ISSUE 13
Nightmares on Wax’s Lifelong Sound System
WORDS BY JIM OTTEWILL
“Music has always been saving my life,” says George Evelyn, better known as Nightmares on Wax or DJ E.A.S.E. “Some people have this sliding doors moment in their lives, and mine was discovering this speakerbox. Everything stems from it; it’s the lynchpin behind my whole career.”
George and his sample-driven explorations of electronic music as Nightmares on Wax make him a foundational figure in UK bass music. Since his days spent breaking, DJing and putting together sound systems in Yorkshire, he has created a rich and eclectic discography, with releases on Warp Records including the era-defining ‘Smoker’s Delight’ and ‘Carboot Soul’. Now based in Ibiza, recent albums such as ‘Shout Out! To Freedom’ has continued to mix up his love of dub, reggae, soul and beats. His latest release, ‘Echo45 Sound System’, is a mixtape that draws directly from his past and a speakerbox he came across when he was younger.
“I’m always making music and accumulated these collaborations with different artists from over the years, which I’d never released,” he says. “My manager suggested a mixtape and I thought it would be really cool to present this music like a radio show, like the pirate stations I was involved in when I was younger.”
I thought it would be really cool to present this music like a radio show, like the pirate stations I was involved in when I was younger.”
It’s the latest part of Nightmares on Wax’s musical legacy that continues to evolve and redefine the possibilities of studio sonics. In 2026, he’ll be marrying the past with the future outside of the studio at the Royal Albert Hall with his In A Space Outta Delight event, a live reimagining of groundbreaking albums ‘In A Space Outta Sound’ (marking its 20th anniversary) and ‘Smokers Delight’ (celebrating its 30th).
“It’s like a fairy tale,” he says on surveying his musical journey to date. “When I was with Steve Beckett, one of the Warp co-founders, driving round in his old banger to different clubs with test pressings to play out, none of us were thinking about this as a career; we only ever thought about making music.”
The story of the new record comes from a speaker George picked up as a child. But rather than a traditional album format, ‘Echo 45 Sound System’ takes the form of a continuous mixtape. Amid the street soul and bass-heavy moments, there are appearances from a cast including Greentea Peng and Oscar Jerome, while Daddy G, Natasha Diggs, Moxie, and Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy are among the cultural figures who add their voices to the flow.
“I remember seeing this speaker box for sale and begging my mum to lend me a fiver so I could buy it,” George says. “What came out of reflecting on it were all these associated memories and how it changed my life.”
“Putting this together was almost like going through therapy. At the time my parents were splitting up, it was difficult at school, I was detached from my friendship circle and ended up on this other path - but this is how I met Kevin Harper, a founding member of Nightmares on Wax. If it wasn’t for the speaker, it wouldn’t have happened.”
The mixtape, as it’s being billed, features 13 tracks fusing beats with social commentary. Collaboration is at its heart, and for George, many of these unions have been about pushing all parties into musical pastures that they’d be incapable of getting to on their own. Yasiin Bey is one of the most high-profile artists to appear on ‘Bang Bien’, a track with a hypnotic, chant-like feel. The pair initially exchanged ideas by email, then Yasiin flew to Ibiza to visit and work with George. The bones of ideas were there, then musical flesh was added through studio conversations.
“We started talking about ancestry, he shared with me how he has native American blood in his family lineage, and we started talking about indigenous people,” says George. “I thought it would be amazing to create something that felt like a mantra or a calling, so I put together this playlist for him featuring some spiritual jazz tracks alongside other inspirations. He came back with an idea, we did the track, and he loved it, but didn’t know how to describe its sound. To me, that’s great and what it’s all about - it’s not something either of us could have made on our own.”
Elsewhere, other tracks such as ‘Outward Bound’ with Sadie Walker were written back in 2016 but had sat on George’s hard drive waiting for the right time to emerge. Vocalist Liam Bailey also visited Ibiza for recording sessions, while George also went to Leeds to work on ‘Desire’, featuring Liam and Haile Supreme.
“I’m always creating music, some people say they’re in ‘album mode’ but I don’t really work like that,” George explains. “I’m always writing tracks and allowing the music to guide me wherever it takes me. For ‘Echo45’, this idea of a soundclash just gave me so much freedom. It didn’t feel like I was making an album; there’s been a different energy around its making.”
George’s roots go back to his birthplace of Leeds and his formative years, where he first experienced sound system culture. ‘Echo45 Sound System’ is his way of paying homage to these roots and unlocking memories of a past that had such a defining and lingering influence on him.
“Talking about the music always triggers certain memories, and one was of this lock-up opposite our school yard where they would build speakers,” George says. “We used to go straight from school and watch them build them.”
These led him to seek out reggae and dub records on the influential Greensleeves album alongside the production work of Scientist and the tracks made with King Tubby during the eighties. It also cemented an appreciation for bass and the magic of sound.
“In my neighbourhood, there was a television warehouse and we used to go and break into their skips, and take the valves out of the back of these abandoned TVs,” George laughs.
“At some point, I realised that there were speakers in them, so I started taking those, bringing them back to my bedroom and wiring them together with my turntable. I had loads all connected in my room alongside some roadwork lights I’d taken too - my mum was so confused when she came in.”
“I’m always creating music, some people say they’re in ‘album mode’ but I don’t really work like that. I’m always writing tracks and allowing the music to guide me wherever it takes me.”
Sampling has been a core pillar in George’s music from his early releases with the Akai S1000, an essential tool on records such as 1995’s ‘Carboot Soul’. He’s a devoted music fan and long been fascinated by the way songs are made as much as by their potential for making people move.
“I’m not an electronics nerd, but I have this thing in my nature about deconstructing things and trying to put them back together,” George says. “I remember saving up from my paper round to buy a remote control car when I was young. I managed to buy it, then took it apart and broke it and couldn’t put it back together - but that is how my mind has always worked.”
Sampling continues to be part of his process, even though the possibilities for him have spiralled due to technological innovations alongside the point he has now reached in his career.
“When I think about sampling, I’m thinking about how I can manipulate a sound,” George continues. “I trust my ears to find interesting things to use. I see it as almost being influenced by what you think you can hear, the ghost in a track’s sound. I love the difference between what something starts out as and where it ends up; there is some weird alchemy in there, too.”
In the past, George recalls wishing his gear could do certain things - such as separating each element of a track or being able to access his sample library in one place. Fast forward 20-plus years, and these innovations are now part of his everyday life.
“It’s crazy to feel like we’re in the future and the whole thing around music production continues to be reinvented again,” he says. “Some elements of music making are like a toy shop that you keep going back to, but it never has any new stock. It can feel a bit stale, but sampling is the opposite, and it’s only going to get more exciting. I’m really looking forward to what might happen next, the possibilities of taking loop after loop and bringing them together.”
While the ‘Echo45 Sound System’ mixtape has been polished and perfected, George has also spent the early part of 2025 refitting his studio, rebuilding it so everything is plugged in and available to go as part of a bid to enhance his workflow. Even after more than three decades in music, George is always looking for new sounds and ways of elevating his creative practice.
“One thing I’ve learned is that if you create your own routing of effects units, you create your own sound,” he advises. “No one else has that chain - and you discover this by experimenting. It’s been a really interesting path for me. Plugins are fine and amazing, but when you talk about outboard gear and how to create the chain, you’re carving out your sound and carving out you.”
While ‘Echo45 Sound System’ is due for release in November, George will also be marking the significant anniversaries of two albums - ‘In A Space Outta Sound’ and ‘Smokers Delight’ - at the Royal Albert Hall in March next year. It’s a suitably grand stage for two bold and ambitious releases.
“When we brought out ‘Smokers Delight’, I toured it, although this was all with minimal means,” he says. “A few machines, a bass player, a guitar player and an MC. It was great at the time, but performing this record today means the possibilities are much bigger.”
George remembers making ‘Smoker’s Delight’ as a record that was created for his friends, that they lived and experienced for years before it came out. It’s a time he looks back fondly, although his eyes are also looking towards the future.
“There were no instructions that came with that record,” he says. “It was like sending a child out into the world, and it went and grew with people in different parts of the world - what was beautiful about it was how it was enjoyed by different people in their way.”
“That record changed my life, and it’ll be epic to couple that with ‘In A Space Outta Sound’. When I think about these two records, this is me in my bedroom, and this is me now, evolved as a producer working with vocalists and gospel choirs. We need to bring them together as part of this story, and I’m looking forward to expressing that. The show is going to be really, really special.”
George seems to be in awe of the length of time he’s been making music as Nightmares on Wax and how his story is still unfolding with a sonic palette that has expanded since his first releases, such as ‘Dextrous’ and ‘Aftermath’, with Warp. Those proto-rave tracks featured plenty of bass and groove, but it’s his roots in hip hop and samples that have helped him endure.
“Hip hop gave me infinite possibilities to create music with minimal means, and I want to carry that on now that I have more resources and can work with incredible musicians,” George explains. “But ultimately, my approach is still the same. What are the magic moments I have in the studio? And why do they take place? It’s because I have an ear and I love the left of centre, I’m all about acting as a mad scientist and manipulating these samples. It’s bringing them together that is still part of the Nightmares on Wax sound, and is an approach that continues to excite me.”
‘Echo45 Sound System’ is a perfect snapshot of where George’s musical head is at and the directions he’s looking to head in next.
“Getting these memories back and paying homage to them and celebrating them through music is more than an honour, it’s a pleasure,” he says. “It feels like this younger version of me has come back alive again.”
Echo45 Sound System
ft. Yasiin Bey, Greentea Peng, Oscar Jerome, Sadie Walker, Liam Bailey + more out digitally November 14th + LP available December 5th via Warp