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With Bristol widely considered the capital of British underground dance music, native Pearce was presented with the ideal environment in which to launch his career as a DJ; he quickly became a resident at the local club nights Ripsnorter and Scream, and was able to secure his first gigs on the continent off the back of that success. He didn’t really rise to any kind of mainstream prominence, though, until 2011, when he signed to Pets Records and released a well-received single, ‘Entrance Song’.
Since then, he’s been a regular fixture at some of the biggest venues and festivals in the dance world - think Creamfields, Fabric, The Warehouse Project, Space and DC10 - as well as crossing over into mainstream festival territory, packing out tents at Glastonbury, Bestival and Secret Garden Party. In addition, Pearce has produced Essential Mixes for BBC Radio 1 at the behest of Pete Tong, and was the first ever resident DJ at new London club XOYO. He’s remixed tracks for the likes of Chicken Lips, Four Tet, X-Press 2, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and Jamie Jones, and count count a slew of awards to his name already, too: DJ Magazine’s ‘Best British DJ’ and ‘Best Breakthrough Producer’ among them, in 2012 and 2011 respectively.
Groove Armada, named after a 1970s disco, released four singles in their first year as a signed collective with songs such as “At the River” which featured a sample of “Old Cape Cod” originally by Patti Page, which would go on to be one of Groove Armada’s most well known tracks. They released their debut album “Northern Star” on March 9th 1998.
However, it wasn’t until they released their sophomore album “Vertigo” on May 24th 1999 that they earned themselves a silver record. It was also around this time that they released “At the River” as a single in its own right. “Vertigo” featured some of the duo’s biggest hits such as “I See You Baby”, which would go on to be used in Renault Megane and Ford Fiesta car commercials and then the song “”If Everybody Looked the Same” being used in the films, Gone in 60 Seconds and Miss Congeniality. The album went on to peak at number 23 in the UK Albums Chart too.
Their third album “Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub)” released on September 10th 2001 shot up the charts to number 5 in the UK and number 8 in Australia. This album also features “Superstylin” which was a huge international hit for the duo, and earned the band a Grammy nomination.
The duo released a greatest hits album called “The Best of Groove Armada” in 2004, which ended their list of released with Pepper Records, before releasing “Soundboy Rock” on May 4th 2007, which was Groove Armada’s self proclaimed best album yet. The album after that, “Black Light” released on January 29th 2010, cited influences from Fleetwood Mac and Gary Numan.
Eats Everything should perhaps be called Beats Everything. His completely mastery of almost all genres and his ability to tie them together near seamlessly is a skill I envy. Seeing him live was like watching a master artist create a new masterpiece and knowing that never again will you witness something so perfect.
His willingness to embrace new music and different genres make his show unlike any house or other gig you will ever attend. Eats himself dances around his tables with an awkward grace. His movements seem like he is coaxing the music rather than directing it to do his will.
He appears deeply contemplative but was more than willing to talk and joke with anyone coming up to him in the club. A kindly and jovial man Eats has a kind of quiet yet open intensity to himself. The same way that he embraces different types of music he seems to embrace different types of people. He added a lot of funk to some mixes and coaxed wailing beats out of others while keeping a deep, rarely interrupted baseline throughout the entire set. Instead of relying on heavy repetition his mixes seemed to constantly be adding fresh material and he moved through songs like a hot knife through butter.
With almost twenty years in the business now firmly under their belts, Groove Armada are now officially veterans in the UK electronic scene, to be filed alongside the likes of Fatboy Slim and Massive Attack as part of an old guard that continue to surprise and impress and the years roll by. They’ve often threatened a genuine mainstream crossover, without every quite managing it - number eight as is high a singles chart position as they’ve managed, with 2007’s superb ‘Song 4 Mutya’ - but with the likes of ‘I See You Baby’, ‘Superstylin’ and ‘Get Down’, they’ve certainly cemented a place in the British public consciousness. Their glowing reputation is down in no small part to their thrilling live shows; on their most recent UK jaunt, they performed in front of a giant screen broadcasting complex visuals to the crowd, whilst reworking the classics with a live band and bringing a host of guest vocalists into the fray. Stylistically, you’d struggle to find a more diverse gig than a Groove Armada one; they range from downbeat trip hop and electro to their signature big beat cuts and tracks that touch upon the niche likes of dub, reggae and disco. The inclusion of a full live band is key to properly translating the London duo’s vision; with a new EP, Pork Soda, due this year, we can only hope there’ll be a tour to go with it.