Ryan Ellis and Lewis Wright have
come a long way from their training ground djing in South East London; Lewis cut this teeth working the hip-hop angle around clubs in Deptford during which time Ryan was playing more garage-informed sets, however it wasn’t long before they both found common ground in house following a holiday to Ibiza. Their partnership began to form when they found themselves being booked to play at the same parties, and in some instances playing back-to-back sets.
Their name came “by accident” when put on the spot by a call from a promoter asking what name they wanted to be printed on a flyer. At this point they didn’t have one. Ryan’s brother happened to be holding a can of drink and shouted it out down the phone, and from then on the name No Artificial Colours was born.
Their debut cut 'Detroit Baby, What' soon followed; the duo didn’t know any labelheads to pass it on to, so ended up handing it to a south London based label called SinQ which belonged to a friend of a friend. The track was released with little fanfare, but unbeknownst to them it had already been picked up by Jamie Jones and Maya Jane Coles, and whilst the boys were partying with friends at Ushuaia they unexpectedly heard Jones play it out to the masses. It was only a matter of time before a key player took notice. Sure enough, one came along in the shape of house legend Kerri Chandler, who signed their seminal track ‘Crying Wolf’ to his Madtech label in 2013. No Artificial Colours have now been backed by the highly influential PMR Records, who are releasing their next 12” ’Reach for Me’ in 2014.