Valkyrie started out of love for heavy drum & bass. They felt compelled to do something, so they started first as an event label, but very quickly they realised it could be something much bigger. That’s how the label was born.
Valkyrie has one clear vision: championing the heavy side of drum & bass while keeping both feet on the ground and supporting the underground where they came from. Community is the central concept for them, so they embrace submissions from all levels of the scene. As long as it’s a fresh idea with a clear artistic vision, it’s welcome on Valkyrie.
Their first release came out on May 1 and it’s not just any release. After a five-year hiatus, Killbox is releasing their next EP on Valkyrie, with a release show in London to celebrate. Something tells us there is much more to come from this fresh new label. We had a chat with founders Anny and TheLena.
Let’s dive right in… How did Valkyrie start?
Anny: We met last year, and independently I already had a vision of a UK-based powerhouse home for good heavy drum & bass, including but not limited to neurofunk. I love neurofunk, but I love all sorts of that heavy drum & bass. It is a particular sound that isn’t as well represented in drum & bass anymore, because the commercial sound now is very much centered around dancefloor and jump up. I wanted to start a brand that could give the heavier sound a home and I felt that there was a gap in the market for a brand, a label or a collective, something that could act as a conduit to rally the ravers and nurture the community, act as a home, and develop rising artists, especially in the UK. I’m sure in the really commercial sounds, artists have a good support network, but for neurofunk in the UK, there aren’t enough brands and opportunities to support these upcoming producers and give them bookings, mentorship, support… I had all these ideas and then I met Olena (TheLena) and Tim. Along with Tom (Tangents), we realised we had the same vision. We wanted to do something for the community and we wanted to do something in neurofunk.
TheLena: When I met Anny, I realised that it all starts with love and respect. When you love something so much that you can put everything else to the side and build towards something together, that’s when you know you’ve got something special. We want to spend our time doing something that makes sense for us. We have different lifestyles, we have different problems in life, we still have all of these things going on, but we always find the time to have a call, a quick chat, and to keep building on this shared goal. Nothing can stop us, because we really have a strong vision and passion. At first we thought, a collective sounds nice, but then we thought, dream big, think bigger!
Anny: We realised that if we want to help other artists come up, we need to be a label so that we can provide them with the infrastructure to help them.
Where did your passion for neurofunk start?
TheLena: It started a long, long time ago because out of all of the music I listened to, whether it was trance, dubstep, liquid, all kinds of drum & bass, neurofunk is the best. Neurofunk has the energy that wakes me up, moves me, makes me feel happy. I can listen to everything but my preference is always neuro.
Anny: It’s the same for me, I listen to all kinds of music, but the first time I went to Virus, years and years ago, I just immediately knew that this is what I wanted to do. This is the sound I wanted to be in. It is just such a special energy and even the crowd is unique, even for drum & bass.
How is it to sign Killbox, two out of three from the Virus Trinity, as artists for your first release?
Anny: That’s insane. I personally would have never in a million years imagined starting a label and having our first release with some of the original founders of the sound. They say that luck is when opportunity meets preparation, and I think in some ways we have been building our own luck around it for a really long time. As Olena said, we have a strong vision of what we wanted to do and we have a real love for the music, our incentives were aligned the right way. We wanted to promote art, we wanted to promote the music, we also had a clear plan that we could execute. We were able to communicate this clearly to Killbox, and we showed them that we have a competent team, that we had a track record of being able to run things properly… We’re also really engaged in the scene and have clearly put community first, so it’s a combination of all of these things. So, when they were looking to relaunch Killbox and they were looking for a home for their music, we were very lucky that they were willing to take a chance on us and really trust in our vision. We are very grateful because it is a big leap of faith from them to trust us with their release. At the same time, I also think we’ve had a strong vision, you know, we worked hard, we were prepared, so I think that’s how it all came together.
TheLena: We also had our showcase at Colours Hoxton, where we were able to show how hard we want to put people together, how hard we work to make them feel that community vibe. A lot of people tried to stop us and tried telling us, “There’s no community, don’t even try,” but look at us now!
Anny: There absolutely is a community, we just need to find each other! We’re a label run by women, and while we didn’t deliberately plan for this to be a female thing, I think it does make a difference in the little decisions that we make. At our show last year, the artists gave us feedback that they could tell we actually really cared about the very small details that made their experience better. It’s the small personal touches that make a difference in an event and women are maybe just a bit better at the human touch, the things that make someone realise that you care.
How was it to work with Killbox for this first release?
TheLena: I was very excited and stressed at the same time. Before I met them, I was just thinking about how I was going to talk to them, because they’re such a big inspiration, but then a few weeks later you’re going “Hey bro”. It’s really nice to work with them.
Anny: It’s incredible to work with the best and learn from the best and we’ve definitely learned a lot from them working with us. They’ve been very generous in sharing a lot of their wisdom and experience.
Earlier you were talking about how you just wanted to build a community with Valkyrie at first, but then you thought, let’s think bigger, and you started the label. Do you remember when that “let’s think bigger”-moment happened?
TheLena: Anny’s such an honest, straight and kind person, and we became really good friends. We see each other quite often, and it just made sense to me to dream big and work hard together.
Anny: We just figured out this was the best way that we could execute the vision that we wanted. This happened around late 2025, and there was a lot of back and forth behind the scenes as our team explored different ideas and tried to figure out what was the best way we could support the community and neurofunk. Ultimately, we had a team that trusted each other and could work hard together, so we decided to go for it.
Where does the name Valkyrie come from?
Anny: It comes from Norse mythology and Tom (Tangents) came up with it. He has Norwegian roots, and he’s also been an invaluable part of our team given his deep and extensive knowledge of drum & bass and the local scene. He would be able to meet any D&B artist and have a long conversation with them about some obscure release they did 10 years ago. Anyway, he came up with the name and we thought it was very fitting for us – Olena and I are both very strong-willed, motivated women. When we want to do something, we set our minds on it and just go and do it. Similarly, the Valkyrie is a strong, fierce female warrior who guides the souls of the dead from the battlefield to Valhalla, doesn’t that sound so neurofunk? They ride winged horses into the battlefield and they hang out with ravens as well, and Killbox have ravens in their logo. The motifs have somehow managed to all tie in together.
The Killbox EP came out recently, and you’re celebrating that with an underground pop-up event in London. Where did that idea come from?
TheLena: With Sounds of Ukraine we love to bring people together already, so it only made sense for me to keep doing this with Valkyrie as well. It’s a part of creating community, being community, and doing something for your community. Both of us have experience doing this in our own way. We’ve got the idea of organising free events for the community, because we feel that the scene really needs this. We’ve had a lot of chats and a lot of them express the need for more small and intimate DIY events.
Anny: Everything’s become so big, and yes, that’s cool sometimes, but where are those small 200 capacity venues where you go to see your friends just for a drink or two, have a little dance and go home feeling energised by human interaction? Community is front-and-centre for Valkyrie. One reason why Olena and I connected is because we’re both very community-driven. It is ultimately all about people connecting with one another. We want to do regular small events where everyone comes and it feels nice because you know other people there and you’re sharing your love for something. That’s why we wanted to do a pop-up party like this one, and we want to keep organising semi-regular parties following this one. We’re really looking forward to the release party. It’s a sick venue, I think it’s going to be amazing. We have quite a few friends flying in, like 5HA5H from Eatbrain coming in from Austria, and HighThere coming in from Germany… It’s nice to have our friends in the scene come over to celebrate with us.
It’s amazing that you’re creating these smaller events, instead of trying to go bigger and bigger. When you look at the news, grassroots venues are still closing every week. We need community more than ever.
Anny: Looking at drum & bass in the UK, I think the sense of community has decayed a bit because of how commercialised mainstream drum & bass is now. These big shows are no longer nights where you go and feel an actual sense of belonging with people you’ve seen about in the scene (or maybe I’m just too old!). Also, there were these big powerhouse labels in the UK like RAM which used to pick up, mentor and support artists on their journey, that no longer exist. What we’re trying to do now is fill that gap and support upcoming artists in our small ways at first, and then over the years hopefully grow into something that will really give local artists a community and home. In neurofunk particularly, we have a lot of local talented producers in the UK, but we are losing them to the European labels, maybe because there hasn’t been much audience development in the UK for this sort of sound in the last few years. It’s a real shame, especially since the UK is the home of neurofunk!
What European labels are you thinking of? Do you take inspiration from them?
Anny: Darkshire is one of them. They support their local artists, and the local artists are a community that supports each other. I really respect that. In general, we like labels like Blackout in The Netherlands, and East Europe has Eatbrain. These are big neurofunk powerhouse names that create opportunities through shows and releases for their local artists, whereas the UK doesn’t really have that, at least not on the scale I’m thinking – large enough to make this a viable career for domestic artists. We don’t have a big neurofunk name in the UK that is regularly creating opportunities to support small artists, and that’s because it’s a lot of hard work and really difficult! Neuroheadz did a really good job in Bristol, and our vision is similar, but we want to think even wider when it comes to supporting music and the arts in general. It’s not just neurofunk, it’s the heavier, punchier side of drum & bass we want to promote as well. I would like us to be open to not just neurofunk, but maybe even heavy dancefloor, or even dubstep. I would love to hear some dubstep, heavy techno, everything. I’m open to it because drum & bass is one of the few genres that keeps to themselves. In a lot of other genres there’s a lot of cross pollination, and I don’t see a reason why we can’t expand our minds artistically, and conceive of all these new ideas that don’t currently exist. That’s another thing that Olena and I share. We love drum and bass, but we also come from such different music backgrounds. We aren’t just limited to the drum & bass experience, and we aren’t just limited to a UK music experience.
TheLena: Absolutely, I would love for the scene to become more open minded. When I was trying to sign my own music to different labels, I realized that there are very straight rules about how music should be. When I make my tunes and play them out to friends and ravers, they all like it, but then I send it to a label, and they’re telling me that “it’s not their style, you need to change this and that, you need to take out your dubstep part…”. It kills the whole idea. So many artists get those same answers, and so many artists don’t release something because it’s not “the right thing”. I’m not saying that we’re ready to release everything, but we should release fresh ideas.
Anny: I would rather have a song with an incredible idea, that is maybe a bit unusual or thought provoking, but still slaps on the dancefloor or pushes boundaries, than something that’s perfect but really sterile and polished. The message I do want to champion and communicate through Valkyrie is that we want to help artists be artists and release good music in their own vision. We want to allow artists a space to not worry about commerciality and selling. Just worry about the art, if it’s a cool idea, we will find a way to support it, and we’ll see what we can do.
Any plans for Valkyrie that you can talk about already?
Anny: The main differentiator for us is that we are making a strong effort to build a community on the ground. I wish I had a sexier or cooler thing to share, but the most important work really is just showing up everyday with ongoing effort to really build a family as music is ultimately a human experience.
TheLena: We have so many things going on, small and big plans, but I think no matter what we do, if you put a lot of love and effort in it, people will feel it. I’ve got a lot of solo tunes coming out this year, but that doesn’t prevent me from doing what we are doing. There is time for everything, although I have only five hours a day to myself. Those five hours a day really push me to become the best version of myself and to work for what I really want, because no matter what, you need to work with what you have.
Anny: Same for me. I have two hours of free time a day on weeknights, that’s really not a lot so I have to manage my time well, be decisive and just get things done. Olena and I are both very motivated women who, if we want to do something, we just go for it. There are not a lot of women in drum & bass, especially in neurofunk who are in leadership positions, starting something, running something. I want to take this opportunity to share a message of empowerment to women as well, to not be afraid to take risks. Go and try starting something, because that’s often how you create opportunities for yourself and for other people. Sometimes things don’t always work out, but I think if you really love it, and you really care about the community and the music, something will work out. Maybe not commercially in numbers, but you will build something that will benefit others, and yourself in the process too.
That’s a beautiful message! Anything else you want to add?
TheLena: I want to send love to everyone, and I also want to invite everyone to come down to our release party, or support in the way that they can. Every single spark will grow our community and make it bigger. Support matters a lot. People come to events to listen to music, but then they go without sharing their thoughts. We want to give them the opportunity to share the experience, their thoughts, talk about the artist or the tune they like the most.
Anny: This is a label run by a crew that were ravers first (and ravers still!) We love the music and want to continue to keep both feet on the ground as part of a community we’re building. You’ll still find us on the dancefloor staying in touch with the scene. We’re trying to build a home, not just for the ravers, but also for artists who can come and then grow with us.
