Being into drum & bass from when it was in its infancy, and the so-called golden era between 97-99, you would have been lucky to experience the output of the behemoth Bad Company UK.
A talented quartet consisting of D Bridge & Maldini (Future Forces) + Fresh & Vegas, they tore the scene a new one with their brand of uncompromising, relentless drum & bass with albums such as the much acclaimed ‘Inside the Machine’, ‘Digital Nation’, ‘The Book of the Bad’ and ‘Shotdown on Safari’, plus the countless remixes and singles for some of the biggest labels in the scene: Ram, Virus, Prototype and their own Bad Company Recordings.
As the years rolled by they started concentrating on solo projects and before you knew it they were gone… until last year that is! Rumours were abound of a remix LP which still hasn’t seen the light of day, which most people though was the precursor to new material from the quartet; then all of a sudden Ram go an announce that they have signed an exclusive deal with the drum & bass legends. After the devastating release of ‘Equilibrium/Nomad’ and their remix of The Prodigy, we were presented two quick fire releases – ‘Tetris’ and the one that was released this week, ‘Primal Fire’.
I really do love this tune; I heard Andy C batter this during his XOYO residency and do some very naughty mixes with is that absolutely slayed the crowd. Months went by searching away on Google trying to find who had come up with this gem; my searches brought a big fat nothing. I kinda gave up until I heard it on radio last week. I’m was absolutely taken back that it was another Bad Company release and to be honest I should have known with the trademark atmospherics, crunchy and weighty drums, coupled with the haunting vocal by Sitka. I for one am glad they haven’t deviated much from the sound I grew up with and I hope this sees a vinyl release. People will always moan about artists not trying something different, but when they do those same people moan again.
I’m very glad that they reformed and are bringing their sound to a new generation; the newer drum & bass fans need to experience what Bad Company were about and how to put funk and soul and feeling in tunes on the harder scale of the spectrum.
Now if only we could get Ram Trilogy to reform…
Update!!
Confirmed by Ram,this will see a vinyl release – Primal Fire/Tetris; release date tbc!
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