a guy called gerald
An iconic name in dance music, A Guy Called Gerald stands out for consistent innovation, excellence and refusal to compromise. A Guy Called Gerald kick started Europe’s acid house frenzy releasing the first UK acid house record, the ’88 classic ‘Voodoo Ray’ and 'Pacific State' and went on to lay down the blueprint for jungle / drum n bass.
Nine albums and 25 years of independence later, he continues to push the boundaries of electronic dance music touring worldwide bringing his "true school" flavour to a world overloaded with pop pap.
Although his remixes are relatively enviable including the likes of David Bowie, Cabaret Voltaire, Black Uhuru, Finley Quaye, Lamb, Tricky and The Stone Roses, it is Gerald’s own productions and refusal to plough anyone’s furrow but his own which has marked him out. A Guy Called Gerald is responsible for the birth of British dance music as you know it today and continues to explore what is possible both in the studio and in the club with his "Live in Session" performances.
Since 2012 he has been working on a side project with Graham Massey (808 State) called REBUILD performing live jams on the Roland machines. “How Long Is Now” was released on Bosconi Records in 2012. A live album Silent Sound Spread Spectrum followed from the Society of Sound Series – a collaboration between Bowers & Wilkins and Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in 2013.
At Glastonbury Festival in 2016 and 2017 he performed on Funktion One’s Experimental Soundfield at The Glade – a six stack Ambisonic full-sphere surround sound technique that is ‘capable of recreating accurate three-dimensional sound stages from original recordings’.
In the studio he is busy recording a steady stream of releases on his own digital label. He continues to be in demand worldwide with his Live In Session shows using a vast patchwork of past, present and future experimenting effortlessly between early acid house through abstract tech breaks into dreamscapes of futuristic oscillations.
Live In Session is "a new way to present the music live based around the idea of being in the centre of the dancefloor and at eye level... I am looking to create a space which mimics the studio environment – not only that – because I would be in the centre of the dancefloor so I can monitor everything around me and be at the same level – eye-level with the presumed dancer. This way it makes it easy for me to create the atmosphere and the rhythm suitable for the individual dancefloor. Kind of like an open kitchen in a restaurant – it’s an open kitchen in a club bringing the food to the people instantly – as soon as it’s produced it’s already on the dancefloor. What I’m looking for in 2015 is sound reproduction in the clubs being taken a lot more seriously than in the past." A Guy Called Gerald
““UK club culture has many people to thank for transforming the imported sound of America into the biggest youth movement my generation has experienced, but nobody else has redefined it so much with the character and soul of Britishness, creating music for both the feet and the head, and indelibly altering our cultural landscape.”
DJ Magazine”
““No other British artist involved in dance music since the Acid House explosion has produced as many important records as A Guy Called Gerald. From Voodoo Ray (1988) the song that put British House on the map, to Black Secret Technology (1995), the album that definitively showed that Jungle was capable of full-length album statements, Gerald Simpson has consistently explored virgin territory, paving the way for lesser musicians to take the credit.”
The Rough Guide to Drum n Bass”
