Throughout its 10-year and sixty-two record history Certificate18 has ridden the line between Electronica and Drum'n'bass, reflective of label manager Paul Arnold's love of music. A visionary approach to A&R, signing Photek (as Studio Pressure) and Source Direct (as Sound Of Life) before Metalheadz, and Danny C's Primary Motive before Creative Source or Good Looking.
It remains one of the most advanced and broad-minded labels in the country showing continuing focus on artist albums and innovative sounds from all corners of the globe.

Paul explains how he first came to establish the label: "At that time of around 1990 a lot of people were making Breakbeat orientated tracks and I happened to be in a position where I was getting hold of it all. Prior to that I'd been listening to Electronically led, Techno style music - artists like Carl Craig - and when the Breakbeat was fused with those warm sounds I was in my element.

It was such a new form of music coming through and I was hearing a lot of material that I found truly exciting, it seemed there was nothing else to do than put it out".
Those first releases brought a more mature side to Drum'n'bass with material from Rupert Parkes' Studio Pressure project defining the output of the label. Through misguidedly dubbed 'intelligent' at the time, the tracks were certainly founded more for its samples, but much closer to home, sourcing Future Sound of London and questioning vocals.

Paul however is unaware of any conscious decision to focus on any one side of the sound: "People often say there is a distinctive sound at the label, through I feel too entrenched in it all to be able to pick out any one characteristic that runs through the catalogue. I don't look for anything in particular when I'm signing a track, if my ears take a liking to it and I feel it then I release it."
Both Photek and Source Direct left shortly after and, though much of Certificate18's rep was reliant on their work, the departure was amicable. Paul explains: "It wasn't an overnight split, it happened fairly slowly both Rupert and Jim & Phil had both created a sound together - they moved on and so did I."

The signing of Tom Withers, Rob Solomon's LEXIS project and Danny C's PRIMARY MOTIVE ensured a sense of consistency at the label. He elaborates on how the label has progressed since those first releases: 'Musically I continue pushing the artists at the label to do new material, I've always worked hard in an attempt to be free of both sales concerns and staying within the realms of any one scene or structure.'

'In the past there has been no hurry with artists as it has just been a case of finding the right material, through this year it seems that things have just come right for me. I've just continued to do what I've always done and a number of producers have appreciated that sound and the way I work and come to me with new material.'
There have been three HIDDEN ROOM compilations, made up of tracks from Certificate 18 artists, and also an album release entitled 'WIDESCREEN VERSIONS'. This project was ambitious in its use of reinterpretation of Drum'n'bass tracks from electronic artists. 'It just came about in that I had a couple of remixes down already, PLAID was first, followed by AUTECHRE and Kirk Degiorgio. KLUTE had recorded an Override mix of one of his tracks and I'd already been looking to get Andy Weatherall to do something anyway, I felt that there was an album appearing.'

Continuing, he says: 'The PLAID mix did really well, with a lot of good reactions from me stepping out and doing something a little bit different. Things changed with the AUTECHRE remix of LEXIS however, as although personally it's one of my favorite releases on the label I found people were playing one side and dumbing the flip down as being too weird or whatever. I think the project suffered, as I didn't label it well enough as an 'electronic twelve'. What's upsetting is that release had a knock-on effecton the next five twelves, people just thought it was a weird label and I was placed into that experimental bracket with scares a great deal of people off'.

This estrangement from the 'scene', though frustrating, has probably worked in the favor of the label. 'It's ridiculous really, as an example when everyone was going crazy about plates I was finding that certain DJ's wouldn't play a track if another person had cut it. It reached a point where I just started sending out the music and, if they didn't want to play it from record then I wasn't bothered, as I felt the quality of music was there and if they couldn't hear that or didn't want to play it then they didn't have to. That's my outlook on the whole thing really, I put these records out and hope that people will pick up on it - perhaps that's holding me back, but there is only so much you can do'.

The emergence of ELECTRONIC PROJECTS has seen an extension of Certificate 18 taking a particular interest in electronica and abstract beats. Though still part of the Certificate18 catalogue, these labels explore more downtempo electronic product. Paul explains: 'I always intended to release a variety of different music on the label and though other people in the scene have tackled that by setting up another label - I'm trying not to do that. Unfortunately people still have that perception that the label is purely Drum'n'bass and I heard a lot of people playing the HI-RIZE twelve on 45, which I really can't understand. I think it reinforces the belief that people really don't listen to music, particularly those who get sent records for free who are classifying it before listening to it.'

1998 saw a focus on long players, with KLUTE's 'Casual Bodies' the first artist album to surface from the label. 'Artist albums really lend a sense of progression to any label and they are the best format for 'listenable' music. By that I mean that I like to listen to Drum'n'bass at home and feel very strongly that this music shouldn't just be restricted to a club environment. Though Drum'n'bass single sales come in the main from DJ's, I want to expand beyond that.' He continues: 'In addition I think offering an album deal to your artists does ultimately affect how they approach their music, in the sense that they're building for something and have seventy minutes to develop and further their sound as opposed to being restricted to what is essentially a dancefloor capability.'

Hence the seven track mini-LP from POLAR - Norwegian Kjetil Sagstad. Paul explains his thought process behind the project: 'Kjetil had sent me three tracks on DAT that I thought were super and followed that with another three tracks a week or so later. I was so pleased with the tunes that I didn't just want to release two twelves. I wanted to get the material out there and allow as many people to hear it, and it seemed obvious to me that the only way that was going to happen was through a release on compact disc. By putting it on CD I felt that people who weren't necessarily into Drum'n'bass would hear about it, listen to it and ultimately buy it.

The impression the majority of people have of Drum'n'bass is trite two step which, through works in a club, is fairly boring to listen to outside of that environment,' he says. 'My intention with '37 degrees and Falling' was to show something beyond that. When Photek's album was released on Science, I felt that it demonstrated that Drum'n'bass had been accepted and that label managers and artists would see the potential the music had, would accept that and start to experiment further. It seems though that the opposite occurred, nothing happened and though many would say the movement went 'underground' I think a better description would be that it took a step backwards. The result was that the whole music locked down into a comparatively small niche. Many of the people on that lower level who could have been releasing more experimental music or putting their material on CD didn't, as they were unable to expand on their music to fill that format.'

'It seems that the majority of label managers in Drum'n'bass are running their operation out of a spare bedroom. When I started I didn't know anything other than how to press a twelve. It never crossed my mind to press a CD, I just moved with the time but over time I started to find these things out. We were in an underground scene but that scene has moved forward and I feel that now there has to be a chance. Even though in a sense part of that change is happening all the time, it isn't enough as there are perhaps only ten people at any one time instigating it.'

So into 2002, and Certificate 18 is streaks ahead in terms of depth and variety of music on it's roster. Pilote, having released two albums on Electronic Projects, 'Antenna' and 'DoItNowMan', is busy working on a third, having had a track used on One2One's TV advertising campaign. The Norwegian link is as strong as ever with Polar now looking forward to the release of his third album 'Out of the Blue', which is close to eclipsing the success of last year's 'Still Moving' album. Teebee, having released 'Black Science Labs' in 2000 and literally blowing the pants off drum n bass as it was then, came back to finish off the damage with last year's acclaimed album 'Through The Eyes of a Scorpion'. And new Mexican signing Ruisort has been garnering praise from all areas of the music spectrum with his unique blend of latin jazz electronic exotica, bagging the tag of "Mexico's answer to Kruder & Dorfmeister". Nuff said.

Looking to the broader picture, Paul is positive: 'I think because of all the stuff going on with the majors this year, where they have been eating each other up that it's a really good time for independent labels. The majors have been releasing trite for so many years that it eventually had to reach saturation point, and as they are having to shut down some of their departments and sublables its taken a lot of the crap off the shelves leaving a huge gap for new music.'
Like Reinforced, Certificate 18 is something of a labour of love as opposed to a money making exercise. Despite this Paul remains adamant that he is doing the right thing. 'For me the label is about putting out music that I love and want others to hear. Income doesn't even come into it and because of that I've never had the temptation just to knock out a dancefloor tune. A lot of people have suggested getting in a name remixer to help sell the music, but I've only ever brought producers when I'm really into their work as opposed to doing it for the sake of it. I'd always much rather get in someone I know whose going to put in the time on a mix and do something creative with it.'

Closing, he says: 'You always have the feeling in the back of your mind that perhaps the label owes you a living, but it's stable and is growing steadily and I'm sure that, one way or another, it will be there eventually. KLUTE has been licensed to SMILE in America and it's things like that demonstrate that this hard work is starting to pay off'.

 

  Words by Kingsley Marshall