Quick Facts
Biography
AK1200 is the stage name of Florida-based musician Dave Minner working in the jungle and drum and bass genres.'
Career
He started DJing in 1989 playing mainly electro music, and in 1990 he opened a record store in Orlando, Florida called The Hottie Shop. He worked with record labels such as Suburban Base and Moving Shadow. He joined with DJ Jeffee to publish the U.S. jungle fanzine Junglized.
His first production effort was a 1993 remix of a Suburban Base Records track by Flex and Fats called Somebody and, as this was released on Suburban Base, he became the first U.S. Jungle producer to release a track in the U.K. (the country of origin of Jungle/Drum and Bass). AK1200 was also the first U.S. DJ to play on U.K. pirate radio, alongside Swift and DJ Zinc on Format FM.
Throughout the 1990s, he tried many variations on the high speed breakbeat musical idiom and has collaborated with many jungle and drum and bass artists including Aphrodite, DJ Dara, Danny Breaks, Dieselboy, and MC Navigator, as well as with hip hop artists such as A Tribe Called Quest.
His debut album, SHOOTTOKILL was co-produced with Rob Playford, of Moving Shadow fame. In the US jungle scene, AK1200 has been credited for helping to increase the popularity of jungle and D&Bdue to his live performances and prolific remixes, as well as for playing for free to help promote the spread of the style.
In 2000, he joined forces with fellow U.S. DJs Dieselboy and DJ Dara to create the annual Planet of the Drums tour.
Selective discography
- 1997 Fully Automatic
- 1996 Sub Base Classics
- 1999 Lock & Roll – A Drum & Bass DJ Mix
- 2000 Prepare for Assault
- 2001 Mixed Live – Moonshine Overamerica, San Francisco
- 2002 Shoot to Kill
- 2003 At Close Range
- 2007 Weapons of Tomorrow
- 2008 Autopsy (with Gridlok)
- 2018 The Light (with Liquid)