John Crockett

Contact: workingunderneath@yahoo.com It was around 1985 when House Music came in from Chicago and hit NJ like a BOMB. EVERY club was playing house. Hip Hop was growing in the streets, but House was in the clubs. There were so many great clubs in NY/NJ with amazing DJ's that it was tough to decide where to go. I got a chance to hear the late greats like Tee Scott at Cheetah in Paterson, Larry Levan once in Studio 54 and Larry Patterson. Once in the early ninetees, I witnessed Frankie Knuckes, Sitoshie Tomiie, Danny Teneglia and Junior Vasquez- in the same line up. Insane. Through all of this, my writing was more or less present, but it never stopped. Now I was writing House tunes. I bought a Casio keyboard and tried my hand at house songs. I came up with some stuff, collaborated with some friends, but nothing ever materialized. Then, in 1989, I met Libby Jones in Zanzibar. She was an aspiring singer songwriter. We got to talking and we began collaborating with this small group in Orange NJ. That group contained a powerful male vocalist who turned out to be Chris McCray of Kerri Chandler fame and young, a fiery songwriter names Kris Flowers, who's gone onto to do a number of things from mamnagement at yellow Orange Records, to ThinkSoul to A&R at Tony Records. We worked together for awhile. We actually put on a few shows together at various spots around NJ, but the chemistry just wasn't there. Libby saw fit to introduce me to a crew that she was working with in Newark. It was Ace Mungin of Ace Beat Records. I knew the name well. I had a few Ace Beat records in my crate. I was really amped to meet him. Ace turned out to be this yoda-like guru of the House music business. In his camp were Jomanda, Intense, Charvoni... I mean, they were creating the Jersey Sound as I watched. It was fascinating. Ace listened to me play on the keyboard for a while and he agreed to let me sit in as a session player and work on some of my tracks as a junior producer. Initially, he paired me with producer Ben Rebel. Ben was a strange cat. Really bright, very kinetic, always moving and very technically gifted. Freakishly so. He would write the manufacturers of the various studio gear and make recommendations to them. He would sit in front of an Alessis MMT-8 sequencer and pull phantom MIDI notes out of thin air, point them to a device and play a composed track. Ben taught me what being a producer is all about. His lessons are the foundation of what I know as a producer. I grew as a music producer at Ace's on 6th Ave. I would go on to work with Nick Jones for a brief period before finally giving up production around 1994. The politics of the game had worn me down. I had yet to land a record deal and my frustration had gotten the best of me. I focussed on DJ'ing at that point. I played a party with Omar Abdallah in 1994 called 3AM behavior at the Mirage Bar in Newark. The turnout was very low, despite our efforts and we called it quits after about a month or so. I had a 2-year-old son by now and he needed my attention and my resources. So I walked away from music all together and got a regular job. By 1999, the itch to DJ was back and I couldn't scratch it hard enough. I compiled a huge amount of music on CD from all genres. I got myself a Gemini Dual CD deck and a mixer. I familiarized myself with mixing on CD's. It was just like pitch mixing on vinyl, so the transition was pretty simple. In 2001, I won a mix contest on the The Deep House Page. As a result, I met Charles Gatling. Charles was a DJ that played all over the world while in the military. Now at home, he played a few local spots regularly, like Loretta's and Club America in Newark. He also played a lot of mobile gigs. At the time, he had a residency at Club 1199 in Orange, NJ. He heard my DHP set and invited me to come out and play a guest spot with him. We became friends instantly. Weeks later, Charles mentioned that he was interested in getting into music production. I told him about my past experiences and associations and he was suprised. Not long after that conversation, in August of 2001, we formed Working Underneath to do our own productions. Thanks to Charles, I was back into songwriting and production. We worked on our sound for nearly two years. In 2003, we got our first record deal with Siesta Music (SM044 "I'm the Wind" (feat. Libby Jones) and "How Lucky We Are" (feat. Toni Bowens). We went on to get deals with Spacekat Records (UK), Phuture Sole Recordings (NJ) and we did one song as "jE'zus bAk'flip" called "Sushi Roll" with Undo (Gossip). In 2004, we launched our own label, "Haus' Flor Recordings " and at the same time I launched my own personal imprint, "Twirlspace Recordings ". In spring of 2006, I started "Stimuli Recordings ", to have a vehicle for more progressive/"big room" style projects. Then in May of 2006 I formed a new partnership with DJ's Master Kev and Dave "Vibes" Tobon. We decided to go by "MKDV feat. John Crockett". Our first single Twisted was a huge smash at the 2006 WMC. The buzz lasted well through the summer and the song was signed by Code Red Records and was officially released in Oct. 2006. Next, we remixed Ian Friday's "Carib's Leap" which was released in the spring of 2007 on West End Records. Our follow up to "Twisted" ("Hysteria") was also released in early 2007 by Code Red. Tony Humphries (Tony Records) released our "6:56" during the same period. I would have to say that I'm most proud our remix of Louie Vega/Sara Divine's "Special", which was released by Louie Vega on Vega Records. In late summer of 2006, Charles and I decided to close the chapter on Working Underneath and to transition the bulk of operations for Haus'Flor Recordings over to me to continue to run. We're still really good friends and we talk/Email/IM several times per week. We also plot and plan of sneaky comebacks... In summer of 2007, I licensed some of my Twirlspace tunes to House Afrika Records and Sheer Music, both of South Africa. These days, I write incessantly for Twirlspace, Haus'Flor and Stimuli Recordings. (Check them out on www.traxsource.com) . In Feb. of 2008, I collaborate regularly with DunnEasy (Ed Dunn/3 Degrees and Ethan White/Tortured Soul) on a number of remix projects. I have an orignal piece that I'm working on with Gene King (Toronto/Shines Recordings) and Rick Miranda (Noble Square). I also work frequently with Jersey Soul (Dave Lalla/Big Logan). My newest collaborative effort is with club DJ Stephen LaMorte. We'll be working on several remix and original projects during the coming months. I play out when I can, but not nearly enough, so BOOK me! I'm reasonable. Hahaha... Be well and thanks for taking time out to listen to and experience my vibe. Peace. John