Ten years is a long time to keep anything alive, let alone an independent drum and bass label built on instinct, and a shared belief in doing things properly. Soulvent’s story isn’t one of blowing up or aggressive expansion, but of relationships. Relationships between founders, artists and, the friendships that formed along the way and allowed the label to grow without losing its centre. At the heart of it are Joe Goss and Mike Coates, two people who found common ground not through strategy decks or industry shortcuts, but through mutual respect, shared values and a genuine love for the music.
Our conversation follows Soulvent’s journey from DIY beginnings to a catalogue closing in on 200 releases, but more than that, it explores how deep friendships, tested by burnout, change and real crossroads, have been the glue holding everything together.
10 years. Take us back to the very beginning. Talk about how the label came about.
Joe Goss: The label’s intention from the get-go for me, Liam, and Jack, was to offer a platform to young and up-and-coming, talented musicians where they didn’t have to take the same route as some of the other existing labels like Hospital, Shogun and Critical. We wanted to give a platform to artists who were talented enough and could have done it their own way anyway, but just wanted to take a different option.
That became fairly clear after the 2016 release of Pola & Bryson’s first album, which was not only seminal for them but also for the label. Delightfully called This Time Last Year. Pola actually made the artwork for that – which is a picture of two towers in Leytonstone, very DIY. Pulling it back to the question, the label was founded with the intention of being a route to market for artists who could have done it anywhere else, which funnily enough, both Pola & Bryson and GLXY did. It’s mad how 10 or 11 years on, the label has stayed to its truest form and I guess that is incredibly affirming.
How do you feel about being a platform for showcasing artists before they go to somewhere that’s maybe more established?
Joe Goss: Considering that was the intention, it feels amazing, really validating and even though it’s been littered with a bunch of other emotional feelings throughout the last decade, it feels like a reminder that we’re doing the right thing. The artists in question are the likes of Pola & Bryson or GLXY that have moved on, and Soulvent has secured itself as a place of recognition and respect.
As a label we would never take credit for other people’s hard work, all you can do is try to harbour a space for their talent that feels authentic and genuine. At first you set out with that as your intention and then you nurture them for a couple of years before they start to take off and people start to take notice. And then you’re like, “Oh, wow. I guess we were on to something!” We started out with Pola & Bryson and I don’t think you can end up badly if you play that correctly.
Mike Coates: The onward journeys of these artists are an endorsement of their capability but hopefully it reflects positively on us. During the period that Joe’s talking about, I didn’t work for the label and was mostly into trance- sorry! It was the 10th release of the label- Arch Origin– “City By Night” that I first heard, and even then the label ethos was clear. I was hooked.
The music had this appeal to it, they were all new artists. I was already familiar with established names in drum and bass through Hospital and Shogun but it was really nice to see this authentic output or avenue for these new artists and for me to discover them.
As a fan you trust a record label to curate the sound for you. When I was in my trance music phase I’d see the Positiva logo, the blue with the black circle and the white cross and know I was going to like that latest release. You develop an affinity with a label over time because you know what to expect. That level of quality. I developed that for Soulvent very quickly.
How did you come on board Mike?
Joe Goss: I want Mike to explain it, but I also want to give a full circle moment because I feel like this is important. It was a night at Lightbox. Soulvent was two years old at that point. We were doing room two for a Spearhead event.
I had delusions of grandeur that I’d be walking out with two girls on each arm and would have loads of DJs and friends begging me for an afterparty invite. When it came to the end of the night, our room finished at 5am and all the lights came on. I had no girls on either arm. I had a Soulvent t-shirt on, a Soulvent hat on, and I had the Soulvent banner under my arm and I was walking out towards Vauxhall Tube Station like Billy-no-mates. And I was like, “Oh, okay. That’s humbling!”
Enter Mike.
Mike Coates: I’d had an amazing night and we spent pretty much the whole time in room two. My cousin, Chris and I were waiting for our Uber to pick us up and this guy walked past with the record label t-shirt on. My cousin says, “This guy’s got the t-shirt of the record label on. Do you reckon he’s involved somehow?” I was trying to not say anything or be cringe, then he goes, I’m going to speak to him. We found out who Joe was and we invited him back to ours to stick the decks on and continue the beers.
That was November 2016, then throughout the next 12 months we became friends and I suggested I could start helping out with the label because I work with numbers and spreadsheets in my day job and I understood this was a bit of a gap for the boys.
Joe Goss: By that point Liam, one of the co-founders and my best friend at the time, was travelling in Vietnam. When Mike started helping out I thought; “Yo, this guy is like a crazy good find”. Not just being a super fan of the label, but also having all of these relevant numerical skills that we never had. We needed to bring this guy in, but I was conscious of not giving access to the most sensitive data going to someone who wasn’t verified by other parties.
Mike Coates: You don’t just open the bank account to some guy you met under a bridge in Vauxhall, right? But by November 2017 the other guys were convinced or Joe had worn them down enough to let me join.
The first release I worked on was catalogue number 38. And now we’re just about to release number 182. It’s crazy to think what we’ve done in eight years. When I first started we were doing one release a month I thought we needed to do more. And the response was “Calm down, you don’t know how much effort goes into a release!”. But for the last two years we’ve been doing one release a week.
Joe Goss: With Mike’s help over time I’ve taken on this attitude – if you can, then why not? If we have good music that we want to release and people want to release it with us, why would we not do it?
I was reflecting recently on my own self-inflicted schedule and our affirmations or intentions and how we keep pushing. Mike reminded me we’re already superseding what we were doing before. I’d probably forgotten that.
I guess that it all plays back into the ethos or environment we tried to build. Mike is very much part of ensuring we were able to create that from the inside out.
What were those early days of transition into a bigger label like?
Mike Coates: When I first joined, we were doing weekly meetings in the Red Lion in Leytonstone, all huddled around a table with our laptops.
Joe Goss: Then enter Chris Goss or Mike being one of the two that could buy an £8-a-pint round of about eight drinks.
Mike Coates: Yeah, we were keeping the guys fed and watered. I had no experience in anything musical up to this point and had my eyes wide open, it felt like a pinch me moment. These guys are having arguments about artwork or press releases or tracks across a table. I didn’t know if I needed to try to diffuse the situation, or not say anything. For a long time I wasn’t putting my opinion forward because I felt I didn’t have any credentials- but if there was a spreadsheet, I knew I was the authority on it.
So it’s been an interesting dynamic over the last eight years and I have to say I’ve loved it and I’m hoping it will continue.
Explain to us the setup now- it started as Joe, Liam and Jack. How has Soulvent evolved?
Joe Goss: Liam, Jack and I started the label. I thought they were going to be in it the whole time. I didn’t know I was going to meet Mike. A million and one adjectives can’t explain how happy and lucky I feel to have met Mike. He was able to bring something that has then catapulted us forwards.We started the label. We met Mike. We gifted him equity to get involved, Liam and Jack didn’t argue because they knew it was a good investment.
Then Hospital were involved for a bit. It didn’t work out the way anyone wanted in the end but it was still a valuable exercise from every perspective. Following that, Timucin came in, our investor. That doesn’t add much to the story or reality of the label I guess, but I feel it’s important to have a certain level of transparency.
Mike Coates: I always say, it was never my gambit to be gifted shares by these guys as a reward or incentive or whatever. I would have carried on doing this forever for nothing, just for the enjoyment.
I would have done it for nothing but it hasn’t been for nothing, because of the highlights this has given me that I’d never thought I’d have. Being part of this has allowed me to DJ at Fabric twice, I’ve had the privilege of recording 57 Soulvent Records podcasts, I’ve DJed at home and internationally with my mates and I’ve been able to meet so many heroes. On top of all of that we are able to look back on what is now a catalogue nearing 200 releases with some really great artist career trajectories.
You have different people working with the label over the years…
Joe Goss: It really starts to mean a lot when you realise you have staying power. Mike and I have talked about it – you don’t get into something because you’ve got staying power and it doesn’t necessarily mean in that moment that you cared more.
Joe Goss: I don’t think we ever knew that Jack and Harry were going to be as successful as they are. I’m happy for Jack. I’m happy for Liam. I’m happy that we come inadvertently from a place of greatness and had those great minds along for the journey for as long as we did.
Mike Coates: It got to the stage where people were being pulled in different directions. When we got to that monumental crossroads – we all sat around the table and the options were put out on how to move forward. We knew there had to be some changes but the strong feeling I got in the room was that, of the options presented, the preference was to close the label down. That’s what 80% of the people in the room wanted to do. But we didn’t do it.
Joe Goss: That was a real turning point as well. Me, Mike, Liam, and Jack were on that call and I was a wreck emotionally. I had to get off the call. I was crying. I had to message Mike, I had to let it all out.
Reflecting on all that now I’m so indebted to this man, he kept a dream going, but it was so much deeper than that – me and Mike had forged a friendship. We made it clear to the roster of artists we worked with, and to one another that it was viable, and that the label didn’t have to suddenly die because other people moved on. And now, two years on from when we were advised to throw in the towel, we’re doing so well.
Mike Coates: We had open commitments and contracts with artists for albums at that point as well and, there’s a duty of care to those artists. It would have been a shock to them, if we said we were closing the label, I’m sure.
There’s always up and down days, there’s always days where you go, “I can’t work on Soulvent today, or I don’t want to do the meeting.” But it’s making sure that day doesn’t become two, become five, become 14, 28 and then suddenly you haven’t done a release in three months or you haven’t answered any of your artists’ questions.
And it sometimes is hard to keep all the plates spinning. My hat goes off to Joe for being the one piece of continuity over the 10 years. We call him Joe Goss, label boss, and that is really such a fitting name. No matter who’s got the most shares or the least, it doesn’t matter. When I found myself in this position of majority shareholder, I remember saying to Joe, it’s your label, right! No matter what the stupid thing on the Companies House says.
Joe Goss: Our label…
Mike Coates: It’s ours, right? It’s taken a while for me to feel like I could say that. I would always say to people “I’m a part of that label” or “I help to run that label”.
Joe Goss: The artists do amazing work. We just do the lifting in the background, don’t we?
But there’s a lot of work that goes into running a label…
Mike Coates: If we put it this way, if Hospital expressed an interest and became shareholders and partners in 2020 and then in 2024 we had Timucin come in and say the same. We’ve had two outside investment approaches in under five years. That is an endorsement of some kind. We’ve got to be doing something right.
Joe Goss: To have something to sustain all that time you need to find ways to do it. People need to know you don’t need to have the whole plan. We put out great music and like you said a lot of effort goes into that.
I was going to ask about your biggest challenges throughout the times, but it sounds like maybe that point was probably it.
Mike Coates: Keeping it going when some people had already checked out was hard. It can really dilute the energy. That was quite tough for me and Joe. Once we came out the other side of that we had to have a bit of further stabilisation while we worked out a new operating model. We said to our artists “We’re going through this period of transition”. I liked to think, one of our strengths is transparency. They were accustomed to this level of service or care from Joe. They loved getting A+R notes from Jack when he was around, and Liam’s cool, calm and collected counsel on issues and contractual stuff always brought stability. And people would love me as I paid the royalties! We were a really good team and it was a shame because everyone was filling their roles perfectly. I don’t know what a four dimensional yin and yang is called, but it felt like that at times. But you don’t begrudge anyone for getting too big in their respective fields!
We had to just take a little foot off the gas a little bit, just regroup. Thankfully our artists are still with us. One of my big things as a fan is, I love the fact that when Visionobi or Askel or In:Most have a new song coming out, they know it will be on Soulvent nine times out of 10. I’m really thankful to them that they said that they would stick with us. Because it’d be easy for them to just go, “Nah, f*** off. See you later.”
Let’s talk a little bit about the fans. Mike you were a fan before you became director, let’s talk about your relationship with your fans and why it’s so important.
Mike Coates: I’m still a fan. I’ve always valued the ‘relatableness’ of drum and bass. Having a face or brand that people can recognise and engage with is important. For example with Tony and Chris, seeing that double act, as a fan you feel like you become pals with them. So Joe and I will always speak to people at shows, we want them to feel like they know us/can relate to us.
I remember one time we were in E1 doing another room two for Spearhead and someone came and got me from the green room and said there’s this guy waiting to meet you because he’s watched all these podcasts of you on YouTube. I was like “F*** yeah, screw whichever DJ I’m talking to in here, I want to go and speak to this fan, because that’s that’s the energy I want to be around!”
The fans, they’re the ones that make it happen. In the times we’re in, the vinyl, the t-shirt, the slip mats, the key rings, all that stuff is a luxury. Merch is the first to go from the monthly budget when the purse strings have to tighten. But we’re still seeing people buying stuff and it’s amazing because it’s not a fashion statement. People are showing their allegiance. 90% of the people on the street that see you wearing the Soulvent t-shirt won’t know what it is, but you’re still repping. Thank you.
The podcasts bring a direct connection to your fans. What do you get out of them yourselves?
Joe Goss: The podcast initially was started by one of the artists, Monika. He approached us and said he wanted to do the label podcast. So if you go back to the early episodes, he was highlighting some tracks he liked. He set the precedent. And then we met Mike who on top of his abilities with spreadsheets and numbers and all that, he also could DJ. Mike taught me how to DJ in fact!
Mike Coates: Maxwell Monika did the first 12 and then said to us, he can’t really carry it on. I almost couldn’t believe my luck! I’ve been waiting for something like this. We took over from episode 13 and I’ve just done episode 70.
When we first took it over, it was always me and somebody else. It’d be me and Jack, me and Joe, then me and Liam, then me and Ryan, and then COVID came along and I was forced to do it myself and then what a surprise I got to like the sound of my own voice talking about drum and bass tunes. Be them Soulvent tunes or not, one of the things I really enjoy about it is I get to play all the stuff that I like. It’s a big self-indulgent hour for me to just play and talk about the music that I love.
I remember Jack and Harry used to have a show on Pyro radio, the Pola & Bryson show. And I used to tune into that religiously and I was like, “Oh, one day I’ll be on there.” And then we did it. I remember for five years of Soulvent, we did a special on their show. I told all my mates to tune in, it got to the bit where I started talking and then I was going to do a guest mix… power cut, localised to right where the studio is in Whitechapel. So my mates tuned in and it was just static. How embarrassing!
Tell us about the remix album…
Joe Goss: The remix album is a natural point of progression, especially at such a pivotal milestone. Crucially, it was the first time I’ve ever had to solo A+R a project this important to the label, since we started it. A+R was always led by Liam and Jack, so when they stepped away it fell to me. A+R is hard enough as a loose science on its own – but being the only person trying to pick moments in the catalogue that are worth celebrating was really difficult. We took all of the biggest tunes available to us to get remixed, in terms of tracks that hadn’t been touched before or that we had stems available for. I think I did a good job in the end of choosing tracks that represent important moments for the label like ‘Breathe’ by Circumference or ‘Back To The Sun’ by In:Most, and equally for them to be remixed by brand new friends like InsideInfo and EXEA – while also representing the roster with the likes of Askel & Elere and Hugh Hardie.
Mike Coates: There’s been multiple times in the last two years where we’ve had our eyes on this latest chapter- 10 years. We knew this is going to be a lot of work and then we thought if we don’t do this we’ll regret not doing it. So just face into it and get s*** done.
Joe Goss: If we hadn’t challenged ourselves to do it, we’d have rued the day. I sent the album to Jack Pola a couple of weeks ago and he responded with a voice note. He said that he found himself ‘wanting to jump out of his seat multiple times’ while listening to it on a flight back to the UK from Mexico. It was nice to hear him say that it reminded him of just how good the back catalogue really is.
Mike Coates: I’m really proud to have this milestone release to mark the occasion and be able to look back on it in future. Some amazing remixes from some familiar names as well as new artists to the label, reworking some of our favourite tracks from the catalogue. Here’s to the next 10 years.
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