Hazell, circa 2011
James Hazell, also known as FuntCase, is a producer, label owner, DJ and dubstep pioneer based in Bournemouth, UK. He is known for contributing towards the growth of the early 2010s underground dubstep movement, particularly that of the UK-based scene under the Circus Records label along with peers Cookie Monsta, Doctor P and Flux Pavilion.
Hazell runs the independant bass label DPMO.
History[]
James first expressed his love of music through jamming with his schoolmates, taking his energetic and aggressive drumming style from death metal as well as being heavily influenced by happy hardcore and jungle, growing up to a background of Helter Skelter and Dreamscape mixtapes.
After hearing ‘Bandwagon Blues’ by Twisted Individual, James fell in love with the drum and bass sound and began to focus his talents on producing. Sharing his tracks with D&B radio stations led to the first recognition of his foot-thumping talents, under the alias DJ Dose he released for the first time in 2007.
In 2009 James began to dabble with producing dubstep, giving his tunes a big energy by incorporating the drum and bass layering technique into his dubstep sound. His first track ‘Make Our Day’ was quickly signed to 4:20 Records. And so began the raw sound that is FuntCase.
It wasn't long before FuntCase began trading tracks with Doctor P, and an offer soon followed to bring James into Circus Records with the release of his famed release ‘So Vexed', with ‘Mattress Punch' on the flipside, in 2010.
Since then the phenomenon has grown, FuntCase has gone on to create tracks with Trolley Snatcha, Cookie Monsta, Eptic, Foreign Beggars, Virtual Riot, jPhelpz, MIK, Engine-EarZ Experiment, Dubloadz, Daniil Svetlov, Lewis Cutler, Dirtyphonics, Doctor P, Max Headroom, Genetix, Jakes, Persist, Southbound Hangers, Roska, Swindle and Modestep.