[D&B] 35 Years of Formation, ft: Grooverider, DJ SS, Turno, Toddlah

Artist info...

GROOVERIDER:

Grooverider began his DJing at illegal raves and warehouse parties in the UK in the late 1980s, and rose to prominence with partner Fabio through his sets at club nights such as the groundbreaking 'Rage' at Heaven. Grooverider was also on the London pirate radio station, Faze 1, in the mid-1980s alongside Fabio and DJs including Colin Dale, Dave Angel, and Booker T. He originally played soul, hip hop and disco but later played house, upon being converted whilst hearing "Mysteries of Love" by Mr. Fingers.

Fabio and Grooverider began playing house at Mendoza's in Brixton. From there the pair went on to a venue in Barrington Road in Brixton, but it was not until 1991 that they would really make their mark. That year, Grooverider and Fabio took up a residency at Rage. Throughout the 1990s, Grooverider released tracks as Codename John and helped build the reputations of Matrix and Boymerang with releases on his own record label, Prototype.

With Fabio, he hosted a radio show on Kiss 100 from 1994 to 1997. In 1997, Grooverider compiled the album Prototype Years which featured the best tracks by various artists who appeared on his label. Prototype is known for its sporadic releases, which have included drum and bass work by Dillinja, Drumsound & Bassline Smith, Ed Rush, Photek and Optical. In 1998, he and Fabio brought their radio show to a national audience on BBC Radio 1.

As a recording artist, Grooverider has released one album, Mysteries of Funk (Sony 1998), produced in conjunction with Optical, and a number of remixes including his reworkings of Jonny L's "Piper" plus Roni Size/Reprazent's "Share the Fall". In 2005, he was holding a weekly Sunday session called Grace at the London club, Herbal.

Grooverider returned to the BBC Radio 1 drum and bass show with Fabio in October 2008, until it finally ended in March 2012. Since September 2016, they have brought their long-running radio show to London's Rinse FM.

DJ SS

SS started out as a hip hop and rare groove DJ in his home-town of Leicester, and was originally known as Scratchen Stein (later shortened to SS).[2]

When the hardcore scene exploded in the UK in the early 1990s, he and his partner Eidris started promoting their own parties called Total Kaos every Friday in Leicester. They also put on one of the first large indoor parties at Donington Park in the summer of 1991. It was an amazing success and 6,000 people danced till dawn. Since then he has gone on to DJ worldwide.

SS is the co-founder of the label Formation Records, which has spawned over 30 sub-labels. The label would play a pivotal role for artists and producers such as Tango, John B, and Twisted Individual. The label was particularly prolific from 1991-1994, releasing many breakbeat hardcore and jungle classics, such as The Psycho EP, the Colour Series, Rhythm for Reasons, Breakbeat Pressure and in 1995, his and the label's biggest track, the Love Story theme-sampling "The Lighter". It is a track that has remained incredibly popular and still continues to be played years on.

SS has featured on radio shows such as BBC 1Xtra's D&B M1X, on which he put together an hour-long mix of Formation tracks and was interviewed about his career.

MC TODDLAH

Toddlah is a Coventry (UK) based MC with fast flows and intelligent lyricism. He has a vast wealth of experience from working with some of the biggest names in DNB, including: Dimension, The Prototypes, Crissy Criss, DJ SS and many more!

In 2017 he deservedly won the “Best Breakthrough MC” at the DNB awards and many ventures have followed including launching his own record label and various event promotions around the Midlands.

Toddlah is a key member of the 4 piece D&B super group - 'Standard Procedure,' alongside DJ/Producers Rowney & Jeopardize and MC TNT. Since forming in 2019 they have propelled themselves up the drum & bass ladder, rubbing shoulders with the top collectives,

performing PAs of their own music, allowing them to bring high energy sets. This has lead to them building a solid fanbase along the way, whilst performing for some of the DNB scene's biggest brands and events.

In Standard Procedure his trademark bars and crowd interactions have "set the

standard" and his chemistry with TNT speaks for itself!