CELEBRATING a seriously impressive 25 years in the game, the home of hard-house, Tidy Trax has some incredible achievements under its belt.
From a live Radio One Essential Mix, over 22 Sell Out Weekenders, 5 sell-out Magna events, more than 350 label releases, several national Top 40 hits and most recently a #1 album on Beatport and iTunes with the Nicholson album “Reverent.”
To celebrate the music, The Tidy Boys have put together a timeline of label releases, starting from the origins of Tony De Vit’s iconic ‘The Dawn’ to The Tidy Girls’ EP, Signum’s ‘Coming On Strong’ and more.
This is an essential list of Tidy tunes that will take you on a quarter of a century-long musical journey.
Tony De Vit – The Dawn
“This was Tony De Vit’s final track, he poignantly wrote this as he had moved from his old studio and production team to Tidy and wanted to change his sound from the tough hard and fast to a more melodic feel. Its totally instrumental and was inspired by Signum’s What Ya Got 4 Me, which was the big tune in his box at the time. Tony recorded the track with Tidy producer Paul Janes in our Rotherham studios 5 months before passed away. It was created for the Trade EP which came out after Tonys death in July 1998.”
Signum – What Ya Got 4 Me
“The track that inspired the aforementioned Tony De Vit ‘The Dawn’, we picked this up from a Dutch label called Bpm Records in January 1998, it hadn’t been released at that point, so we got an exclusive. Its mixture of a simple house groove yet powerful trance riff created so much emotion on the dance floor, it also was the track that made everyone turn their heads towards Tidy Trax, it widened our appeal as was the track that opened doors.”
Artemisia – Bit+Pieces
“Produced by Patrick Prinz from Holland this Dutch novelty track was picked up in 1994 by Hooj Choons, it was a firm favourite with us, both as a track to playout when DJing but also as producers, we admired its simplicity. About 6 or 7 samples over a kick drum made this track a stroke of genius, it was remixed by Tony De Vit while on Hooj and became a mid-90s anthem in clubland. In 2000 the 5 year license that Red Jerry had for the track at Hooj had expired, so we were straight in and licensed it for the next 10 years. The first thing we did was remix it ourselves, and the Tidy Boys mix became the new version everyone wanted to play. It was ahead to remix something you admired so much and we didn’t want to lose the feel of the track. We kept it fun and simple and its seemed to work.”
Heavens Cry – ’Til Tears do Us Part
“We signed this track again from Holland and this time from RCM Records and again it hadn’t been released. The demo track was sent to us in January 2001, we loved the melody but was worried it was too light and trance for a hard house audience. The more we played it in the studio the more we realised it was a real grower of a track. In the march of 2021 we got Flash Harry (AKA Paul Chambers) one of the Tidy team to remix it, we didn’t want it changing very much, so his remix was just to speed it up and pump up the percussion, this is what he did and we loved it. However it didn’t get released until the September of that year, originally it only sold about 2000 copies which was poor back then, however we (The Tidy Boys) kept playing it in every set, and even opened a weekender with it as well as playing at Global Gathering in from of 8000 people. 12 months later it was one of the biggest tracks on the label, out selling all other tracks… it became a Hard House anthem, so much so people request the orchestral version of this track for their weddings and even funerals.”
Untidy Dubs – Funky Groove
“The untidy Dubs was an experimental project that our attempt as slowing down hard house and getting a wider range of DJs to play it. The first Untidy Dubs EP was supposed to be a 4 track EP but we were one track short, sp Paul Janes the producer knocked up Funky Groover in less than 3 hours, it was a rush job, but when we heard it we instantly felt it should be the lead track on the EP. The next thing we know its being played by everyone from Pete Tong and Judge Jules on radio One as well as the trade DJs Ian M & Tony De Vit. In fact Judge Jules who was the then A&R director of Manifesto Records signs dthe track for a full commercial release and it reached the top 40 in the UK.”
Tony De Vit – Are You All Ready
“Original created by Tony as a novelly track to end his sets with, he wanted something hard and fast to make the final track memorable but also to leave everyone soaking wet in sweat. Are You Already vocal was from a sample CD which ironically was produced by the Tidy team back in 1991 – the vocal is a unknown MC shouting on stage at gig on Hastings Pier, recorded by Martin Smith (Megabass). The hoover sound which originally came from a Juno keyboard was actually sampled too, its 150 bpm speed made this the track of all tracks to end the night on, yet it spawned many sound alike and hoover copy tracks within hard house.”
Tidy Girls – The Tidy Girls EP
“Four tracks from the girls, Lisa Lashes, Lisa Pin Up, Rachel Auburn and Anne Savage. The project was to get the girls in the studio with the Tidy producers to not only create 4 great tracks but also lift the profile of these DJs and thereforo mark re get more girls playing at hard house events which at this time wasn’t a common thing to see. The Tidy Boys and Paul Janes co produced the tracks and in particular Lisa Lashes Looking Good and Lisa Pin Ups Rock With Me spawned the sound of bounce and gave hard house its first donks.”
Signum – Coming On Strong
“The follow Up to What Ya Got 4 Me and another hard trance anthem, it was featured on the Kevin & Perry film, in fact its in one of the climatic scenes at the end on the dance floor. This helped the track become another big anthem worldwide.”
Tidy Boys & Technikal – The Danger
“This is one of the more recent tracks on the label from 2014, originally created as an intro for a Tidy Boys weekender set which saw the boys dressed as Walter White and Pinkman from Breaking Bad. As well as samples from the series the emotional riff was based on the chords of the theme tune to the programme. It was one of those rare tracks, that the moment you first heard it you knew it was going to be popular. It was suppose to be full of familiarity and capture the over all sound of the Tidy Two label, our hard trance outlet.”
NG Rezonanze & PHD featuring Hayley Colleen – Worlds Collide
“Only 12 months old and a massive release on the Tidy Two label. Another hard trance track that first started out as an instrumental, great melody that created a feel good emotion but Amadeus (Tidy Boys) and A&R for the label felt it needed a pores full vocal. With the new Tidy studios based in Leeds they shipped in local girl and Tidy clubber Hayley Colleen, who not only sung the new vocals she wrote them too. The package was complete and it was released digital and a three disc vinyl EP.”
