From New Forms to New Light

From New Forms to New Light - The Enduring Brilliance of Roni Size

The Drum ‘n’ Bass Pioneer Reflects Upon His Legacy and the Drive to Shine a Light on the Next Generation.

Every once in a while, something rides into your life that illuminates everything. You didn’t realise that preceding that moment, you were in a kind of slumber, relative to the new light. A misty sleep. The world wasn’t as bright as it could be and then the spark comes and shines a beam of light through everything. Holes in a box letting the shards in. Then you’re in a new realm, 2.0, where life seems easier and the shopping bags don’t cut into your hands so much and the buses come quicker. When you’re young you seem to find joy and laughter around every corner, embedded into each weekend. Time and years pass by and then you find you’re writing something on all four calendars including the family one, for a particular month in the future, to try and mainline some of that same smile-fuel right into your veins. So when the chance comes around to speak to someone who didn’t just deliver joy to you and your social circle, but kicked the doors open to that whole new light, a new genre of audio fulfilment… well sign me up. That someone was Roni Size. That genre was Drum ‘n’ Bass, and in particular the album New Forms, that took the genre from quite a dark place and opened it up to an immeasurable number of young people to take it and run with it. If only they paid royalties for head nods. Roni’s rightly held in the same regard as other household names that breathed Bristol in at that time and breathed out a magical air of creativity arguably unmatched from one period and place. We’re talking Wild Bunch, Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky and the names roll out like expanding foam.

Roni is on the verge of launching a cross-platform bundle of new remixes of tracks from that truly unique album, as well as other content and artists that he is backing and sticking his name to, and his weight behind. We spoke about these plans and why he feels New Forms still remains present in the psyche. 

First let’s remind ourselves of where it all started. St Paul’s in Bristol and then teen years in St Andrews. A melting pot of music, parties with cousins and aunties, Jamaican flavours and a heavy dose of the Blues too, as well as Irish, Bhangra, Jazz, Funk and Ragga.

So Roni, what enabled Bristol to be so experimental and why do you think that talent all came through in such a particular time and led to a shift in terms of people’s pride in being able to say they are from Bristol? What a legacy.

“When I’m asked this question I always have to be very clear about how my version of what I believe was the most accurate of events from my perspective. When I started to make music I was introduced to three elements that I believe helped to excite me ultimately to want to learn more about how to make music with computers.

Firstly was affordability. I would go to studio sessions with my brother The General, Spyder Beat, Zion and their crew called UD4. They introduced me to a duo called Absolute from Bath.

Even though I was working at Sefton Park Basement Project with Gill Sargent and Jane Staffierie, I always had my fingers in so many places simply because in those days the equipment was so expensive to buy! We had raffles to raise money in youth clubs, travelling around youth clubs all over Bristol, teaching them how to mix on Technics and use drum machines and samplers. It was during a chance meeting in Bath that I learned about one specific piece of equipment that I believe forged our sound at Full Cycle Records. As one brother was a Don on Technics 1200s, my other brother was an expert in sound system culture and is still an amazing front man and vocalist.

We actually collaborated on a few early recordings on Philly Blunt as Fire Foxes & Four-Three (pronounced “Tree”). 

Then, I started to pull all of my influences together like Acid House, Rave music, sound system culture, Saxon, Coxsone, Arrows, Prince Jammys and Mafia, Wild Bunch and Rampage. Then from the USA you had DJ Red Alert and Africa Islam. This was my school. Honestly I could go on and on and on! But some things you just can’t put into words”. 

As I was writing this feature and pulling it together, I came across some heart warming information that I’d never known about. Not only that, it’s a measure of the  man that he didn’t even bring this up during our chat and post interview catch ups. The Sefton Park Youth Club was a place very close to Roni’s heart from a time when he used it as a refuge and a place to hang. When Roni established Reprazent and New Forms was nominated for a Mercury Prize a few months after its release in 1997, it was up against household juggernauts such as The Chemical Brothers, Spice Girls and Radiohead. Reprazent also happened to be bonafide skint. As history shows, they swept the big boys (and girls) aside and won the incredibly  coveted award. The £20,000 winners fee? Roni donated it to the Sefton Park Youth Club. In my book, and anyone worth their salt, that, is MASSIVE.

Drum & Bass and Jungle was almost derided by the press at that time wasn’t it. Do you think the sea change came when you started bringing the instrumentation into it?

“Yeah we started to bring in a 2 step vibe to it and I think that Full Cycle, V Recordings and Metalheadz - respect to Metalheadz - changed the route of the music and how it sounded”.

When was the Eureka moment with New Forms? The “hold on. We’ve got something bad ass here that could change things majorly”?

“The eureka moment is NOW! The fact it’s still going strong 30 years on…”

New Forms is not far off a 30 year anniversary and it still brings new and fresh sounds and quirks with each revisit. It’s considered a producer’s album now. I recall some quotes I pulled in once for a radio show I was hosting on the very subject of New Forms, and relayed these to Roni. Producer Steve Mac called it “pure genius”. Eddie Temple Morris? “Brown Paper Bag is in my top 10 D&B tunes of all time and in my mind there are 3 acts that define Bristol. That’s Massive Attack, Portishead and Roni Size”, Ross Godfrey from Morcheeba? “New Forms captured the Zeitgeist at that time and totally set the mood of UK street music for years to come”.

It was and is still a benchmark Roni.

“I’m so flattered by those comments, It’s stood the test of time, it really has, you know, you can still put that album on from beginning to end and it tells its own story. It really does. Everyone was using the S1000 but nobody was using the Roland 760 which was how we stood out. That was the sound really. It’s one of those albums where even by my own standards, I don’t want to forward any track. I created a palette of sounds. I made this album with my own palette of sounds. It's original sounds, together. Maybe that's why the respect is there for it. The collage. The collage of sounds”.

Beautiful. All taking you on a journey to working with, touring with and hanging out with; Method Man and Redman, Cypress Hill, Zach De La Rocha. Not bad, especially for a big Golden Era hip hop head! How did that come about so quickly and any memories in particular that stand out?

“We were signed to Talkin’ Loud and Universal. UMG gave us a wish list. And with that wish list we just went with it! We didn't expect them to come back and say ‘yeah’! There are 1000 funny stories but one moment that comes to mind is; we're on MTV with Jamie Foxx and he MCs over Brown Paper Bag. Yeah man. I've got a full video of that. Maybe I can dig it out for Loaded so you can see the full experience. That was incredible. It was also amazing to collaborate with Cypress Hill on the Blade soundtrack. They took me under their wing and performing with them on the Jay Leno show was one of the highlights of my career”. 

Check the foot of this feature for the link to that clip and the Jamie Foxx flex. 

Let’s bring this up to date. What do you do with a legacy carved from nothing but which means everything to a LOT of people. Keep swinging. The Roni of today has been cooking away, lining up the ducks in order to hit hard. His label Full Cycle is a huge part of the weaponry, through which he intends to champion a new generation of artists.

Roni summarises the new set up with a laser guided outlook and words festering with intent.

Roni @ Stowaway Festival

How do you plan to foster a collaborative and supportive community, drawing on your experience in the industry?

“I’ve had some incredible gigs recently, playing with LTJ Bukem up and down the UK. Sold out shows, and it's great playing alongside Bukem because we just get to smash it. He plays a different style from me but we seem to make it work together. Like, it's levels and we have some sort of synchronicity going on. Also, I have been playing across the globe in the USA, Hawaii, Sweden and even all the way out in Columbia and Boiler Room in Brazil with my guy Patife.

 Amongst my relentless touring schedule and in the last six to eight months I’ve been making sure that I get the Full Cycle back end really tight as well. When I talk about the back end, I'm just saying it's been a long time trying to work out our own independence and to get to a point where now we have a team who are united, meaning that moving forward, these new releases (more of that below) and videos with them - which we have begun to push out - are a new beginning. To be able to be independent and have ownership. We had 30,000 interactions in less than 24 hours with a brand-new video for the Crissy Criss remix of ‘Brown Paper Bag’ which was launched in May. We also simultaneously ran a competition to win five of ten signed & framed brown paper bags which we had made up. We even did a treasure hunt around Bristol on day 2 of the competition! So much good stuff you can do when you’re independent. I've been quiet over the last couple of years, making sure that we have our back end just really strong. That is what's got to be done, to invite people who want to come across to Full Cycle to be treated right for the efforts of creating their music. That they can get paid for their tracks. That royalties are going to be coming in every quarter. This is the beginning of the next phase of our independence. It's great. I'm happy. I'm really happy to do it because these new remixes that are coming out…they're incredible, and they deserve to be there. So, it’s beautiful. It’s a beautiful thing. I'm excited”.

I can feel it! I have so much respect for this outlook. Everything about it restores faith in a fractured vista. A commitment to artist development. Roni is fostering a new generation of artists by focusing on independence and creating opportunities where the artist is the primary focus. Providing an infrastructure that allows artists to be remunerated fairly for their craft. Creating content platforms like his weekly Full Cycle radio show on BCFM to highlight new music from artists such as D Product, Kit and Kodan. Leveraging his industry experience and contacts to steer emerging talent through the shark pool and prioritise collaborative relationships.

About the new recent release then… 

“So basically, over the years there’s been quite a few bootlegs of Reprazent tracks or Roni Size tracks. So, we've got a crew called UWOT, who've done a mix which is like a really great beat, tough breaks and serious weight. We've got Crissy Criss, who's done a brand new, fresh 2025 killer remix and music video produced and directed by both Crissy and Josh Perrett. We've released all the original mixes too, including my extended mix and restructured lyrics from Dynamite MC and an amazing remix by G-DOUBLE-E, check him out. You know, the full set and for the first time the Photek remix on download. We put it all into a package to release. It is one big celebration. So that is the spearhead. And like I said, we've taken our time and made sure that we put it out properly. We didn't rush it. This release came out mid May, with the video which is the highlight of everything. The video is fantastic. On launch day of the video myself and the artists jumped into the premier at the same time to engage with our fans. We thought that was a special thing to do for them, to all watch at the same time and chat to one another. We felt this is how a record should be heard”. 

“It's been a long time since having artists around me, because we were so tight as a unit, like in the day, we were really tight. All of us just lived and breathed it side by side and then you get older, grow apart, and then you have to find new people to engage with who bring that energy and it's taken a long time, but now we have the people, a stronghold of people bringing the energy. We have a radio show every Friday. It’s a true representation of us, where music is great, it's just so authentic to the sound, but so cool, the music that we've got. We're so lucky to have a place where we can play music that we really are passionate about as it's really difficult to find out what's good and what's bad. I can't just go on crowd reaction and there needs to be a level of balanced opinions”.

What's the setup then now?

“Full Cycle, the name of the game is the label with that. I've got Mansion Sounds as well, as a label too, which is not really about the name of the label, as the artist is the focus. Working with someone like Reno Ka, who's an amazing singer and songwriter from Vienna, I think she's living in Palma, Mallorca at the moment, a great singer who is also a producer. And so, for instance, the record will be about her, the label will be the vehicle, but she will get all the attention. Whereas Full Cycle is about the label. So, the artist will come second on Full Cycle, the label first, but we're still giving them the same amount of love. With Mansion Sounds it’s about the artist. We've got distribution set up. We've got a team around us who are fully set. It's exciting. And you know, we’re working closely with Republic of Music and PIAS on releases and we have a great visual campaign via social media. So that's the setup. But also, maybe further along the line, an agency, which is a management hub, Sound Advice Management or Sound Advice Agency. Hopefully that would be something that we can look into later on, right down the line. Right now though we’ve just locked in our monthly residency at The Star & Garter in St Pauls, Bristol, a 10pm-2am party every 3rd Saturday of the month. We are working towards other residencies too, that would be great. You know, a nice 7pm to 10pm or 7pm to 11pm residency on a Sunday and in bed by 12am, that’s the one!”.

Isn’t it just.

Why choose Loaded?

“Everyone that I'm working with now I've worked with before and I'm introducing new people slowly so it needs to be going to trusted press. Bite me once you won’t get a second bite at me again”.

You obviously still have hunger burning inside, you’re not just kicking back and doing testimonial gigs.

“Nah man, I'm doing this because my mum loves the legacy. My children love the legacy”.

Watch this full Size space then!

“Indeed brother!” 

Some fan quick-fires to wrap it up then…

“Fire away”.

Best film you’ve seen of late?

“Sinners”.

Favourite city?

“Come on…Bristol!” 

Celeb crush?

“Lisa Bonet or Freema Agyeman”.

Man knows more than just his musical onions.

 If you had the money would you ever buy Bristol Rovers?

“YES!”

Shout out to one person in your life that no one knows?

“Tiger D… my G!”

Best holiday destination?

“St. Ives”.

Dream supergroup line up?

“Roni Size, Krust, DJ Die, DJ SUV, Dynamite MC, Onalle, Si John, Dashun, Jay Wilcox & Clive Deemer”. 

3 things you love?

“My Mother, my children and my family”.

 Stones or Beatles?

“Beatles”.

What record are you leaving life to?

“Maroon 5 - ‘Memories’”.

Highlight of 2025?

“2025 has been a year of growth for me. I’ve done a lot of charity work in and around Bristol for so many projects and good causes that have really opened up my eyes to some of the significant issues that really need addressing. If I can start to say “yes” more and regain my confidence that my input really makes a difference, then I would say my highlight has been being there for those in need, who are vulnerable but feel they can reach out to me”.

What are you most excited about for 2025 and beyond?

“I guess finding my life partner who won’t judge me or shout at me. Who will enjoy the best of times and will understand the worst of times”.

Love that Roni. All of it.

This train isn’t slowing down and the tracks are phat.

Put your money on Roni Size.

Jamie Foxx clip https://shorturl.at/xrPEv 

@ronisizebristol

@fullcyclerecords

@loadedworld

@slice007