“It’s Grown More In The Last 10 Years Than In Its First 10” Nightmares on Wax Talks Anniversaries, Legacy And Royal Albert Hall

The legendary 56-year-old producer/DJ talks milestone records, working with Adrian Sherwood, and selling out Royal Albert Hall.

George Evelyn – aka Nightmares On Wax – has been on the move this year, spending his 2026 doing exactly what he loves. “I’ve been to record with a bunch of musicians in LA,” the legendary DJ and producer tells Man About Town. “I’ve been recording a bunch of musicians in London. I’m [also] going to Berlin in May to record.” The year so far found a climax on 12th March, when the Leeds-born 56-year-old left his base in Ibiza, and frequented the English capital for a sold-out headline show at the Metropolis’ esteemed Royal Albert Hall, a momentous outing to commemorate anniversaries for Evelyn’s two seminal works – In a Space Outta Sound’s 20th and Smokers Delight’s 30th year in public view respectively.  

The occasion provided affirmation of the endurance of Evelyn’s pioneering impact on the electronic music climate. You could fill a car boot with his pantheon of LPs, EPs and mixes – all of which have been released via Warp Records, the Sheffield-formed independent label who have housed defining work from Aphex Twin, Brian Eno, Flying Lotus, and many others. Evelyn is the imprint’s longest and most loyal collaborator, though. 

There’s little doubt in his position as one of the pinnacle British beatsmiths; a creative force whose discography stretches back to the late eighties and has innovated and influenced peerlessly as the sonic and cultural movements that he has long championed have risen to heights unprecedented when he and his previous collaborator John Halnon first embarked on the Nightmares on Wax project. 

Despite his key albums reaching noteworthy milestones this year, Evelyn is restless in his progression. Last year, he shared a fresh body of work in Echo45 Sound System, a sprawling, sensationalist and sunny selection of songs that pay tribute to pirate radio and Sound System culture. And tomorrow, (Friday 3rd April), he shares a special reworking of his aforementioned 2006 classic, re-imagined by dub luminary Adrian Sherwood. Entitled In A Space Outside Dub, the new release is a collaborative masterwork that shows the sonic chameleonic of the NOX canon, and Evelyn’s refreshing openness to reconstruct his art. 

A master of soul, a savant of electronica, a trip-hop virtuoso, and a Sound System doyen, Nightmares on Wax upholds a sacrosanct legacy. Speaking with Man About Town, Evelyn delves into his latest endeavours, reflects on his three-plus decades at the crux of the cutting-edge, and looks ahead to the next three. 

You’ve been at the forefront of electronic music and Sound System culture in Britain for over three decades. How have you seen attitudes to style and movement evolve during your tenure? 

If anything, I think things have become more open. The listening ear has become a lot more eclectic. I don’t think musically we’re trying to break down barriers anymore as far as music is concerned. If you look at most people’s record collections now, they’re not set in one genre – they’re more eclectic, more diverse.

What do you consider the biggest challenges in the modern music industry, especially within the live community?

Live venues – the disappearance of that. It’s really challenging because, as a central figure, most cities would have live venues in them but what’s happened to most cities now is that they’ve been gentrified in a way where investors have become primary in most of these locations. Most music and culture is expressed by the people who are from the ground coming up. So those spaces that these people will normally have access to are disappearing. That’s been massively challenging because if you don’t have a space to express the music, it’s harder to get people connected to it and harder to build a community around the music. You’ve seen the social aspect of things declining, and it feels like anything that socially is the glue to community seems to be being challenged. 

Who, to you, are the next-gen trailblazers of the scene in the UK? Who are the most compelling new producers?

Wow, that’s a deep question because we probably don’t even know who they are right now. Do you know what I mean? I mean, I don’t know if I would be the right voice to say. 

It’s been 20 years since your seminal record, In A Space Outta Sound. How do you reflect on that period of your life? 

Well, I left England that year and when I left, I was still on tour, and that was a great experience. I got to go to countries that I’d not been to before because of that record. But I think over time, and the way that the record has aged, and the way that it’s still prominent in people’s lives and how it’s being greatly received across the Atlantic and stuff like that, has been surprising in a way. It’s grown more in the last 10 years than in its first 10 years. It still feels relevant in the message within the record. Obviously, I’ve changed over that time as well, travelling and moving. Leaving your neighbourhood does change you in a positive way. I always say travelling is the best educator; you get more of a broader view. From 32 years of my urban life living in Leeds and then having my experiences of not living in Leeds has been interesting because I think I’ve had a more worldly view of my music in that sense, and also matured in a way to write from a different space.

You invited Adrian Sherwood, the legendary dub artist, to reshape the album through his own lens. What was the decision process there? How did the two of you work together to achieve a shared vision?

There were a lot of discussions about what to do about the actual anniversary, how to approach it, not wanting to go down the same old path of remixing an album. Adrian kept coming up for me and it was just like, well, I’ve been a fan of this guy for years, can we bring these two worlds together? So we got on the phone and had a lot of synchronicities; we really clicked. The whole process of Adrian creating it, he was keeping me in the loop – a lot of back and forth and stuff like that. When you’re in the weeds, and stuff is happening, it’s just about getting it right and getting to a certain place where it goes off to be mastered, and you forget about it. And then when the campaign starts and you’re listening to the music and thinking, “Oh my god, this is fucking amazing. This is great.” It’s like the perfect marriage. And then the moment we announced it, obviously, all his fan base were going, “No way. Nightmares On Wax and Adrian Sherwood together is a match made in heaven.” And then like we’re both like going, “Oh yeah, it is, isn’t it?” It’s funny how it feels so obvious now. The initial idea feels a little bit adventurous, but obviously, we’re super proud of the results, and I’m honoured that Adrian has painted his magical brush and respected the music in such a way. 

The new reimagined album comes after last year’s LP, Echo45 Sound System, which featured contributions on every track, including the likes of Oscar Jerome, Yasiin Bey and Greentea Peng. What was the thought behind such a collaborative record? Where does it sit in your wider catalogue? 

This is me representing the sonic community that I talked about, which I feel is challenged. I grew up on pirate radio – which needs community; Sound System needs community, Breakdance crews – community. I had a bunch of music that I’d written over the last six or seven years that had not really made it onto albums or weren’t part of an album, and then it was put to me – why don’t you just do a mixtape? And then when I started thinking about sound clash tape, pirate radio station days. I was wondering if it would be interesting if you made a sonic journey that sounded like a cross between a pirate radio station and a sound clash. So that’s how I approached it. I think the oldest song on there is about seven years old or something like that. So I had a bunch of music, made other pieces of music and thought I needed a main voice to kind of thread through it, which I brought in Liam Bailey to represent that side of it. And then I told Greentea Peng; she did a track with me called “I Remember”, which is her reminiscing about youth clubs and stuff like that. It just all fell into place into this and I was just like, “Oh God, this is my sonic community.” I wanted to share the essence of where I came from and give context to the foundation of how a lot of this stuff started. 

You recently played a sold-out anniversary show on 12th March at the Royal Albert Hall. Why did RAH feel a suitable venue for this night of celebration?

The inspiration came about two years ago when we celebrated another album, Carboot Soul, at the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank. A composer that I worked with there, Tommy Evans, had said to me, “You could do this at the Royal Albert Hall, you sold this out twice. You could do it there.” And he said, “But you need to get on it because it takes two years to book there.” I knew we had these anniversaries coming up, so then I I relayed that to my team. I was like, “Look, maybe we should celebrate both albums, it’ll be epic, man.” It was like – it’ll tell a story of the journey from Smokers Delight to In A Space Outta Sound. So then we inquired about the date around the same date that In A Space was released 20 years ago, and worked on it for two years. So yeah it’s a very special and incredible moment in the story of Nightmares On Wax. We did the Smokers Delight from beginning to end, and then we did In A Space from beginning to end. So it was like a two-hour show; it was a spiritual experience. I’m thinking about it because we worked on it for so long, and now it’s over, and it happened, and it was amazing. It’s just like, well, did that really happen? 

I kept saying to my friends and the people that came, there’s only one first time. There’s only one first time, and there can never be another first time so it’s going to be epic. It’s going to be special. And then when you’re in the [Royal Albert Hall] building, when it’s empty or when it’s full, you’re just like, how much history is in these walls? It’s just insane; the energy of the place is really special. It’s an honour to be able to play my music in that place. 

You are esteemed label Warp Records’ longest serving artist. What does the imprint mean to you? Why have you stuck together for all these years? 

It’s a bit of a fairy tale, to be honest, that we did come up together. Releasing club tracks and 12’s and then venturing into making albums. Making a first album in 1991 was like, wow, who ever thought we’d get to make an album. Then, signing a three-album deal, Warp expanded into the world of electronic music and realised we can do something here, being close friends with the founders. It’s amazing watching what they’ve done as a record label, and it’s amazing that I’m still on the journey with them. So, I think the testament of that is being free to express myself as an artist, only having internal deadlines. When you let an artist go deep for however long they need to go deep to find whatever they need to find to come up with the goods, it’s a good recipe. I know that that’s not normal in the industry, and I think that’s why the relationship has lasted so long.  

You’ve already achieved so much throughout your career, but what else is on the bucket list? What are your goals across the next year? Next decade?

I’m going to travel around recording with different people. Bring the stuff back to my studio and uh see where this soundtrack takes me really. I’d like to do a few more bespoke live shows in the future in unique venues. I don’t know if they’ll match the Royal Albert Hall, but I really want to take the music, the history and the catalogue of Nightmares On Wax and share it in unique locations with an immersive and intimate experience. That’s what I’d really like to do.