Skream
Oliver Dene Jones (born 1 June 1986), known as Skream, is an English electronic music producer based in Croydon.[1] Skream has released records on several British record labels, such as Tempa, Tectonic, and Big Apple Records,[2] and has performed throughout Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, and Japan,[3] as well as the UK.[4] Skream is known as an early and influential architect of the dubstep genre.[5][6]
This article is about the dubstep producer. For his self-titled album, see Skream!
Skream
Oliver Dene Jones
1 June 1986
West Wickham, London, England
Croydon, South London, England
- Record producer
- DJ
- Music sequencer
- samplers
- drum machine
- personal computer
- turntables
2003–present
- Tempa
- Tectonic
- Disfigured Dubz
- Deep Medi Musik
- Owsla
- Nonplus
Skream and longtime collaborators Artwork and Benga co-founded a music group called Magnetic Man.[7] Their debut album, Magnetic Man was released in 2010.
Since 2013 Skream has primarily focused on House music and Disco.
Origins[edit]
Jones was born in West Wickham, Bromley, London.[8] As a teenager, he worked at Big Apple Records, a Croydon-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.[8] As a result of this encounter, Hatcha was the first DJ to play Skream dubplates.[1]
He began producing music at the age of 15,[8] (using FruityLoops)[1] and later claimed to have roughly 8,000 tracks in various stages of development.[9] 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.