D Bridge’s drum n bass experiments

D Bridge’s drum n bass experiments

22 July, 2009 | 12.01PM

• Written by: Caleb Rakes
• Filed under: Music News: d bridge, exit records

Ten years ago some of the biggest names in drum & bass formed one of the most important and influential fellowships the scene has ever seen.

DJ Fresh, Maldini, Vegas, and D Bridge created Bad Company, the first drum & bass supergroup, that went on to influence the likes of Pendulum, and Chase & Status.

The collective created genre-defining tracks that were raw and hard. ‘The Nine’ was voted by d&b publication, Knowledge Magazine, as the best drum & bass track of all time, whilst ‘Nitrous’ and ‘Planet Dust’ are still spun by high profile DJs today.

The group eventually parted ways. Fresh went on to spearhead Breakbeat Kaos and saw global commercial success with his album ‘Escape From Planet Monday’ and Maldini and Vegas carried on the Bad Company name, whilst D Bridge, aka Darren White set up his own label, Exit Recordings, to explore the more vocal and experimental boundaries of music.

Exit soon became known for off beat, experimental, electronic sounds, and featured several releases from Darren’s brother, Steve Spacek.

In 2008 Darren released his debut album, ‘The Gemini Principle’, a record which dubstep pioneer Martyn described as “an amalgamation of fierce and sad, of aggressiveness and melancholy.”

With futurist sounds, eerie breakbeat, and dark soulful lyrics, tracks like ‘The Question’, ‘Mr. Malcontent’, and ‘Cast A Cold Eye’, enchanted many beyond the drum & bass and dubstep veil.

Some may draw immediate comparisons to liquid pioneers like LTJ Bukem or Calibre, but D Bridge’s stripped back approach, that ignores the sometimes tired drum & bass formula of build up and drop, is different.

It’s a more experimental, and subtle sound that doesn’t immediately aim for dancefloor bang.

This year, D Bridge’s productions have developed further still. After he was featured on Martyn’s album, D Bridge teamed up with production duo Instra:mental on their NonPlus label’s debut release, ‘Wonder Where’.

The result is an amalgamation of drum & bass and electronica that hints at an unexplored frontier of electronic music, where neo-junglist rhythms collide with elements of Photek and Autechre, a sound characterized within the groups ‘Autonomic’ podcasts.

In this interview, D Bridge explains more.

Exit pushes the boundaries of forward thinking drum & bass. Was this your original concept when you started the label?

I launched the label for selfish reasons, at first to be able to release my own music, my way.

Having been a part of Bad Company, my thoughts on a release had only ever been part of the equation.

It’s nice to think that my label is regarded as forward thinking, as I was also inspired by labels with the same ethos. 

Your current sound is quite removed from your Bad Company days. Were you pining to make this sound back then or is something that progressed with time?

I think I’ve always been this way, the beauty of Bad Company is that we were four very different people with different tastes. Being on my own gave me the chance to pursue my own desires.

And that desire is evident on your collaborations with Instra:Mental. Would you consider yourself more as electronic music producers than dnb musicians now?

I’ll always be rooted in the dnb scene as that’s what I’m predominately known for, but I also produce electronic music at different tempos so I guess I do see myself as an electronic artist.

With the Autonomic podcasts, it was a chance for us to get across that we are influenced by electronic music as a whole and that we’re not so dissimilar. It’s the internal pigeon hole struggle.

Would we be foolish to classify you as a neo-junglist?

OK! I gotta be honest with you, I’ve never heard of the term neo-junglist.

Personally I’m a big fan of soul music in all its forms. We have an influences section in our podcasts where you can hear what has shaped our sounds.

And where do you think your current sound will take you?

I’ve been really pleased with the way things have been going in the last couple years, I’m getting involved in some interesting projects through my singing and as a result of the podcasts.

We have some interesting ideas for our music so I’m hoping things will continue to go in the current direction. 

Singing is not something you’d expect from a drum & bass DJ.

I’ve always sung. I was the lead singer in a band at school but I think it has always been a question of confidence.

I put these self-imposed barriers up which stopped me from embracing my singing side for ages. Plus my brother, Steve Spacek, was always a hard act to follow.

I used to talk to Calibre and he would send me tunes with him singing, and talking to him helped me gain confidence and realize that now, more than ever, I was in a position to do what I wanted.

I sung on my album, but I don’t think many people knew it was me. It wasn’t until ‘Wonder Where’ came out, that people knew that I was really singing.

I’ve been pleased by the response and ‘These Words’ being featured on Martyn’s album opened up many new opportunities for my singing. 

Do you think the dnb scene could do with more people applying their vocals to their tracks?

I remember for a while dnb always had this weird problem of full vocals, and it bugged us that we had to put a full-on vocal onto a tune for it to be accepted by the mainstream.

I’ve grown up now thankfully and I’m enjoying this new aspect to making music. It’s another skill in itself that excites me, from writing lyrics to working out the right melody line for the backing harmonies. I enjoy the challenge, and if you can sing then why not?

In this software musical age we all have access to the same synths, plug-ins, and production techniques which can invariable lead to things being copied and sounding the same. My voice and lyrics are an instrument I know no one else has. 

What would you say has been the high point of your career thus far?

I’m really excited about the future to be honesy and like to think my real high point is yet to come. But this year so far has been really good.

The success of the podcasts, the Club-Autonomic residency starting at Fabric, being asked to play at Berghain in Berlin for a non dnb event and meeting Hank Shocklee of the Bomb Squad and him telling me he was a massive fan and owned some of my records. All of that has made this year great.

I always like to think that some of the musicians I look up to and whose music I collect, might have some of my records too.

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