Oliver Dene Jones (born 1 June 1986), known as Skream, is an English
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
producer based in
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
.
Skream was an early and influential exponent of the
dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...
genre.
After producing several singles, he released his first full-length album, ''
Skream!'', in 2006.
Skream and longtime collaborators
Artwork and
Benga
Benga may refer to:
Ethnonym
* Benga people, an indigenous ethnic group of Equatorial Guinea
* Benga language, spoke by the Benga people
* Benga music, a genre of music originating in Kenya
Places Romania
* ''Benga'', the old name of Mo ...
co-founded a music group called
Magnetic Man
Magnetic Man is an English electronic music project from London, consisting of dubstep producers and DJs Benga, Skream and Artwork (previously known as Menta). The trio first met in the late 1990s at the Big Apple Records store in Croydon. ...
. Their debut album, ''
Magnetic Man
Magnetic Man is an English electronic music project from London, consisting of dubstep producers and DJs Benga, Skream and Artwork (previously known as Menta). The trio first met in the late 1990s at the Big Apple Records store in Croydon. ...
'' was released in 2010.
In July 2011, Jones had his first child, a son.
Jones is the brother of
jungle
A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century.
Etymology
The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaá ...
DJ Hijak.
Origins
Jones was born in
West Wickham
West Wickham is an area of South East London, England, mainly within the London Borough of Bromley with some parts lying in the London Borough of Croydon. It lies south of Park Langley and Eden Park, west of Hayes and Coney Hall, north of ...
,
Bromley
Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011.
Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...
, London.
[
] As a teenager, he worked at Big Apple Records, a
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
-based record store that was at the centre of the early dubstep scene; even prior to this, Jones had become acquainted with
Hatcha, another dubstep pioneer, because Jones' brother worked on an adjacent floor in Big Apple Records.
As a result of this encounter, Hatcha was the first DJ to play Skream dubplates.
He began producing music at the age of 15,
(using
FruityLoops
FL Studio (previously known as FruityLoops before 2003) is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by the Belgian company Image-Line.
FL Studio features a graphical user interface with a pattern-based music sequencer. The program is availa ...
)
and later claimed to have roughly 8000 tracks in various stages of development.
He reports that he was frequently truant when he was a teenager, and spent a considerable amount of time at Big Apple Records. On occasion he attended FWD, a club night that was first hosted at the Velvet Rooms, but which moved to Plastic People in
Shoreditch.
Early career: 2005–2010
Skream's early productions were stark and sinister works he co-produced with another frequenter of Big Apple, Adegbenga Adejumo (
Benga
Benga may refer to:
Ethnonym
* Benga people, an indigenous ethnic group of Equatorial Guinea
* Benga language, spoke by the Benga people
* Benga music, a genre of music originating in Kenya
Places Romania
* ''Benga'', the old name of Mo ...
).
Together, they produced several tracks that Big Apple Records published on two EPs: ''The Judgment'' in 2003, and ''Hydro'' in 2004.
![Skream](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Skream.jpg)
One of his first solo singles, 2005's "Midnight Request Line," has been credited as a key factor in the evolution of a more melodic sound in the dubstep music.
Justin Hampton of the ''LA Times'' called the track "dubstep's most recognizable crossover hit".
and has been praised by producers as diverse as
grime
Grime may refer to:
* Dirt, in the form of black, ingrained dust
* Grime (music genre), a genre of music
* ''Grime'' (album), a 2001 album by Iniquity
* ''Grime'' (video game), a 2021 Metroidvania video game
* "Grime", a 2022 song by Dallas Woo ...
producer
Wiley
Wiley may refer to:
Locations
* Wiley, Colorado, a U.S. town
* Wiley, Pleasants County, West Virginia, U.S.
* Wiley-Kaserne, a district of the city of Neu-Ulm, Germany
People
* Wiley (musician), British grime MC, rapper, and producer
* Wiley Mil ...
, and
minimal techno
Minimal techno is a subgenre of techno music. It is characterized by a stripped-down aesthetic that exploits the use of repetition and understated development. Minimal techno is thought to have been originally developed in the early 1990s by Detro ...
producer
Ricardo Villalobos
Ricardo Villalobos (born 6 August 1970) is a Chilean-born German electronic music producer and DJ. He is well known for his work in the minimal techno and microhouse genres, and is one of the most significant figures in today's minimal techno s ...
.
A writer for ''
The Wire
''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...
'' wrote that the song has "an epic change of key and tempo that recall
the classicist mannerisms of
Derrick May."
As dubstep attracted the attention of mainstream media outlets such as ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''
and ''
Pitchfork Media
''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog.
Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...
'',
Jones' music started to diverge from the darker,
UK garage
UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop, R&B, and jungle. It ...
-influenced sound of early dubstep artists such as
Horsepower Productions, and to incorporate elements of
dub and
house music
House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...
.
Skream has released records on several British record labels, such as
Tempa
Tempa is a garage and dubstep music label founded in 2000 by Neil Jolliffe, who also coined the term "dubstep" in 2002.
The label, along with Big Apple, and parent label Ammunition, was part of the formation of dubstep as a genre.
A key member ...
,
Tectonic
Tectonics (; ) are the processes that control the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. These include the processes of mountain building, the growth and behavior of the strong, old cores of continents ...
, and Big Apple Records. He has co-produced a number of tracks with Niall Henshaw (aka Spectrum).
He has performed throughout Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, and Japan,
as well as the UK.
From 2006, he hosted a weekly Rinse FM show called Stella Sessions. In 2010,
Benga
Benga may refer to:
Ethnonym
* Benga people, an indigenous ethnic group of Equatorial Guinea
* Benga language, spoke by the Benga people
* Benga music, a genre of music originating in Kenya
Places Romania
* ''Benga'', the old name of Mo ...
joined the broadcast, which was renamed The Skream and Benga Show.
In 2007, "Angry" and "Colourful" from ''
Skream!'', as well as an exclusive mix, were featured in the
E4 teen drama
Skins. This marked the first instance dubstep was featured on television. Skream was also featured on
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
's
Essential Mix
The ''Essential Mix'' is a weekly radio show on BBC Radio 1 currently broadcast between 0:00 and 2:00 a.m. UK time on Saturday morning. Originally broadcast on 30 October 1993, the ''Essential Mix'' features contemporary DJs and music produce ...
that same year.
In September 2008, Harmless released ''Watch the Ride'', an album mixed by Skream. On 2 October 2008 Skream featured in a fly-on-the-wall German TV show ''
Durch die Nacht mit …'' alongside
drum and bass artist
Goldie
Clifford Joseph Price MBE (born 19 September 1965), better known as Goldie, is a British music producer and DJ.
Initially gaining exposure for his work as a graffiti artist, Goldie became well known for his pioneering role as a musician in t ...
. In this, Skream stated that he currently had
writer's block
Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Mike Rose found that this creative stall is not a result of commitment problems or th ...
, but he was working on music in other genres, also mentioning a possible Skream & Goldie collaboration.
Writing for ''The Guardian'' in 2009, music journalist
Tim Jonze
Tim Jonze (born 4 February 1980) is a British music journalist for ''NME'', ''Vice'', '' Dazed and Confused'' and ''The Guardian''.
Jonze has reviewed a number of songs and albums, and has interviewed Jake Gyllenhaal, Lily Allen, Bill Drummond, ...
attributed the success of
La Roux
La Roux ( ) is an English synthpop act formed in 2008 by singer Elly Jackson and record producer Ben Langmaid. The act's debut album '' La Roux'' (2009) was a critical and commercial success, winning a Grammy Award and producing hit singles su ...
's single "
In for the Kill" to Skream's remix, "Let's Get Ravey".
In the summer of 2010, Tempa Records released Skream's second album, ''
Outside the Box
Thinking outside the box (also thinking out of the box or thinking beyond the box and, especially in Australia, thinking outside the square) is a metaphor that means to think differently, unconventionally, or from a new perspective. The phrase als ...
''. ''
Spin'' magazine rated the album 7 out of 10.
Mainstream success and a change in sound: 2011–present
Jones has seen commercial success as part of
Magnetic Man
Magnetic Man is an English electronic music project from London, consisting of dubstep producers and DJs Benga, Skream and Artwork (previously known as Menta). The trio first met in the late 1990s at the Big Apple Records store in Croydon. ...
, a live electronic music project with fellow dubstep pioneers
Benga
Benga may refer to:
Ethnonym
* Benga people, an indigenous ethnic group of Equatorial Guinea
* Benga language, spoke by the Benga people
* Benga music, a genre of music originating in Kenya
Places Romania
* ''Benga'', the old name of Mo ...
and Artwork. Their debut album peaked at number 5 on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
and its lead single, "
I Need Air" reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart.
In January 2011, he and
Benga
Benga may refer to:
Ethnonym
* Benga people, an indigenous ethnic group of Equatorial Guinea
* Benga language, spoke by the Benga people
* Benga music, a genre of music originating in Kenya
Places Romania
* ''Benga'', the old name of Mo ...
left Rinse to replace
Alex Metric
Alex Metric (born Alex Drury, 1981) is a Grammy Award-winning British musician, DJ and producer.
Biography
Alex Metric has released numerous EPs as a solo artist, and singles as a member of Metroplane and Kuu. He has remixed artists such as D ...
in his 'In New DJs We Trust' slot on
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
. The duo was eventually given a weekly slot on Radio 1, which began in April 2012.
Jones has worked with many prominent pop artists. In addition to
La Roux
La Roux ( ) is an English synthpop act formed in 2008 by singer Elly Jackson and record producer Ben Langmaid. The act's debut album '' La Roux'' (2009) was a critical and commercial success, winning a Grammy Award and producing hit singles su ...
, he has produced for and collaborated with the likes of
Kelis
Kelis Rogers-Mora (; born August 21, 1979), known mononymously as Kelis, is an American singer, songwriter and a professionally trained chef. At age 14, she was admitted to New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Perform ...
,
Miles Kane
Miles Peter Kane (born 17 March 1986) is an English musician, best known as a solo artist and the co-frontman of the Last Shadow Puppets. He was also the former frontman of the Rascals, before the band announced their break-up in August 2009. ...
, and
Chromeo
Chromeo is a Canadian electro-funk duo from Montreal, formed in 2002 by musicians David "Dave 1" Macklovitch and Patrick "P-Thugg" Gemayel. Their sound draws from blue-eyed soul, dance music, rock, synth-pop, disco and funk.
, the band has ...
, as well as
Katy B
Kathleen Anne Brien (born 8 May 1989), better known as Katy B, is an English singer and songwriter. She released her debut studio album, '' On a Mission'', in 2011, which spawned two top five hits, "Katy on a Mission" and " Lights On". In 2014 ...
and
John Legend
John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Eve ...
as part of Magnetic Man.
In response to his success, Jones launched his Skreamizm tour to offer himself a change of pace from arena and festival performances, opting to play three-hour sets in small clubs. These shows saw a greater incorporation of disco, house, and techno in his sets. His recent productions have increasingly veered away from dubstep into these various genres, seen in tracks such as "Sticky," "Bang That" and "Kreepin'". He has addressed the change in direction on his Twitter and in interviews, noting that he was inspired to do more varied sets by the likes of Jackmaster. In March 2013, he contributed a house mix to
Pete Tong
Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as ''Essential Mix'' and ''Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio stre ...
's All Gone Miami 2013 on
Defected Records
In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, changing sides in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, defection involves abandoning a person, ca ...
, a leading house label that releases yearly compilations dedicated to Miami and Ibiza.
Resident Advisor wrote that with the release, he gained "entry to one of the most established institutions in house music."
Discography
Solo albums
* ''
Skream!'' (2006)
* ''
Watch The Ride'' (2008)
* ''
Outside the Box
Thinking outside the box (also thinking out of the box or thinking beyond the box and, especially in Australia, thinking outside the square) is a metaphor that means to think differently, unconventionally, or from a new perspective. The phrase als ...
'' (2010)
With Magnetic Man
* ''
Magnetic Man
Magnetic Man is an English electronic music project from London, consisting of dubstep producers and DJs Benga, Skream and Artwork (previously known as Menta). The trio first met in the late 1990s at the Big Apple Records store in Croydon. ...
'' (2010)
References
External links
*
Skream's SoundCloud
{{Authority control
1986 births
Living people
People from Croydon
People from West Wickham
English electronic musicians
English record producers
Dubstep musicians
DJs from London
BBC Radio 1 presenters
Remixers
UK garage musicians
Musicians from Kent
Owsla artists
Electronic dance music DJs