With a surprise two-tracker for SUNANDBASS Recordings, Bristol-based junglist Napes injects his flavour of grime-infused breakbeats into the label synonymous with Sardinian summer.
The release marks an important point in the rising producer’s career – a point where he can afford to be a little more selective on labels and releases, cultivating an already growing cult following.
That quality over quantity approach is central to Napes’ process – often spending months and years on a single tune. He slowly adds new details, progression, switch-ups, icing – and that’s why his sound is particularly unique, and the construction of his tracks is far from formulaic (read: boring). It rewards a full listen – you never know what might come next.
The new lead single is a perfect example. ‘Hit The Corner’ clocks in at six and a half minutes, with drumwork that doesn’t stop evolving – steady rolling, but then fractured, chopped, and screwed up. Layered around it he uses a stabby synth and 8-bit melody, nodding toward the recent SUNANDBASS aesthetic we’ve heard from the likes of Bailey or Trex.
But how did he get here? Twenty-six years young with a well-defined sound, loyal following, and mature artist mindset. UKF caught up with him to trace the pathway – which includes a breakout release on Born On Road, and working with Alix Perez to achieve a dream release on 1985 Music…
We’ve spoken before about some of your musical influences, but walk me through how you got into producing computer music?
I actually came into it through playing drums. I got Grade 8 and was fully into band music when I was younger. Then when I was about 17, I started going raving – a lot of jump-up, all that sort of thing, you know what it’s like. But I wasn’t really thinking too deeply about the music. I was just there to have it.
Then one day I was in the shower and YouTube randomly put on this old Kemistry & Storm DJ-Kicks mix. I’d never really heard proper, older drum & bass like that before, and I just remember thinking, what the hell is this? It completely stopped me in my tracks. I got out and listened to the whole thing.
That was the moment?
Yep. I just thought, right, this is what I want to make.
I didn’t know loads about the scene, which actually helped. I think a lot of people now know too much straight away – there’s all this pressure and expectation. I didn’t have any of that. For the first three years, I was just messing around and making dark tunes with no real pressure to release anything. Looking back, they weren’t great, but I thought they were at the time. Still, I feel like I found my direction quite early. As soon as I heard that sound, I knew that was where I wanted to go.
Your first releases started appearing around 2020. Had you been working on things for a while before that?
Yeah, definitely. I’d been making music for a few years before anything came out. Even then, I don’t really look at those earliest releases as the point where I fully arrived. For me, the one that really felt like ‘me’ was the Chopper Gunner EP on Born On Road. That was when I thought I’d sort of found my angle or pathway.
That EP did way better than I expected as well. I still can’t believe how well tunes like Chopper Gunner have connected with people. For something that dark and left-field, it’s mad how much life it’s had. That’s the release where I really feel like I found my feet. Everything after that felt like a more accurate version of what I want to be.
I’m just glad I didn’t rush loads of music out before then. I’d hate to have loads of old stuff on Spotify that I didn’t really stand by.
Was that COVID period quite formative for you then?
Yeah, massively. I was a student in Bristol at the time, and obviously uni became a bit of a joke because so much of what we’d signed up for just fell away. But in a weird way, it gave me exactly what I needed: time.
I basically spent those two years in Bristol making loads of music. That was when I made the Chopper Gunner EP and a lot of the stuff that followed. So even though COVID was obviously awful in a lot of ways, for me creatively I kind of loved it, haha. I hadn’t really had my breakthrough before that, so instead of stalling momentum, it actually gave me the space to build something.
What was strange is that before COVID I’d played maybe two tiny shows, and then coming out of it I was suddenly headlining places. I skipped that slow climb a lot of artists go through. So it was super important for me really.
Were you living with other producers in Bristol, or was it quite separate from that world?
No, none of the people I lived with were producers, which I actually think was a good thing. I’ve never really lived with other music people. My housemates are just brutally honest, too. If I show them something and they thought it was rubbish, they’d say so straight away.
They can’t necessarily give you a technical breakdown of why something isn’t working, but sometimes you don’t need that. Sometimes you just need someone to go, “Nah mate, that one’s not it.” That honesty is really useful.
At what point did your music start reaching Alix Perez and 1985?
It was because of Chopper Gunner. I can’t remember exactly how long it had been out, maybe six months or so, but someone sent me a video of Alix playing it. I was like, alright… that’s pretty mad.
I got hold of his email and sent him some music. He was really receptive straight away. I sent over a few bits, and pretty quickly it turned into, “let’s do an EP.”
What really struck me was how much belief there was from the start. He backed it in a serious way – the artwork, the vinyl, the whole package. It didn’t feel like a cautious first release. It felt like he fully believed in it from day one, which meant a lot.
And with 1985, it’s all him. You’re not passing things through loads of middle people. It’s Alix all the way through. And because the label is so clearly his vision, that comes through in everything it does.
What is it like working with someone who has such a strong vision for a label like that?
It’s intense, but in a good way. He’s very clear on what he likes and what he doesn’t, and I respect that massively. I’ve learned that with him, you only send finished music, because the response is basically yes or no.
That can be brutal when you’ve spent ages on something, but it’s also why the label has such a strong identity. I honestly think 1985 is just the best in terms of imagery and sound. Even when the music is outside the standard territory – like jungle, garage or something else – it still somehow sounds like that 1985 world of sound. I don’t know how he does it, or even how to explain it.
It’s hard to even define what that sound is exactly, but you know it when you hear it. It’s dark, it’s original, unique, it’s really high-level in terms of production quality. He’s got the soulful side too which also somehow fits perfectly.
Did that 1985 release change things for you in a noticeable way?
Massively. That EP really shifted things for me. It reached a lot of people and it’s had a lasting effect as well. I hadn’t put anything out for quite a while before these SUNANDBASS tracks, and I was still getting bookings and still feeling the impact of that record.
I hate talking about this stuff because it can sound a bit vain, but it did make me feel more established. It made me feel like I’d put out something serious – something with real weight behind it – rather than just trying to get a foot in the door.
That matters to me because I don’t make quick music. I spend ages on tunes.
You can hear that – your tunes are super detailed and constantly shifting.
Thanks mate. I just get bored really easily. One thing I struggle with in drum & bass is when a tune is basically the same thing repeated over and over. I can appreciate it in a club, but when I’m writing music, I need movement. I need it to evolve and keep changing.
So my tracks end up becoming these big, slightly ridiculous constructions where it feels like I’m making three tunes in one. That’s part of why they take so long. You’re not just writing sections – you’re trying to make all these different ideas feel like one coherent piece of music.
That’s what happened with Hit The Corner especially. That tune took me four years! I wanted it to feel expansive and constantly evolving, not like a standard copy-and-paste club tool. That’s just how my brain works. It makes life harder for me, but I think in the end it’s worth it.
You’ve said before that you found your lane quite early. Are you becoming more certain of your sound now, or trying to push beyond it?
Maybe both. I found that grimy, jungle-rooted sound pretty early on, and that’s still the core of what I do, but there’s only so far you can push one angle before you start feeling boxed in.
So I’m not trying to abandon that sound – I still love it – but I am trying to edge outward a little bit. The SUNANDBASS release is part of that. It still feels like me, but it’s opening the frame slightly. Maybe it leans more soulful in places, or more classic jungle in spirit.
I think artists can get into trouble if they suddenly swing too far and put out something completely different. People don’t always follow you there. So for me it’s more about gradual expansion – introducing new colours without dropping the thread completely.
These SUNANDBASS tracks then – how did that release come together?
As I mentioned, Hit The Corner had been in the works for years. I had this little melodic idea and just kept coming back to it over a really long period, adding bits, changing bits, reshaping it. It became this proper labour-of-love tune. I wasn’t even really making it with a release in mind – I just wanted to make something that kept evolving and felt rewarding to listen to outside of a pure club setting.
I sent it to a few labels and no one really knew what to do with it, which was frustrating because I really believed in it. Then I sent it to Pier (Zar) at SUNANDBASS, and he was instantly into it. He really wanted it for the label, and when someone shows that kind of love for a tune, it’s hard to say no.
So I made the second track and that was that. It’s actually been really nice working with him because he’s a mate, but he’s also been properly on it with everything. The whole release has been handled really well.
Why do you think these tracks belong on the SUNANDBASS catalogue?
I don’t necessarily think I naturally fit what people traditionally think of as SUNANDBASS, but I actually think that’s part of why it works.
They still sit within the world of the label, but they bring a slightly different energy and perspective to it. I think that’s healthy. Labels need new people and new angles or things can get stale.
For me, it’s also a good crossover point. It opens me up to a different audience, and it opens that audience up to what I do. People might hear these two tracks, then go and listen to the heavier jungle stuff and either hate it or love it – but either way, it creates that bridge. I think it works really well for both sides.
Agree on that. It’s the same sort of expansion you talked about with 1985 before.
Looking ahead, what’s next for you?
More music, definitely. I’m heading out for an Australia and New Zealand tour pretty soon after the EP drops, which should be exciting.
More broadly, it’s just about continuing to build. I’ve got more coming but I just can’t reveal too much right now! I’m trying to keep pushing the sound forward without losing the thing that makes it mine.
