all crews logo

The All Crews book is over ten years of journeys through jungle / drum & bass music and features interviews with all the top artists. However, author Brian Belle-Fortune also delves deeper and looks at the pirate radio stations, labels, crews, promoters and ravers that form the backbone of the scene.

Initially published in 1999 as All Crew Muss Big Up, it was considered the definitive snapshot of jungle’s earliest years but quickly went out of print and became cult reading. Reprinted in 2004, All Crews not only features the original text but also an extensive update.

All Crews has also been translated into Russian and Italian.

Please note that All Crews is currently out of print but another edition is forthcoming in 2023.

All Crews book

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Since graduating from Sussex University in 1994, Brian Belle-Fortune conceived and co-produced One in the Jungle, Britain’s first national Jungle program for BBC Radio One.

His TV credits include BBC South, Channel 4 and MTV where he specialised in underground youth culture, particularly Jungle.

He was also label manager for DJ Ron’s London Some ’Ting Records and has played on London pirate radio stations Rude FM / Ruud Awakening as DJ Zy:on.

Brian was also an intensive care nurse at Great Ormond Street For Children and lives in Tottenham, London and is currently writing another update to All Crews and a book about his nursing experiences.


As well as evoking the passion and energy of the music, the book is strong on the politics of jungle and the way it has interacted with racial issues over the years.Time Out


As colourful and vibrant as the scene it’s about. Brian Belle-Fortune clearly knows the scoreDJ Fresh

All Crews is the REAL source for tales from the drum & bass side – the D&B bible.Bailey

BLOG

MEET THE CREW

DJ ZY:ON

DJ ZY:ON

Brian started DJing in the 80s while training as a nurse, sneakily spinning Soul, Funk and Rare Groove at hospital parties.

Graduating from the illegal warehouse and field parties of acid house to the jungle raves taking over Tottenham by ‘94, Brian was hooked on the new UK sound from the first B-line. Inspired, he conceived/co-produced the first nationwide jungle show - One In The Jungle. "I'd be in the studio as Brockie, Shy, Kenny Ken, Rap and Goldie spun dubplates. It was infectious. Next thing you know, I was down Tottenham Court Road buying tunes from Nicky Blackmarket."

While writing the first All Crews, Brian interviewed Kemistry & Storm who showed him how to mix. DJ ZY:ON was born when Brian did his first show on Rude FM. He's since played in many memorable across Europe promoting his jungle drum & bass bible. "I've played memorable places... pirates in squats, a demo on Tottenham High Road, Berlin's Icon club during the Love Parade and a nuclear bunker in St. Petersburg. But the best has to be La Cinta, 2014, when the whole beach lost it to Dillinja and Ed Rush. Whether it's nursing, writing or DJing, I just wanna make people happy and spread the love."

Staunch

Staunch fell for jungle drum and bass after hearing Roni Size’s Reprazent perform live at the BBC. UK labels like Reinforced and their signature blend of sci-fi themes, rugged breaks and good ol’ time Acid Hardcore were formative in his taste for bass.

At Keele University, Staunch furthered his education, mixing Funk, Hip-Hop and the UK sound at every opportunity. On an ill-advised trip to London, Staunch fell in love with the capital culture of raves, record shops and radio stations.

After playing countless parties for his own Psycho Mambo crew, In 2013 Staunch quickly acquired a weekly show on the infamous Rude FM. Billed as Rude's 'number 1 drive-time, deep-end drum & bass show,' his weekly slot still rolls every Wednesday from 6 'til 8pm GMT.

Regular listener Rampage contacted staunch, recruiting him into the All Crews family. After a series of rigorous quizzes, a ‘name dat riddim’ contest and a demeaning dance off, Staunch was embraced by the family firm and can still be found reppin’ the All Crews sound.

Blackeye mic portrait

Blackeye MC

Croydon’s Blackeye MC has been crafting his hosting skills from an early age with his local funki contingent, Lab Creation. While running their own parties, Lab Creation held a weekly radio show on the acclaimed Original Life FM and Blackeye picked up his first residency at a Croydon’s Spectrum night.

At spectrum he met Andy Skopes and Chris Inperspective, becoming a resident MC at their legendary Technicality night at Herbal in Shoreditch. After being scouted by Double O and Mantra to MC at their renown Rupture nights, bookings started coming in thick and fast, working with crews such as Tech:nology, Fizzy Liquid, Launch, Function Records, AKO to name a few.

Blackeye uses his broad musical knowledge to work with a track: He doesn’t deliver his vocals on top of the music as major focal points, but as deep soulful tones that compliment and run with the track’s riddim.

FatsMC

MC Fats

Hailing from a soul, rare groove and reggae background, MC Fats is one of the UK scene's original vocalists. His soulful lyrics and flows can be heard over the sounds from many of the scene’s top selectors and producers from DJ Hype, Fabio, Andy C and Calibre to Goldie, Friction, Marky, S.P.Y. and A-Sides.

For the last ten years Fats has been the resident MC and his vocals skills have been leant to many releases on some of electronic music’s most well-respected labels like Eastside, Shogun Audio, Metalheadz, Valve, Breakbeat Kaos, FFRR, Signature, Movement, Ram and True Playaz.

While still working firmly within the jungle drum and bass sound, Fats stays true to the groove, as anyone who has booked him will gladly confirm. No machine-gun MCing here, just golden soul, vibes and expertise.

djchef1

DJ Chef

Chef’s DJ journey into tunes started in the belly of the beast in east london in the late 80’s. First skooled in mixing by UK hip-hop legend DJ Leader1 & The East Avenue Gang, by ‘95 chef started producing in the studio, and had joined forces with Forest Gate’s infamous De Underground crew, home of UK scenes sergeants like Cool Hand Flex, Marly Mall and Randall.

As part of the East London Connection crew Chef played out at events and on pirate radio throughout the 90’s and early 00’s. Following a guest set on the legendary Jungle station Kool FM with long-time friend and associate DJ Bud, Chef went on to assistant manage Kool for 13 years.

A true junglist fixer, Chef has got some of jungle drum and bass’s most intriguing collaborative projects off the ground over the last few years. From running his own Caution Recordings imprint, to managing MC Rage’s Rock n Road band, partnering with the mighty MC GQ to launch Emcee Recordings and producing with DJ Bailey for his weekly Intabeats show on Ministry of Sound Radio. Chances are if anyone’s cooking up any collaborative projects in the UK scene, Chef's helped bring the heat to it at some point!

2016 saw Chef pull together the Beatenforcers crew with Dezert Rat, Social Security, Deeroy and DJ E and have gone on to launch their own Beatenforcers label featuring releases from The Invaderz.

After departing from Kool in 2017, Chef joined Pyro Radio. Catch Chef playing upfront jungle drum and bass every second and fourth Monday from 7-9pm!

Lady Flava

Lady Flava

Coming up through some of London’s biggest raves in the mid 90s, like Helter Skelter, Labyrinth and Dreamscape, Flava transitioned from punter to DJ after learning to mix at university. Determined to keep up with her male friends she eventually secured a slot on pirate station Origin FM.

Frome there Flava cooked up a storm, rising through the ranks of London’s top pirate selectors, eventually gaining enough confidence to talk on the mic and landing a regular show first on Addiction FM, and then onto Rude FM, where you can still hear her bringing the wickedness to every mix she touches.

CONTACT