Hi, who are you?
Duckworthsound: My name is Luke, better known as Duckworthsound.
Dread MC: I’m Mikel, better known as Dread MC.
What’s your ethos?
D MC: Making authentic underground bass bangers.
D: We want to break down any boundaries people have when it comes to multi-genre sets with the way we play. We’re all about bringing non stop energy and good vibes that everyone can enjoy.
Tell us your origin story?
D MC: We were already doing shows together and we’ve always chatted about our deep love for all things bass and dance music. We’ve always tried to showcase different styles and genres through our sets and productions. Then we started thinking about having an imprint for ourselves
D: We had been creating so many different sounding tunes, we wanted to create a label that stood for that, so we spent 2023 developing the idea, working with the team at Cygnus. We had the first tunes we wanted to put out and then – we launched Duckplates.
Tell us about your local scene…
D MC: I’m based in Bristol, from Gloucester – the local scene out here is amazing, for collaborating, networking and all the shows that happen are wicked.
D: I’m based just out of London, so ever since I was able to I’ve always been going into London for any and all shows that I could.
Do you have a specific sound or vibe?
D MC: We don’t have a specific sound, it’s a spectrum of bass music. We’re consistent with the vibe, it’s always high energy bass tracks.
D: It comes from our love for all types of bass music. I’ve always loved a big mix of genres and sounds, I want people to be able to see that in my music and in the sound Duckplates does.
Do you have a regular artist roster – who can we see releasing with you?
D MC: It started as just an imprint for ourselves, we only started in March 2024, since then we’ve already grown from our own releases and we’ve now had 12 artists join us on the label through features and mainly the remixes.
D: Currently from the remixes we’re working with some amazing artists who are all coming up and deserving to be heard – 1997, Ghostfxce, Six28, Neumonic, AYCH, SH?M, Valdeez, Coben, Spence, Chuck Shadow – all these artists on the remix pack are dope and brought a real unique sound.
Tell us about your A&R process…
D: A lot of them I met through my discord community which has been a major key for finding new talent. I also met some artists through shows I’ve played and built connections with.
D MC: We don’t take submissions on email or direct right now, currently we’re using the discord for submissions through a monthly demo drop community call, we hope to get some of these artists on board one day. It’s been great to already have artist’s involved with label through the discord.
What makes you different from other labels?
D MC: It’s too early to say right now, we’re new to this, we’re not watching any other labels or trying to compete, we’re just doing what we want to do.
D: Couldn’t have said it better myself honestly- I don’t see a reason to compare ourselves to any other labels big or small, whether that be in similarities or in how to be totally different. We’re going to keep doing things our way and see where it takes us.
What does it take to run a bass music label in 2025?
D MC: A lot of time, effort and patience in all honesty. Good communication between us two, regularly knowing what we’re both doing. We’re growing a small team around the both of us who are great in helping out now also.
D: Money? Lots of that would be great, doesn’t mean we’ll be any better but I’m sure it’d make things easier. All jokes aside – lots of planning, lots of time to plan out our months in advance to make things work – alongside a couple people Hannah and Jaden who have been great help, also just want to say Cygnus being very helpful and always on hand to support us.
What have you got coming up we should look out for?
D: 2025 is about continuing the growth for us, we have so much music lined up from ourselves for the label, plus our first original releases with other artists. We’re planning to do showcase sets and label nights across the UK and maybe even around the world.
On Feb 28th we have a Duckplates showcase night in LA for our American artists Neumonic and Chuck Shadow, so it’s really amazing to already be pushing our label name out there already.
We’ll also be launching Duckplates free – which is where we’ll be supporting artists bootlegs and flips as a free download to be streamed Soundcloud or YouTube to help up and coming artist grow and gain more followers.
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