2 Bad Mice
Encyclopedia
2 Bad Mice formed in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in 1991, and was composed of Sean O'Keeffe, Simon Colebrooke, and Rob Playford, the latter the owner of the Moving Shadow
Moving Shadow
Moving Shadow was a UK-based jungle/drum and bass record label that was started in 1990 by Rob Playford. Alongside such labels as Suburban Base, Formation Records, D-Zone, Reinforced, and Metalheadz, Moving Shadow grew to become one of the best-regarded and longest-lived labels in its genre,...

 record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

. 2 Bad Mice were credited as among the first UK hardcore
Hardcore techno
Hardcore techno is a type of electronic music typified by the rhythmic use of distorted and atonal industrial-like beats and samples...

 acts to begin incorporating breakbeats
Break (music)
In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece....

 into their style. They were a staple on the early to mid 1990s hardcore scene, and were instrumental in the music's steady mutation into jungle
Oldschool jungle
Jungle is a genre of electronic music that incorporates influences from genres including breakbeat hardcore, and reggae/dub/dancehall. There is debate as to whether jungle is a separate genre from drum and bass as many use the terms interchangeably...

/drum and bass
Drum and bass
Drum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...

.

History

The group's influential approach to sampled
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...

 beats, cutting them up into shards of rhythm and rearranging them in novel combinations (first appearing in mature form on the 1992 hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...

 "Bombscare
Bombscare
Bombscare is the most popular track from the 1992 album Hold It Down by 2 Bad Mice. It is a Hardcore / Breakbeat style electronic piece....

"), is generally considered the blueprint from which jungle's characteristic manipulation of breaks was assembled.

Their two UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 successes were "Hold It Down" which reached number 48 in February 1992, and "Bombscare" which reached number 46 in September 1996.

Although 2 Bad Mice for the most part stopped producing as the hardcore scene began to wane, a best-of compilation of the group's work appeared on the American Sm:)e Communications label in 1995. Playford continues to record as under the alias Timecode
Timecode (DJ)
Timecode, real name Rob Playford, is a UK drum and bass DJ, producer and record label owner.-Biography:He is best known as founder of Moving Shadow—one of the biggest record labels in the drum and bass scene named Moving Shadow, formed in 1990—and as engineer and producer for Goldie on...

, while O'Keeffe records under the name Deep Blue
Deep Blue (musician)
Deep Blue is the alias of electronic and drum and bass musician, Sean O'Keeffe.O'Keeffe started producing music in 1991 with the hardcore band 2 Bad Mice, co-writing their hit, "Bombscare"...

 and as a member of Black Rain.

Bombscare 1994

In 1994 DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

 and producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 Paul Rhodes alongside Rob Haigh (Omni Trio) remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....

ed "Bombscare" under the nom de plume of The Parliament Squares. This record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 was sold to record shop
Record shop
A record shop or record store is an outlet that sells recorded music. Although vinyl records and audio cassettes are no longer sold in the majority of music stores, in favour of compact discs and home video recordings products, people in some countries, like the UK, still use the term "record...

s as a (fake) U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 import and sold 3,000 copies in one week alone.

A new label was created in 1996 with the help of Terry Donavan (A&R
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...

 at Arista Records
Arista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...

, now CEO at Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games is a major video game developer and publisher based in New York City, owned by Take-Two Interactive following its purchase of UK video game publisher BMG Interactive. The brand is mostly known for Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, L.A...

). This label, Moshed (MOving Shadow HousE Dept), carried the new mixes from Tall Paul, DJ Sneak
DJ Sneak
DJ Sneak is a Puerto Rican house music DJ and producer raised in Chicago, Illinois. He is noted as being one of the second wave of Chicago house producers, as well as a member of the vanguard of late-1990s United States house producers.-Biography:In 1983, Sneak moved to the city...

, and Graham Gold along with the original and Parliament Squares versions. Rhodes went on to front the press and promo campaign, touring with the other new member Brucella.

O'Keeffe, Colebrooke and Rhodes currently DJ worldwide as 2 Bad Mice, whilst also promoting their own old-school events with many of the original innovators of the scene.

External links

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