It’s official: we can exclusively confirm that DC Breaks have signed their long (LONG) awaited debut album to Virgin EMI / Ram Records… And it’s en route very soon.
Following the footsteps of fellow Ram soldiers Chase & Status, Sub Focus and Wilkinson, the duo – comprising Chris Page and Dan Havers – will deliver their first long-playing opus in a joint partnership between the major label and Ram… And, from what they’ve told us, it’s likely to be a bit special.
With releases dating back to the mid zeros, fans have expected a DC Breaks album for many years. Stating in interviews as far back as 2011 that they’re working on it – and revealing various details on UKF last summer – it’s been a long time coming… But they’re happy they’ve paced themselves and played the long (LONG) game.
While it remains untitled at present, all that stands between now and the release is the recording of live strings and brass and one more single following this vibrant vocal bumper, Faithless…
This is what Dan and Chris can tell us about the album right now…
Expect 100 per cent drum & bass…
As they told us the last time we interviewed them, this won’t be a concept album, there will be no noodly interludes or off-piste creative indulgencies; DC Breaks’ debut album will be a non-stop 170 whirlwind:
Dan: It’s pure drum & bass and very energetic. There might be one downtempo track on there but otherwise it’s 13-14 tracks of typical DC Breaks drum & bass. It lurches from one extreme to the other with every style of drum & bass we love… Which is typical of us.
But don’t expect a one-dimensional experience….
A series of identikit Swag tracks is most definitely not on the cards.
Chris: We had an album that was pretty much done a year ago. It was very in-keeping with our Swag and Gambino records. We played it to the guys at Ram and they were very supportive but felt it would benefit from more songful tunes. So we went back to the drawing board, did a few more song-based tracks, worked with some really talented feature artists and Ram thought they were great. From there the album took a whole new direction.
It’s been such an interesting exercise; we actually found the songs easier to finish… When you’re trying to write a really techy tune you can get really bogged down in the nitty gritty details. But, with a song, you have the melody down in place and can work around that. Things fall into place a lot quicker.
They’ve gone to town on the finer details…
Things fall into place quicker, giving them more time to go to town on the details and instrumental organics of the tracks. This week they’re recording both a full string and brass section… Because they can.
Dan: The track in question wasn’t built around the strings, they were added for more of a live epic feel. Rather than relying on sample packs, we’re getting the real deal. It’s worth it; real live elements could be the difference between a top 40 or a top 10 record.
DC Breaks are a partnership best served one hundred miles apart…
Bristol-based Chris and London-based Dan don’t actually like writing music in the same room as each other!
Chris: The majority of the album has been done in separate studios. We do a lot of backwards and forwards and fulfill different roles… Dan’s done the vocal recordings and the melodies down while I get the drum & bass stuff done. He then tweaks it and we end up with something together.
Dan: Fundamentally we don’t work well together when we’re trying to create new ideas. It’s great we live in different cities so don’t feel compelled to share a studio. When you’re trying to come up with ideas you just want to lock yourself away in a room for hours on your own and bash away until something comes out. Having two people do that is very counterproductive. Time and space is the most beneficial benefit of our partnership.
We’ve written over 20 tracks… I didn’t even think that was humanly possible to finish that many tracks in that amount of time! Making drum & bass is so time consuming and really really difficult. We thought we were ready… We weren’t, but now we are.
Finally, there’s no better time than now for a DC Breaks album…
Bottom line: the wait will be worth it.
Chris: It’s been a really long process but I think we couldn’t have produced this album any other time than now. We’ve learnt the ropes, we’ve got more into song-writing, it’s been a really interesting journey.
Dan: We thought we were ready years ago but, truthfully, we weren’t. The last few years have been incredible with tracks like Swag and Gambino being supported in the way they have, but we had to take a step back from them to write other types of D&B that we might not have done before.
We’ve written over 20 tracks… I didn’t even think that was humanly possible to finish that many tracks in that amount of time! Making drum & bass is so time consuming and really really difficult. We thought we were ready… We weren’t, but now we are.
Expect the album to drop later this year. We’ll keep you posted on the finer details.
DC Breaks are joining us at Building Six on April 2 alongside Netsky, Black Sun Empire, Foreign Beggars, Maduk, Ownglow, Rene Lavice, Skism, Sorrow, The Prototypes, Trampa, Xilent and more.
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