FABIO & GROOVERIDER'S OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION
Drum & bass legends to receive special award at Best Of British
Fabio & Grooverider, the drum & bass pairing whose sets at Rage were the catalyst for the birth of jungle/drum & bass in the early '90s, are to be presented with the Outstanding Contribution award at DJ Mag's Best Of British event on Wednesday 16th December.
The Best Of British awards are at Heaven in central London, the very club where Fab & Groove held forth every Thursday at the start of the 1990s. Their mash-up sets of breakbeat hardcore, jungle tekno, sped-up hip-hop and bonus beat house rhythm tracks were instrumental in birthing drum & bass at the time.
Speeding up breakbeat cuts and chopping up breaks, the guys provided the space for a new scene to flourish. Producers such as Goldie, Jonny L, 4 Hero and Andy C were regulars down at Rage, and were influenced to start making tracks that Fab & Groove would play to the packed Heaven dancefloor.
This melting pot of post-rave creativity was the single most important incubation for the now-global sound of drum & bass, the gospel of which F&G then carried on spreading through numerous BBC Radio 1 shows and club sets.
“Drum & bass is one of the most firin’, most creative music genres in the world,” said DJ Mag editor Carl Loben. “It’s a great British invention, effectively birthed in London town, and Fabio & Grooverider have been instrumental in its development. It's going to be an honour to present them with the Outstanding Contribution award at the Best Of British next week.”
Fab & Groove will also be playing an exclusive Rage-inspired DJ set at the Best Of British awards.
Leftfield, Steve Lawler, Yousef, Special Request, Nocturnal Sunshine, Sam Divine and many more are also playing the event. Get your tickets here
Fabio & Grooverider dropped into DJ Mag HQ recently to play a live stream. Watch it back here:
And we also filmed an interview with them about the early days of drum & bass. Watch that here:
