Low Steppa, Rue Jay and REZA Rebuild a House Touchstone on The Creator

Toolroom’s latest release arrives with a certain weight. The Creator brings together Low Steppa, Rue Jay and REZA around one of the most recognisable voices in house culture, the spoken presence of Chuck Roberts. It is a vocal that tends to reshape a room the moment it appears, and the trio build around it with a clear sense of purpose, keeping the spirit of the original message intact while pushing into a more contemporary space.

Rue Jay and REZA come at the collaboration from different paths but share a similar grounding. Rue has built a reputation across UK clubs for high energy sets that lean into classic house textures without feeling retro. REZA has been a mainstay producer and DJ for more than two decades, releasing on labels like Defected, Stealth and Toolroom, and shaping a sound that bridges old and new with a studio approach that stays focused on clarity. The Creator is the point where those worlds meet, sharpened further by Low Steppa’s instinct for a record that works in busy rooms.

The story starts in Ibiza. Rue had just watched Carl Cox close the UNVRS grand launch party with his track I Want Your Love. “That moment was surreal,” he says. “It gave me a huge surge of motivation, and I wanted to build on that momentum by creating another record that would resonate with Carl.” Back home, he went straight into REZA’s Rezonation Studios to find the next idea.

REZA picked up the thread quickly. “We decided to try and make something like an old track of mine called Galactico,” he says. While searching for the right vocal, he reached back to his early club years. “I had the idea of another track that Carl used to play in 1992 that sampled the same part of the Chuck Roberts vocal.” Dropping it into the session gave the track its identity. Rue puts it simply. “Everything just clicked.”

The bassline sits at the centre of the record. Rue says, “We wanted to bring a taste of the Junior Jack and Kid Crème era back for the new generation,” pointing to artists like DJ Flex and Hatiras as reference points. REZA’s take is more streamlined. “We wanted to capture the sounds from around 20 years ago in a modern yet authentic way so it worked for the current scene.”

The early club reaction shaped the final mix more than any studio plan. “We made it on Friday,” Rue says. “I sent it to my mate Carl Cox on the Saturday and it was played on the Sunday.” REZA describes the response as “massive” and says they barely touched it afterwards. Rue enjoys the speed of it all. “Some would say I jumped the gun. I prefer to go with I took my chance.”

Low Steppa entered the project when Rue sent him an early version. “He instantly loved what we had done and asked us to send him the stems immediately,” Rue says. REZA adds, “His knowledge of how a track works on the dance floor and then him playing it was a great way to judge if we had it right.” Low Steppa pitched it to Toolroom, where it was signed “within 5 minutes.”

Handling Chuck Roberts’ voice meant keeping the production lean. Rue says, “With such a legendary vocal, there was nothing that could be added to make it better.” REZA agrees. “It would have been very easy to use more of the vocal. The vocal was the last thing we added. The first version actually had my own vocal on it.” Once the Chuck Roberts sample arrived, everything else stepped back.

The Creator has travelled across a wide range of sets since those early Ibiza moments. Rue says, “This track has no limits. It has been played by the biggest DJs in the world… boats, hyper clubs, intimate clubs and festival stages, and it works every time.” REZA echoes the reach. “We’ve been really surprised by the wide variety of DJs that have played it. It has worked clubs and festivals all summer which is exactly where we wanted it to be.”

Both hint that more archival explorations may follow, but neither is sharing details. Rue jokes, “I couldn’t possibly say. I’d be giving the game away.” REZA keeps it simple. “We always have lots of ideas on this. Watch this space.”

The Creator is out now on Toolroom