Midfield General

by John Bush Not just another big beat act invading the LP realm a couple of years too late, Midfield General is the recording alias of Skint label boss Damian Harris. A prime architect of the sound of big beat, Harris grew up listening first to punk, then hip-hop, and finally acid house; after moving to Brighton to study art, he began DJing and promoting clubs around the city. In 1994, his music knowledge landed him a job at Loaded Records, where former Housemartin Norman Cook — a friend of Harris since his days working at the Rounder store in Brighton — recorded as Pizzaman. Harris and Cooks mutual vision brought about Cooks first single as Fatboy Slim, Santa Cruz. After releases by Arthur and Hip Optimist (aka Andy Barlow, later of Lamb), Harris debuted his Midfield General project in 1994 with Worlds/Bung. Skint finally went overground with Cooks Everybody Needs a 303. Almost overnight, the label became famous around Great Britain as ground zero for the full-on collision between acid house mayhem, old school rap attitude, and hook-heavy sampladelic trip-hop that was later dubbed big beat, after the Skint club night, Big Beat Boutique, held at Brightons Concorde. Releases by Req, Bentley Rhythm Ace, Hardknox, and Lo Fidelity Allstars cemented the catalog, and after Fatboy Slims second album, Youve Come a Long Way Baby, became an international phenomenon, Harris inaugurated a global deal with Sony. Taking most of a year off from the office to concentrate on recording, he finally released his debut album, Generalisation, in 2000. Harris also mixed the third volume in Skints On the Floor at the Boutique series.