Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles Alright London Town the next one's out to all the crew that loves it. Hold' tight check the Michelle you know you like the next one. Out to all the crew that' loves the next one. Get on the case 0961 749 867 London Town What are you waiting for, Christmas is finished. You can't be waiting for that. If your waiting for the next one, you got a long wait. The early to mid 90s. The UK underground scene would be buzzing off the dark sounds and deep bass lines of jungle, drum and bass. In South London the established venue known as the Ministry of Sound would be ending its night with the last tune being played. Party heads would have needed to find another venue that will continue to play the music and keep up the vibes on going down the road from the ministry was a small pub and venue called the Elephant and Castle which hosted an event called happy days on a Sunday within the venue, resident DJ Matt Jam Lamont will be playing house records with the tempo increased little did we know of how much of an impact this little venue created a genre a genre that will grow and impact the UKs music culture…. This is the Sound of But Let's Take it back in time… During the Mid 80's across the Atlantic, in New York City in Kings Street, was a venue called Paradise Garage. This venue was considered at the time to have had best sound system within the city. A resident DJ and New York Legend, Larry Levan played New York style House records also known as garage garage which was a style of house that focused more on Gospel riffs, Disco, R&B vocals and groovin bass lines Paradise Garage was always thriving, being such a big part in New York's culture and house music, a place also known as Saturday Mass Unfortunately, in 1987 the venue was closed down and now has become a past icon but little did we know of how much of an impact their scene would influence the UKs' underground sound. I was here and I will never forget it, it would change my life. It was the place were, people would go to get their frustrations out... and when you left that place, then you felt you were in Paradise People who cared about you & people that you did'nt even know My Sanctuary... It meant freedom... that's what it meant to me meant freedom, to be who you wanted to be to do what you want to do the way you wanted to do it. House coming from the US was such a major influence in the UK music scene, first coming into fruition during the 80's and its exposure within the UK Acid House scene Played by such resident Clink Street DJs, Eddie Richards, Kid Bachelor and Mr C. During the late 80s, Soul Music in the UK started to become more prominent on the charts The fusion of these two styles of Soul and Dance would give us more of the soulful RnB vibes within House music During the same time back in the U.S. in the early 90s a house and garage producer named Todd Edwards will be experimenting with the House records Putting them on a remix with his sound experimentations allowed the creation of that unique hi-hat shuffle sounds In London the Happy Days event at the Elephant a Castle pub was considered as an after party for the Ministry Of Sound goers They will usually playing a lot of US House and New York garage music As we know the DJ's would have needed to increase the tempo to ensure and maintain the positive vibes in order for the ravers to continue throughout the night till day Sunday's were lacking in music events. Other establishments started to pop up during Sunday's creating iconic venues such as the Gass Club and the Arches up in Charing Cross, playing US House and Garage DJs started to get the dub mixes of the house trucks, dubs from MK, Masters At Work, Todd Edwards and many many more without the vocals and with that were able to sample it, creating its own unique style By having a dub mixes of House tracks it allowed more opportunity for producers to experiment and add their own touch to the tracks Especially putting on a fat bassline These new Tracks started to get released onto big old-school labels such as “Nice n Ripe”, Swing City records and many more During the time when UK Garage was still underground Garage created a raving community not many people knew about and could have been considered somewhat like a secret club, as it was truly about the music. The Gass Club hosted an event playing US House in Garage known as the Spread Love Project Hosted by DJ Dominic Spread Love, Norris Da Boss and Genesis Wayne One day one of the ravers who was a regular at the Gass Club decided to pick up the mic alongside Dominic and whith that was able to create a reaction with the crowd His name was MC Creed aka The Godfather Rooting from the Junglist scene British MC culture was vital The Junglist scene incorporated the Jamaican influences of toasting, the rhyming over rhythms and amping up the crowds This Jungle influence would later become an important part within UK Garage culture However the quick exposure of UK underground Garage will not have happened significantly as it did without the help of the pirate radio stations. As we know, Pirate radio had been such a big player within the UK underground scene. Taking it back to the Acid House and Jungle, Drum & Bass stations, the support from record stores which the same also played a crucial role within UK garage Transmitters was set up on the council block rooftops emerging new pirate radio stations such as London underground, Flex FM and Freak FM and many more Promoting the sounds of UK Garage. If your record was to be power played by the pirate DJs, your record will be selling at the record stores This also resulted in the similar issues had by previous Jungle and Drum n Bass stations as running an unlicensed radio station is illegal the runners of the pirate radios would have to constantly change locations in order to bypass Ofcom and Police Furthermore rival radio stations would try and be the champion radio within the area and therefore sabotage any rival transmitters This resulted in to all-out heated clashes and threats which at the times was dangerous all due to interferences on their frequencies During the 90s House Music was becoming mainstream within the UK music charts and by the mid 90s commercial clubs would enforce this type of music to be played. The UK had our own house artists in the scene creating classics such as the Scottish House group Nightcrawlers. At the same time within the UK underground, UK Garage started to become more known Creating the realisation that this was the new British sound. DJ's record boxes would of had a load of British produced tracks from the likes of Booker T, Grant Nelson, Jeremy Sylvester and many more The hosting of Garage events was still considered within the sunday scene but the buzz that was going on more Garage events were starting to pop up besides on the standard Sundays. Alongside Jungle, Drum and Bass raves which was usually in the main dance rooms one Room twos would have had the DJs play UK Garage Furthermore garage events were now being introduced at legendary venues such as the Club Colosseum hosted by Martin Larner for his Liberty nights The end hosting Twice as Nice. Bagley's Warehouse and many more The popularity of UK Garage was growing and club owners started clocking on As we know Garage was a Sunday scene and were not able to have events on Fridays or Saturdays but when club owners noticed its potential on its profitability it allowed the garage promoters to have Friday and Saturday nights to be fully rammed. Even the Sun City events, they managed to have a mad turnout during New Year's Eve Being the biggest Garage event at the time Major legal radio stations could'nt ignore what was going on in the UK scene. Kiss FM, one of the UK's top radio stations were playing UK Garage and was put into the forefront by DJ Steve Jackson taking the risk of playing the tracks to the masses, doing interviews and so forth. Without Jackson we wouldn't believe UK garage would have had spread as quickly as it did By 1997 a UK Garage track finally reached a top fourty of the UK Charts 1997 will be the year demonstrating the impact of UK Garage and its potential to the masses UK garage was evolving, the sounds were becoming more predominant and was starting to get media attention During UK Garage's evolution more Jungle and Drum & Bass producers started to jump in on the hype Previously the increase upbeat tempo of UK Garage was usually associated with term Speed Garage however as we know Drum & Bass produces incorporate a formulated 2-step beat to their D&B tracks, therefore this influence will be put into UK Garage as well put into the style of 2-step Garage The fashion styles of the 90s were very unique. Within UK Garage, hoodies, caps and dirty trainers would have had bounces not allowing you to get into the events The ravers were now making an effort It was all about the suits loafers and champagne bottles or brandy Serious, we're talking about Moschino, Versace and Gucci brands being worn The lads were looking slick and the ladies were looking stunning By 1998 producers such as Tuff Jam, Dreem Teem & MJ Cole were creating tracks entering the UK charts But UK Garage was not only stuck here in Britain it was also going across holiday clubbing destinations such as Ayia Napa in Cyprus becoming big in competition with Ibiza Ibiza was focused on the House scene and did not cater much for UK urban music at the time Ayia Napa wasn't always as popular it was a small fishing village with a few restaurants and bars however it was until nick power took over the iconic Kool club focusing on US Garage in the mid 90s but by 98, DJ's would bring this to their ever-growing UK sound to the holiday clubbers With DJ S connections from London he was able to bring artists and DJs such as DJ Spoony from the Dreem Teem and MC Creed for their first Pure Silk event attracting to almost 1,000 people, evidently was a success and therefore would later result into more rammed events create Ayia Napa the iconic destination for UK Garage for the upcoming five years Ayia Napa's economic growth during the late nineties went up due to the increase in tourism from the UK Garage scene local, ethical and land development improved. UK Garage was running Ayia Napa, creating divides and clashing with opposing clubs the connections and family with the Napas scene was evident George, when we running from late for the airplane and my man called and actually made the airplane wait