#25 Deeper Into Outer Space | NIKS
The inspired DJ, producer and community galvaniser shares the story behind the Black Artist Database and her take on the health of club culture in the UK and beyond…
“It’s difficult for people now, money isn’t circulating in the right places such as music and art,” says DJ and producer NIKS.
“If you go to the Netherlands, you can see the contrast. Culture is taken care of, looked after and funded - but it just doesn't feel like this in the UK.”
As a prime selector and dance music activist, NIKS (Niks Delanancy) has cut her own swathe through club culture’s underground. It’s in these nooks and crannies where she seems most energised, whether it be DJing at FOLD in Canning Town, hosting shows on Rinse FM or propelling a festival stage takeover at Field Manoeuvres. There’s been no strategy or career plan, just a need to instigate, make things happen, then use the results to ignite more ideas. The Black Artist Database (B.A.D.) is one of them, a living, breathing, crowd-sourced entity that has grown into a vital platform for Black talent and creatives to showcase their skills, connect and embrace opportunities.
“It’s a community - it’s not mine or anyone else’s - it’s ours,” says NIKS on the initiative. “We just provided an opportunity for people to contribute.”
“‘Community’ can be an over-used word but this was just that, an actual community moment. We’re a group of DJs who are part of the global underground dance world - we put something out there and the creation of this database was the response.”
Roots
Hailing from south London, NIKS’ initial dalliances with nightlife came via a fake ID and immersing herself in nights like Bump at Plan B (now Phonox) in Brixton, UTR, and Let’s Go Crazy, inhaling a mix of drum & bass, grime alongside gigs and festivals like Lovebox.
“Beyond going into clubs, I’d get CDs off my brother or I’d buy them myself,” she says on her early influences. “It would be from clubs like Plastic People where anyone handing out flyers would give you them at 7am. I still buy a lot of music from the early 2000s as you can’t get it digitally.”
Elsewhere, NIKS used to be a regular at Fuse at 93 Feet East and cites raving at the opening of Tobacco Dock in 2012 as a big moment, checking the likes of Seth Troxler, Magda and Heidi, Kerri Chandler. She subsequently moved to Bath to attend university alongside delving into the city’s nocturnal landscape, including the recently closed Moles club. At this point house music, grime and dubstep were all reverberating, connecting and leading to fresh styles emerging while NIKS was obsessed with BBC Radio 1’s In New Music We Trust series. At Moles in Bath, the Origin parties tapped into this energy, with Ben UFO, Peggy Gou and Midland among the DJs to light up the subterranean space.
“I was blessed to witness all these big names in this intimate 150/200 cap club, Moles, which has now sadly closed down,” NIKS says. “It was a very authentic and honest environment with DJs like Midland playing for six hours and just having a great time.”
DJing
NIKs’ first forays into DJing came during her time in Bath. As part of a musical family, where her dad was a guitarist and brother was an obsessed raver, it was around 2014 that she started getting into broadcasting.
“I wanted to be a radio DJ, and this made me feel like I had to learn to mix as I was playing electronic music,” she says. “I then got my first gig at Moles supporting B.Traits, I used to be friends with the guy who owned Moles as Bath is such a tiny little town right. I was asked to support and even though I didn’t play drum & bass and couldn’t mix, I said yes. It was just amazing to get the opportunity.”
When back in London, NIKs started putting herself out there to promoters and agents. She simultaneously worked at media company Global with their various stations alongside fronting the doors of different venues and clubs like XOYO and Phonox.
“I was quite lucky, I was meeting people, hanging out with DJs and agents,” she states. “This really helped me get a foot in the door. When I do panel talks and get asked for advice on breaking through, I always say you have to be in it and people need to know you and your voice. Those relationships with people already succeeding in the industry are so important.”
Rinse FM was an opportunity that came via such connections. NIKS took on guest slots where she’d be asked to appears for friends including Machine Woman, Eliza Rose and Tasha from Neighbourhood. With clubs closed, the broadcaster ramped up its online content and NIKS was an astute selector in the right place at the right time.
“I did these other shows, then Rinse FM hit me up during the pandemic,” she says. “I’m super grateful to all of those DJs who brought me in and the residents who asked me to do their takeovers when they weren’t around.”
The Black Artist Database (B.A.D.)
B.A.D. is a crowd-sourced platform that was born out of a WhatsApp chat between NIKS, Roxeymore, CCL, and other DJs. At the time, the group was a space for these friends to chat about the pandemic and what had been happening in the US following the killing of George Floyd.
“It was to stop us from going insane while wondering whether there was anything we could do,” says NIKS. “I’m always looking to do things, even during the pandemic, so we had this idea to make a spreadsheet listing Black artists with their Bandcamp links. We shared it between us and had 30 artists, then we decided to share it on our social media profiles within our respective communities. The next day we woke up and there were suddenly 800 names and links on the sheet.”
Initially known as Black Bandcamp, the data was on an open-source Google sheet where anyone could list a name and link. But word rapidly spread and the resource had to evolve quickly due to the unexpected response, with people around the world resharing the link alongside bigger media publications and websites. It demonstrated how it arrived at vital at a point when Black artists needed more.
“People who I’ve never met felt the same as us - that’s what community is - you feel passionate about similar things and want to unite, to come together to do something, to achieve a goal or outcome,” NIKS says.
“Black artists, producers and DJs and bands need to be represented - none of us are in positions of power - it was really simple and people still submit, it’s still alive, being developed by this group of dance music fans and participants.”
The initiative’s importance has resonated - and continues to do so now as B.A.D, showcasing Black creatives in the media and creative industries alongside events such as the recent UNFOLD Sunday session at FOLD (pictured above). Elsewhere, the group has also offered workshops and masterclasses exploring music production and creative technology.
“We worked with Ableton as they were keen to get involved and we had different artists like Loraine James take part,” says NIKS.
“I get asked a lot to do more and we have done a few good parties, a compilation, it’s a nice way to get music out globally,” she continues. “But the database is the core element, there are 5,000 artists on there. I also like it being underground so we had Josey Rebelle, Tim Reaper, OK Williams. So many people came through and this is why we want to maintain it like this, so the same people will come back in 10 years time.”
DJ response
NIKS’ eclectic DJ sound straddles future and past dance music, within a paradigm of groove and tech-embossed beats. Inspired by contemporary club sounds alongside past mixes from DJs like Fabric original and Wiggle party starter Terry Francis, her selections move in time with style of event and at what point in the party she’s booked to play.
“I do tailor sets if I’m being booked by a specific promoter with a certain crowd or following,” NIKS. “But whenever I get booked, I lean into what I play and make it applicable to that.”
“Recently, I’ve been loving playing closing sets, 3am to close,” she continues. “I really enjoy it as I can have a sleep before but it’s also nice when you have locked in, dedicated people on the dancefloor. If you’re still there at the end, then you’re REALLY in it. I like to bring tempos down and play much deeper tracks.”
FOLD and Raum in Amsterdam are two current favourites where NIKS has played the most in the past 12 months. The latter is a favourite due to the care and attention surrounding the development of the booth, where their resident DJs were invited in every fortnight to give their feedback.
“FOLD has such good sound too,” she says. “The Steam Room with the lighting, the sound, oh my god. It’s south-facing so the sun comes through the shutters, it’s misty and hazy, it has this amazing ambience.”
“When we had the B.A.D. party, we had this Dutch DJ called Garnett who I saw play at Dekmantel Selectors. He opened the Steam Room at 3pm on a Sunday and played this hour of dub, it was perfect. I also love the White Hotel in Manchester, I often go just to check out DJs play there. Tasha had a Neighbourhood night there, it was her and Calibre playing. For the first few hours, they played dubby, liquid drum & bass, it didn’t peak and was so beautiful to watch DJs play like this.”
Clubs struggling
Of course, club closures looms large in many of the conversations on this Substack and beyond and in the dance music press. The shutting of places like Printworks, Wire in Leeds and Moles in Bath makes the challenges facing nightlife all too real.
“You need to consider what it will be like in the next few years, you can see it in the ticket sales, everything is slower and people are buying later,” she says on the challenges for clubs.
“It’s hard to blame anyone, no one has money, you need to save and go to one thing - so if you have the summer holiday, you’ll save and go to Dimensions or Love International as these are festivals in a hot country. You can get some sun and see great DJs too.”
Niks is critical of the lack of investment in the arts alongside the lack of youth centres which help facilitate access to culture. She’s seen an impact in the way her bookings often take her to Europe rather than inside the UK.
“We are seeing people struggling with the cost of living here but from a DJ perspective, I don’t even play in the UK as much,” she states. “I do festival season and spring/summer nights - but I play in Europe way more than I do in the UK. I think this reflects the health of UK’s club scene, most of us are playing outside of the UK, which is quite sad really.”
Is there any room for optimism? Despite this, it’s clear that Niks is keeping it sunny side up with new music, remixes, and releases all due to come out. Her debut EP, ‘Milieu’ was released in 2024 while recent track, ‘Amble Mind’ showcased a different, warmer side (with proceeds going to Focus Congo).
“I’ve been locked away with my head in music, I’ve been enjoying making it,” she says. “Generally, when things like this happen and people are squeezed, things come out of it. I’ve seen people starting new labels and parties, and when a space disappears, you end up creating your own. I hope more clubs don’t shut of course. But I also hope that there’s more music, more people turning to what they love.”
Check out NIKs’ socials for all the action:
Studio photo credit | Ollie Trench