Smart E's
| Luna-C | |
|---|---|
DJ Luna-C live at Back To The Future
Nashua, NH - December 1, 2001 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Christopher Howell |
| Also known as | Cru-L-T The Timespan Eko Garion Fey DJ Psycangle |
| Born |
May 1, 1973 Isleworth, London, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | DJ, producer |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Labels | Kniteforce Records KFA |
| Associated acts | Jimmy J & Cru-L-T Future Primitive The Trip 2 Croozin 2 Xperience Toxic Avengers |
| Website | www.kniteforcerevolution.com |
Luna-C (born Christopher Howell, 1 May 1973) is a British DJ and record producer, known for his work in breakbeat hardcore music. He made up a third of the rave group Smart E's in 1992, which had a number 2 hit in the UK Singles Chart with a remix of the Sesame Street theme song ("Sesame's Treet"). He founded the Kniteforce Records in 1992, for which he produced tracks and remixes, under a number of aliases. The label was sold in 1997 but resurrected as Kniteforce Again (KFA) in 2001.
Howell grew up with hip-hop music and DJ'd in his spare time. He went to the hardcore club Labyrinth in 1990. He soon began buying hardcore music where he met fellow record buyer Tom Orton. Orton DJ'd as "Mr. Tom" and helped run a weeknight rave called "Ultimatum". Howell began DJing alongside Orton at these events.
A local record shop, Boogie Times, had its own record label, Suburban Base, and after talking to the shop owners, Howell and Orton decided to make a record. Orton's friend, Nick Arnold, who had his own studio and had some experience in music production. The three of them decided on the name Smart E's and set about making a tune.
The first tune Smart E's released was on Boogie Times Records, an offshoot of the parent label Suburban Base Records, and was called "Bogus Adventure". It was a simple hardcore track that featured samples from the film Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. It only sold a few hundred copies, which wasn't unusual for a first release on a small hardcore imprint. The group then produced a track sampling the theme from Sesame Street entitled "Sesame's Treet". At the time, many hardcore tracks sampled what could be considered silly things, and as Chris recalls, "[T]he hardcore scene had a sense of humour". By this time, the Boogie Times Records label was no longer used, so this track would appear on Suburban Base Records. A number of promos were pressed and, quite unexpectedly for the Essex trio, interest in the record skyrocketed. Steve Jackson hosted a house music show on London radio station Kiss FM, and began playing the record every day. Suburban Base and Smart E's saw an opportunity and realised that the record had the potential to be a big seller. They drafted Steve Jackson to do a remix for the main release of the record. The record was being played at all the raves and on all the pirate radio stations (which were the main channel for hardcore music being played on the air—the commercial stations, other than a select few like Kiss FM, chose to ignore underground dance music entirely). The number of copies of the record requested by the distributor shot up from 1,000 to 10,000 to 50,000. When the record was finally released it reached No. 2 in the UK pop charts, which at the time was the highest debut single entry ever.
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