Discography
PAPA001 – Reel People feat. Nathan Haines ‘Spiritual’
single
PAPA002 – Reel People ‘Reeltime’
single
PAPA003 – Reel People feat. Nathan Haines ‘Spiritual’
(Opaque Mixes) single
PAPA004 – Reel People feat. Nathan Haines ‘Spiritual’
(Distant Music Mixes) single
PAPA014 – Reel People feat. Angela Johnson ‘Can’t
Stop’ single
PAPA015 – Reel People feat. Dyanna Fearon ‘Butterflies’
single
PAPA016 – Reel People feat. Jag ‘Second
Guess’ single
PAPA018 – Reel People feat. Vanessa Feeman ‘The
Light’ single
PAPA021 – Reel People feat. Sharlene Hector
‘The Rain’ Limited Edition single
PAPA022 – Reel People feat. Angela Johnson ‘Can’t
Stop’ (Kenny Dope Mixes) single
PAPA024 – Reel People feat. Jag ‘Second
Guess’ (Grant Nelson & Da Lata Mixes) single
Biography
When ambitious young record store manager Oli Lazarus
initiated his Reel People project back in 2000 he
could only have dreamt of where those first tentative
steps would lead him. Having immersed himself in the
soulful house sounds of specialistrecord store Flying
for the previous three years, Oli Lazurus had begun
to feel that
the musical education he had gained in-store was complete
and that his tenure atthe shop was drawing to a natural
end.
Gaining a passion for dancefloor grooves and a valuable
experience of the musicindustry whilst working with
the store's sister label Chillifunk, Lazurus decided
his future lay in music production. His ideal was
to lead a fully-formed live ensemble in
the finest traditions of Maze and Rufus, but with
no songwriting, performance or studioskills under
his belt at that stage, his dream appeared to be almost
unattainable.These seemingly insurmountable obstacles
were however not going to get in the way.
Utilising the guidance of West London production
don Phil Asher (Restless Soul), the talents of multi-instrumentalist
Nathan Haines and the assistance of sometime Chilli
Funk engineer Tom Davidson, Oli set about creating
the project's first release. "Spiritual",
later remixed by Jon Cutler and Seiji (Bugz In The
Attic), found favour with some of London's finest
underground DJs, and proved to be a turning point
for Lazarus.
The record became the debut release on his own Papa
Records imprint, a label set up initially for the
purpose of releasing Reel People material, but which
has since courted considerable success with tracks
from DJ Spinna, Osunlade, Jon Cutler and Matthias
Heilbronn amongst others.
Another single "Reeltime" soon followed
and Reel People began to gain a reputation as a fresh
new production outfit straddling the boundaries of
house and broken beat.
During the course of auditioning musicians for studio
sessions, Oli Lazarus came across the talents of Mike
Patto, a gifted piano player who also expressed ability
on both guitar and vocals. Despite being wholly dissimilar
in their personalities, there
was an instant rapport between the pair, and a shared
directness in their approach to work lead to Lazarus
inviting Mike Patto to join Reel People as a permanent,
fulltime member.
With many releases already to his credit, not least
most of the Restless Soul catalogue to that point,
Patto brought an invaluable compositional element
to the outfit and at his insistence, they began a
songwriting stint that was to shape the contents of
their debut album
Working with Dyanna Fearon, a vocalist from the D-Influence
stable, Reel People began to take shape as an actual
band and not merely a studio-based outfit, with early
collaborations such as "Butterflies", "Second
Guess", "Washing Away" and "Back
2 Base" beginning to define the new sound of
the ensemble. Additional contributions from vocalist
Vanessa Freeman, and highly regarded producers Phil
Asher, DJ Spinna plus Bugz In The Attic's Seiji and
Afronaught strengthened the group's sound as they
forged ahead with the intentions of producing a album
the likes of which had not been witnessed since the
soul laden 70s.
From the album sessions Reel People plucked two singles
to precede the longplayer's release. The first of
these, "Can't Stop", was recorded partially
in New York with favoured vocalist Angela Johnson
(Cooly's Hot Box) and proved to be a worldwide smash,
delighting dancefloors from Manhattan to Manchester
from Melbourne to to set a template that remains unique
to Reel People, as it attained an equal amount of
respect from house DJs (for the remix) as the original
mix did from leftfield DJs.
Performing "Can't Stop", "Butterflies"
and "The Light" the band achieved their
goals, dropping jaws across the whole audience, not
least Simon Dunmore's at the Defected Records table.
A supporter of the Reel People singles issued up
until that point, this was however to be Dunmore's
first experience of the band performing live. A time-honoured
soul aficionado he recognised the multi-faceted talents
of the ensemble immediately, and having his interest
in their album renewed, he approached Reel People
with
the intentions of realising the full potential of
"Second Guess".
2005 sees Reel People about to re-release the gem
that is "Second Guess". The Defected Records
issue of the album contains three brand new tracks.
Lead single "The Rain" features the vocals
of Sharlene Hector (Basement Jaxx) and boasts remixes
from Joey Negro and Rasmus Faber. Second single "In
The Sun" is a wonderfullyadventurous, multi-layered
dancefloor juggernaut and could quite possiblybe their
best track to date. The new presentation is completed
by a cover version ofthe Thelma Houston classic "You
Used To Hold Me So Tight", the latter two tracks
both recorded with vocalist Angela Johnson.
Reel People are once again set to take this marvellous
album of unforgettable songs on the road, much to
the delight of festival and club goers who have beencraving
their return. In just five short years Oli Lazarus
has realised that once distant
dream, born at the counter of Flying Records. Although
it has to be said that even this ambitious young man
could not have dared to hope that, after such a short
tenure, he would be at the helm of the UK's best live
soul outfit, and one with a songwriting and production
reputation to match Following this, the debut album's
title track "Second Guess" was issued as
a single and just several weeks afterwards the completed
collection was unleashed upon the world.
A brilliant star amongst a sea of half-hearted dance
albums, "Second Guess" was a unique collection
in that it combined traditional song-based and musician-led
material in a format that would be embraced on the
heart of the dancefloor. The
critics raved, the DJs salivated and what readily
became described as "the best British dance album
in years" brought much warranted attention to
the group.
Several months overdue and countless £s over
budget, the impetus now lay with the album's promotion.
Luckily, having already established a relationship
with a fine set of musicians during the recording
process, the Reel People live band was almost
fully fored and ready to take out on the road.
Centred around the core of Oli, Mike and Vanessa
Freeman on vocals, guitarist Leon Stenning and Scott
Baylis (trumpet, keys) were added to the mix and using
a series of expert rhythm sections, the band embarked
on a string of worldwide live dates.
From knockout appearances at London's Cargo and Jazz
Café venues, Band On The all in Manchester,
Southport Weekender,V Festival and Tokyo Jazz Festival,
Reel People established a reputation for superb musicianship
and expert crowd motivation.
Support for the album gained momentum, and indeed
the shows lead to the band being signed by Columbia
Records in Japan, but having exhausted all of Papa's
funds on the extended recording process, there was
little anyone could do to promote "Second Guess"
outside of the band's show-stopping live performances.
An opportunity presented itself for the band to perform
at the 2004 House Music Awards in London, where they
had been nominated in several categories, and seizing
the opportunity to play in front of the dance industry's
movers and shakers the band set out to bring the house
down.
