Raw Stylus

"The original Raw Stylus was 'Class-A Sound System Soul'. Ron Aslan and me, Jules Brookes, released white label vinyl records into the funky London club scene which bloomed post Soul II Soul in the early 90's. 'Pushing Against The Flow' was a big underground tune and later became the title track of the album. Giles Petersen named it his track of the year and Paul Weller claimed it 'should have been a No.1 record' in The Face. Other early singles were: Bright Lights, Big cities; Pushing Against The Flow; Many Ways (Mo' Wax); Use Me (Acid Jazz). After original singer Debbie Ffrench left it took a couple of years to find a replacement but we did with the wonderful Donna. At the end of this period, we recorded an album in the US on Geffen Records who insisted that Steely Dan producer Gary Katz got involved. I didn't mind at all being a big Steely Dan fan. The music became more live orientated and we churned out a great record - which was timeless but not particularly commercial. It is filled with musical talent like Bernard Purdie, Donald Fagen, Randy Brecker as well as many cool players from the 90's London and New York Acid Jazz scenes. A US Billboard dance music No.1 single, 'Believe In Me' came off this album. We were signed to Geffen in the US who were busy promoting Beck and Wu-Tang Clan and didnt really take much notice of us. We called it a day after touring up till the end of '98. Donna went on to join Sting's back up band, Jules is MD of a successful music college and marketing company (www.pointblanklondon.com) whilst Ron relocated to Thailand where he heads up a design company, Cha Cha Supermarket (www.chachasupermarket.com)." Jules Brookes