This is a work that has developed out of a project inspired by the Amen Break, the most sampled and remixed drum break in history. From Hip Hop to Oasis, the Amen Break has passed freely from one community to another. It’s inspired subgenres of music, many developing from humble beginnings on the street, into archetypes of mainstream culture. Due to its unpretentious frequency of use, I see the Amen Break as a symbol of equality. 

As a drummer myself I wanted to work with the break to see if I could remix my own version of it by making artworks, that I could then transfer back to the drum kit. The Amen Break has been sampled and remixed so many times that it’s unrecognisable in many of its forms. There’s always been a duality within my practice that I get to really play with by riffing on the Amen Break. By exploring (re)sampling and ‘remixing remixes’ I deal with seriality and Abstraction so have found the Amen, and the complex web it’s woven over time, a continual source of fascination.

10 years ago, I found my older brother Craig. He’s a West Ham fan. My younger brother Elliott, who I grew up with, is an Arsenal fan. In meeting Craig I was fascinated by how we are so similar, yet so opposite. We are different versions of the same thing. We were all like this drum beat. It got me thinking about lineage, heredity and ultimately asked more questions than it answered. Many of which I am still working with.

I’m not a football fan, I know very little about it, but after a trip to my first football match at Upton Park to see West Ham, I was blown away by the experience. An electrifying live experience, like a gig or a rave, but one where I realised that I was in an environment where everyone was talking a language that I didn’t understand, much in the same way my brothers felt about the work I do as an artist. I wanted to make this work for my brothers.