Optiv
Drum and Bass
Edd Holmes, better known in the drum & bass scene as Optiv, first started his music career in the early 90s working at Dance 2, his local record shop in Guildford. At about the same time he was learning his production skills at SAE in London and also found time to hold a weekend job of assistant engineer at the Ministry Of Sound nightclub. Having completed his studies, he became a main player for the drum & bass outfit Pressure Rise.
At the start of 1999 Aspect Records Optiv and Tobie decided to join up with Mark and Stuart from Vinyl distribution to start producing music. The idea came about because they had all been DJing for many years and going in the studio seemed the next step to take. After a few months in the studio they signed their first track to Moving Shadow going under the name nCode. By July they had decided to change their name to Cause4Concern and start up their own label known as 'Cause4Concern Recordings'. December arrived and saw their first release Phat Cap / Euthanasia. This release was instantly spotted and supported by the likes of Doc Scott, Fierce and Grooverider to name a few and sold around 4000 copies, which is, undoubtedly, good for an unknown label.It wasn't long before releases on respected labels True Playaz, Renergade Hardware, Moving Shadow and Timeless meant the demand for dj sets and grew not only in England but internationally aswell.
2001 saw the launch of the 'C4C Limited' label as a result of the huge success of the main C4C imprint label. The idea behind the new label was to release slighty experimental tracks and feature remixes of earlier C4C tunes by other established artists. 'C4C Limited' has seen releases from producers such as Stakka & Skynet, Teebee, Matrix, Fierce and Rymetyme. By the end of 2001, C4C were nominated as best newcomers at the Knowledge Drum & Bass Awards. As the C4C labels grew, more demand for material by other established labels increased. Over the next couple of years releases on Virus, Metro, Industry, 1210 and a couple of collaborations with Fierce on Quarantine pushed C4C even further up the ranks of the Drum & Bass scene.
Although being an integral part of C4C, Optiv wanted to broaden his horizons. Whilst touring in New Zealand in 2002 he hooked up with producers Bulletproof and Concord Dawn to write 'Scorched Earth' which was released on Cyanide Records and then 'Camouflage' on 1210 records. Having built up a large selection of solo material, Optiv started his own imprint label Redlight Records in 2003. The label was very well received from the start and has included collaborations and remixes from the likes of Black Sun Empire, Concord Dawn, The Upbeats, Bulletproof,Chris SU, Mindscape, Axiom, Mayhem & Psidream. Redlight continues to grow strong as a label and the next release on the label is "Derailed" by Dose.
Optiv is currently working on the C4C LP aswell as new material for Redlight.
