D'Cruze

D’Cruze is a British producer whose records helped carry the early rave sound into jungle. His connection with Suburban Base runs through World Within a World, Bass Go Boom / Want You Now, and Watch Out, as well as the Boogie Times Tribe records made with the label’s founder, Danny Donnelly.

Working around Romford’s Boogie Times record shop put him close to the DJs and producers shaping that music. Under the Boogie Times Tribe name, he and Donnelly released The Dark Stranger, while his own records followed the changing possibilities of breakbeats and bass. The later catalogue includes Lonely / Chronic Breaks and Importance of Drums / Holocaust.

There is a particularly good story behind Watch Out. Before its original 1994 release, Micky Finn went into the studio with D’Cruze to make a special version for his sets. It stayed exclusive to Finn’s dubplate box until the original DAT master resurfaced in 2021.

Suburban Base’s Watch Out (The Lost Dubplates) brought that version into circulation alongside the original, an unheard Cool Hand Flex remix from 1994, and a new take by Chimpo. For anyone who first met the tune on a rave tape, it was a chance to hear the record that had been hiding in plain sight.