Andy Turner aka Aim of Barrow In Furness, Cumbria. His Cumbria. His father; Terry Turner of the ‘Terry Turner Jazz Quartet’ has been a major influence, both through his musical instrument shop in Barrow and through taking Andy to gigs when he was young , ‘As long as I can remember I’ve been in and around music. My earliest memory is sitting on the edge of a stage in some working men’s club watching my dad rehearse’.
The ‘Hinterland’ LP followed in a similar vein to his widely acclaimed first album “Cold Water Music’. Guests included ‘Souls of Mischief’ on the old school hip hop stamped ‘No Restriction’: Kate Rogers on ‘The Girl Who Fell through the Ice’, other artists on Hinterland include the legendary Diamond D who featured on “The Omen’. Aim considers Diamond D to be “one of the greatest hip-hop producers of all time…his music is one of the biggest influences of mine”; One of the standout tracks on the album must be Stephen Jones singing on ‘Good Disease’ which Jones also wrote the lyrics to. Finally, ‘A Twilight Zone’ features Andy making his singing debut.
In 1989 Andy was spinning up-tempo breakbeat, the same music he went on to sell when he set up his own store in Barrow. After the record shop and time as a
drummer in an indie band, he made the break and signed to Grand Central Records in the summer of 1995. Andy first met Mark Rae through the Fat City record shop whilst digging in crates and buying records containing drum breaks. Intrigued, Mark asked him what he was working on, the result was 'Concentrate' a Hacienda basement classic from the 'Pacific North West EP' which was released in July '95 he went on to become responsible for some of GC's classics. The 'Soul Dive ' 12” has become an essential part of most Mancunion DJ sets and the quirky sampling of Evil Kenievel in 'Original Stuntmaster' is still name-checked by countless DJs as a favourite. His signature tune though, is the rare 'Loop Dreams' 12”.
Aim first found hip hop at a golden age: ‘it was the best time to get into it. Showbiz, AG, Pete Rock, Lord Finesse… It’s this period of good, jazz-styled hip hop that still effects what I do.’ And bitten by the bug ‘I immersed myself in hip hop for two years and didn’t listen to anything else… It’s only the last couple of years that I’ve been listening to music as a whole again. I don’t see any problem listening to the Beta Band or Diamond D.’ Andy cites musical influences including The Smiths, them being the first band he went
out and collected ‘I’ve heard all the hip hop now that’s going to influence me. I’m into different stuff now - everything from Pet Sounds to Lone Pigeon”.
His latest venture is the Aim Live band, a 10 piece collective who have recently played at venues such as Cargo, The Big Chill and a packed Ritz nightclub in Manchester on a rainy Sunday night in order to celebrate eight years of Grand Central.
To coincide with the recent tour, Grand Central have released the compilation ‘Means Of Production’ a limited edition CD and double LP that for the first time brings together all Aim’s early 12” like ‘Loopdreams’, and ‘Original Stuntmaster’ –“… my personal favourite” recalls Andy Turner “ iit's just an old country loop with Evel Knievel over the top, if ever a track encapsulated the vibe or sound I wanted to create when I started sampling, this is it. This compilation reminds me how much work used to go into the early GC releases, when we'd never released a record, when I was spending months on one track, when I was making tunes simply so I could play them out and give copies to friends” Aim effortlessly evolves that from these early 12’s, to his debut LP Coldwater Music’ and then to his second album ‘Hinterland’and beyond...