>> Finger Lickin’
bio: Finger Lickin' was set up in 1998 by Justin Rushmore and Jem Panufnik, and since then has firmly established itself as one of the leading independent leftfield dance labels in the world. Finger Lickin' have sold nearly 1 million records world-wide.
There remain few DJ's without at least one Finger Lickin' tune in their box! Support has came from the big DJ's across all genres of music: Pete Tong, Fat Boy Slim, Seb Fontaine, The Freestylers, Artful Dodger, Adam Freeland, Graham Gold, Tall Paul and even Sasha!
The Finger Lickin' offices are based in the heart of Camden at Vinyl Addiction/ Bar Vinyl, the first and only combined record shop, café and bar with DJ's every night.
Artists on the label include the mighty Plump DJ's, Soul of Man, Lee Coombs, The Drum-Attic Twins, 2 InDaBush, Freaky Jalapeno as well as working very closely with Krafty Kuts, and one off releases from Dreadzone, Osmosis, Criminal Element Orchestra and Arc- En-Ciel.
History
2005
The year starts in style: Breakspoll ’05 was a Finger Lickin’ gong-snatching sensation! The Plump DJs took three awards: Best Producer, Best Single (for Soul Vibrates/Bullet Train) and Best Remix (Freestylers – Push Up), Krafty Kuts won Best DJ and we won Best Label for the third year running!
Gigs-wise the Finger Lickin’ artists continued to spin the world over, from Japan to Dubai, St Petersburg to Rio, San Francisco to Sydney… There were multiple Eargasms at Fabric, plus we threw our massive Spring Break at the Key, raising over £6,000 for Oxfam’s work in Sudan and Tsunami relief (the Plumps’ acetates on e-bay raised £680 towards the same causes) - we then presented the cheque alongside Shut Up and Dance at the Make Poverty History Night at Herbal. There were huge record launch parties including the ever-so-kinky Saturday Night Lotion party at Rouge (complete with saucy nurses and rubbered-up dancers), Freshtraxxx opening the DM Ski Show alongside Snowbombing, and there were several trips to Ibiza over the summer for Judgement Sundays at Space, and of course the festivals:
Glastonbury kicked the season off with Soul of Man officially opening the world famous festival for Radio One, the new Dance Village area was awash with Plumpness and Kraftiness (also broadcast live on Radio One). Big Chill, Bestival, Tribal Gathering and the Glade had healthy doses of FLR DJs, the latter accompanied by stilt-walking KFC hat-wearing beauties…
The radio waves were a-buzzin’ with our crew this year: several DJ mixes for Pete Tong (with Krafty’s mix shortlisted as Best of the Year), Annie Nightingale (Plumps won Best Mix here!) and Triple J in Australia amongst many others, plus A. Skillz & Krafty’s Five Minute Mix for Annie Mac was voted (guess what?!) Best of the Year, beating Basement Jaxx, Mylo, Scratch Perverts, Lemon Jelly and DJ Yoda hands down! Soul of Man stood in for Tayo’s show twice on Kiss and, as well as the Plumps, co-presented with Annie Nightingale for her infamous world-wide breaks show…
Release-wise the year kicked off with the release of our 50th single – label founders Justin and Jem aka Soul of Man’s bullet (complete with Dylan Rhymes’ fierce and dark remix) Shake ‘Em Down was DJ Mag’s first Sure Player Tune of The Month this year. Next up was the last track to be taken from Lee Coomb’s massive album Breakfast of Champions released at the end of last year – Obsessional Rhythm, written with Andy “Plump” Gardner and backed by a pumping Atomic Hooligan remix was a Breaks & Beats Chart Number One. Azuli licensed another track from the LP, Shiver, with Tom Novy and Murk on remix duty. The track was to be remixed again by our very own Plumps who included it on their humungous Saturday Night Lotion semi-compilation alongside their own tracks The Rub Off and Acid Hustle, released as samplers for the upcoming album.
More Plump action followed with Get Kinky (with Pressure on the flip), and Slyde dropped We Love It and then Vibrate To This – both hugely chunky funky affairs, the latter featuring the vocal talents of Jamaica’s Lady Posh and sporting a rather racy Trouble Soup!! remix on the flip. Jem Stone &JC’s bullet Disco Daze was a Plump fave and found its way onto a compilation or two including Meat Katie’s FabricLive; a couple of tracks from A. Skillz & Krafty Kuts’ Tricka Technology album got the remix treatment from Fort Knox Five and Ed Funk, as did the Drumattics’ anthem Feelin’ Kinda Strange, re-jigged for ’05 by Australia’s leading breaksters Bass Kleph & Nick Thayer to devastating effect. The Twins also provided us with another Plump fave, Twister, which was snapped up by Sony Playstation for their new hand-held WipeOut Pure game - as well as the Plumps’ Blackjack which accompanied Dr. Dub, the next bombastic release from Saturday Night Lotion, followed swiftly by a limited edition juicy red vinyl pressing of Redshift.
Album-wise we gave you We Love It, mixed by Soul of Man and A. Skillz on mixing duty for Finger Lickin’ Presents Freshtraxxx, possibly our downright funkiest comp yet. And what’s this? The Plumps associating themselves with a revolutionary new fragrance said to enhance your pulling power? A wristband designed for clubbers that boosts your sexual attraction? Foul play at work it seems, as it turns out this revolutionary new product is in fact in the form of a heavyweight CD: Plump DJs present Saturday Night Lotion – eagerly awaited and certainly no disappointment – this megamix caused great sensation, with the likes of Soul of Man, Madox, Sole Claw and heaps of brand new Plumps material on board.
Changes at Finger Lickin’ Towers too with not only a brand-spanking new website (with the Finger Lickin’ Store selling music and merchandise direct), but also it was goodbye to Camden and onto pastures new in central London’s Great Portland Street to a swanky new office space.
2004 January saw SOUL OF MAN, DRUMATTIC TWINS, STEREO 8 and KRAFTY KUTS & A. SKILLZ living it up and delivering the goods in Australia, peaking with the latter duo's surprise appearance closing the proceedings at Sydney's FIELD DAY with special guest KURTIS BLOW on the mic in front of 22,000 ecstatic ravers. This was also the tail-end of Krafty's whopping 36-date tour that took him around America, Asia as well as Australasia. For the others (apart from Soul of Man) it was their first trip down under and they certainly left an impression. LEE COOMBS meanwhile returned to his spiritual home in San Francisco where the Breakfast of Champions seed was sown in an array of twisted costumes and porn movie sets.
February, and the ever-growing INTERNATIONAL BREAKSPOLL AWARDS was hosted at The Egg, where arms-full of trophies headed our way: For the second year running FINGER LICKIN' took the best label prize, PLUMP DJs won both Best Producer and Best Album for EARGASM, and sister-company VINYL ADDICTION won Best Breaks Retailer! A. SKILLZ & KRAFTY KUTS took to the road for a 17-date TRICKA TECHNOLOGY TOUR around the UK involving performers from the album including the likes of KURTIS BLOW, REAL ELEMENTS, ASHLEY "FREAKPOWER" SLATER and TC IZLAM, and the track SHORT BREATH taken from their highly acclaimed album was snatched up by Renault for their latest ad campaign. M stands for March, and MIAMI. where the infamous Winter Music Conference had a huge injection of breaks for the first time with Rennie and Biff's BREAKSDAY at the 3,000-capacity Maze Club, featuring a worldwide who's who of breaks including Soul of Man who also managed to do an interview with Annie Nightingale in a booze cupboard but remember very little about it.
A. Skillz & Krafty were again showcasing their scratch-tastic talents, this time at the invitation of Technics who chose our boys to showcase their exciting new CD mixer to the world. Once again Kurtis got on the mic and showed 'em that they don't make 'em like they used to, blowing the whole thing up into a massive party in the gorgeous palm-tree surroundings of the Surfcomber Hotel. Meanwhile the PLUMP DJs were traversing the country with their EARGASM TOUR, which covered ten cities reaching an estimated 12,000 happy clubbers. Special guests alongside the duo on the tour included Freq Nasty, Stanton Warriors, Hybrid and Meat Katie amongst others. And then we were five... Yes indeed - the biggest event on anyone's calendar was our FIFTH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS at the vast and beautiful Coronet in London: a no-expenses-spared extravaganza that saw every single Finger Lickin' artist perform under the same roof in the elegant surroundings of an art-deco disused grand cinema! The night kicked off in the main room with live shows from A. Skillz & Krafty and their Tricka Technology stars (with Kutis Blow flown in specially for the event!) and DREADZONE providing a legendary high-energy performance. The stage then gave way to monster DJ-sets courtesy of The Plumps, Coombsie and Soul of Man, the latter providing a mighty label retrospective, laying down the legacy of Finger Lickin' funk from the golden oldies to the present day. Meanwhile Slyde, Stereo 8, Brothers Bud and Jay "Flint" Chappel made damn sure the other rooms rocked hard, and The Drumattic Twins donned their SHADES OF RHYTHM hats for a truly historic re-visit to the days of rave. All that plus amazing visuals provided by Visual Toppings who brilliantly animated Jem's famous Finger Lickin' artwork on to huge screens around the auditorium. And I haven't even mentioned the lasers...
The FIFTH BIRTHDAY TOUR took to the road with large-scale events with the stars of Finger Lickin' at both Fabric and the Bristol Academy as well as a special Finger Lickin' Night on Annie Nightingale's show on Radio One. DJ Mag also marked the occasion by doing a special four-page piece on the label which revealed several amusing and previously unknown facts about our crew. Another great milestone of the year was in the form of FINGER LICKIN' THANG 3 - the third instalment of Finger Lickin' hits, once again in crazy packaging and providing the best nuggets of the last three years or so from all our artists. Needless to say they flew off the shelves and into the homes of hungry hordes all after bullets such as Funk Hits The Fan, Slippedy Slide, Groove Diggin' and the like, all mixed to perfection by label founders Soul of Man.
It was then a return to the festivals: Glastonbury, The Glade, Big Chill, Homelands, Tribal Gathering. was there anywhere without our mischievous lot running amok and playing their downright filthy grooves to the masses? Seems not! From the Plumps headlining Homelands live on Radio One to Soul of Man donning porkpie hats and ripping up the classics at Big Chill, festival fever hit a high this year and took some recovering, I can tell you.
A multitude of events this year too, with residencies at Audio in Brighton, The Terrace in Space, Ibiza, joining forces with Playtime at The Egg, London, and the Plumps hosting the infamous EARGASM nights at Fabric to name a few. The airwaves were also alight with the sound of Finger Lickin' with guest mixes and interviews on PETE TONG's Essential selection, Judge Jules, Ministry Radio, Kiss FM, XFM, Capital Radio and even the Plump ones sitting in for Annie Nightingale for a whole night of silliness. Around the world or jocks toured, taking in China, Argentina, Australia, the States, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Japan, Holland, Singapore, Canada, France, Italy, Russia and Scotland to name just a few, and once again our Plump friends made it into the DJ MAG TOP 100 DJs at a healthy number 53 as one of only three breaks DJs in the whole chart. And of course the music. Drumattics' LE FUNKY and ROCK STEADY, Lee Coombs' ALRIGHT ALL NIGHT/DUBHEAD, his mixes for New Order and Oakenfold, plus Slyde's KRUNK and THAT'S IT all made it into DJ Mag's BEST BREAKS OF '04 chart, with Plump DJs' CREEPSHOW (with fearsome Soul of Man and Freestylers remixes) sitting firmly at number one.
Album-wise, Lee Coombs turned heads with his acid-tinged BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS which saw him collaborate with a multitude of big-name producers. Stereo 8 proved their remixing worth by turning out an epic version of ORBITAL's PERFECT SUNRISE which even had SASHA ringing the label to sing its praises. Soul of Man were handed the Y4K baton, who grabbed it running and turned out a stunning mix which went on to become DJ Mag's Compilation of the Month and voted one of the best compilations of 2004. A re-run of our back-catalogue featuring tracks not available for several years came and went in record speed. Technology caught up with us too with Finger Lickin' tracks available to download as MP3s and ringtones on the internet for the first time.
2003 That Finger Lickin' word just keeps spreadin'…
Our extremely hard-working artists and DJs continued to churn out the hits and travelling the world to bring their funky message to the masses: Japan, Australia, Hungary, Poland, Spain, France, Thailand, China, United Arab Emirates, America, Canada, Germany, Taiwan, Italy, Belgium, Holland, New Zealand, Singapore - you name it: SOMEONE from Finger Lickin' Records has rocked the joint there this year! A big year for releases, with major chart action all the way: Two big album projects in the form of the highly-anticipated Plump DJs longplayer "Eargasm", and A. Skillz & Krafty Kuts' funktastic "Tricka Technology" - both amazingly well received, winning rave reviews and both singled out in Mixmag and DJ Mag's top 10 albums of the year. "Eargasm" is also included in Virgin's "Best of British" campaign - a selection of 80 of the UK's finest musical moments which also includes legends such as Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Oasis and the Beatles.
Singles-wise FLR continued to dominate charts and record boxes, with no less than six Breaks & Beats Chart number ones and some exciting collaborations from the likes of Gary Numan (on Plump DJs "Pray For You") and Kurtis Blow (on A. Skillz and Krafty's "Gimme The Breaks") and also FLR introduces Slyde and Brothers Bud to the world.. Strong support for the label continued to come from the usual breaks suspects, but interestingly more of a diverse selection of DJs as varied as Fergie, Groove Armada, Seb Fontaine, Timo Maas, Pete Tong and Orbital have been caught spinning Finger Lickin' tracks or giving them praise… Seems like the genre is stepping over boundaries more this year - although apparently not when you study the results of DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs of 2004 where you would be forgiven for thinking trance was the new techno (or is it the other way round?) - only a very light smattering of breaks DJs were in there, which made the Plumps' highly respectable slot at number 37 all the more impressive, with Krafty and Soul of Man also snugly inside the next 150.
Finger Lickin' is also voted Best Label in the Breakspoll Awards, and Krafty Kuts won Best International DJ in the Australian Dance Music Awards.
It was a great year for festivals, and you would be hard-pushed to find one without at least one of our lot getting into the spirit of things: from the hippy delights and northern lights of Shambhala in Canada, to rocktastic fantastic Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, to perhaps the mother of all festivals: Glastonbury, where Krafty and Adam, Soul of Man and Plump DJs not only played to a packed-out 7,000 capacity Dance Tent, but also had their sets broadcast to the nation on BBC Radio 1… Coombsie found his spiritual home in the Glade sending them to tribal fits and Stereo 8 caused the usual mayhem hosting the backstage area. A messy summer it was…
Weekly shindig FINGER LICKIN' THURSDAYS kicked off at Bar Vinyl where normally big-room DJs and labels brought their wares to the more intimate Camden bar surroundings: Dreadzone, Atomic Hooligan, Hyper, Tayo, Rat Records, 2 Sinners, Whole 9 Yards, TCR, Barry Ashworth and a whole host of others kept the drinks pouring and punters grooving…
2002 Drumattic Twins' single 'Thinking About You' kick starts the year, receiving regular airplay on Radio 1 (Boy George & Judge Jules). The hugely anticipated new Plump DJs release is Big Groovy Fucker from PlayStation 2's Wipeout Fusion as it finally sees a vinyl release, while TB Reality is a Kicking Cut for Graham Gold and already a big fave with Norman Cook.
Dirty Waltzer/ Get It Girls: Finger Lickin' celebrate their 30th release with a fierce AA12" by label bosses and dirty break housers Soul Of Man, shortly after their remix of Fluke's Absurd hits the DJ Beats Chart at #6). Drumattic Twins are going places with their imminent album release and their 2 album samplers receive plaudits from Pete Tong, Meat Katie, Stanton Warriors and Groove Armada and enters the Radio One Dance top 40. They play the Glade at Glastonbury Festival and star in the Retro Arena at Homelands as their former identity Shades of Rhythm.
The Drumattic Twins album, 'Drumattical', is already garnering considerable column inches across the print and internet music press. Lee Coombs is creating a unique mix album for the first of the new Perfecto Breaks series of albums. This involves making exclusive versions of old records, including Jam the Mace by Kenny Dope and Bam Bam's 'Give It To Me' plus new tracks including two he's written with Meat Katie. Krafty Kuts' is working on the Finger Lickin' Funk album with talented young musician A Skillz, and other notable collaborators. See the releases section on the news page for more details of upcoming releases.
2001 The profile of all the artists explodes.
The Plumps are nominated for more or less every award going, almost making the Mercury Prize shortlist, and they continue to win thousands of fans across the world.
The album from Lee Coombs, "The Future Sound of Retro" wins massive critical acclaim, as he becomes the producer's producer and brings remix offers flying in. That includes his awesome version of 'Crystal' by New Order (#1 on Muzik's Tunes Of The Year covermount CD) which is duly followed up by a request to DJ at their album launch party at Cream in Liverpool.
There were single releases from all the usual suspects: Lee Coombs, Soul of Man and Arc-En-Ciel, plus an e.p. from new subsidiary label Finger Lickin' Funk showcasing the talents of Krafty Kuts and friends. Towards the end of the year Krafty Kuts' 'Ill Type Sound' gets licensed to Coca Cola for TV ad break bumpers on the UK Premiership football. Plump DJs are nominated for two Muzik magazine awards and DJ at the award show with Sasha and Carl Cox (televised in the UK). The Drumattic Twins remix Mike Monday 'You Can't Play Bass' on Whoop Records. Plump DJs support Orbital on their two UK tours, with Lee Coombs joining them on the final date at Brixton Academy. Soul of Man remix the classic 'Absurd' by Fluke for Virgin records. The Plump DJs track 'Big Groovy Fucker' is used on the Playstation 2 version of Wipeout Fusion alongside two remixes they did for BT and Orbital, and the boys appear in promotions for the game.
And of course the second 'Finger Lickin' Thang!' compilation is unleashed, supported by a hugely successful UK tour. It culminates in a massive13,000 strong label party in Sydney, Australia with Soul Of Man, Plump DJs, Krafty Kuts and Jessica Joy.
2000 Plumps go off, Lee Coombs wows San Francisco, Soul of Man go large in Australia, what more could you ask for?
Plump DJs released their critically acclaimed album "A Plump Night Out" which went on to win many 'Best Of….' awards, including Pete Tong's 'Best Breakbeat Album', Timeout and Mixmag's breaks album of the year. Support for the label steps up more than a few gears. The Plumps get an essential tune on Radio One.
Lee Coombs also continues to be a regular feature on national Radio One with Future Sound of Retro used as a soundbed for 12 weeks! Tong was even quoted to say that "If the Essential show had an in house orchestra it would be Lee Coombs!".
1999 Finger Lickin' sees regular national radio support from Pete Tong and is voted 6th best Beats label for '99.
"It's a Finger Lickin' Sampler", taken from the first compilation, gets voted No.3 release of the year in the DJ magazine Beats & Breaks chart. Soul of Man are voted 15th best remixer of the year and overall Finger Lickin' lands at 12th best new label to hit the scene in last 5 years!!
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