Posted by Carol

Nicola Fasano & Steve Forest

The formation of Nicola Fasano & Steve Forest’s partnership in the studio, and more recently behind the decks, is simple – to deliver a club sound that recreates all the spirit of the underground with a crossover twist that could just as easily ignite the latest pop chart, as it could the sweat drenched confines of a dusty warehouse rave.

First coming together back in 2007, Nicola and Steve gave birth to a new project: Jolly Roger – Sound of Pirates; their own record label and production company. The duo have long strived to utilise the label as a new musical avenue for merging club sounds with pop flavours and in turn build the label into a genre defining output for electronic music with has garnered much support from key DJs like Axwell, Little Louie Vega, Kenny Dope, Martin Solveig and David Guetta. Since its inception the label has released a number of key singles of which include Pitbull’s ‘I Know You Want Me’, Steve Forest ‘Freed from Desire’ and Nicola Fasano vs. Pitbull’s ‘Oye Baby’.

However, it wasn’t until 2010 that the pair decided to forge their partnership behind the decks. Having worked together on the label for several years and frequently DJed alongside one another, the marrying of their DJ talents was a natural one. As producers their dynamic energy can be felt within their tracks. You only have to listen to the rumbling bass driven sounds of ‘New York City’ to absorb the true spirit of a Fasano and Forest production. In only 3 short years the duo have released numerous club anthems such as ‘Can you feel it’ and ‘We can do it’ Creatively they have collaborated with artists like Pitbull, Ultranate, Kat Deluna and rap maestro Fatman Scoop.

Individually the duo has been just as successful. A classically trained musician in his own right, Nicola has a back catalogue punctuated with releases on labels that include Sony, Universal, Strictly Rhythm, Subliminal, Juicy Music, Defected, Stealth and Ministry of Sound. Catching the attention of a breadth of artists, Nicola was soon collaborating with the likes of Joey Negro, Jocelyn Brown, Robbie Rivera, Thomas Gold, Lee Cabrera and Ian Carey, while remixing many of his peers such as Bob Sinclar and Erick Morillo.

Nicola’s crowning moment came to pass when his rework of Pitbull’s ‘I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)’, titled ‘75, Brazil Street’, went multi-platinum and earning him a nomination at the 2009 Latin Music Awards. That same year he (together with co-writer Steve Forest) also picked up an Ascap Latin Award for ‘Best Urban Latin song’, Ascap Pop Award for ‘Best Pop song’ and a Ascap Rhythm & Soul Music Award for ‘Best R&B/Hip-Hop, Rap and Gospel Music song’, to date Nicola’s music has sold in excess of 5 million units worldwide.

The musical Ying to Nicola’s Yang, Steve Forest first come to fore back in 2009 with his club smashing ‘Modern Times’, collaboration with Chriss Ortega, on Strictly Rhythm. Steve then followed this hit with a catchy remake of the hit 90’s classic from Gala ‘Freed from Desire’, which solidified his name across Europe with DJ and radio tastemakers alike. A prolific remixer, Steve has amassed an impressive list of remixes to date that include Armin van Buuren & Sophie Ellis Bextor’s ‘Not Giving Up On Love’, Chris Willis’ ‘Louder’, as well as remix cuts for Roger Sanchez, R.I.O. and Alex Gaudino.

With all eyes fixed on achieving their driven ambitious to divide cool, credible house music with the more mainstream elements of pop culture, Nicola and Steve have an exciting 2012 ahead of them with the duo schedule to work with a multitude of artists from Shena, Chris Willis, Kat Deluna, Katherine Ellis, Max C, Tommy Vee, Fatman Scoop and Pitbull.

Connect
www.soundofpirates.com
www.nicolafasano.co.uk
www.djsteveforest.com

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