Dirty Vegas

Paul Harris, Steve Smith and Ben Harris are three lads from Kent and the South London suburbs with very different musical backgrounds, united by a shared love of a good tune and a passion for partying.

Paul Harris started clubbing in his early teens and bagged his first professional DJ gig when he was 17, just before acid house took dance culture mainstream. He gradually began spending more time mixing and making records than playing them, but has continued to be successful as a DJ.

A drummer since schooldays, Steve Smith gave up his job in the print trade during the rave explosion when he realized he could make more money playing live percussion in clubs at weekends. By the mid-90s he was playing in a band called Higher Ground, and when the singer left he reluctantly stepped in, discovering with some surprise that he had a fine voice. When the band fell apart he went to Ibiza to write, but then a chance meeting with Paul at an airport on the way to a club event led to a wild weekend, and the idea of making music together.

Ben Harris (no relation to Paul) played guitar in indie rock band Fluid until they did their first demo and he saw how the engineer worked the mixing desk. He got a job in a recording studio, "got bitten by the dance bug", and ended up running a specialist dance record shop in Bromley with his brother. After producing a string of successful one-off club tunes he began working with Paul, who a few weeks later bumped into Steve and invited him to join them.