One of the most enduring club cats, Nick Warren is proof that DJs can stay in vogue and have their fingers on the pulse of the dancefloor while artists in other genres desperately try to extend their ‘use-by date’. Much has been made of his ability to read what a crowd wants and drop in da funk to make the prog-nogs lose their po-faces. In short, he gets an attentive audience dancing their respective asses off.

He has been a firm supporter of Australian dance music, evidenced by his remarkable foresight when he included four Australian tracks on his Renaissance: Revelation mix. Warren gave the nod to Phil K, Luke Chable, paulmac (via a Dark Alley remix) and Deep Funk Project versus Austin Leeds.

The mix holds up as one of the tightest progressive sets ever committed to CD, in an age where Warren himself admits progressive is taking itself too seriously. "I’m noticing the darker and more tribal-based stuff can lose a crowd if it is used too much by a DJ. Progressive has to be careful it doesn’t implode on itself," he says, a little too seriously himself, correcting his tone by concluding. "I don’t think it will."

Warren has fought off all the nay-sayers and the fools that have been quick to quip ‘Prog is dead!’ "Bollocks", replies Nick Warren, in an off-the-cuff manner. "I am getting sick of hearing that progressive is finished, as it is simply not true. By saying this you are really only strengthening the scene because it will push it underground."

Funnily enough, the institution that made it such a throbbing genre, Global Underground, has been struggling financially of late due to excessive spending by its flamboyant owners. Media coverage of their expensive yachts and GU offices in different corners of the globe certainly didn’t help out their cause – but after appointing financial whizkids to get them back on track they then looked to one man: Nick Warren.

His latest Global Underground effort, recorded in Reykjavik, maintains Warren’s 100 percent strike rate with mix CDs, cranking out stomper after stomper. Iceland is home to eclectic elfins like Sigur Ros, Mum and the babelicious Bjork, thus recording a Global Underground there was a brave, yet logical, move for a city that commonly gets 23 hours of darkness per day.

Taking in 22 tracks over two discs, Warren assures he will be dropping the needle on plenty of his GU picks at Room this weekend. Substructure’s ‘Firewire’ lays down the foundations, while Global Communication’s 1994 nugget ‘14:31’ holds up well, proving that you often have to look to the past to push forward. Rambient’s ‘Karma’ has the elements that will leave your necks hair ruffled and ripe for the plucking and this scribe predicts Warren will finish with Fluke’s ‘Bullet’ like he does on the second disc.

The native of Bristol (see Massive Attack, Tricky et al) has carved out a career through various musical trees, while other would-be DJ/producers simply talk about it. Finding a common bond with Jody ‘Wall Street’ Wisternoff, a drum n bass head at the time, Way Out West exploded onto the progressive/breaks/trance scene with ‘Ajare’ and ‘Nontana’ in 1996 from their self-titled debut. They were subsequently dropped from their label and managed to consolidate five years later by releasing ‘Intensify’ through BMG.

Warren has plenty of bombs in his box ready to go, and rumour has it Hans Blix may be shuffling on the floor too, as it appears the US and Australian Governments have just made him redundant in favour of a war of oily egos. Hmmm. Warren puts politics aside and sees the only way forward is enjoying life.

"You have to keep positive," he contends, "It may seem frivolous to suggest everybody just needs a good night out... but really we are living in such troubled times that losing yourself on the dancefloor is a nice way to escape and remind yourself that life is for living." This Saturday at Room? It’s a date.