In 2000, the duo released their first material under the Themroc name, which is taken from the title of an avant garde French movie from 1972 by Claude Faraldo. The duo’s first two EPs, The Themroc EP and Frozen, were aimed squarely at the breakbeat scene and gained a warm reception in the clubs. However, White and Peppe adopted a more ambitious approach for their debut LP, Beyond These Things. The album’s stylistic influences included electro, house, breakbeat, techno and ambient. Featuring the acclaimed hits ‘Bloodline’ and ‘Gold Is Your Metal’, the album was fêted by leading UK DJ Pete Tong and was awarded Mixmag magazine’s Essential Album.
The release of the album was somewhat overshadowed by Peppe’s high-profile affair with radio and television personality Zoë Ball, wife of Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim. The extra-marital affair attracted much tabloid newspaper coverage and inadvertently catapulted Peppe’s and, by association, Themroc’s name into the limelight until the controversy abated.