This week's Resident Advisor Exchange was recorded in January, live from Southbank Centre in London. Shortly before their Royal Festival Hall performance with The Outlook Orchestra, drum & bass and jungle originators Fabio & Grooverider sat down with Heléna Star to talk about the show. As you can hear from the applause and roars of laughter throughout the recording, the audience was besotted.
The UK dance music scene would look very different without Fabio & Grooverider's contributions over the last few decades. Coming from pirate radio, where they first teamed up in 1987 on Phase One, the duo would go on to carve out the path for drum & bass and jungle, as well as to influence the trajectories of house, techno and breakbeat. Grooverider captures their legacy best when he says: "We are this music."
Launched in 2017, The Outlook Orchestra has collaborated with other pioneering artists like David Rodigan and Mala. The show with Fabio & Grooverider, which they will perform again at Outlook Festival in June, saw 30 years of drum & bass history packed into 31 tracks.
In conversation with Heléna Star, Fabio & Grooverider discussed how the show came together, as well as their staying power in the scene, the legacy of their seminal club night Rage, how drum & bass is still growing and how humour is a vital part of their relationship. Fittingly, they also cracked a lot of jokes.
