Artist Spotlight

Raymond Bingham, better known as DJ Grooverider (and sometimes known as Codename John), has been released from prison in Dubai.

A legend of the UK electronica scene, Grooverider pioneered jungle in the early 90s and is often referred to as the ‘Godfather’ of Drum & Bass. With his roots in playing funk and soul on pirate radio station Phase One, Grooverider and DJ partner, Fabio, spun breakbeat and dark hardcore, developing Hardstep and Techstep – darker than US house or techno – think filthy bass that could rearrange the workings of your internal organs combined with broken syncopation – and began to define a sound which would become synonymous with the darker side of the London party scene.

His 1997 compilation, Prototype Years, featured the work of artists who had recorded with his hugely influential Prototype label, and is one of the all-time best-selling Drum & Bass records. His remix of “Share the Fall” by Roni Size & Reprazent continues to feature regularly in my DJ sets – simply a superb piece of work.

With a massively popular BBC Radio 1 show, and having cemented his reputation as one of the most prominent DJs in Britain, Grooverider was in demand all around the world.

But, speaking from personal experience, DJs aren’t always the brightest of people.

On 23rd November 2007, Grooverider flew into Dubai to play a sold-out gig. Deep within a pocket in a pair of trousers somewhere inside his luggage, security officials discovered just over 2 grams of cannabis. Depending on how strong you roll, that’s about one joints’ worth. So I’ve been told.

In Britain, he would have received a slap on the wrist, had the ganja confiscated, and sent on his way. In Dubai, the response to ‘drug trafficking’ (indeed, the whole approach to law and order) is somewhat more hardcore. For one joints’ worth of marijuana, Grooverider was sentenced to four years imprisonment.

Yes, it was a harsh sentence. But that’s the law, and that’s the way it is. When you’re going through any airport, if there’s the slightest possibility of perhaps carrying something you shouldn’t be, you always very carefully check every single pocket. How is it that you miss that? How is it you just forget? People who get caught working as drugs mules, with hundreds of grams of heroin in condoms in their stomach – that’s ‘drug trafficking.’ Someone forgets a doobie in their pocket? That’s a stupid-ass DJ.

Now, perhaps there has been some behind-the-scenes negotiations going on between British authorities and the Emirates. Maybe there has been some recognition that mandatory minimums for drug possession are counter-productive. Maybe the Dubai Royal Family genuinely decided on clemency during the holy month of Ramadan. Who knows quite what happened – but Grooverider is back in the UK, reportedly spending some quality time with family and friends.

Welcome home, DJ Grooverider…… this blunt’s for you!

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