Bailey

Few British drum'n'bass selectors avoid production work altogether, yet Bailey rose to exceptional prominence inside that scene through performances that spanned far-flung clubs and the BBC alike. His engagement with music took root during his teenage years in the early 1980s, when hip-hop and electro first captured his attention. Beyond the beats and the techniques of mixing and scratching, the broader cultural framework surrounding those sounds pulled him deeper. At that moment the South London hip-hop and electro community revolved around sound systems, so he promptly attached himself to one and began supplying sets at parties while compiling mixtapes. Around 1988 the acid-house wave swept across London, and the young DJ developed the same intense attachment to this fresh dance-music form that he had earlier felt for hip-hop and electro. Breakbeat-driven tracks proved especially magnetic; consequently, when acid house shifted into hardcore propelled by breakbeats a year or two afterward, he recognized his instincts were aligned with the music’s direction. Hardcore itself gave way to drum’n’bass by the early 1990s, and he immersed himself in the new style without reservation. Mix shows on local pirate stations soon followed, after which he formed connections with Kemistry and Storm of Metalheadz; the pair invited him to the landmark club and granted him his first chance to play there. Thereafter he maintained an unbroken association with Metalheadz while traveling to perform from South Africa to Japan. In 2002, following sustained DJ engagements and mounting visibility, the BBC recruited him for the debut of its 1Xtra network, a station devoted to Black music, where he assumed the weekly drum’n’bass residency. During that same year he completed his long-awaited first mix collection, Soul Thunder, issued by Breakbeat Science.