has a full diary of global bookings. He has become known as one of the top technicians on a circuit that has included massive shows in Belarus, Hungary, Australia, Italy, USA, Czech Republic, India, Turkey, Spain, Japan, Georgia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and China, amongst others, as well as numerous festival slots including Glastonbury, Coachella, Burning
Man, San Francisco’s Love Parade, Wickerman and the Glade. He was also responsible for the hugely influential Strongarm Sessions webcasts which have become something of an institution since their inception back in 2001, receiving around 20,000 downloads per show.
Elite Force is at the top of his game right now. He’s just returned from a few days at the ‘Burning Man Festival’ in Nevada which included a Saturday night headline slot to some 5,000 revelers at the largest camp, Opulent Temple. Last month he took the headline slot at the largest breaks festival in Spain, ‘Summer Festival’ in the Olympic Stadium in Sevilla, playing to around 10,000 people, and went on to headline the ‘Aeon Festival’ in the West Country, where he smashed the dance tent on the Saturday night.
The forthcoming ‘Re:Vamped’ mix album is a surefire bet to push him to the summit. His incendiary DJ sets have won him A-List admirers across the globe, and his re-workings and re-edits of virtually everything that passes through his studio have become the stuff of legend. ‘Re:Vamped’ finally makes these elusive & much-sought after works available to the public, with a head-spinning DJ mix that features upwards of twenty tried & tested exclusive mash-ups, recalling some of the finest moments from the likes of Soulwax / 2ManyDJs. With numerous tracks scheduled for release from the album, and a ramped-up DJ set being
planned as we speak, the ‘Re:Vamped’ tour is set to roll in 2010.