A GUY CALLED GERALD, the Mancunian dancefloor whiz-kid, is currently in a legal confrontation with 808 STATE over the writing credits for the current massive Top Ten dancefloor hit 'Pacific State'.

Gerald's alleging that 808 State are not giving him the writing credit that he is due for his contribution to 'Pacific State' in all its myriad forms and remixes.

'Pacific State' made its first appearance on 808 State's Creed label debut album, with Gerald apparently credited for his help in supplying the main bass and drum samples to the track. Since being picked up by ZTT though, all the many versions of Pacific State have appeared without any mention of Gerald's name.

808 STATE have responded to Gerald's allegations saying that there had not been a problem until his new publishing company, Zomba Music had recently got involved.

Graham Massey of the band staled: "Gerald has always been up for a third cut of 'Pacific State', along with myself and Martin Price. The track's been recorded for over a year and Gerald's been fully aware of it all this time."

He continued, "Last week his publisher's sent us a letter claiming that he was owed 100 per cent and this week they sent us another demanding 75 per cent! It's not a question of us ripping him off, but it's utter crap that he's owed 100 per cent."

The whole issue has now become very murky, with 808 State claiming that their re-recorded versions and remixes, variously known as 'Pacific 202', '303' and '909', are different songs containing none of Gerald's samples. Gerald however insists that they are basically the same song as 'Pacific State' and he therefore deserves his writing credit.

This saga looks sure to run and run as A Guy Called Gerald's new single 'FX' features a track on the B-Side, 'Eyes Of Sorrow', that was made using the same samples that he alleges appear on 'Pacific State'! On top of this, Gerald's label CBS also have remixes of 'FX' all ready to run that features samples of his acrimonious conversations with various members of 808 State, including the immortal line 'F— off Gerald!'.

• 808 STATE release their first album for ZTT Ninety on Monday, featuring a version of the hit, 'Pacific 202', among it's eight tracks, 'Ninety' was produced by 808 State and engineered by their programmer Graham Massey.

• A GUY CALLED GERALD follows his massive club and National Top 20 hit Voodoo Ray' with the first single release on his own Subscape Records, via CBS. Entitled 'FX (The Elevation Mix)' it is a double A-Side backed with 'Eyes Of Sorrow' and 'Emotions Electric 2 (To Be Continued)', with the first 5,000 12"'s available in a limited edition sleeve.

• Also, RHAM RECORDS, the label that released Gerald's classic club smash 'Voodoo Ray', are to release 'Hot Lemonade', the title track of Gerald's debut album, as a single this week, just a week before 'FX'. Rham are also repackaging the 'Hot Lemonade' album to include 'Voodoo Ray' as an extra track, and making it available again as well this week.

[Author: Unknown]