Tim Simenon

Tim Simenon is now better known as a record producer, having worked with Depeche Mode. He started off his music career in the late 1980s dj'ing at London's Wag Club. From his record collection a

Tim Simenon is now better known as a record producer, having worked with Depeche Mode. He started off his music career in the late 1980s dj'ing at London's Wag Club. From his record collection and experience on a music production college course he used a basic music production set up to produce Beat Dis. Beat Dis was a cut and paste record fusing old school hip hop, funk including the Jimmy Castor Bunch and samples from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and Thunderbirds soundtracks. The record reputedly cost 500GBP to make, in between Simenon's work as a shelf stacker in a supermarket and dj'ing. The record first appeared on the Mister-Ron imprint, a ruse designed to pretend that the record was a US import fresh out of New York. The record went straight into the UK charts at number two when released by Rhythm King records. Its Smiley artwork borrowed from The Watchmen comic books influenced much of the imagery surrounding the 'acid house' and rave scene.

Simenon went on to follow up the single with three more singles taken from a hastily recorded album 'Into the Dragon'. Into the Dragon acknowledged the debt it owed to Japanese hip-hop label Major Force, New York producer Steinski, UK artists Massive Attack/ Wild Bunch and the 23 Skidoo/Ronin collective.