In September last year, fashion designer Nicholas Daley solidified his position as a multi-hyphenate artist in London’s bustling creative scene, going beyond the borders of his own craft by taking over and selling out the Southbank Centre crowd with his musical project, Woven Rhythms. Known for his eponymous menswear brand, Daley has created a unique essence in his work by exploring the intersections between culture, craftsmanship, and heritage in fashion. And what better way to translate that feeling than through music? “Woven Rhythms is a celebration of artists who I feel have contributed to London’s rich music culture,” says Daley.

Now, the project soared to new heights, as Daley celebrates the music collective’s first festival presentation at London’s GALA Festival. “It is amazing to be part of this year’s GALA Festival line-up, and I am looking forward to bringing our community together for this special day,” he said, chatting to Wonderland ahead of the big day. Enlisting a stellar line-up of long-time collaborators, friends, and industry legends, Woven Rhythms’s stage invited festival-goers into an exploratory journey around bass music. Here, the designer discusses his expectations for his debut at GALA, the importance of creating a platform for up-and-coming creatives, and what’s next for Woven Rhythms. Keep reading…

Hi Nicholas! Thanks so much for chatting with us. How are you? What have you been up to as you prepare for the final countdown to GALA?
I’m really excited to be bringing Woven Rhythms to GALA Festival this year, and I’m so excited to see such a great lineup of diverse DJs and artists exploring themes around bass music. The preparations have been great — working with Gala and chatting to the artists and the community which follows the brand. It’s such a great opportunity to bring people together through the power of music. And I’m excited to see it all come to fruition, not just on my stage, but across the GALA Festival, with the programme being so diverse and strong this year.

What are your expectations for the big day, and what do you love most about the festival season?
It’s amazing to start the festival season for myself with the stage at GALA, with Woven Rhythms. And the rest of the festival season as well. Music plays such a key role within our world, whether it’s in a fashion context or at a festival stage. I just find it really important to bring all these ideas and visions into a place and share them with people, whether it’s on a runway show or in a festival field. So yeah, I’m really excited to be part of this project and also excited to be heading to other festivals to catch artists who I respect, listen to, and admire.

Can you share a bit about the inspiration behind Woven Rhythms and how it all started for you?
Woven Rhythms started in September last year with my Southbank Centre takeover. It was a great way to launch an idea and a platform for nightlife and creatives to come together and create something really special at such a high-profile cultural institution. We had Q&As with Dennis Bovell, Pauline Black, Wu-Lu, and Delilah Holliday, interviewed and hosted by Zakia, who has a show at NTS radio, as well as BBC. Followed by a club night with some of those DJs that are also part of the GALA line-up: Sherrell, Mia Koden, Nabihah Iqbal. And that was a really great moment, bringing in Sinai Sound System, with sound system culture being really prevalent within my upbringing and also a key focal point for myself and the brand.

At GALA this year, for the live act, we’ve got Lorraine James, who I’ve had a really great time collaborating with stylistically for her album cover, Gentle Confrontation. We worked together on the styling for that, as well as other moments in her career. So it’s great to finally work with Lorraine and see her performing, blurring the lines with electronic music, bass music, and creating some really amazing soundscapes. And then yeah, obviously you know the festival stage ends with Sherelle and Kode9, an amazing pair-up, high in intensity, 160 levels. But yeah, really amazing to have this really nice duality with what Sherrell brings and then obviously a legend such as Kode9, whose music I have been listening to for such a long time. So yeah, super excited and amazed to carry on this project from last year into GALA this year.

How did the idea of collaborating with GALA come about?
GALA Festival reached out to me directly. They obviously saw the moment at the Southbank Centre and were really excited about how I worked with the Southbank to create this really interesting, diverse, cross-generational lineup. And it was really, really easy when you do have people passionate about music and culture, and how that can work within a festival stage or a cultural institution like Southbank. I’m really happy that I brought it and can bring that energy to GALA this year.

What does it mean to you to have this platform to connect with so many people through music?
It’s amazing to connect with the community which follows what I’ve been doing with the brand and also with Woven Rhythms to celebrate different artists whose music I really enjoy, especially around bass culture and bass music with the likes of Aba Shanti-I, a true pioneer in dub and sound system culture, and Nabihah Iqbal, who’s genre-blending and bending soundscapes through a DJ set, is so amazing. As well as Sherelle, Kode9, Lorraine, and Wu-Lu, artists I’ve collaborated with in the past. So yeah, it should be a great day to bring amazing people together and celebrate all these amazing aspects. GALA’s a really great opportunity to do that.

Could you walk us through your curation process for this lineup?
For the lineup, I wanted to create this kind of journey and exploration within bass music. So starting with Errol and Wu-Lu. Wu-Lu produces some amazing work with his band, and I’ve had the privilege to collaborate with him over a few seasons, supporting his music, blending dub, rock, and alternative soundscapes. Then Nalaisa Errol, who’s been a leader with Touching Bass for so many years, putting on some great nights and is a great selector. Followed by Aba Shanti-I, again, a true pioneer in dub and sound system. Every carnival, I’m always at his stage, listening to his music and the vibrations he creates through his sound system. Then Nabihah Iqbal, who creates amazing selections of music from Middle Eastern soundscapes to house, electronic, and UK garage. Another real pioneer, playing on NTS radio and BBC6 music.

Then there’s the live performance with Lorraine James, who I’ve supported over the last few years, helping with styling for her shows and album covers. Then Mia Koden and Tash LC, two of South London’s finest DJs, who do an amazing selection of bassline music, amapiano, right through to dub, drum and bass, and dubstep. And it’s amazing to have them debut a back-to-back set.

And then to end with Sherelle and Kode9. Kode9 is such a pioneer of Hyperdub, celebrating 20 years of Hyperdub records. Sherelle puts out her own music and plays both nationally and internationally. She’s always been such a great DJ, selector, and producer, blending so many high-tempo, intense tracks together. So yeah, I’m super happy with the lineup, and I think it definitely helps tell the story of how bass music has been so influential across so many different genres for so many years. It’s a real reflection of what’s been produced here in the UK across all these different sounds.

Can you give us a sneak peek of what audiences can look forward to on the big day?
We’ll also be producing and collaborating with GALA on a limited edition t-shirt for the festival. So that’s a little sneak peek of something people who come to the festival can purchase there. We collaborated with Jay Vaz from Dreaming Vinyl, an amazing illustrator and graphic designer, who created a really nice artwork for the t-shirt. So that’s something I hope people can get behind after GALA’s finished to represent what Woven Rhythms is and what myself and GALA did together. I’m looking forward to GALA. It’ll be an amazing day, and I’m excited to bring such amazing artists together. I hope this is the start of more Woven Rhythms projects that showcase such a diverse range of artists and people who I think are really pioneering and pushing the needle within the world of music, but also bringing in elements of fashion and tutorial moments which I’ve been doing with my brand. And yeah, excited to see how it all comes together at GALA this year.