Hi! Who are you?
Peter: Hello, I am Peter, known to some as Peter Piper or Energy. I’m 34 with blonde hair, blue eyes and an irresistible lust for life.
Ollie: Easy! I’m Ollie or sub-antics. Together we run Overview Music and have done for the past 6 years now.
What’s your ethos?
Peter: A real focus on quality and consistency. We have a very DIY philosophy and try to be as personable and communicative as possible.
Ollie: Create a relaxed and open environment where artists can express themselves, create relationships and be part of something bigger. All rise together!
Tell us your origin story…
Peter: Ollie and I met for the first time at a show in Egg, London, he recognised me from my podcast whilst I was at Lifestyle Music. I knew of his platform sub-antics, we hit it off and I started feeding his dub addiction.
A few months later after I was booted out of that label, I decided to start my own and turned to Ollie to see if he wanted to get involved. When he told me he was a video animator, I didn’t give him much choice. The rest is history!
Ollie: Bang on! Can’t say I remember a whole lot from that Egg show but couldn’t forget that. I was doing my own thing on Soundcloud at the time and had caught onto what Pete was doing over at Lifestyle. After meeting in a London we kept in contact over the next year.
During that time I can remember a few occasions of him telling me I should start a label. Next thing I know at the end of 2018 I got the message and thought why not! And here we are…
Tell us about your local scene…
Ollie: Bristol based here. Been here for about 3 years now, originally from Bedford a bit North of London. I guess it’s between here and London for the current hub of drum & bass! No shortage of nights going on all the time and we’re incredibly spoiled with the acts that come through.
Peter: I’m originally from a small town called Horsham in Sussex, a surprising hotbed of D&B talent, but moved down to the south coast to sunny Brighton well, Hove, actually. It’s a real cultural area, very open and accepting. You can be who you want and there’s quite literally something for everyone. The drum & bass scene is strong, with a lot of artists & labels around or passing through. We also have one of the best small nightclubs in the whole country- Volks. If you think differently you are wrong!
Do you have a specific sound or vibe?
Peter: Overview has been known for more ‘’deep’’ and ‘’minimal’’ sounding music, but our sound has definitely evolved over time. The artists we work with dictate this really, so now we also put out more upfront tracks and have even started dipping our toes into the 140 realm.
For us it’s still very much about underground aesthetics though and being honest with what we believe in; taking risks and not just being profit or numbers driven.
Ollie: Yeah, echoing Pete it for sure started out a bit ‘deeper’ or more ‘techy’. As time passes your artists evolve and the label evolves with them, after all they define the sound to some extent. It’s a lot broader now but always comes back to forward thinking underground music at the core.
Who can we see releasing with you?
Peter: Where do we start?
A few of our mainstays that have been with us since around the beginning include Klinical, Waeys, Wingz, Rizzle, Operate, Ill Truth, Creatures, Nami, gyrofield, Skylark & GROUND. In recent times we’ve added Koherent, Rueben, YAANO, Azotix, VELLE, Emperor & Kyrist all to the roster.
We also work with some incredible vocalists including LaMeduza, Rider Shafique, Collette Warren, SOLAH, Visionobi, Freddy B & T-Man.
Ollie: Yeah we’re incredibly lucky to work with such a talented group of artists (and just lovely people). To look at 2025 shaping up and still having those familiar names from the very beginning really is a joy.
Got to also shout out my Bristol locals Thread, Para & SMG who have all come on board this year too. Some serious talent coming through which is great to see.
Tell us about your A&R process…
Peter: We have a very hands-off approach to A&R most of the time. We very much try to let the artists do what they want and we find the best music is usually created in that environment, made with that trust.
Ollie: Beyond a simple yes and no it’s mainly just refinement. Our artists are super capable so there’s often little technical input needed. If the vibe is there and it resonates with me and Pete we’re good to go!
What makes you different from other labels?
Ollie: Our artists and their sounds. I don’t know many labels where you’d hear quite the breadth of sonics across a roster and discography.
Peter: I’d currently say our consistency. Although we are releasing more music than ever, I don’t feel we’re dropping the bar just to fit a schedule, we just genuinely have that many brilliant artists making that much good music.
We’re not super interested in chasing trends either. Yes some artists might want to take their sound a certain way, but we aren’t sitting here thinking ‘x is popular right now, we should be doing this’. We really just try to do what comes naturally and it’s working.
Ollie and I are not producers either, although that can have its limitations, it means we’re very much focused solely on the label and probably have more of a fan/listener perspective. There’s not too many labels in our position where that is the case!
What does it take to run a bass music label in 2025?
Peter: On an independent level, it requires being as multi-disciplinary as possible. Between both of us we can run almost every aspect of a label from the art to animation, to events and accounting. It’s been a major key to our success but it has required a lot of thankless hours.
Ollie: In 2025? Probably an ability to shut out the noise. It’s becoming such a big space now and with social media it can be easy to get caught up in what others are doing and start comparing. Stay true to yourself and focus on what you’re doing.
What have you got coming up we should look out for?
Peter: We are in the process of releasing our 100th release! It’s a two part remix compilation called ‘Overview100’ and it’s a massive milestone for our little label.
We’re also going full steam ahead with Overview shows right now and have dates around the UK in Manchester, Brighton, Milton Keynes, Leeds & Bournemouth, as well as abroad in Austria, Germany, The Netherlands & Italy. Our next label tour to New Zealand & Australia is also shaping up!
Ollie: Beyond that there’s some really exciting music coming in 2025. Some familiar faces and some new! And not just drum & bass.
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