Uncle Dugs (GB)

Hardcore was the sound of the early 1990’s but as 1991 turned to 1992/93 Dugs found himself drawn more and more to a new sound known as Jungle. Each day followed a similar routine, Record shopping! Sound tracked by the many pirate radio stations in anticipation of the weekend… Travelling the country going to as many raves as his pocket could stretch to. Dugs first break playing Jungle to an audience came in January 1995, on a local pirate radio station called Conflict FM. This led to his first paid club booking at the legendary Oscars in Clacton. £10 expenses were collected as his first DJ wage; the climb to the top had well and truly started. Fast-forward to 1997 and he found himself working at the famous UKG label Ice Cream Records. During the year he worked with them he witnessed their growth from a small unknown specialist label to one that saw major chart success with hit after hit. This was a real eye opener, Friendships were forged here that would become valuable further down the line. After a spell of playing UKG guest shows on various pirates, Dugs hooked up with Geeneus who ran a small but successful pirate radio station based in East London known as Rinse FM, and began a weekly Saturday afternoon show. He held down this slot through out 98/99 with then DJ partner Graham G. Further cementing his relationship with Geeneus, Dugs helped run Rinse events in East London and Essex and by the summer of 99 his role had developed into station manager. With over 100 artists to schedule on a weekly basis, plus promotion, website updates, audio streaming and co-ordinating with underground record labels, Dugs was well and truly kept on his toes. Around this time UK Garage was morphing into Grime, artists such as Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, Tinchy Styder, Lethal Bizzle, Devlin, Logan Sama, Target, Roll Deep, Newham Generals, Slimzee, Durrty Goodz, were all Rinse regulars, and as such, Dugs played a pivotal role in bringing these artists to the attention of the world. Rinse was also largely instrumental in bringing Dubstep to the masses, Dugs and Geeneus decided to showcase this new sound even before the genre was named. Superstar DJs such as Hatcha, Kode 9, Youngsta, Quiet Storm (later to be known as Caspa), N Type, Distance, Plastician, Chefal and later down the line Skream, Loefah (Digital Mystikz) were all given there first radio shows at Rinse. His first stint at Rinse (1998-2005) should be considered as one of the most important periods in UK music. Many young DJs and MCs came through the pirate’s ranks, changing the face of the UK’s music and culture. This is something Dugs is extremely proud to have been a part of. Even though his main musical love has always been Jungle/D&B, he looks back on these times with great fondness, a massive sense of achievement and immense pride, knowing that he was partly responsible for unearthing and helping to nurture some of the UKs biggest music stars. Being a person that either gives all or nothing to anything he is involved in, Dugs decided it was time to seek pastures new, and so parted ways with Rinse in December 2005. Shortly after he began a weekly show (Mondays 12-3) on the world famous KOOL London, Thus fulfilling a fifteen year dream. Over the next five years ‘Connoisseur Mondays’ became one of the most popular shows on the station. Showcasing his talents on KOOL led to bookings at all the major Jungle/D&B raves in the UK. The international bookings soon followed with Germany, Ibiza, Amsterdam & Spain being the first few countries to catch on.