Bristol’s diverse musical patchwork is sewn together by artists like Ollie Douglas. From his distinctive Bristolian twang to his laid back DIY ethos, Ollie is the type of grounded artist that’s made the city such a creative hub, one where ravers, DJs, rappers and more can come together – a multi-genre, give-it-a-go beating heart of the city’s file-sharing, rave anywhere scene. Now a father of two in his 30s, Ollie is taking the lessons his hometown and years as a child actor taught him into experimenting with new sounds.
His latest track, the nostalgic “LimeWire” harkens back to the freewheeling, file-sharing sound of early 2000s drum and bass. Bouncy, bassy and a just a bit braggadocious, “LimeWire” is drenched in an old school feeling that captures the city’s energy – whether that’s letting gun fingers fly on a phone-free Stokes Croft dancefloor or bricking your parents PC downloading dodgy underground tracks.
Recorded in a bedroom setup in Patchway, Ollie’s recent work across house, grime and now DnB is a testament to resilience, the importance of experimentation and wanting to inspire the next generation. WAX recently spent some time with Ollie to discuss LimeWire, his background as a TV actor and making rave bangers as a dad.
You’ve been an entertainer since you were young, did that start with music?
Yeah, I started writing music around 2006. It was just for my love of rap really. I loved Eminem and obviously wanted to be just like him as a child. Then I heard people like Wiley and Skepta, UK artists, that was when I first thought I could really try this, you know. There’s not much of a musical background in my family, my dad just loved rap music and I grew up around a lot of that. That’s how I got started.
Where I grew up, there weren’t many people into grime music. It was a very outsider genre, there wasn’t much presence in a place like Bradley Stoke. I had to find everything online. I’ve tried out quite a few different genres over the years – a bit of hip hop and a bit of grime – but now I’m mainly focusing on drum and bass.
What does an 11 year old’s attempt at copying Eminem look like?
It was dreadful! I didn’t really have any natural music ability. But I worked at it and worked at it. I did a lot of shows when I was it school, variety performances and things like that, and it just grew from there. But it was always just a hobby, something I never took that seriously until later on.
What about acting? Was that always your main passion?
Acting was something I took much more seriously early on. I got into that at about 16 through a Bristol-based agency called Phoenix Casting. I just saw them advertising and really wanted to get involved with acting. My mum took me along to sign me up and I got a few roles off the back of that.
I was in Casualty playing a teenager at a house party who got hurt taking drugs. They liked me so I got a call back and was needed for more episodes which got me more work with other agencies down the line. It all just carried on from there and I enjoyed it for a few years.
When did you transition to making music?
Yeah, originally it was putting music out on YouTube. Very bad music, to be honest. But I was always that kid that didn’t mind putting myself out there. I got a lot of criticism for it over the years, but I was always very creative and I didn’t really care too much about negative comments. It was just a hobby.
Then my friend Typicalconnor, Connor Spratt, knew a lot more about mixing and mastering, making songs sound professional. He brought me on board to make a song with him called Waves back in 2019. That was my way onto Spotify. Then I started working with another DJ I knew in 2020, and then they were the first few songs that went onto BBC Radio Bristol. So that was the first time I realised that, oh, I could maybe do a little something with this.
Where does that sit with the contrast of the music? Do you find that the acting really helped make you a better performer as a musician?
To be fair, they’re quite separate. I’ve always kept them quite separate the whole time. When I was taking the acting side of things more seriously the music took a bit of a back step. But it did make me think I can have a future being creative or a performer.
You feel like an artist who’s dabbled in a lot of different styles, and with LimeWire it feels like you’re moving into drum and bass, a real Bristol sound. Do you think that’s an important part of making rap music? Do musicians in the genre experiment a bit more with other styles?
Yeah, there is a lot of it, but for me it was kind of like I was well into rap music but I didn’t feel like it always fit my persona. Rap is very gritty and I’m not that guy really. I always just enjoyed the sound and felt I was good at it, and now I’ve fallen back in love with it.
Obviously, Bristol loved drum and bass and I’ve always been around that scene. There’s so many good drum and bass and house forced venues to perform at, it’s easy to get sucked into the sound. But I also like alternative rock music, hyperpop and stuff like that, anything that’s a bit more underground. I think any genres that’re a bit underground have something in common.
Going back to what you said about acting and singing in a tribute act, how important is taking any opportunity that you can and running with it?
Massively. The Black Eyed Peas opportunity luckily landed in my lap, and it definitely helped me. My acting agent at the time was one of the founds of the group, and they’d already been running successfully for about eight years before that, but they needed a fill-in for APL.DE.AP.
Luckily I had a similar look and it just went from there. They brought me along to the National Tribute Awards back in 2018 and I got a feel for what it was like, what the world was like and I just thought “yeah, I do enjoy doing this”. I wasn’t doing much solo stuff at the time, just acting and performing with them, but it helped introduce me to performing live which I hadn’t had many opportunities to do before.
What are your hopes for LimeWire? Does this feel like the debut of a new style for you or a continuation of what you’re doing?
Going forward, I’m mainly focusing on grime and drum and bass music. I released my first drum and bass track last year (August 2025) called Sesh. It’s a simple, quite relatable song about going out and having a good time – it’s just a party song, really!
But I really got back into music last June making house music. I made two tracks, On a Mission and Tonight. I love house music but I know it can be quite same-y. I was always trying to get into drum and bass. So I thought drum and bass is something that I’m going to mainly stick to now.
So my aims are just to keep at it and stay in the scene. I’m hoping to release two EPs and hopefully an album in the next year. One with my friend who I made LimeWire with, Typical Connor. There’s one that’s called Critical Mass with Connor, a joint EP, and then one that’s going to be called Late Night Antics. And they’re just various upbeat tracks, like a bit of garage, a bit of grime, a bit of drum and bass, a few things. But I’m really enjoying this club-type beat for now.
It’s all a bit of a throwback. Obviously LimeWire was a proper influential part of my childhood. I was born in 1995 and as someone who wanted to get into music, it was just amazing having this thing that we could all go to and download songs from, discover loads of new genres and play around with them.
Have you played LimeWire to your kids? What do they think of drum and bass?
Harley, my oldest, loves it. He’s very hyperactive, putting the track on everywhere. Whenever he’s around his Nan’s he’s putting it on, dancing around. He’s my biggest supporter.
In terms of fitting in with family life, I like to influence people because I’ve always been someone that’s a bit of a dreamer. I want my kids to have those same values. I don’t want them to feel like they have to do something just because that’s the societal norm. I want to show them they have the option to be creative if they want to be.
You mentioned being played on BBC Radio Bristol. How important are these platforms, particularly ones like BBC Bristol and Ujima Radio, in keeping local scenes alive?
Very. They obviously highlight underground talent from Bristol. And there’s loads out there that you hear at a proper professional level you just wouldn’t hear otherwise.
I’ve had a good amount of streams off the back of Ujima, and it’s nice to have recognition from people that I’m taking music seriously now. LimeWire is just that kind of a little step up from a bedroom musician to people thinking, oh, maybe I could do something more.
I see you’ve worked with quite a wide network of collaborators. How important is it to build a network of DJs, producers, rappers?
Very, because we’re all in it together, helping each other out. I feel like sometimes the scene misses that and artists are in it for themselves. It’s nice to have a group of people that always support you and you always support them.
Connor I’ve known for a long time, we’re two kiddies from Bradley Stoke, two of the only people from there that ever tried rapping. We’ve always stuck together. Raphael Jasmine I worked with on a song called Gloucester Road years ago, which was hip-hop. I’m working with her and Connor on another liquid drum and bass song this year. She’s just got a great voice – I’m looking forward to seeing what comes from it.
And I always like to just finish on like what’s exciting you in Bristol music at the moment what are you looking forward to?
To be honest, I’m looking forward to it all. There’s a lot of people working across a lot of genres at the moment and I’m loving seeing people blend genres. I just like uniqueness.
//Words: Jonathan Morris//