To most music fans, The Freelance Hellraiser is better known as the mash-up king and the DJ responsible for splicing together The Strokes’ Hard To Explain with Christina Aguilera’s Genie In A Bottle. The track, re-christened A Stroke Of Genius, launched a new trend in mash-up music-making and has widely been credited with paving the way for the likes of Danger Mouse’s celebrated Beatles/Jay-Z bootleg The Gray Album. Since that time The Freelance Hellraiser (aka Roy Kerrhas) been building a strong name for himself as a remixer and mash-up artist of genuine worth. Yet the arrival of his debut album Waiting For Clearance is far from the mash-up collection that fans may have been anticipating. Rather, it’s a coming together of all of his past experiences to create a coherent whole, a collection of original songs that draw from the worlds of dance, rock, indie pop and soul to offer one of the most pleasant surprises of the year. What’s more, Roy’s done it with some impressive help, supplied by the likes of Snow Patrol’s vocalist Gary Lightbody (a mate since university) as well as former Snow Patrol guitarist Iain Archer and Roy’s wife, Lalula. Helping out on production, meanwhile, are U2 producer Jacknife Lee (another old friend), synth elder statesman Jan (Miami Vice) Hammer and Hugo Nicolson, the man who co-produced Primal Scream’s legendary Screamadelica. The result is a heady mix – occasionally magnificent, often cheesy to the point of being compulsive, yet constantly evolving and a darn good listen to boot.
