The Statement of Facts (Our History)

MARK RYDER /STRICTLY UNDERGROUND RECORDS
PROFILE
Mark Ryder has been involved in the Dance music scene since he was 13 years old
first being recognised for his 7 o'clock megamixes on the John Leach dance show on Essex Radio.
He is a very Adventurous mixing DJ who has won many mixing and scratching competitions .

In 1988, Mark Ryder decided to set up his own record label, Strictly Underground Records.
This was mainly due to Big companies not understanding the underground dance scene.
He was Djing at numerous outdoor raves and clubs,
playing various styles of House music so he was always at the cutting edge when it came to producing records.
During the day, his time was spent in the studio working with Dave Lee AKA (JOEY NEGRO).
Mark and Dave also had tracks out in the US that were all very successful.
There was M.D. EMM on Derek Mays Transmat label, Masters of the Universe on Easy St and a couple
of others including Raven Maizefor Quark and New Groove.
Strictly Underground was on the map in a big way.
Within a few months of the first release The demand was huge,
people were ringing from America and across Europe for their records.
M.D. EMM "Get Down" was just one of the big tracks which recently re-charted in the U.K. top 40
under the re-named "Jump to my Beat" By Wildchild.
There were also tracks by Masters of the Universe and Sonic Experience, which did exceptionally well.
To this day, they still have companies contacting them to license these
tracks as they are seen as classics of their time.

Then came the Sonic Experience album, the first truly rave artist LP Written by Mark and Steve Johnson,
The albums intention was to push the artist side of rave music which at that time no one else had even thought of.
It took nearly 2 years for other companies to follow in their footsteps by releasing House/Rave artist albums.
Strictly Underground was also the first underground label to release rave compilations in the UK (1987).
Their success with compilations has been built up by underground support,
not hype or fiction, but concrete support. Around 1989,

Mark also teamed up with two lads from Southend in Southern England.
Together they formed the group N-Joi.
They spent weeks perfecting their sound and Mark immediately knew that the N-joi project was better suited to a major record label
so after an initial track ep on strictly underground Mark signed the group to Deconstruction and the rest is history as they say.
The first release was the phenomenal "Anthem" as we all know,
it shot straight into the national charts at number one, being one of the first rave records to go top ten.
After the success of "Anthem",
Mark decided to leave the group to concentrate on the label again and more underground releases,
Although Mark had many more Top 40 tracks as N-joi.

THE ARTISTS Over the years
SU have built up a strong production team and quality recording artists.
The label started off with Mark being main producer, then followed the likes of Steve Johnson,
Mike James, Austin, DJ Hype, Uncle 22 and DJ A-Sides.
They mainly concentrated on the breakbeat side of things, though some of them wrote for Marks house labels as well.
THE LABELS There are a number of outlets under the corporation banner that covers all styles of Drum and Bass, Jungle and House.
STRICTLY UNDERGROUND, JUNGLE MANIA,
STRICTLY HARDCORE, NAUGHTY BUT NICE,
OBSESSIVE RECORDS and QUALITY PRICE MUSIC are the main labels.

In 1995 Strictly Underground was voted the BEST RAVE COMPILATION company,
by the public at the official ELEVATION Hardcore Dance Awards. IN 1996 WE WON IT AGAIN.
1995 saw the release of CLUB IBIZA,the biggest Ibiza compilation of that year.
It consisted of 6 DJ MEGA MIXES PLUS THIRTY FULL 12" TRACKS, all on 3 CDs.
Club Ibiza was the 13th biggest selling compilation in the official CIN chart over Christmas 95.
Also The Club Ibiza Compilation was re-released in Jan 96 and packaged as a Silver Edition (3 cds all mixed)
which went on to sell in excess of 28,000 units.
1996 also saw the light of THE ULTIMATE DRUM & BASS COLLECTION - 4 CDs
54 all time classics which features the best producers in Drum & Bass.
Now in 1997 comes the new CD + VIDEO package, STRICTLY UNDERGROUND LIVE AT WEMBLEY which offers a live recording
of the Wembley events both on CD + video. On the decks Mark Ryder and on the mic M C Paranoia.
This not only proves the massive success of Strictly Underground in the U.K.
it also shows up some other so called big organisations as the small clubs that they really are!
One of the biggest surprises came from the follow up to The Ultimate Drum & Bass Collection Vol. 1,

the second volume comprised of 100% S.U material with 32 chilled Jazz infused Drum & Bass workouts.
The album received rave reviews in all the top UK Dance Magazines.
Again, the album has sold over 30,000 and still selling like hot cakes as we speak.
The Ultimate Rave Classics proved to be a force to be reckoned with.
Like the other Triple box sets, it offers lots of top tunes but this time around we went back in time to dig out all those rave classics.
Whoever said rave is dead , is wrong.
There has not been anyone to compete with our releases as no one has been able to offer these kind of quality and value packages.

S.U. PROMOTIONS
Mark is also one of the BIG promoters in the U.K. Holding regular
House/Rave parties at Wembley with over 10,000 HAVING IT party goers attending each event. The Wembley parties are called "RAVEALATION"
and cover HappyHardcore/Drum & Bass and House but Mark has also been promoting 'Naughty But Nice'parties playing House music
and 'Hardcore Hellraisers'playing rave music since 1987.
His success as a promoter over many years has been totally down to his dedication to the scene and music he loves..

CURRENT ACTIVITIES
Mark has been extremely busy of late as he and his team recently finished a world tour covering Miami, Hong Kong, Germany, Ibiza,
to name but a few destinations.
They took charge of the Drum & Bass Venue at the Cybervision Festival in Oslo for their grand finale.
To say it was a success is an understatement at Oslo Mark turned in a stormer of a set which
sent the Norwegian party people into a frenzy.
From the response of Marks set, Cybervision will be releasing a DJ mix CD by the man himself.
This will showcase, not only his talent with two pieces of vinyl but also the Underground sound of S.U.
with a high percentage of the tracks being Marks own compositions but it doesn't stop there!

PIRATE RADIO STATIONS
Mark has always been involved with Pirate Radio Stations since the very early days of Solar,
TKO & Horizon. He has always done it for the love of supporting underground music and can sometimes be seen
on dark Friday nights swinging from scaffold poles on tower blocks risking all for this music.
TOO MUCH TO MENTION Mark is a versatile musician and business man and does not find genre hopping a problem.
His production credits are too many to mention but some of his remixes are-
Phase II reachin- Quadraphonia ,wave of the future- Everything starts with an E, Double Trouble , Synphonia etc etc...
He has mega-mixed both volumes of Club Ibiza to flawless proportions
mixing up the very best of his own releases such as "Dance"-
Mark Ryder Project2 which is a favourite with DJs such as Graham Gold
and a current massive dance track in Japan.
His Naughty But Nice label has been very successful with its uplifting house (hand bag) and crossover appeal,
while the Obsessive label is picking up momentum with its harder house and trance style.
Mark loves to produce all styles of House Music, T
his coupled with regular DJ stints around the UK / World to promote his music
has made Strictly Underground a 3 Million Pound turnover company and still TOTALLY UNDERGROUND.

SUMMERY
Mark has a rare quality as he manages to hold credibility in both House and Drum & Bass to the highest level.
You can still find him in the charts if you look behind the hype. Marks latest TWO hits were through Polydor and W.E.A.
The first being "Jump To My Beat" with the Artist Wildchild and the second was "Naughty North & Sexy South "
both went U K Top 40. Later this year Mark will be off to Australia on a mini tour with dates confirmed in Sydney,
Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. On the above mentioned,
Mark will be playing both House and Drum & Bass.

FOR MORE INFO ON THE STRICTLY UNDERGROUND CORPORATION CALL US ON U.K. 017XXXXx FAX 017XXX

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