Big Bud is Southampton drum and bass producer Robin O’Reilly. He works in atmospheric drum and bass, drum and bass and jungle, and his releases appear on Sound Trax as well as Creative Source, Nuphonic, Moving Shadow, Vibez and Good Looking Records.

Career

Big Bud begins releasing music in 1994 and writes and produces his own tracks. Across his career he releases more than 70 tracks and three albums, including Infinity + Infinity in 1999 and Late Night Blues, a double album from 2001. In 2004 he releases a producer album on GLO.

His early work leads to a three-year period with Creative Source, where he issues a small number of singles. He then spends five years at Good Looking Records, releasing a regular run of drum and bass and downtempo material. After leaving the label, he spends two years in the studio because of contractual problems, building up a stock of tracks for later release.

Labels and collaborations

During that period he meets DJ Element and joins him in running Soundtrax. Big Bud and DJ Element later run two labels together: Soundtrax Records and Super8Sound. The two have released four singles, with further material prepared for issue.

Style and influences

His music is described as soulful and emotional dance music. He draws on more than 25 years of listening to jazz, funk, soul and reggae, shaped by jazz-funk all-dayers in the 1980s, the rave scene of the early 1990s and later drum and bass clubs. He becomes involved in production after hearing breakbeat-based tracks.

DJ work and touring

Big Bud also begins DJing only in the later part of his career. He is not a regular fixture in the UK scene, but he travels internationally with his drum and bass sets, playing in Hungary, Serbia, Russia, New Zealand, Belize, Mexico, Holland and Germany.

Later projects

He records a dozen tracks with local singers during a month in Belize, and this forms part of his later studio output.