Guildford, UK · drum and bass · electronic

Sub Focus

3 festivals played ↓

Nick Douwma's melodic drum-and-bass — euphoric, precisely engineered, and built for a very large sound system, arena-rave architecture at its cleanest.

Sub Focus is the recording name of Nick Douwma, born in 1982 and raised in Guildford. A fan of rock bands such as Nirvana, he tried starting one at school but wasn't good on instruments. At thirteen he picked up production software instead, teaching himself to build tracks by computer, taking early cues from the Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers before "Incredible" by M-Beat and General Levy turned him toward jungle and drum and bass.

He studied sound engineering at college and began sending out demo CDs around 2001. A chance handoff of one to Ram Records boss Andy C in 2003 led to an instant signing, first to Ram's sister label Frequency and then, two years later, to Ram itself. Early singles "X-Ray / Scarecrow" and "Timewarp / Join the Dots" both topped the UK Dance Chart, in 2005 and 2008.

His work became known for a bright, heavily engineered take on drum and bass built around big melodic hooks and clean, high-impact sound design. He also built a reputation for remixing other artists, reworking tracks by the Prodigy, deadmau5, Rusko, Empire of the Sun and Dizzee Rascal alongside his own productions.

His self-titled debut album appeared in 2009, followed by Torus in 2013. Portals, a full collaborative album made with fellow producer Wilkinson, came out on Casablanca Records in 2020, and a fourth album, Evolve, followed in 2023. Singles such as "Rock It / Follow the Light" and "Smooth" carried his sound onto UK radio playlists beyond dance-specialist shows.

His output has since moved between drum and bass, house and other dance tempos, and he supported Pendulum on a UK tour in 2010. Live, he performs both as a DJ and with a full audiovisual production, and his tracks remain fixtures of British dance radio and festival sound systems.

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