 FROM THE BEGINNING...
Crazy P started life as the duo of Chris Todd & Jim Baron called Crazy Penis back in 1995.
Having met whilst at Nottingham university, the two’s love of 70’s disco & soul and the thriving British/U.S. house scene saw them start crafting their own unique brand of soulful dance music.
With very little equipment and a name to shock, the budding bedroom producers started writing and recording together. Having got lots of positive feedback from mates who heard their tracks, the lads plumped up enough courage to send some of their quirky funk off to the newly formed, but already reputable label, Paperecordings, based in Manchester.
Within days of sending the tape, paper head-honcho, Elliot Eastwick was on the phone; they loved the tracks and wanted to sign them for release.
At that time, Eastwick was probably using a traditional landline telephone system since back then, mobile phone handsets were considered as luxuries.
This was the start of an eight-year relationship with the label, which spanned numerous 12”, remix and album releases.
Having made an impression on the worldwide dance scene with their debut album ‘A Nice Hot Bath With….’, requests started coming in for Crazy Penis live shows across Europe and the world.
Chris & Jim knew they needed help to translate their richly orchestrated sound to the live format and so started their search for like-minded muso’s to join the merry throng. They didn’t have to look too far…..Bassist, Tim Davies (an old school-mate of Jim’s, and involved in the conception of the first Penis album) was drafted in along with ex-cream percussionist, Mav. The next member to join, vocalist (& Manchester socialite) Danielle Moore was spotted by Jim doing a rousing Shirley Bassey impression at a Manchester house-party in the very early hours of the morning!!! Add a fetchingly tousled beat generator on drums by the name of Matt Klose, and The Line Up became complete.
THE SUN RISES IN THE EAST MIDLANDS...
Following the release of the acclaimed album ‘The Wicked Is Music’ IN 2002, the artistes that could only be known as Crazy Penis went from strength to strength, taking their humour-filled, funk-infected Northern floorshow into the world to wow audiences from Manchester to Moscow and from Sydney to San Francisco and back. In addition, founder members Chris Todd and Jim Baron saw their remixing skills put to consistently excellent use by peer labels such as Naked Music. Not to mention Crazy Penis tracks being featured by everyone from “Sex & The City” to arthouse movies from Budapest.
Then Nottingham’s sexiest little funk number returned, all in black and ready to kick off the summer of 2004 with a big bang… Crazy Penis released the thrilling “24 Hour Psychedelic Freakout” on August 2nd accompanied by a series of typically high-octane live appearances and DJ sets across Europe including The Big Chill main stage on August 1st.
The Reviewers were unanimous.
“A mesmerising listen time and time again” wrote the BBC website.
“The most exciting British Dance act since Massive Attack” declared DMC Update.
2005 began with “24 Hour Psychedelic Freakout” featuring in the HMV “Dance Albums Of The Year” campaign and in Album Of The Year Charts everywhere from Record Collector to IDJ. 2 Years and over 20k sales later, there is consistent demand for this album across the World from Montreal to Marrakech. Longevity: the most pertinent Proof of any Pudding.
Only last month, DFS ran a major UK TV Advertising Campaign featuring “The Rite Place” from the album.
“24 Hour Psychedelic Freakout” represents a 60+ minute rollercoaster ride through the mixed-up world of Crazy Penis. Instinctively groovy, occasionally laid-back and always musically cool, “24 Hour Psychedelic Freakout” is a flash-fried, new season collection of Crazy Penis tracks and exclusive Crazy Penis remixes joined at the hip by mixers du jour Chris Todd and Jim Baron.
Now with their fourth album, "A Night On Earth", being acclaimed as one of the Albums Of The Year by everybody from Pete Tong to Ashley Beedle to Carl Cox to Danny Howells, Crazy P are set to go bang again.
DISCOGRAPHY
1996 – The Way We Swing / Summer bummer (12")
1998 – Baby We For Real / Get It On (12")
1998 – A Nice Hot Bath With… (LP)
2000 – Do It Good (remixes) (12")
2001 – You Started Something / Real Nice (12")
2002 – The Wicked is Music (LP)
2002 – Give It Up (12")
2002 – You Are We (12")
2002 – Keep On (Danny Wang remix) (12")
2004 - 24 Hour Psychedelic Freakout (Mix CD)
2005 – Lady T (12")
2006 - A Night On Earth (LP)
2006 - Sun Science (12")
LIVE CONCERTS / DJ GIGS
Australian National Tour May 2006
Ireland Tour April 2006
UK Tour March 2006
Faithless UK Tour November/December 2005
Parklife Tour Australia September/October 2005
Secret Garden Party Cambridge August 2005
Lovebox London July 2005
Cargo London
The Bomb Nottingham
Australian National Tour January 2005
The Big Chill 2004
Good Vibrations - Australia
Robodisco – Manchester
Club Non – Huddersfield
Milkveg – Eindhoven (Holland)
Come shake the whole – London
Lemon Tree – Aberdeen
Digital Boogie – Belfast
The Bomb – Nottingham
The Mad Bar – Chicago (USA)
Scuba – San Francisco (USA)
U.S / Canadian Tour 2001
Exit festival – Yugoslavia
H2O Festival – Turkey
The Big Chill festival – Lulworth castle
Rae & Christian Support – Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Aficianado – Manchester
Moscow – Halloween celebrations
Radost Fx – Prague
Barrio – Cargo, London
Fabric – NYE 2001
Jazz Café – London
Chibuku Shake-Shake – Liverpool
The End - London
Band On The Wall – Manchester
Pantiero festival – Cannes, France
Paradise – Nantes, France
Liquid lounge – Singapore
Zouk – Singapore
The roadhouse – Manchester
Scuba – Sheffield
Vibe Bar – London
G-Percussion – Manchester
Essential Festival – Bristol
Reading rooms – Dundee
Filling the Gap – Leeds
Australia/New Zealand Tour – 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,2005, 2006 |
