If you truly love fast tempo underground music and its culture, there’s no ‘off’ switch or expiry date.
Everyone over 30 knows this already.
You don’t suddenly wake up and say ‘right, this fast tempo music is all feeling a bit too much for me, let’s put on a bit of Coldplay’.
You don’t suddenly start craving a cheeky tech house night. Unless you weren’t really into this for the right reasons in the first place.
If you really love this music – whether you identify as a raver, DJ, producer, all three or more – then it’ll be with you forever. This isn’t a passing fad. It’s not something you grow out of. It might be the main priority at points, cos life be lifeing, but it’s always there in your mind, thoughts and heart.
Take the case of The Garfield. Luke to his friends; by day he’s a partner in a firm in London and works a pretty conventional 9-5 for a man who turns 50 this summer.
But beneath the shirt and responsibilities is an emergent new talent buzzing with ideas that have been building up in him for decades… And a label that’s got a whole stash of exciting sounds and plans.
That label is Our Sound, and his productions go like this…
Tune, right?
That’s Primator. The third release on his label and his second release full stop. It hits with a certain sense of old Ram-like dancefloor energy; hooky, heavy, spacious and full of drama. There’s plenty more where that came from, too. This week sees him dropping a brand track Turn Cold. It’s minimal, menacing and laced with a subby wobble that you can feel has been tailor made for big rigs in small rooms where high ravers reach low ceilings.
It’s the type of vibe that lured him into this game well over 30 years ago at seminal institutions such as AWOL and Jungle Fever raves and Ram nights at The End.
It’s the type of vibe that’s been in his mind building up and up and up like a pressure cooker for all these years and decades. Always there but forever just out of reach because life does that sometimes. Job, kids, family, bills, all the conventions that stop you putting yourself over others… Not all of which have off switches, or expiry dates, but they are more manageable and offer more time and flexibility the older you get.
Which is where Luke is at right now. Armed with his old nickname from school for his alias, and well over 30 years of raving inspiring, he’s finally realizing a dream that was born on an AWOL dancefloor when he was just 16.
As he says himself, age is just a number, it’s your attitude and outlook that actually counts for anything. And Luke’s outlook and attitude is nothing short of inspiring. Get to know…
Take us back! That first rave epiphany or that first proper ‘WOW’ wide eyed dancefloor moment when you knew raving and this culture was going to be more than a passing curiosity or a phase in your life?
Gotta be AWOL, Paradise Club, June 1993. My mate’s 17th birthday. I was a bit younger, still only 16. We got there an hour before it opened and were first in the queue by a long way, probably a dead giveaway to the bouncers and staff getting everything set up for the night haha!
The moment I went through the double doors at the back into the main room, the sound hit me like a fucking sledgehammer. From all angles! I’d never felt anything like it. And it was still early doors, it hadn’t even warmed up yet!
I can’t remember who was on first but the DJs on the night were the big five residents – Randall, Micky Finn, Darren Jay, Gachet and Kenny Ken. The night went from 10pm till 10am – a marathon session by today’s standards, but this was every Saturday – with each DJ playing 2 hour sets so they’d be really varied.
There must’ve been another DJ that night, they’d have guests, but I can’t remember who it was that night. On the mic of course was another legend, GQ and at that time AWOL also had another. Prince. Not many seem to remember him. I don’t think I even saw GQ that night – the stage itself was rammed with people dancing – but you could hear him, that unmistakable voice. “Yes Yes Yes – anyone caught not dancing will be taken ‘round the back and shot” – one of the best MC lines ever in my opinion! Fun but serious. To be honest, you didn’t need to tell people to dance at AWOL, everyone knew what they were there for – it was like being, well, in clubber’s Paradise. The club’s name fitted it well.
To top it all, that was the time when the legendary ‘Valley Of The Shadows’ was starting to blow up. Every DJ that night played it and every time it got played it got rewound several times. It was the anthem of the night, like nothing I’d ever heard before and the soundsystem at AWOL was THE perfect place to hear it properly. The place was going off and I was humbled to be a part of it. This was the night when I knew that it was gonna become a big part of me too!
As the night wore on, the horns got louder, the energy built, sweat dripped from the ceiling, I was soaked through from head to toe, you could’ve wrung my t-shirt out. No one was standing trying to look pretty, everyone was 100% immersed in the dance.
I remember some girl coming up and trying to rub Vicks under my nose – people used do try all sorts of things to increase their high back then – but anyway she missed and rubbed it into my fucking eyes! I couldn’t see anything for about half an hour, I was rooted to the spot with my eyes closed in the middle of the dancefloor, it couldn’t have happened in a more perfect place!
We walked out of there on Sunday morning straight onto the back street behind Islington High St. busy with people going about their everyday lives. You felt like you’d just gone through a wormhole from a different dimension or something, it was unreal. Like being part of a secret society, normal people didn’t realise what had just gone on behind those walls .
What a description! Take us to some other secret societies you’d frequent back in those days…
We did loads of places – events and clubs – everything from World Dance to Jungle Fever, anywhere there was DnB we’d go. That said, I’ve always preferred clubs to big events – more intimate – and when the whole club is sharing a vibe, that’s hard to get at a big event.
I remember when One Nation started in Aldershot I think, down that way somewhere. That was great when it first started. Other notable nights were at the Lazerdrome in Peckham, we did that a fair bit until it got a bit too edgy.
In later years it all became about The End and Fabric. The End was amazing. They had Ram Records nights, Renegade Hardware nights, LTJ Bukem’s logical progressions and on Wednesday nights Swerve, Fabio’s thing I think which went on until about 4, maybe 5am, but that was enough on a work night – we’d go from the club to an all-night café, wait a couple of hours then head into work, often having to buy new clothes from Chapel Market on the way!
That’s how much of a phenomenon raving was wasn’t it? You’d stay out and roll through. When did the work side of things slowly takeover the raving?
Yes it was definitely all-consuming – you lived it, you characterised yourself as being part of it, this secret society of like-minded people who wanted to party hard. It was like having two versions of yourself – the work me and the raver me.
It wasn’t so much that work took over going out, for years they just sat side by side fairly happily although Mondays weren’t the most productive! We called ourselves ‘Monday Club’ – it’d be Sunday night and we’d still be together around someone’s flat or somewhere discussing who was gonna make it into work the next day. Some of us would still be holding onto the party and you knew who wasn’t gonna make it in. We still joke about Monday Club now and there’s a small group of us who are still very much into the music, Kev (Lyrical MC), Darren M (Reset Beats) and Tinky (He’s actually a hairdresser but obsessed with building sound systems!) – the original Monday Club members – I’m hoping collectively we’ll be doing some things under the label in the not-to-distant future
Things started to calm down a bit once I got past 30, I got offered partnership at my firm and had to get serious about making something of myself. I’d not gone to Uni and nor had any of my family – but I had a good attitude and a half decent brain despite what I’d done to it and had worked my way up from the bottom – being offered partnership was a serious chance for me to make something of my life – and it’s been a great journey too!
But the music and partying never went away completely – it’ll always be part of me. I’ll forever be a fan first, no matter what happens with the music production and the label in the future. I’d rather be on the side of the decks where the party people are, that’s where I’m happiest.
I love that. How did you arrive at the set of circumstances that enabled you to get back into this?
I never really left, just stayed in the shadows for a bit and didn’t put so much time into it. I kept an eye on how the scene was developing it just wasn’t such a big part of my life for a couple of years.
I think the tipping point to get right back into it was a Ram night at The End. I got a bit over-excited that night and had to be escorted home by a mate or else I’d probably have ended up in the Thames or something – but it was a blinder of a night and the vibe was something else – DnB was back, the vibe was back, I wasn’t walking away again.
How long did it take from that initial inspiration to get into production and back into DJing to setting up Our Sound?
Well I’d always dreamed of making tunes from my first go on my mates decks to be honest. We’d go out and buy some vinyl from Blackmarket or Untiy or wherever and come back and rinse them – me mixing and my mate, Trampy (a fucking legend in his own right btw) MCing through an old set of headphones.
That feeling of having fresh tunes and thinking “If I made my own I’d always have fresh tunes”. So it was always there. I’d hum basslines I’d made up in my head and imagine the drums I’d put with it, etc. I’d drive my work mates nuts because I was always humming basslines.
I didn’t really have any money back then and didn’t know anyone who was producing or anything about it really – plus I was too busy enjoying myself – the dream felt too far out of reach or too much effort to realise. I’m an all or nothing kind of person – I either do it properly or not at all.
Anyway, by the time I was into my 30’s and started a family the decks and vinyl went up into the loft and my music room became a pink fluffy nursery. I still had the odd night out here and there but it’s horrendous walking in through your front door at 7.30am after being out all night and being greeted by your kids who have just woken up full of beans!
But now they’re a bit older, my day job is less demanding and I’ve finally got the time and means to do this properly. I’ve got a mental bucket list and making tunes is pretty high up on that.
Was a label always part of the plan as well?
Years ago it was – about 15-20 years ago I had a name for the label and everything “Death by Records” I was going to call it, even bought the domain name which I paid for a couple of years without doing anything else about it.
This time around when I finally started putting time into production and had decided to go all in with realising the dream, starting my own label just made sense so that I was in control and not scratching around trying to get tunes released.
Have you taken to production naturally?
Yeah I think so in some ways – I’ve got a good ear for what sounds I like and understand the music. I think I’m creative and good at the concept stage, I have endless ideas. But production has been a really steep learning curve, there’s so much to learn! I’m fortunate that I’ve sought out good people who have helped me and I’ve got a genius of a sound guy who helps get the sound to where I want it. There’s a team of us on Our Sound. I’m not gonna take all the credit. I want the label/brand to be well known and respected for putting out music that people enjoy and party to – I’ve got no wish to be well known in my own right. Label first is my mentality all the way. Unfortunately in today’s scene it seems people want a face to it (for social media etc) and that’s just a necessary evil in my view.
So here’s the big question… What is one aspect of the culture from the early days that you wished still existed from the old days?
Well I’m not too keen on this whole subgenre thing nowadays – most nights or events now seem to be one subgenre and I think that’s a shame. I love tunes from every subgenre, a good tune is a good tune! I don’t want to listen to one style of DnB for 8 hours, I want variation. If you’re not feeling a particular set, fine, go to the bar for an hour and then it’ll be someone else. Bring back variation and multi-sub-genre nights. Or better still stop labelling at all – I’d never want to pigeonhole myself and say I’m into this or that type of DnB – I’m just into partying to good music.
I also couldn’t answer this question without mentioning phones. I do get it, people want to capture these moments. But my advice would be to use sparingly, don’t underestimate your brains potential to capture memories, plus a phone never captures a moment quite like you experienced it, not even close. If I can remember the first tune that Micky Finn played at AWOL at 8am over 30 years ago, the atmosphere, and how I felt right then in that moment, then others can too.
And what is one aspect from now you wished existed in the old days?
Ha, well beat-matching is a lot easier now on modern tech and cos most tunes are the same bpm – gives you more time with the other aspects of a mix and can really keep the energy up. I don’t agree with people who think you’re not a ‘proper DJ’ unless you can mix on old belt drives. Yes that was a skill and bloody difficult, constantly battling to keep the tunes aligned, but there’s a lot more to playing a good set than that!
Amen to that! I’m a big advocate for age diversity and really believe the best things happen when perspectives across different generations are shared. Back in my 20s I can’t say I felt the same about older people tbh. Luckily I feel like the current younger generation are a lot more open to older heads and there’s a lot more empathy between generations. What are your thoughts on this and how has your experience been coming into the scene as an older artist?
Well there’s certainly some events I’d feel like a grandad and out of place, but that’s fine. I think real DnB heads appreciate that the music is now 30+ years old and so there’s going to be older heads at events and actually I’ve found they want to hear about your experiences over the years and how it all started etc, as long as you’re not banging the drum of “it was better in my day” all the time, that’s not helpful.
I went to Metalheadz at KoKo last year and I was on the dancefloor getting into it and this bloke right in front of me was just standing there. So I jokingly said to him “don’t just stand there, you can at least show your appreciation and dance”. He turned to me and said “son, I’m 65 years old, I’m struggling to even just stand here to be honest, but I wasn’t gonna miss this”. Respect!
Bottom line – age is just a number, it’s attitude and outlook on life that matters. I can party like a 25 year old, it just hurts a bit more in the morning! But seriously, I couldn’t give a monkey’s if anyone thinks I’m too old or whatever!
So the label launched in November with your Traction EP. You’ve since released an EP by Oodini, a track by Stereotype and now your new track Turn Cold. Tell us everything…
Traction was the first tune I ever completely finished – I wanted it to be a nod back to a bygone era of the music – I think it has an older flavour. My sound guy hated it because he said it wasn’t clean enough, but it wasn’t supposed to be – the vibe for that one needed a little mud, like the old days.
The rest of Traction EP was a mix of slightly different styles – I wanted to start as we mean to go on in the sense that if we like it we’ll put it out, we are not labelling ourselves as this or that type of style.
The new release is a double – Primator and Mira – again for me two completely different tracks. Primator has some oof to it whereas Mira has an old skool bassline with a modern flex that just glides along. They’re both out now and doing ok.
Really excited about the next few after that – Turn Cold by me, Selector by Stereotype, again very different tracks but loving both of those – hopefully others will too. Then some nice little rollers planned on OS plus a collab with Exile on Banished Beats ‘Get Some’ which is different again.
Sick! What else do you have in store for 2026?
As much as possible! We’re in it now so gonna keep rolling. We’ve got releases pretty much every month and I’m hoping we get more artists on board so less of the music is from me personally. The idea is to give people who are in the position I was all those years back, with a dream but no path to realise it, a chance to show what they’re about. If people have some talent and a sound I can get behind then I’m really up for platforming them, helping them develop their sound and get themselves on the map. Success for me will look like that.
Also, events – I want an Our Sound residency at some point in the future, maybe one for 2027 as we need to get our ducks in a row to start putting on events. I have been talking to Clayton at Renegade Hardware about putting on a joint event OS v RH soundclash type event. I think that’ll happen at some point in 2026. That would be amazing as I’ve long been a fan of Renegade Hardware.
I think events have taken a downturn and it saddens me. I want focus on smaller more intimate events where people are getting good music and value for money – going out has become so expensive. I think organisers are struggling to make money and so are more reluctant to put on events. But I’m in the fortunate position where I don’t need an event to make money, I just want it to be a good night. So I think there’s an opening!
Find out more about Our Sound: YouTube / Instagram / Linktree / Facebook
