Adam ‘A.Skillz’ is one of the country’s most funky beatmeisters. His fierce production skills and turntable dexterity has seen him explode onto the scene, collaborating with hip-hop legends and making music for worldwide brands.
His incredible deck talents involve fusing funk, hip-hop and breaks with his unique style of scratching and mixing. His reputation as a true party rocker has won him prime-time slots across the UK at FabricLive, Spectrum, Chew The Fat, Supercharged, The Boutique and Sugarbeat as well as gigs around the world at major events, festivals and music industry parties such as The Hit Factory (New York), WMC (Miami) and Field Day (Sydney)
In 2003 A.Skillz released his debut album “TrickaTechnology” alongside Finger Lickin’s very own Krafty Kuts. The album was a nod towards musical influences like De La Soul, James Brown and Jurassic 5, true Finger Lickin’ Funk that enlisted the talents of some of the world’s best hip-hop and funk artists including Kurtis Blow, Real Elements and Ashley “Freakpower” Slater.
February 2004 saw A.Skillz and Krafty Kuts team up on the TrickaTechnology Tour with live MC’s from the album playing shows all over the UK. The duo then went on to DJ together leaving audiences and dance floors astounded with their skills on four decks and four CDJ’s, playing at Glastonbury Festival, Pacha (Ibiza) and a live session for Steve Lamaq on BBC Radio 1.
In October 2004 A.Skillz then embarked on his first solo tour of Australia which saw him play to sell out crowds in all major capital cities, gaining new fans and respect from fellow DJ’s along the way. He followed this by extensive gigs in the UK and a busy studio schedule producing music for Channel 4 (Talk Back), Renault (TV advert) and Sony Playstation (Gran Tourismo 4).
A.Skillz kicked off 2005 in January with a mini-mix for Annie Mac that was later voted best mini-mix of the year by Radio 1 listeners, beating industry heavyweights such as Basement Jaxx, Mylo and Scratch Perverts. He followed this with a series of remixes including The Fort Knox Five and a re-rub of his own track Simple Things. Highlight gigs included 10:15 (San Francisco), Snow Bombing (Austria) Mystery Lands Festival (Amsterdam) Homelands (UK), Live 8 After Show Party (London). Since October he has clocked up some serious air miles playing across Australia, Canada, America, Europe and returning to the UK to bring in the New Year at GPO in Ireland.
2006 saw the release of his first mix album for Finger Lickin’ Records: Export 02. Featuring such heavyweights as Flow Dynamics, Fdel, Fort Knox Five and Black Grass, the album was received to critical acclaim, and supported by a single featuring an exclusive A Skillz remix of a Plump DJs best tune ‘Funk Hits The Fan’, helped to secure his rightful place as one of the UK’s premier funky mash-up DJs. The summer saw the start of a new summer residency in Menorca, as well as an appearance at The Big Chill Festival in Herefordshire. The latter half of the year presented A Skillz to Amsterdam Dance Event at the Finger Lickin’ Party, a highlight of the year for all involved, before culminating in a major UK tour to round 2006 off.
In 2007 his unbelievable remix of Queen’s ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ remix saw A Skillz carve out a niche for himself, available exclusively on vinyl this literally flew off the shelves. In Europe ski resorts showed an unprecedented demand for his DJ wares, with gigs in premier resorts Chamonix, Val d’Isere and at the Finger Lickin’ night at Snowbombing. A Canadian tour, what could only be described as a ‘career highlight’, saw the funky beatmeister firmly established over the pond. Back home a year of DJ performances spanning from a residency in Southampton to Sugarbeat in Edinburgh, and pretty much everywhere inbetween, saw the demand and rise of A Skillz and and his unique mash-up style. The release of his Beatles remix, ‘Strawberry Fields’, caught the attention of Radio One and once again A Skillz was invited to produce a 5 minutes mini-mix.
A Skillz Singles
- A Skillz & Krafty Kuts – Peaches feat. Droop Capone / Tricka Technology (Finger Lickin’)
- A Skillz & Krafty Kuts – Gimme The Breaks / Tricka Technology (Finger Lickin’)
- A Skillz – Peaches (2005 Re-Rub)/Simple Things (2005 Re-Rub) (white label)
- A.Skillz – It’s your booty day (Limited Edition 7”) (Vinyl Addiction)
- A.Skillz & Krafty Kuts – Tricka Technology (Ed Funk remix) / Roll Over Baby (Fort Knox 5 remix)
- A.Skillz – Export 02 Album Sampler
- A.Skillz feat Krafty Kuts & Beardyman – Happiness / Got The Rhythm / Beardy-pella (Finger Lickin’)