MESSAGE FROM MIKEY AND DJ AZZA:
We were heartbroken to learn on the morning of New Years Day of the passing of our dear friend and fellow ACM alumni, Ben Wilson, known musically as Wilso, who passed away on the morning of New Years Eve. He was one of the most down to earth, loyal, loving, generous and hard working men we knew with a great sense of humour, a passionate vegan and activist for animal rights, one of the most talented composers and producers of his generation and a pro piano player, with an eclectic catalogue of EDM, drum and bass, house, hip-hop and grime, metal and film music, amongst others, and not to mention a BA(Hons) in music production. With the ACM studios temporarily closed down in September 2020 due to COVID and no place for us to record material for our upcoming album, Ben was generous enough to allow us access to his home studio prior to the second lockdown. He was very generous with production advice and technical support, and a true gentleman, serving us endless cups of tea / coffee! He even introduced us to vegan hotdogs for the first time, and despite initial skepticism as non-vegans and non-vegetarians, we immediately fell in love with them. In fact, we hardly even noticed the difference in the taste! We told him that if we were ever to go to Wetherspoons with him or attend a vegan BBQ at his house, we would happily eat any and all the alternatives available out of respect for him and his beliefs. We hope the food will be all vegan at the wake of his upcoming funeral and everyone will make do with the substitute products, as will we ourselves should we be permitted to attend (which we hope to). It's what we would have wanted. The three of us had plans to collaborate on future material, including remixes to a number of songs from our upcoming album, we are gutted that we will never get the chance to see these projects through, but we will continue to honour him and his work and his legacy. Our love and thoughts are with all his friends, family, collaborators (including our dear friend, MataZ one of Ben's best friends) and all the lectures at ACM and otherwise who had the privilege of knowing and working with him. We'll miss you big man. Rest in peace, mate. ❤️
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