Rennie Pilgrem

The story behind the sound

Known as the Godfather of Breaks, Rennie Pilgrem is an influential DJ, remixer, producer and musician, based between London and East Sussex. Raised in Kent, Rennie grew up playing saxophone in various local funk bands before forming seminal rave outfit Rhythm Section with DJ Ellis Dee, Nick 'Newton' Scott and Richard Thake. The band played all the major UK raves, alongside their peers The Prodigy, Alten 8 and Sasha, and sold over 25,000 copies of their Comin' On Strong EP. Post-Rhythm Section, Rennie started his own label, TCR (Thursday Club Recordings), which became one of the most important imprints for pioneering forward-thinking breakbeat music. Known as the Godfather of Breaks, Rennie co-founded the Nu School Breaks night Friction, which played host to the likes of Carl Cox, Andrew Weatherall and Leftfield. Rennie later formed The Philadelphia Bluntz with multi-instrumentalist William South, recording two albums of experimental trip hop. In addition, Rennie has released four solo albums blending his signature breaks-led club tracks with funk, dub and jazz influences. As a composer, Rennie has recorded music for several video games and ads, as well as creating the score for the feature film The Fix, and the theme for seminal Brit-flick The Football Factory.