Mint Royale is a big beat electronic music act from Manchester, England. They were originally founded by the duo Neil Claxton and Chris Baker in 1997; the latter left the band in 2004, but Claxton continued to produce music using the Mint Royale name.
Neil Claxton and Chris Baker first encountered each other at music college, the boys met again in 1997 at a Christmas party thrown by Jockey Slut. After spending the whole evening talking they realised they had a lot in common and shared a desire not to make house music. Prior to meeting Chris, Neil had been one half of the Manchester based production team, The Development Corporation. They had enjoyed a glittering pop success by remixing and producing artists such as The Stone Roses, Gabrielle, Urban Cookie Collective and Boyzone. Chris was part of Pure Silver whose debut single had been the first release on the Deconstruction Records offshoot Concrete.
The boys came together as the Mint Gun Club, continued remixing and producing and put together a demo, which they sent to Skint (Fatboy Slim's label). Mint Gun Club changed their name to Mint Royale and concentrated on making their own style of music releasing a host of limited edition singles. Their first release on Faith and Hope was Deadbeat in November 1998 as a 12" only, it contained the high octane disco A-side and the slightly subtler but equally huge B-side DeadBeat Version. Mint Royale received rave reviews in NME, Music Week, Update, Mixmag and DJ.
The second single, Rock and Roll Bar B-side Who's your Daddy? was released 3 months later. The story goes that after a pissed up night in a club in Manchester, Neil rang Chris the next day, "I've started this track" he said, "we need to get it done and it's got to be called "Rock and Roll Bar?". It's a funky fusion of Latino house, spiced with Shaft-style guitar. This release was followed towards the summer of 1999 with the sitar-driven masterpiece. From Rusholme With Love. During the recording of the album the duo completed a national tour of live sets and DJ dates and also played Reading and Leeds festivals.
The single, Shake Me, in September 1999 hailed the release of their debut album. On the Ropes received rave reviews, hailed as indie dance album of the year (Mixmag), while NME recognised it as truly entertaining pop music that provides an exuberant treasure through house, ska, easy listening and a clutch of other friendly styles, Select reckoned it was full of impromptu party energy whilst being a thoroughly unpretentious listen (Music Week).
Mint Royale scored their first hit record with the release of Don't Falter (24/1/00) featuring the vocals of Lauren Laverne (former Kenickie front woman). The single reached number 15 in the UK singles charts and was described as the best summer song to be released in January. Mint Royale captured the nations attention with stunning performances on TV shows such as CD:UK, The Priory, Top Of The Pops and a blistering live set at the NME Carling Premier Show at The Scala in London and returned to the UK summer festival circuit playing Glastonbury, Leeds and Reading. The boys continued to remix, working with the likes of Apollo 440, Younger Younger 28's, Daphne and Celeste and The Stone Roses, as well as writing the theme tune for The Priory, hosted by Zo, Ball and Jamie Theakston.
Hollywood has also beckoned with the boys supplying music for the Sly Stallone film Get Carter. They even flew to Toronto for a cameo performance in John Cusack's new film Serendipity where they perform. From Rusholme With Love. This was also used in Vanilla Sky when Tom Cruise runs through Time Square in New York. On The Ropes was released in the states in 2001 and 'Show Me' was the lovely tune of last summer with guest vocalist Pos from De La Sol. Mint Royale both as a live act and as DJs are busy promoting their second album 'Dancehall Places'. Watch out for the single Sexiest Man in Jamaica, It's A listed on Radio One, Sarah Cox's - record of the week and is featured on the Radio One advert and Commonwealth Games theme tune. The Album 'Dancehall Places' will be released on September 9th followed by their 2nd single Blue Song in 2003.--www.colours.co.uk
Here's one of their remix i love most, "Wait For You"...
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