Subtle Audio : Artists : Senses

Born in Germany, Sandy moved to Scotland at the age of 7. He spent his formative years in growing up in Livingston, which he describes as "pretty rough, but I was always quiet, so I managed to stay out of any serious trouble, not like most of the people I was at school with – they’re now either addicts or in jail!" Surrounded by a diverse range of music from an early age, from jazz to soul to classical, Sandy immediately started buying hip hop when it began to become available – things like BDP, De La Soul and Public Enemy – "something about the music just connected with me," he states.

Then came the advent of rave. Aged 15, Sandy sneaked into an all night rave: "It was crazy, people were just so friendly and the vibe was completely different to anything I had ever experienced. Also, the music. Acid house interested me, as it was instrumental, like so much of the jazz I loved. So I started going out on a regular basis, and when I saw Derrick May play out in about 1991 I decided I wanted to be a DJ. In those days, everything was so fresh and I wanted to live it, be a part of it. It felt subversive and it felt like something that I could identify with."

When Sandy started DJing, he always chose the tunes that had breakbeats in them, the ones that developed into jungle later on. "It was just a natural development to my taste – it was evolutionary!" By the time he was 17, Sandy was picking up bookings for raves like Awesome101 and Phantasia – the Scottish Fantazia. His stature within the Scottish scene grew, with residencies at Awesome 101's weekly club (circa 92–93), and at Timeless Recordings’ night at the SubClub in Glasgow by 1995. Sandy also formed part of the DJ backbone of the legendary Edinburgh club night, Manga.


Three years ago, Sandy made the almost inevitable step into production. "I always wanted to make music, at school I learned to play the oboe, but never really got much encouragement. But it was like an itch, and so eventually I got a loan and bought some equipment, and tried to work out what button did what!" Having spent such a long time frustrated at being unable to express himself musically, Sandy spends a large chunk of time in the studio – as he states, "Just ask my wife, she hardly sees me nowadays!" On hearing one of Sandy’s tunes, Luke at TechGroove suggested that he send the tune to Chris Inperspective, knowing it would be right up Chris’s street. Over the course of the next couple of months, Chris and Sandy chatted on the phone and, when Sandy eventually sent Chris the tune, Chris signed it immediately, thereby starting the Inperspective connection.

Taking influences from many varied sources, he describes how he comes up with his ideas – "sometimes it’s something I see, or sounds I hear – often when I watch a movie a thousand ideas get triggered. Recently, I have been travelling quite a bit and some of the things I have seen have moved me to write music. The hook to St Germaine I came up with whilst walking down the street in Paris! Darker Self was inspired by a Lalo Schifrin tune – the screeching tyres and eerie strings reflect a soundtrack kinda vibe. Babylon draws influences from the one and only King Tubby - the vocal is looped to make you feel like you are being constantly pressured, which is how Babylon makes you feel – the constant watching eyes of Big Brother and the tyranny of the media hell bent on stripping us of our humanity and dumbing us down to the point of pure apathy!"