Nerm is a DJ, broadcaster & fixer in music and film. Born in Birmingham, as a child he edited together cut up cassette tapes to make his first "mixes". At 16 he started DJing and made the leap from cassette to vinyl. His first residency was at the Ministry of Sound in Birmingham.

Initially associated with the Asian Underground movement, then Drum & Bass, he is now a proponent of good quality music with and encyclopaedic knowledge that has been called on to curate festivals, radio shows, clubnights and soundtracks.

Early life [edit]

Nerm's passion for music and mixing started at the age of 10 years old whilst playing around with some D90 cassette tapes.^[1]

Early career [edit]

An passion for live music performance was realised in 2000 as the frontman to the electro- punk band Charged, which was signed to Nation Records. Around the same time Nerm became the headline DJ at London’s underground clubnight, Swaraj.

With Drum & Bass as the foundation, other genres including Breakbeat to Hip Hop, House to Garage and Classical Music soon followed. The Asian Underground scene at that time helped sharpen Nerm’s DJ skills and cross-genre, cross-format mixing abilities.

Swaraj was the platform on which Nerm pioneered Shiva Soundsystem, by amalgamating the live energy of a band with the dance floor by integrating musicians in his sets. Shiva Soundsystem began as a group, which then progressed into an extensive association of musicians, producers and DJ’s who’s HQ was an out of sight warehouse in Hackney, East London.

Shiva Soundsystem helped introduce new, cutting-edge acts from across the world to clubbing audiences in London and constantly pushed the boundaries of what was done by crews at that time.^[2]

Breakthrough [edit]

Nerm, alongside Shiva Soundsystem, curated events, first running huge parties at their warehouse HQ with international guest performers then, more legitimately, playing weekend residencies in East London’s underground night clubs. Herbal in Shoreditch and Vibe Bar in Brick Lane became their homes featuring guests as brilliant and varied as Aphex Twin, Commix, Andrew Weatherall, Logistics, Colin Dale, Moving Fusion and Sub Swara. New and interesting live bands and off-shoot live projects of other acts also featured including Aziz (Ian Brown's guitarist and co-writer of his debut solo album), Rock ID and Dr Das (both formerly of Asian Dub Foundation

Bigger DJ bookings, festivals and tours continued with Shiva Soundsystem touring in India and and playing Glastonbury every year since 2002.

In 2005 Shiva Soundsystem became a record label to release production from the collective and other associated artists. The first Drum & Bass/Bass mix album fashioned for India, titled India:One ^[3] was mixed and released by Nerm. Shiva Soundsystem's releases obtained support from Pete Tong, Pendulum and Laurent Garnier.

Media [edit]

In tandem with Shiva Soundsystem came invitations for Nerm to host and share his passion for underground music with interest from TV and radio channels including E! Channel (Venezuela), Radio 1 ^[4]MTV India and BBC 2 which led to Nerm's progression as a broadcaster- at first on the BBC Asian Network radio station with his weekly show Electro East.^[5]

Electro East represented a wide spectrum of underground music from across the world^[6] with artists at the beginning of their ascent to stars as guests including Chase and Status, Noisia, Benga and Brookes Brothers and more specialist artists enduser, V.I.V.E.K (Deep Medi) and Amit (Commercial Suicide)

In 2008, with label-mate D-Code, Nerm embarked on a 2 year run on BBC Radio 1 featuring a range of underground music. Guests including a series of "vs" DJ battles:^[7]

• Foreign Beggars vs Drum & Bass (production from Noisia and Alix Perez)
• DJ Marky vs Norman Jay
• Rusko vs John B
• Appleblim vs Filthy Dukes
• Matt Helders (Arctic Monkeys) vs London Elektricity
• Sub Focus vs The Count & Sinden

Nerm & D-Code also stood in for Mary Anne Hobbs,^[8] Ras Kwame and for 1Xtra’s Drum & Bass Mix Show and presented alongside Annie Mac and Zane Lowe.

In 2010, Nerm presented his final shows on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Asian Network.

In 2011, Nerm began to host on BBC 6Music primarily presenting the 6Mix^[9] alongside fellow residents Groove Armada, Erol Alkan, Andrew Weatherall, Tiga & Ben Watt and guests DJ Shadow and Thom Yorke.

He has also stood in for Gilles Peterson^[10]

Nerm continues to DJ with appearances at major festivals including Bestival,^[11] with Riz Ahmed aka Riz MC,^[12] Foreign Beggars^[13] and with Shiva Soundsystem^[14]

Film [edit]

In 2010, Nerm acted as consultant, remixer and supervisor on the music for Everywhere and Nowhere from Kidulthood director Menhaj Huda. He has since become more involved in film with work on soundtracks, marketing and a few cameo appearances.

Discography [edit]

Singles and EPs [edit]

• Shiva Soundsystem - Mumbai Cells SSR001 (2005)
• D-Code feat Nerm - Outlaw SSR006 (2009)

Albums [edit]

• India:One (2008)
• Phasmatis In Machina (2009)
• India:Two (2009 - India Only)

References [edit]

1. ^ Nerm. "Nerm's Blog - About". Chilled Monkey Brains. Wordpress. Retrieved 2010-05-10. 
2. ^ "Interview with Nerm". Myspace. Retrieved 21 June 2012. 
3. ^ "India One". Shiva Soundsystem. Shiva Soundsystem. Retrieved 2010-05-10. 
4. ^ "Shiva Soundsystem on One World - June 2004". BBC Radio 1. BBC. 2004-06-03. Retrieved 2010-05-10. 
5. ^ "Electro East". BBC Radio 1. BBC. 2010-03-21. Retrieved 2010-05-10. 
6. ^ "DOA interview". Dogs On Acid. Retrieved 21 June 2012. 
7. ^ "Tracklistings". BBC Radio 1. BBC. Retrieved 21 June 2012. 
8. ^ "Mary Anne Hobbs". BBC Radio 1. BBC. 2009-04-15. Retrieved 2010-05-10. 
9. ^ "6Mix on 6Music". BBC 6Music. BBC. Retrieved 21 June 2012. 
10. ^ "Nerm sits in". BBC. BBC. Retrieved 2010-05-10. 
11. ^ "Best-mix 86". Bestival. Retrieved 21 June 2012. 
12. ^ "Riz Interview". Retrieved 21 June 2012. 
13. ^ "Foreign Beggars KOKO update". Retrieved 21 June 2012. 
14. ^ "BEast at XOYO". XOYO. Retrieved 21 June 2012. 

External links [edit]

• Official website
• Nerm on Twitter
• Nerm on Facebook
• Nerm's channel on YouTube
• Nerm on Myspace
• Nerm discography at Discogs
• Nerm at the Internet Movie Database