Jamie Ritman Information
Jamie Ritmen (Ritmen the dutch word for rythm) began his musical journey in the mid to late 80`s when he saw he`s now very good friend David Atreed aka Tape Monkey perform a Jean Michelle Jarre track at a school assembly.Jamie had never heard music of this nature and it blew him away and pushed him into electronic music.He began listening to the great electronic artists of the time, arists such as The Pet Shop Boys, New Order, Vangellis to name but a few.Sitting in his bedroom at 13 years old Jamie would copy songs on his yamaha keyboard by ear teaching himself all about how to structure a song, chord progressions and melody making.Hours were spent in his bedroom as he learned to write his own songs, sometimes writing the lyrics first and laying the track down, sometimes putting a track together and writing the vocal afterwards getting his own style at a very early age.
Then came the early 90`s, the birth of underground dance music.Jamie always considered himself a pop song writer as this was always his first love so was very bemused when he heard dance tracks with no vocals and very repetitive beats.It was 1992 before Jamie really came round to the hardcore scene as this was more musically driven, although not quite as much as todays scene as we know it.The prodigy came along writing tracks such as `Everybody In The Place`and `Your Love` which were exciting and original as well as their live performamces.When his good friend and school pal Darren Styles began to go to `oscars` nightclub in Clacton on Sea and began bringing more hardcore round to play at lunch time Jamie began to make his own hardcore tune on his keyboard.From this point Jamie, Darren and Paul Hughes (another good school friend) began to record tracks at Colbayns High school and performed in the assembly halls on a regular basis.
A year passed and the group were really pushing on and had a good collection of hardcore tunes and needed to push to the next level.Darren went over to DJ Forces house to buy some tickets for a party called `Raven` and dropped him a demo.Force loved this demo and wanted to work with the boys and DJ Force and The Evolution was born.Soon after being signed by `Knite Force Records` becoming their very first artist and first release on the label tracks such as `Fall Down On Me`,`Lost It, `Perfect Dreams, and `Show Me Heaven` made them a household name in hardcore.Also with their love for the Prodigy began to do PA`s all over the UK aswell as Germany.
A couple of years later, Darren Styles and DJ Force set up UK Dance and Force and Styles was born.Jamie and Paul Hughes made a couple of tracks such as `Looking For Love` and `Break Release` , the first release on UK Dance.However family commitments and full time employment prevented the duo form breaking through on their own and the rest for Force and Styles is history.
It wasnt until 2005 when Jamie Ritmen, now living on his own after the traumatic split with his family and the loss of his father decided that it was time to make his dream come true and get back on the production circuit full time after the frustration of the past 7 years being starved of his passion for making music. He set up a studio in his 1 bedroom flat in Clacton On Sea and began to make Hardcore once again.He broke back into the scene with `Amnesia 05` which was released by then UK Dance owner DJ Force coupled with a Sy & Unnkown remix.This track firmly installed Jamie as an established hardcore producer once again.More massive tunes came around such as `Run To Heaven`, and ` Kill The DJ also tracks with Force such as `Gone Are The Days` and Break The Silence.
In 2006 Jamie attended a 6 month engineering course at Point Blank in London as he wanted to give himself the best chance to aquire the skills to comlplete with the best.He graduated through the `Introduction To Production` level, then soon after completed the `Art Of Mixing` module giving him essential technical knowledge to compliment his already established style.To this day Jamie thanks everyone at Point Blank college for their guidance and support especially Ian Mkenzie who hadnt heard hardcore since he engineered for the Ratpack and gave it the time of day.
Soon after DJ Force was looking to sell UK Dance records and Jamie Ritmen took this on with the knowledge that he can have complete control over his own music.More hardcore classics came out of the Ritmen household such as `Never Say Die, `Make Beleive` `Touch The Sun , `Drop The Beats`, `Lost In Your World`,`You Are The One, now being recorded at MGB Studios in his new home. Jamie`s tracks are also now available on digital at www.serioussounds.net.
Tracks then began appearing on the infamous Clubland Extreme hardcore compilations such as `Dont Go Away`(Breeze & Ritmen)` the remix of the Styles & Breeze track `Do You Want Me Honey`, `Touch The Sun`, `Bassphaze` The Rob Mayth remix `Heart To Heart`and Skydiving of which Jamie Ritmen wrote the song and Darren Styles provided the track.
Things really began to move on when Jamie Ritmen played his infamous set at HTID In The Sun in June 2008 with MC Speno and in May 2009 played at Kandiland V in Phoenix Arizona installing him as a player on the global hardcore stage.Projects are now underway with DJ Breeze and Darren Styles aswell as looking for new talent to collaborate with.Aswell as being booked to play Hardcore Heaven at the Bristol academy September this year its been a long road for the kid from Clacton On Sea in Essex.However Jamie believes that he has so much more to achieve and his feet are firmly on the ground looking forward to a long and prosperous career in the hardcore dance scene.
Gridbreaker
Gridbreaker (otherwise known as Jamie Ritmen for his Hardcore productions) was born as Jamie Ritmens hard dance alter-ego. It was in 2006 that he had his first stab at a hard dance track called `Feel The Pulse` which later became a Jamie Ritmen smash as a hardcore remix. His passion for this style grew as he began working with the superstar DJ Anne Savage after she moved nearby and needed and engineer. Gridbreaker`s first big track was a remix of the degrees of motion classic `Shine On` which he produced for a remix contest through track it down.net. Although he didn`t succeed in winning this competition the track was being smashed by Anne Savage, Nikki Elise at Kiss FM and Kutski on Radio 1 demonstrating he had the skills and capability to produce good club-standard hard dance tunes.
The biggest turning point in the Gridbreaker story was the meeting with Anne Savage in 2006 after being introduced by DJ Force. Anne was in Ibiza and needed a breaks electro track completed by Thursday that week for a submission to TV for the Rugby League final. The idea was that Gridbreaker would start work on the track and Anne would get involved when she got back. However Gridbreaker saw this as an opportunity to show what he could do and worked tirelessly for 3 days to get the track done upon Anne`s return from Ibiza. With a minimal amount of parts to play with Gridbreaker saw this as a challenge and called upon all of the depths of his creativity to come up with a track that would blow her away. Anne arrived on the Thursday with much trepidation as she had never heard of this aspiring producer from Essex but was amazed at the result and after her input the track was complete. This was the beginning of a prosperous relationship for Gridbreaker.
As well as crafting out his very own hard dance smashes, including his hard dance mix of the Jamie Ritmen classic `Bassfaze` and `Lost In Your World` Gridbreaker was producing mixes for Anne Savage as well as an intro for her world tour with Lisa Lashes and producing the track `Forgiven` with Kiss FM DJ Nikki Elise.
The real breakthrough came in 2009 when Anne Savage was setting up her own label `Siren Trax` and asked Gridbreaker to become her exclusive engineer. On top of that came a whole host of tracks that were now becoming a regular feature in Anne`s dj sets, the main track being his phenomenal cover version of the Armin Van Buren classic `Sound Of Goodbye`. This became a collaboration with Anne as the `5am Amnesia mix` and the Tech Mix were completed. The tech mix is to appear on a forthcoming Goodgreef compilation mixed by Lisa Lashes along with Anne`s `Hellraiser` engineered by Gridbreaker himself.
Along the way Gridbreaker has built a serious reputation in the hard dance scene with tracks such as Surrender, the remix of the Klubfiller track `Defiant We Stand, a cover version of the trance classic `Southern Sun` along with the more techno driven tracks `Get Down` and the remix of the Styles and Breeze smash `Amigos` that have recently been played on Kutski`s radio one slot.
Then came the early 90`s, the birth of underground dance music.Jamie always considered himself a pop song writer as this was always his first love so was very bemused when he heard dance tracks with no vocals and very repetitive beats.It was 1992 before Jamie really came round to the hardcore scene as this was more musically driven, although not quite as much as todays scene as we know it.The prodigy came along writing tracks such as `Everybody In The Place`and `Your Love` which were exciting and original as well as their live performamces.When his good friend and school pal Darren Styles began to go to `oscars` nightclub in Clacton on Sea and began bringing more hardcore round to play at lunch time Jamie began to make his own hardcore tune on his keyboard.From this point Jamie, Darren and Paul Hughes (another good school friend) began to record tracks at Colbayns High school and performed in the assembly halls on a regular basis.
A year passed and the group were really pushing on and had a good collection of hardcore tunes and needed to push to the next level.Darren went over to DJ Forces house to buy some tickets for a party called `Raven` and dropped him a demo.Force loved this demo and wanted to work with the boys and DJ Force and The Evolution was born.Soon after being signed by `Knite Force Records` becoming their very first artist and first release on the label tracks such as `Fall Down On Me`,`Lost It, `Perfect Dreams, and `Show Me Heaven` made them a household name in hardcore.Also with their love for the Prodigy began to do PA`s all over the UK aswell as Germany.
A couple of years later, Darren Styles and DJ Force set up UK Dance and Force and Styles was born.Jamie and Paul Hughes made a couple of tracks such as `Looking For Love` and `Break Release` , the first release on UK Dance.However family commitments and full time employment prevented the duo form breaking through on their own and the rest for Force and Styles is history.
It wasnt until 2005 when Jamie Ritmen, now living on his own after the traumatic split with his family and the loss of his father decided that it was time to make his dream come true and get back on the production circuit full time after the frustration of the past 7 years being starved of his passion for making music. He set up a studio in his 1 bedroom flat in Clacton On Sea and began to make Hardcore once again.He broke back into the scene with `Amnesia 05` which was released by then UK Dance owner DJ Force coupled with a Sy & Unnkown remix.This track firmly installed Jamie as an established hardcore producer once again.More massive tunes came around such as `Run To Heaven`, and ` Kill The DJ also tracks with Force such as `Gone Are The Days` and Break The Silence.
In 2006 Jamie attended a 6 month engineering course at Point Blank in London as he wanted to give himself the best chance to aquire the skills to comlplete with the best.He graduated through the `Introduction To Production` level, then soon after completed the `Art Of Mixing` module giving him essential technical knowledge to compliment his already established style.To this day Jamie thanks everyone at Point Blank college for their guidance and support especially Ian Mkenzie who hadnt heard hardcore since he engineered for the Ratpack and gave it the time of day.
Soon after DJ Force was looking to sell UK Dance records and Jamie Ritmen took this on with the knowledge that he can have complete control over his own music.More hardcore classics came out of the Ritmen household such as `Never Say Die, `Make Beleive` `Touch The Sun , `Drop The Beats`, `Lost In Your World`,`You Are The One, now being recorded at MGB Studios in his new home. Jamie`s tracks are also now available on digital at www.serioussounds.net.
Tracks then began appearing on the infamous Clubland Extreme hardcore compilations such as `Dont Go Away`(Breeze & Ritmen)` the remix of the Styles & Breeze track `Do You Want Me Honey`, `Touch The Sun`, `Bassphaze` The Rob Mayth remix `Heart To Heart`and Skydiving of which Jamie Ritmen wrote the song and Darren Styles provided the track.
Things really began to move on when Jamie Ritmen played his infamous set at HTID In The Sun in June 2008 with MC Speno and in May 2009 played at Kandiland V in Phoenix Arizona installing him as a player on the global hardcore stage.Projects are now underway with DJ Breeze and Darren Styles aswell as looking for new talent to collaborate with.Aswell as being booked to play Hardcore Heaven at the Bristol academy September this year its been a long road for the kid from Clacton On Sea in Essex.However Jamie believes that he has so much more to achieve and his feet are firmly on the ground looking forward to a long and prosperous career in the hardcore dance scene.
Gridbreaker
Gridbreaker (otherwise known as Jamie Ritmen for his Hardcore productions) was born as Jamie Ritmens hard dance alter-ego. It was in 2006 that he had his first stab at a hard dance track called `Feel The Pulse` which later became a Jamie Ritmen smash as a hardcore remix. His passion for this style grew as he began working with the superstar DJ Anne Savage after she moved nearby and needed and engineer. Gridbreaker`s first big track was a remix of the degrees of motion classic `Shine On` which he produced for a remix contest through track it down.net. Although he didn`t succeed in winning this competition the track was being smashed by Anne Savage, Nikki Elise at Kiss FM and Kutski on Radio 1 demonstrating he had the skills and capability to produce good club-standard hard dance tunes.
The biggest turning point in the Gridbreaker story was the meeting with Anne Savage in 2006 after being introduced by DJ Force. Anne was in Ibiza and needed a breaks electro track completed by Thursday that week for a submission to TV for the Rugby League final. The idea was that Gridbreaker would start work on the track and Anne would get involved when she got back. However Gridbreaker saw this as an opportunity to show what he could do and worked tirelessly for 3 days to get the track done upon Anne`s return from Ibiza. With a minimal amount of parts to play with Gridbreaker saw this as a challenge and called upon all of the depths of his creativity to come up with a track that would blow her away. Anne arrived on the Thursday with much trepidation as she had never heard of this aspiring producer from Essex but was amazed at the result and after her input the track was complete. This was the beginning of a prosperous relationship for Gridbreaker.
As well as crafting out his very own hard dance smashes, including his hard dance mix of the Jamie Ritmen classic `Bassfaze` and `Lost In Your World` Gridbreaker was producing mixes for Anne Savage as well as an intro for her world tour with Lisa Lashes and producing the track `Forgiven` with Kiss FM DJ Nikki Elise.
The real breakthrough came in 2009 when Anne Savage was setting up her own label `Siren Trax` and asked Gridbreaker to become her exclusive engineer. On top of that came a whole host of tracks that were now becoming a regular feature in Anne`s dj sets, the main track being his phenomenal cover version of the Armin Van Buren classic `Sound Of Goodbye`. This became a collaboration with Anne as the `5am Amnesia mix` and the Tech Mix were completed. The tech mix is to appear on a forthcoming Goodgreef compilation mixed by Lisa Lashes along with Anne`s `Hellraiser` engineered by Gridbreaker himself.
Along the way Gridbreaker has built a serious reputation in the hard dance scene with tracks such as Surrender, the remix of the Klubfiller track `Defiant We Stand, a cover version of the trance classic `Southern Sun` along with the more techno driven tracks `Get Down` and the remix of the Styles and Breeze smash `Amigos` that have recently been played on Kutski`s radio one slot.
If you'd like to update the information about this artist or upload some pictures please click the 'edit' link below.
Jamie Ritman Events
0 events found
No upcoming events