Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Leeds Met Music graduates are Number 1
Former students,Piers Aggett and Kesi Dryden, who both graduated from our University in 2008 from the BSc (Hons) Creative Music and Sound Technology course, are storming the UK charts this week with their production outfit, Rudimental.
The song, 'Feel the Love', featuring John Newman, was crowned the official number 1 this weekend in the Top 40 singles charts.
Piers commented: "After graduating, I started doing stage and sound work at Hackney Empire and Kesi started working in a school as a learning mentor, also teaching music production. Since we left Leeds Met, we have always been making songs and going to recording studios to record ideas in our free time off work. We networked a lot over the years and built up some good contacts through collaborating with artists and remixing jobs. Also we were involved with an independent label called "black butter" which really gave us a platform for our music and helped us a lot. We are currently working on the second single and album with the label Asylum/Atlantic and we are also doing lots of gigs over the summer. It is amazing that we've got this far, and we can't wait to release the album and do our live show."
The duo's former tutor, Alex Wyse, added: "I'm really happy to see two of our ex-students currently sitting in the number one position of the Official UK Chart. I taught them for Introduction to Studio Recording in their first year and remember that they showed passion in their music and determination to keep going. In their second or third year the guys ended up sharing a flat in the city centre, where I ended up lending them my Technics 1210 decks and all of my vinyl (knowing they would make good use of them where I couldn't at the time). They even made a success of this, doing gigs including a weekend fashion event at Harvey Nichols! Whenever I saw them one or both of them would have a new production on the go and the talent was clearly there.
"We all know how difficult it is to make a major breakthrough in the music industry, so its fantastic that they've not only succeeded, but done so in such a fashion. Make no mistake they've worked really hard for this, which is why it's so good to see that all of those studio hours have finally paid off. Recently I've heard them on Radio 1 Extra, being interviewed as guests of DJ Target (a hero of mine growing up in London) and as the featured Mini-Mix on Annie Mac's Radio 1 show. It still feels surreal to hear 'Feel the love' coming on the radio whilst I'm driving my car, but it never fails to make me smile. I've also noticed that they're getting added to more and more festival line-ups for this summer. It looks like they've got a very bright and successful future ahead of them. We heard them here first!"