Terry Leonard, better known as DJ Hatcha or simply Hatcha, is a

South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

producer and DJ notable for his seminal work in the musical genre

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...

. He had a regular show on the prominent pirate radio station

Rinse FM Rinse FM is a London-based community radio station, licensed for "young people living and/or working within the central, east and south London areas". It plays garage, grime, dubstep, house, jungle, UK funky and other dance music genres po ...

in the early 2000s, before bringing dubstep to a wider audience with his regular show on mainstream radio station Kiss FM.

Biography

Leonard was the head buyer of the Big Apple record shop in Croydon, South London, which he ran alongside Arthur Smith (a.k.a. Artwork of Magnetic Man) and John Kennedy. A movement within the

2-step garage 2-step garage, or simply 2-step, is a genre of electronic music and a subgenre of UK garage.''A transcription of this article is availablhere as a PDF file.'' One of the primary characteristics of the 2-step sound – the term being coined to de ...

scene by the name of "dark garage" was taking place at the start of the 2000s, and producers at the forefront of it such as El-B and Horsepower Productions were regulars at the shop, which had become a meeting point within the scene. At the time Leonard was an influential DJ on various

pirate radio stations Pirate radio is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license, whether an invalid license or no license at all. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are rec ...

and a resident at the club ''FWD>>'', where a strain of dark garage that was more stripped down and bass heavy was gaining popularity. Oliver Jones (

Skream Oliver Dene Jones (born 1 June 1986), known professionally as Skream, is an English electronic music producer based in Croydon. Skream has released records on several British record labels, such as Tempa, Tectonic, and Big Apple Records, and ...

), got in touch with Leonard through his brother (producer Hijak), and started working in the shop during the weekends. Leonard played him dark garage sounds, which sparked Jones's interest in producing music. Through working in the shop he met Adegbenga Adejumo ( Benga), another young producer who was making tunes using his PlayStation gaming console. The two exchanged music and were developing their style under the mentor-ship of Leonard, who had also started to bring

dubplate A dubplate is an acetate disc usually of 10 inches diameter, traditionally used by studios to test recordings prior to mastering for the subsequent pressing of a vinyl record, but pioneered by reggae sound systems as a way to play exclusive mu ...

s of the tunes Jones and Adejumo were making into his DJ-sets. His sets at FWD>> and on Rinse FM were very influential in forming dubstep, partially thanks to the exclusive music he got from the young producers, as well as that provided by shop regulars Mala, Coki and Loefah (the former two known as duo

Digital Mystikz Digital Mystikz are a dubstep production duo consisting of Mala (born Mark Lawrence), and Coki (born Dean Harris, 26 August 1980) from the South London suburb of Norwood. Along with Loefah and SGT Pokes, who make up the group ASBO (All Soundbw ...

Discography

Selected singles/EPs

* "Bashment" (self-released, 2001) * "Dub Express" ( Tempa, 2003) * ''Special'' 4 track EP w/ Benny Ill (Tempa, 2003) * "10 Tons Heavy" w/ Benga (

Planet Mu Planet Mu is an English electronic music record label created and run by Mike Paradinas. The label started out as a subsidiary of Virgin Records then Paradinas set up the label independent of Virgin. After releasing intelligent dance music, the ...

, 2006) * "Just a Rift" / "Chillz" (Eight:FX, 2008) * "Dirtee Tek" / "Dark Claps" (Special Branch, 2010)

Compilations/mixes

* ''Dubstep Allstars Vol. 1'' (Tempa, 2004) * ''Dubstep Allstars Vol. 4'' w/ Youngsta (Tempa, 2006)

References

External links

* British dubstep musicians Year of birth missing (living people) Living people DJs from London British electronic dance music DJs English record producers People from Croydon Planet Mu artists {{UK-musician-stub