Mo’ Wax — Where Are They Now: Stasis (1995)
Mo’ Wax was a record label started by James Lavelle in 1992, which closed about ten years later. Initially they released 12" singles and licensed a compilation from Japan of Japanese Hip Hop, until 1994 when they began releasing albums of their artists original work. While some of these artists such as DJ Shadow, DJ Krush, and Money Mark continued releasing music after Mo’ Wax closed, others have seemingly disappeared from the music scene. In this series I will look at each artist on Mo’ Wax and try to find out where are they now…
In 1995 Mo’ Wax created a spin-off label called Excursions. It put out ten 12" singles which were then collected onto a compilation album, also called Excursions, and released by Mo’ Wax in 1996.
Stasis is one of the aliases of Steve Pickton who has released several albums and singles under various aliases, including one EP on Mo’ Wax.
Born Paul Teebrooke, he was adopted and given the name Steve Pickton, and later used both names in his music production work. But it was under the alias Stasis that he burst onto the scene in 1993, beginning with Disco 4000 on Time Is Right.
Disco 4000 features two techno tracks from Stasis on the A-side and a collaboration with Nuron, aka Nurmad Jusat, on the B-side. This was followed by Stasis’ Point Of No Return! 12" released by B12 in July 1993 which they then collected onto split album in August with bonus tracks from Stasis coupled with another B12 release by Redcell.
Stasis also released Likemind 01, a split 12" with Nuron on Likemind, and Circuit Funk on Peacefrog Records, both released in 1993, and these were followed by another 12" on Peacefrog in 1994, this time as The Other World Collective. That year also saw the release of Unexplained, Steve Pickton’s first album under the alias Phenomyna. Released on Kirk Degiorgio’s Applied Rhythmic Technology (ART) label, Unexplained was followed by two more 12" singles on ART and a final 12" on Otherworld Recordings, a label set up by Pickton in 1993.
The first release from Otherworld Recordings was an Untitled 12" with tracks from Stasis, Paul W. Teebrooke, and Phenomyna. All aliases of Steve Pickton. A fourth track by Kapellmeister is Pickton with Mark Broom, and they would collaborate together on many releases across their respective labels over the coming years.
Mark Broom and Steve Pickton had met while they both worked as postal messengers around London and became close friends. Broom had been producing with Peter Ford and members of Plaid before he began working with Dave Hill. As mentioned in our article on Midnight Funk Association, the collaboration between Broom and Hill, Mark Broom had a connection with Mo’ Wax at the time when James Lavelle was becoming more interested in techno music. So, when Lavelle decided to release some techno under his new Excursions sublabel it made sense that he’d include Mark Broom and artists connected with him like Dave Hill, Peter Ford, and Steve Pickton.
Stasis released History Of Future E.P. as part of the Mo’ Wax Excursions sublabel in February 1996, and it peaked at #116 in the UK’s Singles Chart, outside of the official Top 100. He also contributed a remix of iO’s Libre for their Excursions 12", and these were later collected onto the Excursions compilation CDs. A final Stasis track Discotron was included exclusively on the Mo’ Wax compilation Headz 2A in late 1996.
Over 1995–96, Stasis released two albums on Peacefrog and has continued releasing EPs and singles under the alias since. History Of Future E.P. was the only Mo’ Wax release by Steve Pickton under any of his aliases.
Meanwhile, Steve Pickton continued to work with Mark Broom, and they released a further collaborative 12" as Kapé I’ll Miester on Pure Plastic, the label run by Mark Broom and Dave Hill, which also saw releases from Steve Pickton’s aliases Stasis, and Skye, as well as The Ted Howler Rhythm Combo made up of Pickton, Broom, and Hill.
In 1997 Steve Pickton released Connections, an album under his birth name Paul W. Teebrooke released on Kirk Degiorgio’s OP-ART label. The following year, Stasis’ Original Black Gold appeared on the interactive CD-Rom compilation Header #2. The CD featured several elements which could be interacted with on a computer, including home video footage of the Teebrooke family recorded on Super 8 which could be manipulated with Original Black Gold.
In 2006 Pickton debuted his latest alias Soul 223, featuring a more Deep House influenced sound, and released 12"s across various labels, most recently on his own Fencepiece Records he co-founded with Dave Biggs.
Starting in 2019, Fencepiece have reissued previous releases by Steve Pickton, and never before heard releases from his archive. These have included a reissue of his Stasis debut 12" Disco 4000, and the three track compilation Rare & Unreleased Volume 1, both released in 2021.
Most recently in 2022 Stasis released From A Failing Light on the Belgium label De:tuned. This release features archival tracks from 1992-93 and a Nuron remix. The label also released archival recordings from Nuron + Fugue (both aliases for Nurmad Jusat), with a Stasis remix of Fugue’s Contrapoint also included on that compilation.
