2 Bad Mice

Active since the early 1990s, 2 Bad Mice took shape between Hertford and Stevenage, in England, around Sean O’Keeffe, Simon Colebrooke and Rob Playford, who at the time was also linked to the label Moving Shadow. The project emerged at the moment when the British rave scene was evolving hardcore into more syncopated forms, and 2 Bad Mice fit into this shift with a sound based on breakbeats, punchy bass, dark pads and the direct energy of breakbeat hardcore. The group drew attention from 1991 with tracks that became benchmarks of this period, notably Hold It Down in 1992 and Bombscare, a track later remixed and reissued in 1996. After an initial phase of activity until the mid-1990s, 2 Bad Mice ceased to produce regularly, while a compilation, 2 Bad Mice, Kaotic Chemistry, appeared in 1995. The name then returned to the stage from the 2010s onwards, with Sean O’Keeffe and Simon Colebrooke at the center of the project. This revival was accompanied by a return to the duo’s rave roots, in an aesthetic that links the original UK hardcore, the early jungle and certain current forms of breakbeat. In 2020, 2 Bad Mice also participated in the launch of the label Over/Shadow, conceived as an extension of the Moving Shadow heritage.