The two people behind Formation Records are Hidrus and Leroy better known to most as DJ SS. Friends from back in their school days they got together and opened a dance shop back in 1988, that was catering for the then popular, Hip Hop and Soul.

Both Hidrus and Leroy have been in the scene since day one, at 16 they got a resident spot at a local night club and they have always moved with the times, going through every kind of music. Back when they started Rap was big but then House came and took over by storm, as Leroy pointed out Hardcore stemmed from House and they think one day it will take over again, more and more House/Garage clubs are opening all over the country. At the end of the day we all agreed that music is music, not Rave – House! Although certain areas are playing different music, like, Jungle in the South, and Piano in the North at the end of the day it all began with House, all over the country.

Hidrus and Leroy were friends being young and the friendship built and got stronger, until they decided to form a crew called Formation 5, DJ’s playing mainly Hip Hop, Soul and House. From there came the shop, and as rave became more popular they began to cater for rave as well. Leroy became more and more involved with the DJ side of things and Hidrus decided to get more involved in the management side. Once Leroy called himself DJ SS things went wild, he got bookings from all over and started to get a good following.

Formation 5 actually started back in 1985, back then 5 of them were involved. Hidrus and Leroy were the only two who decided to move with the times, so split from the other 3 who were more into Hip Hop. Although they split amicably they agreed that the name Formation 5 would remain, and so it did.

The shop, Five HQ, is expanding rapidly, they are selling merchandise, tapes, tickets and also have a separate House counter where you can put on some headphones and listen, to house with the blare of the Hardcore the label is famous for.

Formation Records now have quite a few big names on the label, names like Tango, Megga Drive and of course the man himself, DJ SS. As we’ve already said the label started in 1990, just before they opened the shop. Leroy’s EP came out first, from there they made track after track. Before they had the shop they used to make the tracks as home, but now its all in one building and the studio is above the shop.

Formation Records are making a lot of music but they do try to keep things separate, they have started a Rap label, and a House label, under different names, that was if people buy a Formation track, they know its Hardcore, if they buy a 100% track, they know it’s a House track, and if they buy a Rough Justice track they know it’s a Rap track. If it was all under one name people would get confused. As a business, they want it to be known that they are catering for the whole of the scene. The good thing is that because the label does not have any special music preference, all the music they produce is good.

Formation Records are hoping that one day the music will not be so segregated, a feeling completely shared by ourselves, and a lot of other people in the scene. Looking to the future they have plenty of plans to promote themselves abroad and although they already sell well in Europe and The States, they would like to put on parties out there. They feel that people in this country are set in their ways, and in Europe especially Germany, they think the people are a lot more open minded, no matter what you play there it goes down well.

Both Leroy and Hildrus feel the scene has been damaged by the bad music, people out there wanting to make a fast buck or two, put anything out, hype it up a bit, and end up selling well, which then puts the sales of the good tracks down. They feel the darkness in the Jungle has made a big impact, Formation don’t make the track to dark because they know it doesn’t sell well, they make music for the people buying it. Not for themselves, they like to experiment with things like mixing House, Jungle and Garage and if it sells and people like it , they will experiment again, so that way they know all the time what people want. Because of Formation’s policy to supply what people want, they feel that is why they have hot so far.

Formation admire people like N-joi, they have been there from the beginning and still play the same kind of music and they still play a good set, it always goes down well which is what really counts. Formation have a policy that if someone can make music, whoever they may be whether its an MC, DJ or someone off the street that’s all they are interested in. At present they have a guy from Manchester in the studio making a track, not a big name, just someone making good music.

Sampling is a subject that has been raised several times recently and Formation explained to them it’s simply an industrial standard on Rave music, you can sample something off a record and directly Rip it and put it on your own, that’s what they call Rip Off sampling. They feel when you sample something you have to be as original as you can get, you can sample a beat and how it comes out on a record can be completely different, Formation do sample but when it’s finished it is unrecognisable.

90% of the music around has been sampled, if sampling hadn’t come out they feel the music wouldn’t be where it is today, it would be a lot harder to find.

People do take advantage and use sampling as a excuse to not find, or make their own material. Jack Smooth is the one you need to read about to get an idea of sampling, Leroy said himself, “He’s the Dog’s Bollox” In recent Eternity magazines, and in fact in this issue of Eternity, we have asked a few people their views on tapes, we asked Formation what they thought: Basically they had mixed feelings about them. As Leroy pointed out it does kill record sales, why should a raver buy a 12” for £20 when he can buy a tape for around £5 for 30 tracks.

On the other hand they said they may hear a track being played in a club that you want, but not have a clue how to find it or describe it, if you find it on the tape, you could take it into the record shop and ask for it. Another point they raised was when a club finishes people like to go to the car in the car park, and listen to their favourite tunes, not many people I know have record player in the car!

People listen to tapes on the way home as well, and they agreed if you get rid of tape sales that could kill the scene. From the view of the DJ it can be good promotion for yourself and the tracks which are being played.

Bedroom DJ’s can’t mix from a tape, so they will go out and buy the record to play at home, maybe if they hadn’t heard it on the tape in the first place, they wouldn’t have bought it.

A different view from someone looking at tapes from both angles, seeing the benefit from the point of view of a DJ, a shop selling records and a label producing them. One thing everyone was in agreement with, was not agreeing with the promoters selling six packs or singles for that matter in their thousands and making an absolute packet, without paying the JD or producer any money for the tape then again some DJ’s do take the piss and ask for ridiculous amounts of money, so in effect they paid twice for their set.

“The Alliance” was supposed to sort out problems with tapes and prices etc, “The Alliance” didn’t work, it split up, DJ’s demanded money and turned it into a battle of who could get what first, basically “The Alliance” was an agreement to disagree.

Formation have a lot of plans for the future and DJ SS is busy making music, music he know you want to listen to, quality, originality, and most of all successful. Good luck to the future!

Formation also put on the Total Kaos parties.