Welcome to my ‘Nick Byng’ Blog pages.

I hope to make this a one-stop-shop for my writing and general artistry type ’stuff’. I’m not particularly comfortable with self promotion (especially on the net), but such is the world these days, if you don’t help yourself, no one else will. I will try to keep these pages informative and interesting, if anything, it will be helpful personally to use this as a ‘hub’ for my online projects.

Pirate Radio & Analog Synths

Born in Birmingham, and raised between the city and the shires, I’ve been immersed in music from a very early age. Having an older brother and sister really helped me out musically. 

In 1987, my older brother (Ken) bought me a Sanyo twin-cassette portable radio with a very powerful receiver. That Christmas I remember tuning into strange radio stations that sounded unprofessional but played the kind of music my brother used to blast out from his bedroom. I was listening to pirate radio broadcasts mainly from the West Midlands but as far afield as Manchester and London. Music styles ranged from the weird bleeps and squelches of acid house and techno, to the heavy bass lines of dub reggae, from the indie bands synonymous with “baggy” to rare grooves, jazz, funk, soul and hip hop. I was an avid John Peel listener too, I was there, sitting in a cold room at night with my finger on the record button, waiting for the first airing of ‘Jenifer’ by De La Soul and ‘Voodoo Ray’ by A Guy Called Gerald. 

I helped out with my brother’s hip hop mash-up tapes, which he would write and rhyme raps over, utilising a £1.99 Commodore 64 drum programme and a Casio SK1 keyboard. My brother and parents bought me a ‘budget’ Boss DR Rhythm drum machine in 1990, and that pretty much clinched the deal. I later invested in some old analog synths and discovered a new world of tangled up audio cables, midi messages and working out how I could change keyboard presets to make space age techno sounds.

Rockfield Studios & Demo Tapes

I left school in 1991 with my first job working as a trainee Tape Operator at Rockfield Recording Studios. The band I started with were the Charlatans, making tea and setting up microphone stands for the likes of  Tim Burgess and ‘U2′ producer ‘FLUD’. I worked with many bands at Rockfield, such as Black Sabbath, XTC, Pop Will Eat Itself and The Damned.

During the early 1990’s I was producing dance music tracks, having my music played on BRMB at the age of seventeen. I helped my brother and his friends with an outdoor rave in the Royal Forrest Of Dean in 1991, hosted a pirate radio broadcast on Exile FM and had several near-miss record contracts with DJ-SS and Tony Devit to name but a few. Sending off demo tapes was a monthly event which took me to meetings where I would sit face-to-face with record bosses as the cassette began to play. I enjoyed the buzz and invested every penny in music equipment.

Around this time I called a Dudley telephone number printed on the back of a ‘rave’ white label record I had just bought to show my appreciation, this turned out to be ’Sam’; now a good friend and producer for Snorkie tracks.

My first vinyl pressing was with House Of Naughty (a house music label run by super club ‘Wobble’) but this was not released. By 1996 I had gone down the DIY route and secured funding for my first white label release which subsequently lead me to my first official record deal on D*Fusion in London. I later spent many hours in Paul Weller’s East End studios, with people such as Shola Amor milling around. I should add that even by this time, I had sent out literally dozens of demo cassettes to recod labels, and spent a small fortune following up with telephone calls.

Snorkie Goes Global.

1998 was a good year, but following my heart, I packed in my day job, sold up my studio in a week, and backpacked from east to west across Canada. Upon my return I  bought back my equipment and tentatively fired things up again. Since this time, I have been producing/releasing new material with some rewarding moments, using sample loops, keyboards, vocalists and live musicians when possible.

Recent successes have included having my music used by Fat Boy Slim, Manchester United using a track for their ’Ball Skills’ DVD and BBC Radio playlisting Snorkie tracks. The last release has been played on stations across the globe from New York to Japan.I have also promoted and worked as a DJ in several bars… run and managed two record stores, written articles for the BBC (as a hobby) and have taken a keen interest in photography and graphic design. I have always fitted this in around a day job, and to be honest, I prefer the continuity and benefits of throwing myself into full time work, a chance to switch the amp off for a few hours of the day. I still make music for the love of it.

I owe an awful lot to various people who continue to inspire and help me out such as: my brother, Sam, various DJs and musician friends…  in my spare time you can usually find me with my nose in a record store or talking about, well… music basically.

Nick aka Snorkie