British Music Culture - Nookie - Thurs. 4th Dec - 6-9pm
Calling All Junglists!
As part of our continuing series celebrating British Music Culture, we’re proud to welcome the pioneer and legendary producer, deejay, and remixer - Nookie - who will be joining us at Soundstage Hi-Fi on Thursday, 4th December (6–9pm).
Nookie, aka Gavin Cheung, was there at the birth of Jungle — the first uniquely British dance music. I first heard his music in 1994 on my little brother’s Fantazia Takes You Into The Jungle mixtape. Tape 2 featured Nookie’s “Only You,” (1994), a euphoric and soulful piano track layered over a rolling breakbeat.
Both “Only You” and “The Sound of Music (Original Mix)” were released on Reinforced Records, a key imprint exploring the darker side of rave and proto-jungle - alongside Moving Shadow, my all-time favourite label.
Nookie relaxing in the studio
A couple of years earlier, Nookie had already dropped timeless cuts like: “Give A Little Love” (1992) and Cloud 9 – “You Got Me Burnin’ (Original Mix)” (1993, Moving Shadow). Sampling James Brown’s “Funky Drummer” , kung-fu classic Five Fingers of Death, and Quincey Jones’ theme tune for Ironside!
Back then, me and my mates from school were heading to free parties and recording tapes from pirate radio stations, like Kool FM (94.5FM) out of London. The signal would drift in and out, and be layered with white noise - not exactly high fidelity, but we got to hear jungle anthems like the stone-cold classic - The Renegade ft. Ray Keith – “Terrorist” (1994, Moving Shadow).
Engineered and co-produced by Nookie - Its rhythmic heavy drums and that iconic deep, rolling sub-bass is still destroying dancefloors today!
Nookie on the Technics 1210s
‘Terrorist’ The Renegade ft. Ray Keith
Nookie then went on to release one of LTJ Bukem’s all-time favourites, “Continental Drift” (2001), on Good Looking Records. His tunes also feature in one of the greatest music documentaries of all time - Modern Times: LTJ Bukem Documentary. Featuring the late, great MC Conrad. If you’ve not seen it, check it out here.
Nookie continues to make music and produce tunes for the next generation of jungle enthusiasts, but his legacy is forever cemented in those early releases - tracks that shaped the sound and soul of Jungle & Drum n’ Bass.
We’re super excited to chat with Gav (Nookie) about his life in music.
He’ll also be spinning tunes on our Technics 1210s through our TPI system - it’s a rare chance to hear this incredible music on a world-class hi-fi setup.
Reserve your place today — tickets are super limited.
Call Dean on: 020 8440 9509
See you there!
Colin from Velocity Press will have a selection of books devoted to drum & bass on the night including:
“Who Say Reload”, “Knowledge Mag 25th Anniversary” & “How you make me feel” about the late Marcus Intalex.
He’ll also be sharing his insights into the scene through his time as editor of Knowledge Magazine.
