Sub Focus

Sub Focus began as a rock fan who could not play an instrument, and that gap sent him toward the computer. Nicolaas Douwma, the English DJ, producer and sound engineer behind the name, taught himself to make dance music as a teenager, drawn first to The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers and later to jungle and drum and bass after hearing M-Beat and General Levy's "Incredible". Studying sound engineering at college sharpened that approach, and the result is a career spanning club sets, remixes and several albums.

His break came in 2003, when Andy C of RAM Records phoned him straight after hearing a demo handed over at a club gig, and signed the tracks on the spot. Chart success followed: "X-Ray / Scarecrow" gave him a UK Dance Chart number one in 2005, and "Rock It / Follow the Light" put him in the UK top 40 in 2009. His second album, Torus, arrived in September 2013 with "Endorphins", which peaked at number 10. Portals, made with Wilkinson, came out in October 2020, and Evolve followed in May 2023, winning Best Album at the Drum and Bass Arena Awards that year.