D*Minds
Bristol born and bred; Distorted Minds is the story of two like minded individuals, Jon Midwinter and Alistair Vickery, coming together and living a dream. Over the last decade this dance music outfit have had a number of hit records across a number of..
Bristol born and bred; Distorted Minds is the story of two like minded individuals, Jon Midwinter and Alistair Vickery, coming together and living a dream. Over the last decade this dance music outfit have had a number of hit records across a number of prominent imprints including the likes of: Kaos (‘T-10’) Formation (‘Snuff Baby’ / ‘Warriors’), Break Beat Kaos (‘Give It To Me’) and there very own D-Style Recordings (‘Ouch’ / ‘Revolution’ / ‘Searching’).
The pair met through their shared obsession with dance music, hanging around the same records stores in and around Bristol including ‘Time Is Right’ and ‘Replay’ and bumping into each other at the same local nights and some times even at the same raves hundreds of miles away. By the time they decided to go into the studio together, both of them had a number of beats under their belts. The fact they were both already accomplished DJs meant that they both knew exactly what they wanted to make and it involved an oxymoron: clean distortion?
It wasn’t long before the outfit had something they were happy with: ‘Eventual’. To the guys delight the track received club support from the likes of Grooverider (BBC Radio 1) and Andy C which was shortly followed by a phone call from the renowned DJ and label owner SS who signed the track for his Hard Beats Incorporated imprint. This was the first of a number of Distorted Minds’ releases SS signed and released over the coming years including the anthems: ‘Snuff Baby’ and ‘Warriors’.
Their success was taken to another level with the release of their ground-breaking release featuring MC Jakes on Adam F’s Kaos Recordings: with ‘T-10’ the outfit achieved just about everything they had dreamed of from their bedroom studio just a few years ago both production and sales wise.
It wasn’t long before their time in the studio was broken up by a truly hectic DJ schedule, which literally took the pair all around the world, a lifestyle that continues today.
With this kind of success comes remix work and over the years the guys have put together some brilliant mixes, the best known being their remix of EZ Roller’s ‘Crowd Rocker’ which is actually used daily as a sound bed on Zane Lowe’s award winning BBC Radio 1 show.
At the turn of the millennium the pair decided it was time for them to start their own record label, as they were convinced that there was so much great music out there. D-Style and its sister label Stereotype were born and although all concerned were hesitant to begin with the labels have exceeded any expectations. Successful projects have included the innovative MC Series; which featured all of the industry’s best crowd connoisseurs including IC3, Foxy and Eksman. The series was also given the stamp of approval by the Adam F and DJ Fresh’s front-running Break Beat Kaos imprint, when they jointly released Distorted Minds collaboration with Skibadee titled ‘Give It To Me’ b/w ‘Stay Focused’. The last couple of yeas have seen D-Style forge it’s way into the premier league of drum’n’bass labels. High-flying releases such as their own ‘Searchin’ as well as TC’s ‘Jump’ and ‘Deep’ have received a whole host of positive press from around the world. Future plans include the highly anticipated ‘Evolution’ album from TC, a label compilation and artist albums from Distorted Minds and Jakes.
