Andrew Cockbill

Hard dance/electro producer residing in Swindon, Southwest, UK. Label manager of HTD Digital. Andrew Cockbill carved his way into hard dance history in April 08 with his chartbusting debut single, ‘Reality Check’. His journey to the scene began as far back as he can remember. From an early age he was always fascinated by music and as a child was majorly influenced by the late 80’s / early 90’s electronic dance music revolution. At the age of 12 he got his first pair of decks, and the first two vinyl he purchased were ‘Warp Brothers – Phatt Bass’ and ‘Public Domain – Operation Blade’. With the help of his father he built his own lighting system and began running monthly youth clubs in order to raise money for his local rugby club (and of course, pocket a little for himself!). By the age of 14 Andrew had became an established mobile DJ in the Swindon area and was entertaining as a resident at the social club for various wedding and social functions. Inevitably, his love of dance music meant his disc jockeying days were numbered as the temptation to play decent pumping club tracks as an alternative to Jeff Beck’s ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining’ was becoming too strong. Still being too young to play nightclubs he turned his attentions to the studio, where he began (with the help of his cousin, Shawn) to develop his skills, working on tracks of his own. After starting university in Birmingham, along with Shawn the pair decided to start their own student night. After rewiring the sound system in the student bar, ‘Funked in Your Space’ became a regular Thursday night slot. He began to entertain at club nights in and around the Birmingham area, including sets at nights such as Shine, B4, Fluffy, Receptive and eventually his own tester night, Hit The Deck. Following its success, in December 07, with Shawn, Andrew registered HTD Digital with Companies House and plans were put in place to launch a new label offering an alternative sound to the scene. And so the journey began.. www.htddigital.co.uk