We caught up with the boys behind FooR and label heads of Garage Shared to talk about all things early beginnings, compiling VAs, the current state of NUKG, and everything in between. 

WWD: Hey guys, great to meet you! As the head of Garage Shared, what inspired you to embark on this journey with your record label?

Gavin & Aki: We all always loved Garage for the DJ EZ Pure Garage days and in 2017 we were given the honour of taking over from DJ EZ to compile and mix the ‘Pure Garage’ series. When compiling the album, we discovered some incredible talent making new UK Garage/ NUKG music but at that time there were no record labels that were really releasing NUKG so that’s why we started.

WWD: As someone deeply rooted in the NUKG scene, what state is it in right now? What sounds and artists are emerging?

Gavin & Aki: The scene is in the best state it’s been since the old skool days and the early 2000s. There’s a whole host of new Garage producers making music across the spectrum of the genre. Sammy Virji’s touring the world, Badger’s in the UK charts, people like Disclosure really helped bring a brand new audience to the genre and inspire people to turn their hand at creating new, exciting and innovative UK Garage music.

WWD: Could you give us some insights into the creative process behind curating the ‘Around The World’ compilation? How difficult was it to put together with so many artists being based in different locations?

Bitr8: So the original idea from ‘ATW’ came from the large amount of submissions we were getting from artists outside of the UK who were making garage but didn’t necessarily have a home to put out UKG or even a dedicated scene in some cases. Once we put out the first one the submissions kept coming more often so we’re lucky to be sent so much amazing music by some really exciting new and (for the most part) undiscovered talent.

Once we’ve got an idea of what tracks and producers we’ve got in mind, we then go about explaining the idea and hoping that they see the vision – and hoping that their English is loads better than our ability to speak other languages! Side note, if Duolingo want to sponsor us we’re down. 

From then on it’s a communication process, making sure they’re aware what goes on – what we might need from them and how we can help to market that and in turn deliver our promise to showcase them to an audience they may not have necessarily been in front of before. Once the release is out, we ideally then work even more with those artists we’ve gained new relationships with and look at how we can continue to help push them to our audience and beyond.

The most exciting part for us is discovering how far and wide the sound we love has travelled and how those artists interpret it. As we said a lot of them don’t necessarily have the chance to go out regularly to garage raves  or feed directly off a scene so a lot of the time they come from a very different perspective which we find fascinating.

WWD: Tell us a little bit about the inception of FooR – how did you guys first get together?

Gavin: We had a studio in Southampton and we were letting Aki and Dave Wiggins use the studio and then we were asked to do a remix of Rude Kid’s ‘I’m Sorry’ (classic Garage record), they wanted a House remix but Aki and Dave were making more Bass heavy tracks and myself (Gavin) and John (CLSM) were making Drum & Bass so we decided to do the remix together and the remix ended up blowing up on BBC Radio 1Xtra with Mistajam and DJ Target playing it regularly. We then shot a video for it which also blew up and from there we were offered a record deal and that was the start of FooR. Later down the line we met Tyrone through gigging and had him MC some of our sets, we got such good reactions that we have stayed together since.

WWD: What have been the biggest challenges in running the label?

Bitr8: For me personally one of the biggest challenges we’ve found is making certain tracks stick that don’t necessarily fit the mould of what is considered to be trending. We love all types of Garage, the fact it’s a mix of a multitude of genres and grooves is why we love it so much tbh. So for example, say you have a great vocal – but maybe the vocal records aren’t the ones fully sticking at that time – it’s then a big challenge to try and get that to resonate with club DJs. Or another example is that you’ve got something a lot more chilled than a speed garage warper – how do you go about pushing that and helping to showcase the artist effectively? It’s something we constantly try to address and approach differently when necessary.

WWD: On the flipside, what has been the most rewarding part of running a label?

Bitr8: Most rewarding parts are helping to discover newer artists and see them evolve – how their sound evolves the more confident they get, seeing that they connect with audiences over time. Being able to work long term with an artist to achieve that is an incredible feeling. And then ultimately it’s wanting to help promote and push the genre we’ve loved all these years, and hopefully people see us as a positive influence to keep that sound going and push emerging artists.

WWD: What else have you got coming up?

Gavin & Aki: We’re getting ready to launch our first festival in Southampton, bringing an Orchestra to perform Garage and House classics alongside some very special guests. We are also hosting a stage takeover at New World Festival with a sick lineup – tickets for both these festivals are on sale now! In terms of music, we are continuing to release new music from some of the most exciting new and established artists in the UK Garage scene from around the world across our Garage Shared and GS Dubs label as well as weekly free downloads on our brand new Soundcloud page, GS Dubs.

WWD: Thanks for the chat, guys!