The Barely Breaking Even movement began several years ago when Peter Adarkwah and Ben Jolly met at Gray's nightclub in London.
Pete had been DJ'ing at friend's parties for several years and had just graduated to his first gig on the club scene. First and foremost a music lover and collector Pete had discovered a previously unknown aptitude when he started spinning the tunes. Meanwhile, Ben had been providing sound systems with the legendary Renegades PA hire company since the spring of 1992. Although working every weekend in and around the capital in clubs as diverse as Ministry of Sound, The Lazerdrome, The Milk Bar, Bar Rumba
and various warehouse spaces, Ben had reached a point where he felt it was time to move on to pastures new.
While discussing music the pair discovered a shared interest in diverse, eclectic sounds covering all genres from old scratchy Brazilian grooves, through 70's funk, via jazz fusion, hip hop and soul to newer garage, disco and techno music. Ben and Pete decided to promote a night where the music that was played would not be restricted as it was in other clubs the new night would be across styles and freestyle.
The first club promotion took place at a tiny club in Chinatown under the name 'Shake It Loose'. The club was a resounding success, but unwittingly Ben and Pete had used a name already employed by another promoter. A change was necessary and the pair fixed on barely breaking even taken from the seminal track by The Universal Robot Band (re-issued on Dimitri's 'Disco Forever' album in Oct 2000)(and true of the state of their finances at that time.)
With the change of name came a change of venue. BBE moved onwards and upwards promoting at different venues and on different nights but with a fresh attitude and an already distinct style, the nights became more and more popular. Ben and Pete began to appear as guest DJs elsewhere and DJing and promoting became a full time occupation.
While busy with their club activities, Ben and Pete knew that to stand still is to stagnate and they moved in to the record industry, founding a label named after the Promotion Company. BBE Records began with releasing the acclaimed 'Stop and Listen' series late in 1996, a series still running strong with the last instalment having been compiled by The legendary Masters At Work. The ball has rolled on and on since then.
Ben left the label in early 2000 to pursue other career interests, though he still promotes highly successful club nights at Bar Rumba with Peter. 'Bubbling Over' on Sundays continues to draw in a crowd almost 6 years later and Friday's 'Night People' which ended last autumn had a strong reputation for bringing in renound DJs from all over the world including Dimitri from Paris, DJ Spinna, Kurtis Matronix, Kerri Chandler as well as London Favourite's like Norman Jay, Paul trouble Anderson and Bob Jones.
As the end of 2001 approached the label had reached new heights. BBE Model's itself on the motto of 'real music for real people' and this is clearly seen by the fact that there are now over 40 compilation albums released, profiling a variety of sounds and styles from funk and soul to disco and latin as well as house and hip hop. Compilers from home and abroad have been brought in to add their expertise and in turn the label has aligned itself with many artists as well as genres of music.
This association with artists has been strongly built upon by the introduction of the Beat Generation; a series of beat based albums from a number of exceptional and pivotal hip -hop producers. The ethos behind this series was to allow these producers to create albums that drew from all their influences and all the sounds that had in some way contributed to the music they had made and continue to make. The series kicked off to a fantastic start with Jay Dee's 'Welcome to Detroit' and this was shortly
followed by Pete Rock, Will.i.am (of the Black Eyed Peas) and Marley Marl. Each album is an individual experiment but also enables the series to flourish in its aims and the music it is exhibiting. Future albums include Jazzy Jeff, DJ Spinna, King Britt, Larry Gold, Vikter Duplaix and James Poyser, 88Keys, Freddie Foxxx and a whole host of others.
Since the Beat Generation began, interest has been expressed in both beat orientated projects but also in a variety of other areas. BBE also hosts two sister labels; R2 Records and Deep Funk which has just recently launched the New Master Sounds album and has a great many classic 12" out too.
2002 looks to be a busy year with further Beat Generation projects, several other original projects and of course a number of great compilations from the likes of Joe Claussell, Joey Negro, Dimitri from Paris and others. A new Friday night 'Back for More' at the Jazz Caf?and several one off BBE events illustrate how BBE has not forgotten its club promotion roots, and BBE is even hosting 'Future', a party at this year's Winter Music Conference in Miami.
So stay tuned and watch this space for more.
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