Riley & Durrant
Encyclopedia
Riley & Durrant are an electronic music production and DJ duo based in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

, UK

Andi Durrant
Andi Durrant
Andrew "Andi" Richard Durrant is a radio presenter, DJ and music producer from the UK and one half of Riley & Durrant team....

 (born February 1981) and Nick Riley (Born May 1977) met whilst DJing together at Sheffield super-club Gatecrasher
Gatecrasher
Gatecrasher is an international clubbing brand made famous by the Gatecrasher dance music events held at the Gatecrasher One nightclub in Sheffield, England during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The event received awards such as "Club Of The Year" at the Ericsson Muzik Magazine Dance Awards in...

 in 2002 and have been producing music since 2003.

Most notable for their Galaxy Network radio shows, residencies at Privilege Ibiza and their Electrik Playground club nights and record label, Riley & Durrant have been influential in playing and promoting underground electronic music on UK radio.

Radio

Between them, Riley & Durrant formerly presented two specialist dance programs on the Galaxy FM
The Galaxy Network
The Galaxy Network was a radio station brand owned by Global Radio and broadcast across the British Isles on FM in regional areas of England and Scotland, through the digital platform with Sky and DAB and online respectively. The Galaxy Network included stations: Galaxy Birmingham, Galaxy...

 network, including Andi Durrants Saturday Warmup and their Friday night showcase for the more underground, unsigned and unheard side of electronic music.

Andi Durrants Warmup program is the highest audience rated dance show in the UK on a Saturday night and regular attracts guests such as Carl Cox
Carl Cox
Carl Cox is a British techno and house music DJ.-Biography:Cox grew up in Oldham, Lancashire, before attending Glastonbury High Boys secondary modern school on Glastonbury Road in Morden. Cox began his career as a hardcore and rave DJ in the mid 1980s...

, Pendulum
Pendulum (band)
Pendulum is an Australian drum and bass and electronic rock band founded in 2002 in Perth by Rob Swire, Gareth McGrillen, and Paul Harding.Swire and McGrillen were members of the rock band known as Xygen. After hearing Konflict's "Messiah" at a club, they were inspired to enter into the drum and...

, Groove Armada
Groove Armada
Groove Armada is an English electronic music duo from London, England comprising Andy Cato and Tom Findlay. They are perhaps best known for their singles "I See You Baby" and "Superstylin'"...

, Paul Van Dyk
Paul van Dyk
Matthias Paul, better known by his stage name Paul van Dyk is a German Grammy Award-winning Electronic Dance Music DJ, musician and record producer...

, Paul Oakenfold
Paul Oakenfold
Paul Mark Oakenfold is a British record producer and a trance DJ.-Early Career: 1979–84:Paul Oakenfold's career was set to be a chef, after having hopes of becoming part of a band. He describes his early life as a "bedroom deejay" in a podcasted interview with Vancouver's 24 Hours, stating he grew...

 and the Chemical Brothers.

They also run their own production company Distorted Productions Ltd, making specialist radio shows, documentaries and jingles for UK and international radio stations.

In 2007 Andi Durrant won the bronze award at the Sony Radio Academy Awards
Sony Radio Academy Awards
The Sony Radio Academy Awards , started in 1983, are some of the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. They are run by ZAFER Associates in association with the Radio Academy...

. In 2008 he received the much coveted Gold Award as Music Broadcaster of the Year, and in 2009 he won the Silver award for best Specialist Music Program.

They can also be heard on Vonyc Radio in Germany, and regularly on Dubai 92 and HFM Ibiza.

From January 2011 Andi Durrant presents two late-night weekend shows on The Capital FM Network
The Capital FM Network
Capital is a radio network of nine Independent Local Radio stations in the United Kingdom which are owned and operated by Global Radio, launching on 3 January 2011. Capital was previously known as Mix, One, Galaxy and Hit Music at various times...

 replacing Galaxy FM.

DJ Highlights

They have played at most of the UK dance festivals from Creamfields
Creamfields
Creamfelds is a large dance music festival featuring DJs and live acts. It is held annually on the August Bank Holiday weekend in Daresbury, Cheshire, England, just outside of Liverpool where it had previously been held for a number of years. It is renowned for being headlined every year by the...

 to Global Gathering and played internationally across Russia, Asia, USA and Europe. They are one of the few British acts to have played at the Fort Dance festival in St Petersberg, where they did their first live set in 2004.

On New Year's Eve 2007/08 Riley & Durrant headlined their own event on the worlds largest man-made beach in Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia

Andi and Nick are regulars in Ibiza during the summer months, playing at the world famous Café Mambo
Café Mambo
Café Mambo is a bar located in Sant Antoni de Portmany, Ibiza. It is most famous for being the official pre party point for Pacha Ibiza, and hosting some of the most famous DJs in the world including Carl Cox, David Guetta and Swedish House Mafia who have a weekly residency there during the...

, and broadcasting live from Amnesia

In 2008 they made their first entry into the DJ Mag Top 150 and were voted as Britain’s No. 6 in the Datatransmission UK DJ Poll, alongside Errol Alkin, Sasha, Digweed and James Zabeila.

For the 2008 and 2009 Ibiza seasons Riley & Durrant were part of the biggest night in Ibiza when they were asked to be weekly residents at Privilege
Privilege
A privilege is a special entitlement to immunity granted by the state or another authority to a restricted group, either by birth or on a conditional basis. It can be revoked in certain circumstances. In modern democratic states, a privilege is conditional and granted only after birth...

 (Worlds Biggest Club) to provide the sound of the second room at Tiesto
Tiësto
Tijs Michiel Verwest, , known as Tiësto , is a Dutch musician, DJ and record producer of electronic dance music. Although he has used many aliases in the past, he is best known for his work as DJ Tiësto...

’s sell-out concerts and warm up for him in the main room. In 2010 Riley & Durrant will be playing the Terrace for rival club Cream at Amnesia with Calvin Harris
Calvin Harris
Calvin Harris is a Scottish singer-songwriter, record producer and DJ. His gold-selling debut album, I Created Disco, was released in 2007 and contained the top ten singles "Acceptable in the 80s" and "The Girls"...



Most weekends Riley & Durrant can be found playing across Britain from the famous superclubs like Cream
Cream (nightclub)
Cream, based at the Nation nightclub in Liverpool, is one of the best-known night clubs in the UK. Cream began life as a weekly house music night at Nation, and ran in this format for 10 years, from October 1992 to June 2002...

, Gatecrasher
Gatecrasher
Gatecrasher is an international clubbing brand made famous by the Gatecrasher dance music events held at the Gatecrasher One nightclub in Sheffield, England during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The event received awards such as "Club Of The Year" at the Ericsson Muzik Magazine Dance Awards in...

, Ministry of Sound
Ministry of Sound
Ministry of Sound London, commonly referred to as simply Ministry of Sound or MoS, is a nightclub based in London, United Kingdom and an associated record label. It was ranked fourth in the 2010 DJ Magazine top 100 clubs poll 2010. As well as the nightclub in London, there is another in Egypt and...

 and Godskitchen
Godskitchen
Godskitchen is an international superclub brand which is associated with dance music and organises events, particularly in the UK and US. The company runs a club night of the same name at their nightclub AIR, in Birmingham, England and has an in-house music label...

, to smaller more intimate venues around the country.

Studio

In 2008 Nick and Andi opened a recording studio in Leeds City Centre with fellow Leeds residents The Utah Saints
Utah Saints
Utah Saints is a dance band based in Leeds, England. The music is produced by Jez Willis and Tim Garbutt, who are joined on-stage by other musicians whenever the band plays live...


Music & Releases

The first few Riley & Durrant releases in 2003 sat firmly in the trance and melodic genres, on European record labels like Black Hole and United, including their debut track "Candesco" (of which only 500 copies were ever pressed onto vinyl but subsequently became a collectors classic, with copies going for over £50 on Ebay). Over the subsequent years, Riley & Durrant have become difficult to pigeon-hole musically, with support for their music coming from a wide cross section of DJs – from underground house heroes like Laurent Garnier, Krafty Kuts and Sander Klienenberg to superstars Armin Van Buuren, Laidback Luke, Axwell, Paul Van Dyk and Tiesto.

There's no doubt Riley & Durrant are no longer part of the international trance scene, having developed their music and DJ sets into a much broader house-focussed sound, although they often straddle house, progressive and techno, and also play Drum n Bass and Breakbeat on their radio programs.

Their debut artist album “Research & Development” was released summer 2007, and reached the iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....

 top 50 in the first month of sales, receiving great critical acclaim for it’s unique genre-bending sound


“Adventurous and experimental – 4 Stars” IDJ Mag


“Without a doubt the best artist album of the year” Contactmusic.com
Contactmusic.com
Contactmusic.com is a Leeds UK based entertainment magazine/webzine. The site was launched in April 2000 by a small team and has now expanded to 12 fulltime staff and many freelance contributors from across the globe...




“This album will cross boundaries” Dancenode


“Quirky but Cool” Mixmag
Mixmag
Mixmag is a British dance music and clubbing magazine. It styles itself as "the world's biggest selling dance music magazine", with an Audit Bureau of Circulations audited circulation of approximately 21,250...




“This only serves to emphasize how far R&D have come – 4/5” DJ Magazine

Alongside their commercial releases, Riley & Durrant have written a number of pieces of music for film and television, such as Sky One
Sky One
Sky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...

 and ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...


Record Label

In 2007 Andi and Nick launched their Nu Breed Music record label to put out some of the vast amount of tracks they were being sent by young up-and-coming music producers for their radio shows.

Nu Breed Music was closed in 2008 following a settlement with Ministry of Sound
Ministry of Sound
Ministry of Sound London, commonly referred to as simply Ministry of Sound or MoS, is a nightclub based in London, United Kingdom and an associated record label. It was ranked fourth in the 2010 DJ Magazine top 100 clubs poll 2010. As well as the nightclub in London, there is another in Egypt and...

 to use the Trade Mark for their Global Underground compilations.




Riley & Durrant launched the Electrik Playground record label in 2009 and are currently about to launch the labels 12th release

Club Events

Riley & Durrant are behind the Electrik Playground club nights and parties (alongside part-owners Adam Sheridan and Nick Ferguson) held at Mission in Leeds, 02 Academy and Nocturnal in Sheffield, Ministry of Sound in London, Privilege in Ibiza
Ibiza
Ibiza or Eivissa is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Spain. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. With Formentera, it is one of the two Pine Islands or Pityuses. Its largest cities are Ibiza...

and various tour nights in the UK. (The Worlds Biggest club)

Discography

Original Tracks / Singles:


Hauswerks vs Riley & Durrant - Bellydancer (303 Lovers) June 10


Riley & Durrant ft This Morning Call - All I Leave Behind (Electric Playground) May 10


Council Estate Supermodels ft Riley & Durrant - Keep Smiling (Electrik Playground) Apr 10


Riley & Durrant vs Juan Kidd - "Da Bass" (CR2) Feb 2010


Riley & Durrant - "Jagerbomb" (Electrik Playground) Nov 09


Riley & Durrant - "Remote Control" (Nu Breed Music) Jun 08


Electrik Playground - "Electrik Playground" (Nu Breed Music) Jun 08


Riley & Durrant - "Aurora" (Newstate Music) Jan 08


Riley & Durrant with Hauswerks - Experiment No. 2 (Newstate Music) Jan 08


Riley & Durrant ft Gina Dootson - "Hollow" (Newstate Music) June 7


Riley & Durrant “Neon Eyes” (United) March 6


Riley & Durrant “Home” (Blackhole) Jan 06


Riley & Durrant “The Code” (Blackhole) Jan 06


Riley & Durrant “Suddenly” (Monster) Nov 05


Riley & Durrant “Exile” (Distorted) April 4


Riley & Durrant “Candesco” (Recover) May 3

Remixes:

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