Manchester born and bred Metz & Trix are already established artists within the Urban Asian music scene and are regarded as pioneers of the great MC/Bhangra fusion during the late nineties incorporating r’n’b, hip-hop, drum’n’bass, garage and other music styles uniquely blended with bhangra beats and themes to create a new genre of music for all to hear.
The beginning of the Metz and Trix phenomena can be traced back to 1997 and the UK underground garage scene. Fronting their own outfit the ‘Midnight Lick Crew’ alongside DJ’s Ric-o-chet and Kaos they envisaged the creation of a complete musical outfit consisting of talented Dj’s, producers and MC’s . They made appearances at raves such as Sun City, Garage Nation, Urban Music Showcase, Hysteria and Hoo Haa.
After a very short time they started putting on small events playing Hip-Hop, R&B and the new genres hitting the streets and clubs of the UK…Garage and Bhangra. They met DJ Semtex, who at the time was head of Sony Street Team, joined up and starting working on projects involving promotion for top artists like Destiny’s Child, Wyclef, Lauren Hill, Xzibit, J-Lo and others. Street team projects continued with the likes of Jay-Z, Nas and Method Man when Semtex joined Universal/Def Jam UK. The Midnight Lick Crew went onto win Best DJ Crew at 1999 Asian Music Awards.
In 1999 Metz and Trix decided to use their talent in the British Bhangra music scene. Metz collaborated with versatile Manchester producer Surinder ‘the lick’ Rattan and gave bhangra lovers a garage flavour with the track ‘Tappe’. Trix teamed up with Bradford based RDB for an equally impressive anthem in the form of the classic ‘Putt Sardara De.’ Both debut singles recieved crtical acclaim and the respective albums went on to achieve gold disc awards for sales in excess of 50,000 as well as the video’s attracting the attention of a new generation of fans in all corners of the world.
In 2001 their status as the hottest new stars in the Bhangra music scene was further enhanced when their debut single as a duo was released. The number 1 smash hit ‘Ambersariya’ featured on the Mac G album and the huge response it received meant the time was right for their first album together.
Their debut album ‘Danger,’ released in December 2001 with Untouchables UK records, went down as one of the definitive voices of young British Asian youth culture. Classy tunes and hard to forget Basslines gave the duo international stardom and kept them at number 1 spot in the charts for 10 weeks. The album was a huge international success, instantly propelling the duo from garage mc’s to Bhangra’s Bad Boys. Their live entertainment background brought a new energy experience to audiences and packed venues around the world.
This led to features on Panjabi Hit Squad’s debut album and the boys went on to be chosen, amongst others, to front the Digital launch of the BBC Asian Network in Summer 2002. Shortly after this the boys went on to make the smash hit anthem ‘Aaja Mahi’ which featured on the UntouchablesUK album ‘Danger 2.’ From the huge success of this they went on to sign an exclusive 2 album record deal with the UK’s biggest Asian record label Moviebox.
They were involved in the early stages of asian music’s cross over to the mainstream when in March 2003, they featured on the hugely popular Warner Dance and Sony Music album compilation ‘Urban Explosion.’ The album was a huge hit and secured them as part of a few elite who had managed to become household names and help get asian music into the coveted consciousness of mainstream British music.
In November 2003 they were nominated for Best Single and Best MC categories awards by UK AMA. The awards were televised for the first time nationally on ITV and internationally to an audience of over 20 million on Sony B4U. Metz and Trix won the award for Best MC’s and came runners up to Panjabi MC in the best single category and at his request collected the award on his behalf. Being nominated let alone winning an award was a highlight for the boys and firmly established them as bhangra superstars.
In 2004, they found time between performing at club nights, Asian Mela’s and Love Music Hate Racism festivals to get into the studio to start recording their second album .
They featured on the Universal Records release of the compilation ‘Urban Fusion’ as well as collaborating with other top UK and international artists. The highlight of the year by far was a memorable performance at Glastonbury.
In 2005, Moviebox released Metz and Trix’s second album ‘Get Ready Get Set’ which boasted collaborations with Bhangra legends Gurdass Mann, Sukhwinder Singh, and Abrar-ul-Haq. The smash hit tracks ‘Bi-Lingual’ and ‘Dil Moliya’ helped the album reach No.2 in the Asian Network charts. They also featured on the Urban Bollywood crossover compilation ‘Streets of Bollywood’ which was also a huge success.
In 2006, the boys got heavily involved in ‘Safe & Sound’ – a road safety campaign aimed at young children and teenagers to explain the dangers on today’s roads through music and interactive media. Over 90,000 copies were distributed to schools throughout the UK. As a result the ‘Safe and Sound’ project was nominated in the regional ‘Big Chip Awards’ in the Best E-Learning project category. ‘Safe & Sound’ won the award, presented by the late Mancunian Music Legend Anthony Wilson and went onto the National British Interactive Media Awards (BIMA) in 2007. The BIMA’s, were held at the prestigious National History Museum in London and ‘Safe & Sound’ won 3 awards for Best Government, Best Education and Best E-Learning projects beating off tough competition from BBC, C4, CBBC, MOD and MTV.
In 2007, they toured with Panjabi Mc around the world from New York, Moscow and Paris across throughout Europe, South Asia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand onto UAE, Bahrain and Dubai. Highlights included performing in the Philharmonie centre in Luxembourg and in Albania at MTV’s ‘Stop Human Trafficking’ Beach Party alongside the late legendary Hip Hop rapper GURU. It also included a 10 city UK wide tour with the ZeeTV Network.
Another memorable occasion of 2007 was their involvement in the prestigious IIFA awards, held for the first time in the UK at Sheffield’s Hallam Arena. Akshay Kumar performed Metz and Trix’s Anthem ‘Aaja Mahi,’ to a live audience of Bollywood’s most elite actors and actresses as well as to an A-list of the UK’s top celebrities and a global worldwide audience. This propelled the Metz and Trix sound firmly into the Bollywood Film industry.
They continued into a decade of performing at gigs at nightclubs, mela’s, weddings, exhibitions, fashion shows, birthdays, festivals and carnivals worldwide and nationally from nearly every city south of Aberdeen and North of Bognor Regis. Along the way they have supported and been supported by many organisations like BBC Asian Network, BritAsiaTV, B4U, Sunrise, Asian Sound Radio, ZeeTV, Eastern Eye. As well as fundraising efforts for charitable causes like Cancer Research and Haiti, Tsunami and Earthquake appeals. Metz and Trix were amongst the first artists to support the Love Music Hate Racism movement from the earlier days in Rotherham, Nelson and Burnley to the more recent events at Stoke City Football Club and the 100,000 gathering in Victoria Park, London
They made time through all this to work on their third album Get Ready Get Set 2 released with Moviebox Records in December 2008. They filmed the first video in India, ‘GRGS2 medley’ featured top Indian bhangra singers Labh Janjua and Lembher Hussainpuri. The second video from the album, ‘Names on Road’ featured Nika D from UK dubstep collective Virus Syndicate. The third video from the album ‘We Can Leave Now’ shot in London again featured Labh Janjua. They continued to tour and promote the new album nationwide and abroad throughout 2009 including shows in Europe, returning to Ayia Napa for the third time, Middle East, Asia and Africa.
A highlight for 2009 included performing A.R. Rahman’s ‘Ringa Ringa’ from the award winning ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ movie alongside extremely talented artists Karen David and Shahin Badar. The Show was broadcast worldwide on B4UMusic at the end of May to an audience of 30 million.
In 2010, Metz and Trix have already been in constant demand and are in studio’s worldwide recording and collaborating for future projects. They voiced their opinion and supported the campaign to Save the BBC Asian Network attending forums and events in Manchester, Birmingham and London. Their performance at BBC Asian Network’s Summer of Mela’s was available on BBC interactive TV by pressing the Red Button from any BBC channel.