Bruk Out Presents Wookie + Zed Bias

This coming NYE, the Bruk Out crew will be ushering in 2014 with a carnival-flavoured extravaganza. The Big Chill House will be transformed into a tropical playground, a place where legends of UK garage duel with live samba drum troupes, and where London’s finest party DJs join the dots between bashment bass-quakes, RnB bombs, and house hedonism, whilst proving that ‘deep’ doesn’t have to mean boring, and ‘underground’ should still mean fun…

With the classic sounds of UK Garage now recognised as a high point in dance culture, we’ve decided to pay tribute to two of the scenes founding fathers – DJs and producers who didn’t just define the sound of house & garage in the late 90s – they’re still shaping it’s direction today. So, headlining in a rarely witnessed one-two punch of true innovators, may we present: Wookie and Zed Bias.

Zed Bias has gone from storming the charts with his evergreen 90s UKG classic Neighbourhood, to laying the foundations of grime and dubstep with his 00s dark dub remixes, to his current status as an icon to the Rinse FM generation. In recent years his releases have spanned the dark slo-mo explosion of Furrball, to Dancing, the chrome plated future funk collaboration with UK soul don Omar. As Maddslinky he released one of the tunes of recent years in Compuphonic, a crazy indication of where music might end up if bass obsessed, melancholic androids took control. Zed’s got it all under his belt, from inspiring devotion in old skool garage fans, to wowing the new kids with impeccable Boiler Room sets. He’s the real deal.

Alone he’d be enough, but on NYE we wanted to raise the stakes… Zed will be joined by Soul II Soul member, reggae soundbwoy, dubstep forefather and all round anthem factory, Wookie. Wookie’s influence is huge, from penning all-time favourites such as Scrappy, Battle, Back Up Back Up and What’s Going On, to his unstoppable production as Exe Man (the remix of Sia’s Little Man marks him as a legend alone) Wookie is used to setting the bar high. After a break from production in the mid noughties, Wookie returned in 2012, working with everyone from Justin Timberlake to Jessie J, and producing two new house smashes 2 Us and Torpedo, both of which saw serious rotation on both the pirates and mainstream radio. His DJ sets span decades, packed with funk and facing the future, with classics rubbing against dubplates, all bookended by his own soul drenched productions.

Still not enough? OK, how about this - to inject the carnival spirit that defines Bruk Out parties, we’ve enlisted the service of a ten piece Brazilian drum troupe. Expect LOUD samba rhythms and some serious percussive mayhem to keep the vibe lively.

Finally, joining Wookie and Zed Bias on the decks are Bruk Out residents Nasty McQuaid and Mangno. Playing a party mix of floor filling RnB, dancehall killers, future house, grime rewinds, fresh afrobeats, blockparty hip hop, and even the occasional disco and reggae classic, the duo have DJed across the globe, playing with everyone from Diplo to the Wu Tang Clan. They tightly weave underground fire with much loved classics, and inevitably work Big Chill House into a state of singing, dancing euphoria!

If all this wasn’t enough, we’ll be giving the second floor over to our favourite party promoters The Trilogy. The Trilogy has been running a rammed event in Old Street for the last couple of years. Their secret ingredient? Good music. Made up of three DJs who decided to start playing the tracks they really loved, regardless of genre, The Trilogy can veer from Paul Simon to DMX to Katy B in a heartbeat. They’re young, dumb and fun, and if you haven’t heard Aaliyah’s RnB sing-alongs followed by Offspring’s moshpit forming madness, you haven’t lived…