By James Broadhurst

One of drum and bass’ most creative and prolific artists of all time is Perth bound to show off the latest and greatest studio productions from himself and others to celebrate the release of his fifth full length artist album.

Klute, aka Tom Withers, began his musical adventures in the mid eighties with a hardcore punk band known as The Stupids, aka The Coolest Retards, in which he played the drums.

By the age of fifteen Tommy Stupid and his band had released their first 7” entitled Violent Nun, for those of you playing at home. Before long The Stupids had been signed to a major label and embarked on a world tour with Children of The Revolution.

After citing artistic differences The Stupids separated to follow their respective music directions and it wasn’t long before Tom’s ear was caught by the house and techno sounds emerging from the rave movement throughout his homeland in the late 80s.

Before long Tom had acquired the expertise and the equipment he needed to start making his own beats and he found a label willing to push his artistic endeavours out into the eyes and ears of the record buying public; Klute was born.

After a stack of 12” releases and two artist albums in the years between 1994 and 2000 for Certificate 18 Klute felt the time was right to once again start looking for new outlets and avenues to express himself as an artist and after realising people were reluctant to take a chance with his music he decided to do something about it.

Commercial Suicide was formed in the year 2001 and the labels first release, ‘Tranceformat’ backed with ‘Dunno,’ signalled the birth of what would become one of the most recognisable and successful record labels in the drum and bass industry.

Before long Klute had signed tracks from some of the biggest and best emerging production talents including Hive, Spirit and Bulletproof to name but a few.

The Commercial Suicide imprint began to gain a reputation for releasing top quality drum and bass music that provided a tasty alternative to the mainstream sound being released at the time and this won Klute many fans who were becoming tired with hearing the same sound over and over again.

One of the most timeless and highly regarded pieces of music to be released on the Commercial Suicide label is Klute’s third artist album, Lie, Cheat & Steal and You Should Be Ashamed released in 2003.

With tracks like ‘Part Of Me,’ ‘Oshima’ and ‘Evo Sniffer’ featuring as stand out tracks on the album Lie, Cheat & Steal demonstrated drum and bass music could reach out and do much more than damage dancefloors in clubs.

On top of his regular contributions to his own imprint Klute has released material on Metalheadz, Hospital, Violence and 31 Records over the years and his releases are amongst the most anticipated pieces of plastic to grace the shelves of record stores around the globe.

Even with such a massive back catalogue spanning the best part of a decade Klute’s legacy is definitely evident through the artists he has exposed and put his influence behind to further their careers as producers, DJs and artists.

With artists including Break, Amit, Fanu and Silent Witness securing some of their first releases on the Commercial Suicide label there is no disputing Klute’s taste in music and ear for a quality sound alternative.

More recently Klute has released his latest collection of studio offerings demonstrating his diversity and versatility as a musician and an artist.

The Emperor’s New Clothes is his fifth full-length feature album and includes over two hours of fresh material ranging from some top quality drum and bass beats, breaks and basslines right through to some squelchy techno influenced goodness.

With a fierce reputation as one of the finest drum and bass DJs doing the rounds at the moment Klute will be packing some of the freshest Commercial Suicide goodies in his bag as well as some of the best drum and bass from around the world to shake the speakers of The Rise nightclub on September 15.