I got a couple of emails in the inbox over the weekend following my article on Friday about the behaviour on social media of CamelPhat during the week. Most were supportive, but one thought I’d gone too far. This person then challenged me to say something nice about the two men.

Very well. I accept your challenge.

It’s no exaggeration to say the two of them had a big role in saving the arses of both Ministry of Sound and All Around The World Records in the early to mid-2000s. Let’s start with Ministry. As you may know, they used to have a hugely successful compilations business, but in 2002, Ministry of Sound’s profits took a big tumble.

Costs were shaven all over the business. Ministry closed their magazine of the same name and the compilation business was given orders to reduce the huge amount paid out in licensing costs. This led to a deal with Boss Records in Liverpool, who would supply a combination of house and trance tracks for their compilations with extra promotion from Ministry guaranteed.

Mike Di Scala, one half of CamelPhat, was heavily involved with Boss Records. His remix work for the label led to further opportunities from then EMI owned Positiva, for example. Dave Whelan came along a little later and quickly became just as crucial. Both men worked together and separately and made a lot of records for the label at that time.

In the meantime, All Around The World Records had done a deal with Universal, bringing about the Clubland series. Their biggest artists at the time were probably Ultrabeat, and guess who was in there? None other than Mike Di Scala…

See, I can be nice sometimes.