Dave THE RUF Davies has recorded over 30 releases including 11 albums as JEEP BEAT COLLECTIVE (his unique scratch/ cut n paste outfit) and MINDBOMB (his funky outspoken vocal outfit) he has also released 3 mix albums and put together 3 British hip hop comps as well as released a fine array of UK talent. RUFMOUTH is one of the best performers and speakers within the British music scene who hopes for a time when all music is free and people live off their skills in a real peaceful society. He has performed at 100’s of shows and Dj gigs from UK Fresh 97 to The End, from the Hacienda to The Cork Opera House, from Grimsby to Italy, from attics and basements to huge rave’s. Although he operates within hip hop , his unique brand seems to find favour with eclectic music tastes which is reflected in his often eclectic DJ sets RUFMOUTH is a unique one man hip hop army / eclectic beatfreak who works, writes and lives as a freedom loving MC, party wrecking DJ, producer, lecturer, promoter, label owner, and operates entirely on his own against the many forces of evil stopping us from creating our heaven on earth instead of this depraved, evil, lying, mediocre world that’s been shaken and stirred for us by our so called leaders. The following is merely a brief glimpse of his recent past to present, and he hopes to meet you in the future…. So get in touch and feel the force of freedom erupting from one of the freshest voices in the wilderness. RUF BEATS is just me, little me, but check out a bit around the site and you’ll realise how much, I’ve achieved against staggering odds amidst discrimination and apathy and you know what.. I’m only just getting warmed up… the real thing starts now! Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away… oh shit, that’s bleedin’ Star Wars and this is a little (but very important in the cosmic scheme) green water planet its people call earth… hmm let’s restart this…. Dave Davies was named RUFMOUTH by Roy Coleman the deputy headmaster (rip) at his local Grammar school in Altrincham, Cheshire in the mid 80’s thanks to his rare gift for standing up against several seedy teachers. At the school his friend Jay used to bring in a cassette deck blasting out the likes of Mantronix, Just Ice, Run DMC, all the Streetwave Electro and Hip Hop series, Schooly D, Marley Marl, early Public Enemy, Eric B and Rakim and all the golden era dope material. Within a year or two Rufmouth had stopped writing poems and songs and was now constructing rhymes … soon to be followed by him expanding very tentatively into self taught production on basic equipment. As he went from school to college to the obligatory tedious British 9-5 life programme (get a job, get a car, get a girl, get a wife, get a home, get a baby…. Etc) he continued to experiment with decks, 4 tracks, drum machines and snyths until he felt he had a firm grip on hip hop what it meant and its history. He slurped in all elements of the culture and history, helped by weekly shows by Manc Radio Pioneers Stu Allan and Leaky Fresh and went to any jams he could PE, Run DMC, Beasties, Eric B & Rakim, Ice T, Buzz B, Ruthless Rap Assassins and the Hit Squad MCR – the Eastern Bloc hip hop posse that soon became 808 State. Moving into the late 80’s he was doing early shows and trying to find an opening somewhere to do something, anything, that meant he could do what he had fallen in love with, hip hop. After an enforced period on the dole he found he had the time to get his head and act together. With Spin Inn shutting down there was nowhere in Manchester selling decent hip hop so he decided to do something about it. Within 6 months he was buying and selling hip hop and dance stuff from the Corn Exchange in the centre of Manchester and blazed a great reputation on virtually no funds and with a policy of giving the peeps what they want, with a smile. Sure enough, within a year, once others some him making a bit of money, 4 shops were selling the hip hop they had previously shunned. Within 2 years his face to face retailing days were gladly over as by now Dave felt his music was getting seriously able to compete with the stuff out there despite the huge difference in production values between the US and the UK… he decided to go for it, regardless of the anti UK feeling in 1993, regardless of the anti hip hop feeling (house and rave were ruling supreme) and despite being a bollocky white dude from Altrincham… which as several lazy journalists would point out in later years is hardly the home of hip hop (no shit Sherlock)! Finally in 1993 started his one-man mission to bring back soul and intelligence of vocal hip hop along with the role of the scratch dj he couldn’t have predicted the extent of his role in the forthcoming explosion of DJ culture, or the British Hip Hop scene. Bringing his love for obscure scratch tracks using the original hip hop ethos of Kool Herc & Bambaataa, (that any kind of music can become hip hop – as hip hop is all kinds of music) his attitude was “if it moves (the crowd) have it”. And so at a time when British hip hop was a dirty word, he closed his record shops (Funky Banana / Boom tunes) and set up the 400 strong mail order record club (Over 100 monthly editions old now) & the label that went on to become Ruf Beats. A couple of very solid and very raw limited press megamixes helped get him noticed as a DJ and beat blender of the highest order but the first official release was as THE RUF with the raw gem “Fuck the Queen” that was initially banned in the UK (no one would press it – so he made it in France!) – that was vastly improved and renamed “Anarchy returns” (on RUF010) with not a peep from any of the silly censors! A year spending time mastering his new 8 track and beloved Roland W30 work station sampler saw him gain confidence further and further to the point when in 1994 he felt … after 8 long years preparing his skills he was ready to go for his and try and run a label that could not be emulated and quite simply did not give a fuck about the all the preconceptions and apathy he was facing. He would simply laugh in their faces, tell them they were wrong and get on with telling his unique and resonant truth’s… whether people were ready to hear them or not whether in his shop on the phone or listening to his 3hr “Boomin System” show on rated local pirate Soul Nation (where he locked down a 2 year spot). The first JEEP BEAT 12” was caned by shops like Eastern Bloc & 3 Beat. When it went off to David Paul in the US who was running the BOMB fanzine at the time, he asked for a contribution to a new superstar scratch dj album and the first track received for the famous RETURN OF THE DJ compilation was JEEP BEAT’s “The Bomb Drops” also released on 12” RUF005 and one of the biggest British Hip Hop successes ever. The JEEP BEAT debut album “Attack of the wildstyle beatfreaks” dropped & sold 4,000 without any proper distribution, just a classic B movies inspired graff cover by b Boy and graff star DUCE and ultimate Ruf production & scratches. Butt in the mean time THE RUF’s much loved vocal project MINDBOMB was unstoppable after starting with the 500 only original “Stop ya Skemes” before progressing to the ultra jazzy / hardcore “Chameleon Vibes” Ep that had funk/jazz, jazz scratchtracks, hardcore politics, an attack on the censorship of “Fuck the Queen” called “Expletives deleted”. cleverly predicted the forthcoming stupid situation of hip hop radio edits that have more bleeps that bloody lyrics! Dave’s cunning plan continued with an instrumental of the best beats off his forthcoming “Trippin through the minefield” volumes 1 & 2 and suckered the trip hop massive into checking for the amazing full length double volume set that was planned. Volume 1 dropped in 1995 to virtually no interest whatsoever from the UK press but still ended up selling 2,000 units to folks.. unfortunately the 2 didn’t come out close enough together as distributors clung onto their money until in 1996 the 2nd Volume was unleashed again to not one interview or review. Despite the apathy of the industry to his vocal project again it went onto sell 1,500 largely by Word of mouth and at his exciting shows to the point where now it is considered by sincere uk hip hop heads to be a slept on gem.As the releases built up at a steady pace, a little more money flowed and slowly the label moved from its street level stickered sleeves (copied on early Mo Wax releases) to even looking like a proper label with covers and EVERYTHING! RUF’s Jeep Beat and Mindbomb attacks intensified to the point where he was becoming a power house in the UK scene and arranging his Ruf Diamonds Compilations at a time when no one put out such a thing! Hell he was even dropping way out hybrids and unleashing his music under a new name the twisted obscure GODFATHER OF WEIRD. Lovely, strange days indeed… Over the next few years THE RUF played a vast amount of clubs and parties throughout the UK including jams with De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Jurassic 5, Grandmaster Caz, Blade, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Noise & Bambaataa himself, whose attitude to dj’ing influenced Dave to go back to basics - turntable trickery & expensive mixers were turning dj’ing into a trouser enthusiasts sport, so he became determined to take it back to dancefloor & the people. The 17 track compilation of 12”’s “Repossessed Wildstyles” became one of the most critically acclaimed UK hip hop releases ever with full mark reviews everywhere. With big beat taking off the JEEP BEAT sound became essential in clubs like the Heavenly Social, the Big beat boutique, Athletico etc, indeed for a while he was seriously courted by MINISTRY OF SOUND, ATHLETICO, GUT RECORDS and had tracks on a variety of compilations from everything from French hip hop comps/snowboarding comps to JUSTIN ROBERTSON’s Journeys mix cd and perhaps most famously ANDY SMITH’s The document mix album (100,000 sales paid for none). The masterpiece DJ FOOD megamix (PT5&6) on NINJA TUNE merely enhanced the JEEP BEAT reputation as the very best dancefloor dj’s for educated music heads. All the time Dave was re-investing the money in putting out the widest selection of British talent ever on the label with his “Ruf Diamonds” comps with tracks from NUMSKULLZ, the ICEPICK, KRISPY, HEARTS OF DARKNESS (etc) and as ever with his vocal crew alter ego MINDBOMB. With the 3rd JEEP BEAT album “for Jimi Hendrix” he succeeded in creating one of the most diverse, inspiring & fresh albums at that time, hooked up with arguably Britain’s best graff artist TEMPER and new dj K Delight. Ahead of it’s time, many of it’s ideas have since been fused into other groups tracks like MR LIF, LO FI ALLSTARS and even the crystal clear sound of most new hip hop (check “Childs Play”) whilst pre-empting the return of SEX PISTOLS & GARY NUMAN into dance music’s influence list. Taking a little time out after dj Mark 1 left the group to become the on stage dj ornament for pop group TEXAS, Dave dropped his 3rd & best MINDBOMB LP Great British Beef, with an amazing variety of top notch musical productions & rhymes about his entire UK experience’s from tales of the arms industry, war & the conquest of space, through to the Bill Hicks & John Pilger inspired anti-apathy jam of Produce the Friction (still a live favourite) to amusing stories of the biz, booze, sex & drugs.. The BOMB connection continued with the 1999 anthology on US BOMB “Technics Chainsaw Massacre” helped US Spin magazine to include Jeep Beat in their “top 13 turntablists” in the world alongside Scratch Piklz, Cut Chemist, Scratch Perverts etc, whilst the album climbed over 8 weeks to claim No 1 in the US College Music Journal Radio chart with the album played on over 500 stations. With tours in Europe as a replacement for DJ CRAZE, Dave THE RUF became one of the few acts to mc & dj for up to 4 hours, the Iggy Pop of hip hop was born! He has since been back 4 times laying everywhere from huts to warships!! Back in the UK things kept moving on with Dave THE RUF’s Radio Zero show getting voted 3rd best hip hop show in the UK from 1998-2001, and Dave being named in HHC as one of the 3 most important hip hop people next to TY & Disorda. In 2000 the EP & budget label sampler “Thermo Nuclear Soundwars” saw Ruf Beats progress to a distribution deal with Pinnacle, whilst Dave sat back to help Mrs Ruf bring up their son Samson Hendrix, whilst preparing the next salvo of explosive Ruf Beats. 2001 was Ruf Beats busiest year and JEEP BEATs 5th album “Death Race 2001” dropped to critical acclaim along with 7 releases, some high profile compilation spots and shows with MARK B & BLADE, CASH MONEY, ASPECTS. With THE RUF now firmly behind the decks, mic and occasional beatbox on all MINDBOMB & JEEP BEAT shows whenever possible, THE RUF was able to do what he does best and take those Ruf Beats to the masses properly with humour and attitude often lacking in today’s shows. He toured Europe extensively where his 6 hour “anything goes” DJ mentality with hip hop-punk attitude quickly guaranteed him a passionate following that saw him do 5 separate tours over there. “Death Race 2001” was a pivotal moment – (it makes great sense now) but predicted a 9/11 type event (look at the cover and you will see a Tower of Babel rising out of NYC with the U Sflag… half burnt whilst trying to reach the stars along with other abstract warnings and on point sleeve notes) Dave had released an album that once again the media didn’t get.. but what could he do. His albums always got great reviews but no other media interaction… why was this? In 2002 the latest British hip hop explosion soon came to a grinding halt as many sub standard crews flung their tunes out to a (finally) vastly receptive media, that managed to blow Mark B and Blade and Roots Manuva up. Meanwhile Dave watched as the business seemed to get much greedier with crews now acting like “acts”, demanding daft sums that they couldn’t possible justify and whilst distributors and shops seemed to try and sell any piece of shit to their faithful. It was not a good year. Whist struggling to juggle his new family commitments with business and label life, he suddenly realised that the entire music business and indeed society was built on a history of lies and deceits and not only that but the new ultra jiggy big business hip hop ruled the roost. He realised the game board was fixed. After his soul mate TEMPER dropped his last artwork for Dave – the 10 years celebrating “Return to the classic” MEGAMIX LP everything seemed to go wrong. The record took 9 months to press, thanks to devilry at EMI and then a record breaking 9 pairs of test pressings being wrong. In the mean time he lost his deal with Pinnacle but didn’t care as they were hardly even trying to put his stuff out there anymore. To Dave everyone seemed to be getting lazier, charging more and he started to notice that the bigger the company the more they rip you off – even blatantly. Regardless he was still doing shows and had residencies and even managed to break K DELIGHT’s solo stuff into Japan where his 12” releases became big sellers to the appreciative cut n paste lovers and on it DJ’s. By 2002 he had realised 9/11 was indeed an inside job and finally took some time out to do heavyweight research into all the matters that had interested him throughout his life. Though 2003 he realised that the entire game was fixed beyond belief, before he finally made piece with this new reality in 2004 and decided that no he wasn’t going to play their games anymore but restart the whole RUF BEATS again with a new perspective and heart. And so we come up to the present date, where he has gone full circle, back to the original school nickname he was given all those years ago. Happy in bringing knowledge and party wrecking sets to the people wherever he is needed like some dangerous anti establishment super hero. So he he is… fuck it.. here I am, one soul , here before you, no bullshit, just me my art and I. I wrote this because there is only me here. Hip hop and music needs to get back to honesty and truth and most importantly soul. I mean how little real SOUL has modern RnB got, that’s right, none. We have to bring it back to being about SOUL, FUNK, TRUTH and HONESTY – this is what I, as RUFMOUTH pledge to you, the funky people of this beautiful planet rock. I hope to connect with you somehow via this site, my writing and my music, nothing else matters,it’s all about connections, vibrations and sound. Getting back to the big then let me end by bigging myself up properly, although I hope for once I manage to do myself justice… No British hip hop crew has achieved as much as the this man to date, especially when you consider what he has achieved single headedly and with so little financial backing. As of 2004 I’ve has recorded over 200 songs under his alter ego’s – with 11 albums as an artist in his own right, 20 singles etc, 5 mix CD’s, 3 UK hip hop compilations an d various other artists 12”s together clocking up 100,000 sales, 30 compilation appearances, 100’s of dj dates & live shows, loads of mixtapes and sending over 10,000 orders across the world. On top of this I’ve written for every worthwhile hip hop mag going, broken down many barriers that in the 90’s restricted hip hop, slogged my guts out within the industry before realising it, and this world machine we live in are corrupted beyond repair… So this brings you up to my present situation. Armed with my skills, talents and finally truth. I hope from 2004 onwards to take my music further than ever before by making it easier to directly access the people and taking my knowledge out on the road and doing whatever I can to deal with these demons that are running amok. Please get in touch if you can help in anyway, or even just spread the word to your friends. So here we are then…my name is RUFMOUTH, you have some idea of a bit of what I’m about. Here are my contact details. I look forward to speaking to you. TEL/FAX +44 (0) 1606 47327. OR E:MAIL – dave@rufbeats.freeserve.co.uk For more info check out: DJ / Live bookings The Complete List of Releases Full Release Information Love you life… Love RUFMOUTH xx