I was brought up in the valleys of Monmouthshire. If you’ve seen the film Twin Town you can picture the scene – bonged up bored teenagers whipping round country roads in souped up fiestas with alloy wheels. The soundtrack for such shenanigans in the early 90’s was of course drum n bass. Being a good middle class boy I veered towards the ‘intelligent’ end of the spectrum personified by PFM and LTJ Bukem, dipping into Goldie and his Metalheadz and later of course Roni Size, Die and Suv and the Bristol crew...
My younger brother and his mates had what I considered less sophisticated taste – preferring the happy hardcore sound and the drum n bass records that evolved out of that scene. These records had harder edges and I would spend many a stoned day sat starry eyed in a mate’s caravan listening to spotty young lads ripping the cross fader across a cheap mixer and belt drive decks.
There was however, one record they played which really caught my attention. It had a spooky Tubular Bells type sample and a massive farty bassline which I just couldn’t get enough of. I soon discovered that the song was Hype the Funk by EPS and 2-vybe released on Urban Takeover Records. I knew the label already. Urban Takeover was run my Mickey Finn and Aphrodite and was defined by its heavy basslines and catchy grooves. The b-side of the 12 inch white label featured a hip hop tempo tune called Bigtime which was also great – I had to know more about this mysterious duo...
The song increasingly became a favourite and has been a staple in my record box ever since – despite being 15 years old. whenever I play Hype the Funk the room goes off – increasingly I’ve wanted to know more about it and how it came about and have scoured the web trying to track EPS and 2 Vybe down. I’ve emailed the label – no reply. I’ve emailed a man who claims to be the son of EPS who I tracked down via Youtube but as yet I’m yet to make direct contact. I know Mark and Tim are from Basingstoke and they like a bit of garage and RnB (although I suspect this might have been written a few years ago given that no-one nowadays admits to liking garage and RnB!). My quest goes on – and one day I will find you gents – until then I will simply share the record you made that had such an impact on me with others, some of whom won’t get it, some of whom will think it a bloody racket and just one or two of whom will think it a boss tune!
The embedding is disabled on youtube but simply type 'Hype the Funk' and you can have a listen...
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