Sub Focus & Wilkinson

To develop their drum & bass collaboration, Sub Focus and Wilkinson retreated to Peter Gabriel’s iconic Real World Studios. Danny Turner discovers how the genre-defining album took shape

- Danny Turner

Sharing the billing on many a DJ festival, having both signed to Andy C’s RAM Records, drum & bass heavyweights Sub Focus (Nick Douwma) and Wilkinson (Mark Wilkinson) decided to combine talents in 2017 and release the single Take It Up – leading to the debut long player Illuminate, now streamed seven million times.

Following the album’s success, the duo decided to take the project in a more expansive and experimental direction. With a desire to record ‘real’ instruments and work with a select team of vocalists, producers and session players, Douwma and Wilkinson hired Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in Wiltshire. The result is the single Just Hold On, taken from the upcoming album Portals.

How did you guys first meet? We’d imagine your paths would cross quite often?

ND: “I can’t actually remember the first time we met, but it was almost certainly at a gig somewhere. It may have been after one of the EDC festivals in Las Vegas. We both came up on the same label, RAM Records, so we had a kinship through that.”

MW: “I’ve always looked up to Nick and his productions. When I signed to RAM I remember Andy C telling me that was the level of sonics I had to get up to. We started seeing more of each other and eventually got in the studio in 2017.”

ND: “The response to us linking up seemed to be really positive after we made a track called Take It Up. Then we decided to extend the collaboration into a more long form project.”

What initially sparked the collaboration?