When ambitious young record store manager Oli Lazarus initiated his Reel People project back in 2000 he could only have dreamt of where those first tentative steps would lead him. Having immersed himself in the soulful house sounds of specialist record store Flying for the previous three years, Oli Lazurus had begun to feel that the musical education he had gained in-store was complete and that his tenure atthe shop was drawing to a natural end. Gaining a passion for dancefloor grooves and a valuable experience of the musicindustry whilst working with the store's sister label Chillifunk, Lazurus decided his future lay in music production. His ideal was to lead a fully-formed live ensemble in the finest traditions of Maze and Rufus, but with no songwriting, performance or studioskills under his belt at that stage, his dream appeared to be almost unattainable.These seemingly insurmountable obstacles were however not going to get in the way. ...show more

When ambitious young record store manager Oli Lazarus initiated his Reel People project back in 2000 he could only have dreamt of where those first tentative steps would lead him. Having immersed himself in the soulful house sounds of specialist record store Flying for the previous three years, Oli Lazurus had begun to feel that the musical education he had gained in-store was complete and that his tenure atthe shop was drawing to a natural end. Gaining a passion for dancefloor grooves and a valuable experience of the musicindustry whilst working with the store's sister label Chillifunk, Lazurus decided his future lay in music production. His ideal was to lead a fully-formed live ensemble in the finest traditions of Maze and Rufus, but with no songwriting, performance or studioskills under his belt at that stage, his dream appeared to be almost unattainable.These seemingly insurmountable obstacles were however not going to get in the way.

Utilising the guidance of West London production don Phil Asher (Restless Soul), the talents of multi-instrumentalist Nathan Haines and the assistance of sometime Chilli Funk engineer Tom Davidson, Oli set about creating the project's first release. "Spiritual", later remixed by Jon Cutler and Seiji (Bugz In The Attic), found favour with some of London's finest underground DJs, and proved to be a turning point for Lazarus. The record became the debut release on his own Papa Records imprint, a label set up initially for the purpose of releasing Reel People material, but which has since courted considerable success with tracks from DJ Spinna, Osunlade, Jon Cutler and Matthias Heilbronn amongst others. Another single "Reeltime" soon followed and Reel People began to gain a reputation as a fresh new production outfit straddling the boundaries of house and broken beat.

During the course of auditioning musicians for studio sessions, Oli Lazarus came across the talents of Mike Patto, a gifted piano player who also expressed ability on both guitar and vocals. Despite being wholly dissimilar in their personalities, there was an instant rapport between the pair, and a shared directness in their approach to work lead to Lazarus inviting Mike Patto to join Reel People as a permanent, fulltime member. With many releases already to his credit, not least most of the Restless Soul catalogue to that point, Patto brought an invaluable compositional element to the outfit and at his insistence, they began a songwriting stint that was to shape the contents of their debut album Working with Dyanna Fearon, a vocalist from the D-Influence stable, Reel People began to take shape as an actual band and not merely a studio-based outfit, with early collaborations such as "Butterflies", "Second Guess", "Washing Away" and "Back 2 Base" beginning to define the new sound of the ensemble. Additional contributions from vocalist Vanessa Freeman, and highly regarded producers Phil Asher, DJ Spinna plus Bugz In The Attic's Seiji and Afronaught strengthened the group's sound as they forged ahead with the intentions of producing a album the likes of which had not been witnessed since the soul laden 70s. ...show less