English producer
Flux Pavilion started making tracks while still in his teens, focusing on building his own breed of infectious and high-energy dubstep. He quickly grew from self-releasing songs online to issuing new vinyl 12"s with various labels and touring internationally, eventually getting to a new level with his 2010 track "I Can't Stop," which was sampled by
Kanye West and
Jay-Z. The producer collected some of his sharpest work for his 2015 debut album,
Tesla.
DJ, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Joshua Steele took the name
Flux Pavilion around 2008 when he released the track "Cheap Crisps" as a digital download. Steele had grown up in Towcester, where his early musical perspectives had been especially inspired by dubstep producer
Rusko as well as classic rock acts like
Bowie and
Zappa. At the time, he and like-minded producers
Doctor P and
Trolley Snatcha had been playing in guitar-based bands together, but after downloading some music creation software, they agreed the future was digital and were set on their electronic paths.
Fast-forward to 2010, and
Flux Pavilion had made a name for himself with plenty of club hits, remixes, and DJ gigs, but that year's "I Can't Stop" took his career to another level. Two "fans" Steele met on a tour of America asked to sample the cut for their upcoming hip-hop album, and a year later "I Can't Stop" became the basis of "Who Gon Stop Me" on
Jay-Z and
Kanye West's joint effort
Watch the Throne.
Flux Pavilion's hit track "Bass Cannon" arrived that same year, along with a collaborative cut with
Doctor P, "Super Bad." He released several EPs including 2010's Lines in Wax and 2013's
Freeway before a proper studio album materialized in the form of 2015's energetic
Tesla. The LP included cameos from artists ranging from media personality
Riff Raff to old-school
Afrika Bambaataa affiliates
Soulsonic Force.
Always busy, Steele continued releasing
Flux Pavilion singles, EPs, and remixes throughout the 2010s, collaborating again with
Doctor P on the Party Drink Smoke EP in 2016 and offering up new tracks like "Party Starter" and "Room to Fall" as the years went on. ~ David Jeffries