Forget the Premier League, from now on Shadow League is all that counts! Virus Syndicate and Black Sun Empire are teaming up to form this new supergroup, and their first single ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ has just been released.
The two groups first met while working on ‘Caterpillar’ in 2016, and ever since then their friendship continued to grow stronger, with Virus Syndicate’s visit to Utrecht in 2024 being the highlight. The two decided to get into the studio together to work on a few tracks, and ended up coming out with a full album: Shadow League was born.
Expect the full spectrum, expect multi-genre, expect hard hitting bass and even harder hitting bars. Shadow League’s album drops in September, but we had the chance to talk about what they’ve been planning already.
This is so exciting! When did you come up with the idea to form Shadow League?
Nika D: It happened really organically. We’ve been good friends with Black Sun Empire for quite a while now, and have been making music with them since ‘Caterpillar’ in 2016. We stayed in contact and got the idea to work on some tunes together again, but the tunes we had made together didn’t sound like anything we’ve made before. We came over to Utrecht, where Black Sun Empire are from, for a few days and we cranked out the project, pretty much.
Rene: the idea was just to record one or two new tunes, but in two and a half days we ended up recording eight or nine tracks. Then, we got the idea that maybe those tunes should be a separate project because they’re so different from what we normally do.
JSD: Yeah, we found a track that we made together, a big room house track, and it was rediscovering that that made us go, wait a minute, this is spanning quite a lot of genres.
It’s interesting to see how your two groups come together. Virus Syndicate, you’re from the grime and dubstep scene in Manchester, and Black Sun Empire comes from the Dutch drum & bass scene.
JSD: We come from listening to jungle MCs, we didn’t really get in and write rap, listening to US artists.
Nika D: It’s effortless for us to write to that music. From being 12, 13 years olds, that was the sound of our life.
JSD: I’ve got Black Sun Empire records from back in the day. Our relationship has happened so organically and they feel like family now.
And how has Virus Syndicate inspired Black Sun Empire?
Rene: They bring all the fun and joy. When they came over to Utrecht, we worked those couple of days and it went so well. We were just laughing and having so much fun. Obviously the guys are super talented, so that’s a big inspiration. We specifically decided not to do any dubstep yet, because that’s what you guys are more known for, and also no hard drum & bass that we’re usually known for. We tried to meet in the middle with a new thing, and that happened organically.
Milan: There’s quite a few tracks that are super different, maybe even non-genre specific, but the sound does make sense in that Virus Syndicate and Black Sun Empire combination.
Rene: Some of you guys’ vocals were written here on the spot. That was quite cool to see because you guys were just sitting outside, having a beer and enjoying the sun. That was really cool.
How do you complement each other?
Nika D: Normally, I would always try to be prepared for studio sessions and have a bunch of lyrics or ideas for tracks ready, but when it came to the Shadow League project, I had only roughly mapped out a few ideas in my head. When we got to the studio, all the tunes had changed so much from what the original demos were that it felt right to just go from the beginning with it. That really helped us to get the best out of the project, because it was being created in real time, in terms of getting the lyrics down, getting the structures of the songs together, and having a skeleton of what was going to be a final product.
JSD: Whenever you’re creating something, the energy and the vibes between yourself and the people you’re working with are so important. We connected on a human level, we connected as musicians and as people. When you get on well with people and you have a laugh, like Rene was saying, so many laughs in the studio. When the energies are like that and you’re creating a project, it just connects so naturally. We didn’t even have to think about how the process may have been different or not. We were just in the moment.
Nika D: It definitely brought out different sides to us creatively.
What’s the goal with this supergroup?
Nika D: Number one for us is to make music that we love, spend time with the guys making that music, because that’s the funnest part. Also doing live shows together. We want to build a brand, that’s the outlet for both ourselves and Black Sun Empire. Do something different from what the Virus Syndicate brand and fan base would typically expect, and hopefully it’s something that everyone will be as excited about as we are.
JSD: We’ve been doing this a long time. We really got a sense of what matters and we’re making music that we love and enjoy, and we’re having a good time doing it. Just echoing Rene’s sentiments before, that’s really the goal. We want it to be successful and we want to reach a new audience, that’s the greater goal, but we’re just there to create and let the universe take care of the rest.
To scratch that creative itch…
Rene: And we really like the sound of our beats with their voices, that’s the essence of it. We’re excited to do loads more of that, and to let people hear it.
Milan: There’s a 108 bpm type beat, which is the slowest we’ve ever done, and that’s my favorite one. Make no mistake, we’re coming out of the blocks hot, we’re not doing it half-heartedly. If you know us, then you know we’re doing this properly. We’ve got a lot of exciting things to come.
Rene: There is a lot of ambition with this and we are hungry to make this a success, without a shadow of a doubt. We want it to be as successful as it can be but we don’t want to put a shitload of pressure on it either.
Milan: The album comes out and then we’ll just take it from there and see what happens.
Nika D: We’ve got an album launch party in September in Berlin, that will probably be the first demonstration of what a Shadow League set would sound like, we’re going to go more multi-genre with that.
JSD: We’ll be building a new set and we’ll be adding to it all the time. It’s quite early doors for the project and we need to still really come together and work on the set for Berlin, but we can already tell you that it’s not going to be a Virus Syndicate mixed with Black Sun Empire type of set.
The first time you worked together was on ‘Caterpillar’ in 2016. How has your bond evolved since then?
Nika D: Working on ‘Caterpillar’ was more of an email relationship. We met Rene for the first time when he came to Manchester to do a show. It’s progressed a lot since then. On the surface, you’d think that we were polar opposites as people. JSD and I are loud and never shut up, and Rene and Milan are quite reserved and quiet. But once the studio doors closes, once we’re in our own setting with the four of us, we’re all pretty similar.
JSD: When you’re working together, you have to be open, and I don’t think any of us are afraid to speak their opinion or give a suggestion. Once the studio doors close it’s an even playing field, we’re all in this to make the best song we can make, we all want to make the coolest thing, so ultimately, leave your egos at the door and if anyone’s got a suggestion or an opinion, we collaborate and work together to get the best out of the track.
Rene: You guys want to really work as well, you want to put down the vocals, you want to do the doubles, you want to do the retakes. When we’re together, all we want to do is make music and have fun doing it.
JSD: Creating this group… The more the pieces of the mechanics come together to form the machine, the more you can feel the power.
Nika D: We’re all quite different personalities, but once you’ve combined all of that into a melting pot, it organically created this new sound.
Milan: This was the first time that we worked with MCs with some rough demos to start, then have the guys come over and try and fill them with lyrics, and work them out to actual tunes afterwards. That’s not something we’ve done. We always made a complete track and then sent that over and see if someone would fit in. That’s a very different way of working, because once you have the rough demo plus the vocals and then you have to melt it together, the tune will probably end up different than it would have if you started with the full tune.
Nika D: I feel confident to be in that setting and get the best out of myself in a short space of time, which is definitely like a growing point for me. Normally it’d be me and JSD in the studio doing that. I’ve been doing that for years and that’s just second nature, but to be doing that with another group, I’ve never done that before. That’s brand new for me to be doing that. Normally when we’ve collabed with other producers they just send a beat and then we write to it and send it back whereas this, like Milan said, was a much different process. Some of what we have learned, we have already incorporated into some of the new Virus Syndicate material, in terms of approach to making the tracks anyway.
Rene: When you work with vocalists, it’s important that you have a hook and that the music is about something. Sometimes our drum & bass can be instrumental and just have loud noises. We feel even more now that music should be around recognition and about something that’s a bit catchy. When the stuff comes together most is when you have something and it sticks to your mind already.
Your first single ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ is out now, with more to come until the big album launch in September. What can we expect?
Nika D: Welcome to the Jungle is one of my personal favorites from the album. From the moment we got the render back after we’d been in Utrecht with the guys, it had evolved so much. That’s the beginning of this journey publicly. The second single drops in August and we’ve already shot the visuals for that, and then the album September the 12th, launch party September the 13th in Berlin. Get ready for absolute carnage, Shadow League 2025.
Rene: The three singles represent three different sounds: four to the floor, slower, and full on drum & bass, so people know what to expect from the album that is basically all over the place.
Nika D: Multi-genre bass music is the way to define this project.
Rene: People are more open to multi-genre now than they would be 10 years ago, when people were very constrained in their thinking.
Any last thoughts?
Nika D: Thanks for the early support on the project, we really appreciate it and the fact that UKF are getting on board and supporting a project like this so early on, it’s really encouraging for us. We’re all really grateful.
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