Ed Rush is one of the current leaders of the new school drum and bass. One of the originators to bring back the dark sounds of drum and bass and push it to new levels, Ed Rush continues to make waves with each new release. Born in west London, Ed Rush originally started out into Hip Hop and electro but eventually found the growing underground rave scene. Fascinated by the breaks in the hardcore sounds at the time, Ed Rush convinced his neighbor, Nico Sykes, to let him produce tracks with him.
The greatest collaboration was ahead of him though, when he teamed up with Optical. They created their own label, Virus, and their first release was “Medicine/Punchbag,” Their eventual LP, Wormhole in 1998, was released to critical and underground
success, and is regarded as a genre classic, as the sounds from that album again redefined the direction drum and bass was headed, and solidified their status as the forerunners of the new sound of drum and bass.
Optical is the pseudonym of Matt Quinn, a renowned drum and bass producer and DJ from England. He is best known for his work with Ed Rush, fellow head of the Virus Recordings label, and as a pioneer of the techstep and neurofunk sound. His first single for Metalheadz, ‘To Shape the Future’/'Raging Calm’ (1997) and his collaborative material with Ed Rush, such as the Wormhole, album (1998) were archetypal developments in the style. The duo followed this debut album with The Creeps (2000) and The Original Doctor Shade (2003), as well as countless singles and remixes.
More recently, after a slew of other releases, Ed Rush and Optical have released another genre-defining LP, the Creeps. This was again met with critical and commercial success, as the album helped them to win Knowledge drum and bass award for producers of the year. Look out for the eagerly anticipated forth-coming album Chameleon.
