CHRISSY Van Dyke of Birmingham's finest dance exponents Plutonik learnt a thing or two about the perils of leading a rock'n'roll lifestyle at an early age. Within moments of playing one of her first gigs in London, she found herself expelled!

"We did a school gig and much drink was taken," she laughs on reflection. "When the headmaster started on me due to my inebriated state I threw some rather colourful adjectives his way, and was restrained by several friends before laying him out! If you've gotta go, do it with style I say."

And if it's one thing Chrissy has in bundles, it's style. After spending several years gigging around the UK and Europe, she was pointed towards Midland studio boffins Alan Rowe and James D in '97 who were busy experimenting with drum and bass styled tracks in their basement.

"They were looking for a vocalist to complete a dance project," she says of her Plutonik cohorts. "They approached me because a mutual friend told them I was a singer . . . the rest is history, although they got more than they bargained for! The sound was reborn from what we did together."

Out of their initial sessions came a tough dance hybrid that fused the hard grooves of...