| Rob Simmons AKA "The Squeeze" was born in 1971 In the
state of Connecticut in his hometown of Bridgepoprt. His love of music began while listening to early funk,disco and RnB records his parents had laying around the house. It felt good waking up to music with the smell of grits,bacon,and eggs on the breakfast table. His early influence was his grandfather and father who played drums and his uncle who would sometimes DJ. Rob loved the sound of James Brown, Prince, Hall and Oates,and D Train to name a few. In the early 80's he was adapeted to the early hip hop culture of Puma sneakers and Break dancing.
Rob was introduced to early house music in the year of 1989 where the sound of the 4 on the floor kick drum, deep basslines,early synth work, and samples moved him suddenly. Amazed how the energy of house music moved people on the dance floor, Rob got into making 8 bar house beats and minimal vocal snipets in his tight squeezed bedroom armed with nothing but a dj starter set,an Alesis HR-16 B drum machine and a Roland MS-1. He was and still is influenced by the sounds of Tony Humphries, Todd Terry, MAW,Darryl James, early Strictly Rhythm and Nu Groove records.
|