FREESTYLER'S ASTON HARVEY IN PERSON

It's date 32 of a 40 day tour. Sat at a table in front of seven people, two of whom are armed with cameras, and another with a mini-disc recorder, a nervous looking PR girl, two pissed out of their faces heed-the-ball girls, and the Boy Evans, is the Freestylers' Aston Harvey.

Most normal people would at this point be looking for a) the exit or b) a big pointy stick, yet Harvey sits unfazed, looking like he's genuinely pleased to meet the group, and insists he doesn't mind the hassle of interviews or indeed the endless travelling around the country's motorways to get to yet another University's Student Union.

"It's planes I don't like, I've become really nervous of flying. The odds are coming down every time you get on them, know what I mean?" he reasons. Luckily for him this tour is safe and sound on terra firm, with the only danger to him being some dodgy student turning up and not being into his set.

"The majority of the Orange tour has been really good. Most of the time we've played University's it's been at the beginning or at the end of term, so everyone's like really fucked, and all they want to do is go off shagging and drinking. Everyone's come to really party on this tour though, which is great. The Freestylers are all about party tunes, people going mad."

Party people Aston Harvey and Matt Cantor, the producers and heart of the Freestylers, got together in 1993. With a background in the underground house scene of the late 80s, and a range of influences from electro, breakbeats, Afrika Bambaataa and the whole old skool hip-hop culture, they headed into the studio, and developed the Freestylers sound, creating their first club hit 'Drop the Boom'. "I'm influenced by so many different styles of music," says Harvey, "hip-hop, house, dub-reggae, as well as current sounds such as Armand Van-Helden and Eminem".

Collaborations with artists such as Soul Sonic Force, Freddy Fresh, Definition of Sound and Arthur Baker have helped make up the Freestylers distinctive big beat sound, but it was work with the reggae tinged Tenor Fly that gave the band their first real chart hit, with 'B-Boy Stance'. The song also created a highly publicized brush with Oasis, thanks to craftily nicked sample from the Manc band. "It wasn't even a sample", insists Harvey, "Tenor Fly sang a melody (from 'Wonderwall'), but changed the lyrics around for the chorus".

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