Shapeshifters Biographie

Shapeshifters is chart-topping west london house duo simon marlin and max
reich, who this year have managed to produce that aural holy grail a cool
tune that does the business in the clubs and proved irresistible to the
mainstream. they're about quality music and bouncing parties, and are
leading the current charge in house music's renaissance that has seen an
exciting upsurge in the scene this year.

2004 saw the launch of nocturnal groove, a new label from simon and his now
immortalised wife lola (ex-peppermint jam and sarm studios respectively),
in which max is also a partner. its aim was simple: to provide proper,
quality house music and release the same tracks they were playing out at
the label's monthly club night. simon, who already ran the hugely
successful peppermint jam nights at the aka bar in london, re-launched the
monthly bash as nocturnal at the end of december 2003; despite it being
post christmas, and pre pay-day, the first party saw the venue splitting at
the seams, with queues around the block, and the bar enjoy record takings
a feat they've continued to surpass up to the present day.

simon has an ear for the tunes that rock the club's devotees. his musical
education came from teenage years spent on the dancefloors of the late 80's
and early 90's, the heady days of funky, euphoric house beats, and a move
from the midlands to london furthered his passion for dance music...
his unequalled knowledge of the genre led him into djing and artist
management, and it was in this capacity that he first crossed paths with
max.

born in sweden where he lived to the age of 8, max moved to spain with his
mum, "a painter and a bit of a hippy" who literally pointed at the map with
eyes closed and picked a small village by the sea called altea.

during the late eighties, acid house was kicking off around the
mediterranean. hooked, max would get the local record shop to order in the
more obscure labels. his second love was technology, and he spent
considerable time inventing electrical gadgets, or taking his sister's
radio apart to put back together...

a born entrepreneur, he got his first paid gig at 12. he also got his own
show on the local station, radio therapy. soon though, he was to return to
his native country, and gothenburg.

whilst working at the city's university of journalism, max started
organising raves with a friend, samuel l. session, who introduced him to
techno, which he'd previously considered "a bit weird". for four years he
threw illegal raves that repeatedly made the front page of the local paper,
but when 2000 people regularly turned up the police came calling. after
spending a month in prison following a raid, max called it a day, but the
money from the parties had been going towards production equipment and
financing his own label. by age 21, he was playing clubs with carl cox and
laurent garnier. releases during this time included the highly acclaimed
artist album, swedish workout, and his remixes for faithless, moloko,
george michael and jean jacques smoothie ensured him further dancefloor
appeal in the following years...

but, ever experimental, he decided it was time to try something different.
coincidentally, simon was over in sweden djing whilst working for a small
label called down boy, and was also looking to sign some productions. he
asked a friend if he knew of anyone who was making tracks, who suggested
max. they were introduced in a record shop in gothenburg in 1996 and simon
signed max to down boy immediately on the strength of a cassette that he'd
heard. he then licensed max's short-lived band fused to sony, and max moved
to london cementing the pair's relationship as manager and partner in
crime. before splitting, fused released some devastatingly uplifting house
tracks, one of which appeared as the finale on the revered danny tenaglia
back to basics album, standing out for its sheer production values.

in 2003, with no commercial pressure or expectations, the pair finally sat
down to make a tune together, combining simon's love of house and max's
darker, techie sound and fascination with rich production...

they consequently spent many nights holed up in max's studio, where they'd
sit down testing out new bits of kit and experimenting with different
sounds. it was these early sessions with simon on keyboards that created
'lola's theme'. the initial inspiration had come whilst lola was going
through her old vinyl collection, digging out tunes to play after a night
out. as she put on several of her favourites and started to sing, the vibe
caught simon's ear and the seed was planted.

seven months later, and 'lola's theme' became the undeniable dance hit of
the past few years. the track received unanimous support from the worlds
coolest and most purist house aficionados, with many heralding it as a
turning point for the dance scene...

alongside renowned songwriter, karen poole, simon and max penned the song
for the vocal version, and with gospel singer cookie, (the only person who
could perform the vocal feats required) the track went on to take over the
airwaves, and every dancefloor in the uk. numerous tv performances
followed, and suddenly west london's coolest house duo was the buzzword for
a nation that had suddenly got its groove back. the tune spent more than 8
weeks at the top of the national airplay chart, sounding the welcome return
of house music to daytime radio.

'lola's theme' epitomises the ethos of shapeshifters and nocturnal groove,
uniting the dancefloor with its stand out irresistible groove, addictive
hook, and epic sound, but only tells some of the story. imagine a rocking
venue with all the right tunes, all your best mates, and an intimate, happy
crowd, and you'll start to see what the nocturnal parties are about.