JAKAZiD
| JAKAZiD | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Josh McInnes |
| Also known as | Joshka, JKZ |
| Born |
May 7, 1988 Portsmouth, England |
| Genres |
UK hardcore Hardcore |
| Occupation(s) | Disc jockey, Record producer, Remixer |
| Instruments | Personal computer, Synthesizer |
| Years active | 2000-present |
| Labels | Nukleuz |
Joshua James "Josh" McInnes (born May 7, 1988), better known by his artist name JAKAZiD, is a record producer from Portsmouth, England. He is currently signed to the UK hard dance label Nukleuz. He is usually associated with writing happy hardcore music and remixing other well-known songs in this style.
History
JAKAZiD first gained worldwide notoriety as the creator of Calm Down Dear, a viral video remix of the Esure car insurance television adverts broadcast in the UK starring television personality Michael Winner. The remix received praise from the company itself, one spokesman for esure saying: "We were flattered that someone enjoyed our ad enough to spend the time to do this.".[1] Some months after the remix was made, a link to the video on JAKAZiD's ISP webspace found its way onto the weekly newsletter of B3ta.com, attracting the attention of many more internet users. This led to the video being granted more permanent hosting at Luckykazoo.com (a sister site of B3ta) following an agreement between JAKAZiD and B3ta's co-founder Rob Manuel.
Due to popular demand, JAKAZiD made a follow-up video in the form of "Hardcore Cleaning Sensation" (later renamed to "Cillit Bang"), another popular viral video remix focused around the advert of the cleaning product of the same name. Also appearing on the Luckykazoo website, this video achieved higher popularity than its predecessor due to the Cillit Bang advertisements being a popular talking point at the time for their garish visuals and their loud-speaking presenter Barry Scott. Cillit Bang was later signed by UK hard dance record label Nukleuz for commercial release,[2][3] and achieved moderate chart success, placing #3 in the BBC Indie chart and #8 in the BBC Dance chart.[4][5]
Other works
In addition to his singles, JAKAZiD has remixed tracks by a number of artists, including a Spray cover of the theme from 1980s kids television show The Raccoons, "Run With Us",[6] as well as a remix of veteran Japanese hardcore DJ Evil's underground happy hardcore hit "Sweet" under Luna-C's Kniteforce Again label (co-produced with DJ Friez).[7]
Unusually for an artist, JAKAZiD is an active user and moderator on the online music database Discogs.[8] He actively maintains his own artist page and discography on the site. His remix work includes remixes of well known dance artists such as BK and Guru Josh in addition to a variety of Japanese artists such as Lia and Beatmania IIDX artist kors k. He has also contributed original tracks for various compilations both in the United Kingdom and Japan, most notably to doujin hardcore techno collective Hardcore Tano*C. One of his songs, Pierce the Sky, was featured in the Konami rhythm game Dance Dance Revolution X2.
References
- ↑ Rothstein, Simon (May 24, 2007). "Its only a remix". The Sun. London.
- ↑ Burt, Kate (April 29, 2006). "Infectious humour". The Guardian. London. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
- ↑ http://www.blackpig.co.uk/viral.php
- ↑ "Top 30 Independent Label Singles : 28.01.2007". BBC Radio One. Archived from the original on 2007-02-02. Retrieved 8 January 2011.
- ↑ BBC. "Radio 1 - Dance Chart". Top 40 Dance Singles : 28.01.2007. Retrieved January 28, 2007. External link in
|work=(help) - ↑ Spray - Run With Us
- ↑ Kniteforce - Discography: KFA41
- ↑ JAKAZiD Discogs User Account