With an enviable background playing across the world for the some of the most renowned superclubs, and a discography as diverse as their DJ sets, Andi Durrant and Nick Riley are heading into summer 07 as some of the hottest property in UK dance music.
Riley & Durrant met behind the turntables at the notorious Gatecrasher in Sheffield and despite a slightly hostile first meeting the boys quickly formed a strong partnership. Andi already presented 2 of the highest rated specialist radio shows in the UK on the Galaxy Network, and after promoting some hugely successful nights at University, Nick had spent the last couple of years DJing from Japan to New York on Gatecrashers world tours.
In 2004 the boys launched their own Nu Breed radio show - a showcase for the underground, unsigned and unheard, and helped launch the careers of some of Britains most exciting new electronic talent. Alongside Andi's other 2 programs (Galaxy’s flagship Saturday “Warmup” show and the Big Night In), and their worldwide syndicated Nu Breed Global program, Riley & Durrant reach more than half a million people a week.
A full DJ diary sees the boys playing across the world from Russia, Asia, Europe and the USA. They regularly rock clubs like Cream, Godskitchen, Slinky, Passion, Goodgreef, Judgement Sunday and Gatecrasher and their diverse musical style means you’ll see them playing alongside Tiesto, Van Dyk and Sasha as often as Morillo, Prydz and Tong. They’ve played 20,000 strong arena sets from Manchester to Siberia and St Petersberg, and rocked festivals including Creamfields, HiFi and Fort Dance.
Both have a strong musical background (trained in piano, guitar, keyboards, violin and drums) and early on decided to start making their own productions. Working out of a tiny bedroom studio in Andi's flat, their first track “Candesco” became a true trance anthem and was picked up by Tiesto as the highlight to his first In Concert event in 2003. The remixes came flooding in over the next couple of years with production work for artist as diverse as Way Out West, Armin Van Buuren and Sinead O’Connor. They were also asked to write music for television shows and documentaries for Sky and ITV.
Last year Andi and Nick took the decision to step back from the remix work and take time out to concentrate on creating their own genre-defying sound. Stripping their sound back to basics, the boys spent the whole of 2006 locked in the studio writing their debut artist album “Research & Development”. They teamed up with some hot singers, writers, musicians and engineers from scenes as varied as folk, indie, rock, house, minimal, trance and electro. It’s impossible to pigeonhole the 12 tracks that make up the album, with some far ranging influences giving a more grown up sound. It’s the same combination of electronic beats, big basslines, melancholic vocals, guitars, synths and strings that you’ll hear in a Riley & Durrant DJ set, but carefully brought together to create something that works as well in the club as it does on a Sunday afternoon.
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