Knowledge 086

“When it ﬁrst started, I just wanted to put out some “I remember sitting around my apartment with my
tunes from some new people who I thought had some wife telling her how I really wanted to start a label,”
talent,” explains Tommie. “There wasn’t any type of vibe says Tommie, “and she told me to go for it. So I came
per se, just good tunes be it a hard danceﬂoor tune or up with a name, started working on a website, began
a chilled-out roller track or something monumental.” looking for tunes and so on.”
Two years and numerous hard knocks later, this “Tommie had the ear and desire,” Shawn continues,
hard-hitting family of imprints straight out of Omaha, “while I had the sales skills and was able to come up
Nebraska is making its mark worldwide with heads with the ﬁnancing that got us off the ground.”
like Unknown Error, Inﬁltrata, Alliance, Mufﬂer, Mumblz,
Greg Packer, Silver, Omni Trio and Psidream all Off to an agonizing start before Nu Urban came on
representing. board, the ﬂedgling label managers funded the ﬁrst
ﬁve releases out of their own pockets, the process of
“Most of the time when people hear we’re from releasing their ﬁrst 12-inch (CYMB000) a complete
Nebraska we get ‘aren’t there a lot of farms and shit disaster by their own accord.
there,’” says Tommie with a smile. “That’s the standard
response but it’s not correct by any means. Omaha is “It was painful at ﬁrst that’s no lie,” says Tommie. “A
pretty much like any other large city, lots of things to lot of long nights and loads of drama in those ﬁrst
do, the cost of living is great, and no there aren’t any few months. We got ripped off on the mastering for
cows anywhere near here!” our ﬁrst record but after that, we said screw it and
went straight to Simon at The Exchange and had him
The youngest of six kids, Tommie admits his musical master up the next four releases without any problems
journey began through the inﬂuence of his older sib- whatsoever.”
lings. Exposed to everything from metal to punk, rock,
soul, jazz, and new wave, when the early 1990s rolled Originally distributing their material online, Nu Urban
around and electronic music and DJ culture began expressed an interest early on and it wasn’t long until
to take off, Tommie cites a chance encounter with a they began asking for more vinyl than the boys had on
friend-of-a-friend who had some turntables that would hand. In what would become a familiar pattern, Tommie
launch him on the drum & bass way. and Shawn would quickly press up more copies to
meet the demand until Nu Urban ﬁnally took the bait
“I remember him asking me what kind of music I and offered them a pressing and distribution deal that
was into and at the time I was heavily into metal and continues to this day.
industrial,” Tommie recalls. “So this guy was like, ‘Check
this out,’ and he put on the 10-inch of Johnny Jungle “The original idea is still there,” Tommie explains when
‘Johnny’ on Sub Base and I was like, ‘Wow, that’s asked about the direction of each imprint. “Cymbal-
fucking it!’ He put on ‘Above The Clouds’ by Vibes & ism is still where we try to break in new artists, while
Wishdokta next and I just couldn’t take it anymore, I Cymbalism Limited is where we showcase the output
was hooked.” of more established artists.”
A few days later, Tommie was introduced to a local Tommie is quick to point to the newest member of the
cat by the name of Sid Wilson (now known as DJ family, Cymbalism Liquiﬁed, an imprint that focuses on
Starscream of Slipknot) who threw down a set of the more liquid or soulful side of d&b along the lines of
jungle that completely scrambled Tommie’s brain and Hospital and Renegade Recordings.
sent him on his way proper. Armed with early classics
from Goldie, Omni Trio, and DJ Hype, Tommie set “We’ve still got a few tricks up our sleeves,” says Tom-
about educating himself and it wasn’t long until Shawn mie looking to the future. “We’ve got some remixes
entered the picture and the two became good friends. coming out from Ben Sage and Nightbreed, a new
Liquiﬁed release with Method One and Solar G. and
“I grew up in a very religious household so I wasn’t we’re planning a little revamp of the original Cymbalism
allowed access to a lot of music as a kid,” Shawn says imprint. Keep watching the forums and the website for
about his own passage into d&b. “I started stashing updates.”
various metal and hip-hop tapes around the house and
would put them on as soon as my parents were gone. I “We’re also working closely with the UK ofﬁce so we’ll
think I blew every speaker they ever owned.” deﬁnitely have something in store for the UK heads in
2007,” Shawn adds. “We have a few artists that have
Falling for d&b at the ripe old age of 14, Shawn (who committed to do remixes with us that are chilling just
split his youth between Nebraska and North Carolina), waiting for the right time. Beyond that awaits a vicious
was more than surprised when he returned to Omaha Evol Intent remix and an amazing rework by Shimon as
one summer to ﬁnd Tommie holding it down for the lo- well as many, many other things we can’t speak of yet.”
cal masses. From DJing to working at the local record
store to promoting and throwing parties, both partners Keep ‘em peeled: www.cymbalismrecordings.com /
took their passion for d&b to the streets, all the while www.liquidiﬁedrecordings.com
the idea of starting a label was brewing in the back of
Tommie’s head.
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