biography

Craggz and Parallel Forces are no newcomers to the scene, working under various guises for the last 10 years. Their big break however came in 2004 with the massive summer anthem "Fizzy Piglets". Combining tight funk guitars with blistering beats and bass they hit the nail on the head and received huge DJ support across the board from the Drum & Bass scene to Radio 1 big hitters Zane Lowe and Annie Mac.

The trio were quickly snapped up by Valve Recordings and contributed no less than three tracks to the labels' "Spectrum" LP that same year, and soon after they relocated from Newcastle to London to begin work on their debut LP for Valve.

Although they had their work cut out for them they wasted no time in setting up their own label, "Product Recordings", to bridge the gap between Valve releases and to allow them to experiment with different styles. In the space of a year the label released three massive 12"s which all hit the top of the Drum & Bass charts. Tracks like "Flatfoot", "Red Octopus" and "Train track" showed their flexibility as producers and proved they were in no way one trick ponies.

Their next release for Valve, "Love Insane", was an instant success and saw the guys flexing their vocal chords with a mixture of uplifting pianos, big bad beats and bass nicely capturing the sound of summer once again. This track was CPF's first number 1 in the Drum & Bass charts, and went on to reach numbers 6 and 11 in the national dance and independent's charts respectively.

Amidst all of this the guys still found time to become one of the scene's busiest remix outfits; being commissioned to do no less than 13 remixes in an 18 month period, and working for some of biggest names, labels and artists such as Roni Size for V Recordings, Marky & XRS for Innerground, Total Science for C.I.A, London Elektricity for Hospital and Jenna G for Bingo to name but a few.

By the end of 2006 their debut long-player was nearing completion. Talk of a live project to showcase the album led to an invitation from 1Xtra to debut the band as part of their up coming Xtra Bass broadcast. Without a second's thought they agreed then realised they didn't even have a band yet! The next few months saw them immerse themselves in getting their live show up and running, calling upon the infamous Jungle Drummer, and enlisting Stamina MC and Deeizm for vocal duties who were more than happy to jump on board.

The 1Xtra gig went down a treat and led to a string of gigs both at home and abroad and an invitation to record a session for Radio 1 at the legendary Maida Vale studios. They were so happy with the results they decided to use their album to shine a light on the live project and included a second CD with live versions of five of the album tracks recorded in the studio and mixed by none other than Dillinja himself. The album "Northern Soul" was released on Valve Recordings at the end of 2006 and received rave reviews across the music press which saw it being coined as "the Drum & Bass equivalent of Nu Yorican Soul". The record also achieved album of the month in most dance music publications; it being placed at number 6 of IDJ's top 100 albums of the year chart, Mixmag hailing it as "exceptional" Drum & Bass along with many other plaudits.

With the album firmly tucked away under their belts, Craggz and Parallel Forces' focus for the immediate future has turned to expanding Product, which up until now had been solely for their own material.

The lads have also just completed a slew of other new tracks due for release on labels C.I.A, Critical, V Recordings aswell as Product over the coming months.

As DJs they continue to tour extensively, both nationally and internationally, having built a sold reputation for supplying hair-raising sets that take in all styles of Drum & Bass. In the UK they are regulars at leading events such as Valve and Hospitality, and have recently travelled as far afield as Japan to do their thing. Look out for CPF coming to a town near you soon!!