Seventeen is usually the age where most artists are still trying to figure out what their sound is meant to be. Ashdunn already sounds like he’s been living UKG for longer than he’s been allowed in most clubs.
Raised on a diet of house and early garage through his parents, then pulled deeper into the scene through Gavin at Garage Shared, his route wasn’t really discovery. It was more like inheritance.
By the time most producers are still knocking out school projects, Ashdunn had already signed his first record at 13, figured out Logic on his own, and started stacking up a catalogue that maps the current evolution of UKG, from bumpy, old-school swing through to the sharper, more techy edges creeping into the sound right now.
It’s this tethering balance that runs through his new release, 17. Part coming-of-age marker, part snapshot of an artist still in motion, and not interested in locking anything down too early.
So let’s get into the music. How did you find Garage?
When I started making music on the computer, it mostly started with house. My mum and my dad were massively into house music. It was mainly through Gavin, who runs Garage Shared; he introduced me to a lot of garage music. He introduced me to Sammy Virji, MPH, and that sort of more modern garage stuff. But my mum was into old-school garage before that, and I’ve just been making that sort of stuff ever since.
How did you get in contact with Garage Shared then?
Gavin was a mate of my mum’s; I think they used to go out on nights. So when I was about 11, I started chatting to Gav—that’s when I just started making music and sending him bits and pieces. Then I signed my first single to Garage Shared when I was 13.
Where did you learn to start producing?
The computers in school had Logic; in music classes, you’ve got more of a brief that you need to stick to. But I ended up getting Logic at home that Christmas and just haven’t stopped going on it since then. It’s literally all I do every day.
So a mixture of self-taught and at school…
But I think most of the stuff was self-taught because, in school, they teach certain bits and bobs, but I would go home and just get into the proper nerdy side of it all. I mean, I’d look up a lot of stuff on YouTube—my favorite producers—and see how they work and stuff.
I remember watching loads of videos of David Guetta when he did those tutorial things with DJ Mag. And then I’d just go off the ideas that he would come up with and try and implement that into my own stuff.
You said your mum and dad were into house and garage. What other music did you have around you growing up as a kid?
Before I was producing, I was playing the drums. I’ve been playing the drums since I was about four. I only really got into dance music when I was about 11 or 12, but before that, I was massively into loads of rock bands—stuff like Led Zeppelin and Guns N’ Roses. That was my main sort of ambition before I found producing: I wanted to be a drummer in a band.
Do you find that because you play the drums, you’re really focused on the drums when you’re in the DAW
Yeah, I think maybe not consciously, but a lot of the time when I start a tune, it will come out of the drums. There’ve been a lot of times I’ve shown other producers my music as well, and they’ve said that they really like my drums, and that’s probably because I’m a drummer.
Are you still drumming?
Yeah. I still need to finish the grades, because that could be another good thing to do as well with session playing. I got to grade six; I just need to complete seven and eight.
It sounds like production came first and then DJing. Is that right?
When I first started DJing, I downloaded loads and loads of drum and bass tunes, the first music I started making, too. I started out making house music, but really, in terms of noticing the quality going up in my music, a big part of it was when I started making and playing drum and bass. I’ve got a three-hour playlist of unreleased drum and bass.
Are you going to release it?
Hopefully at some point. It’s mostly jump-up, but I’ve got some jungle tunes and liquid tunes as well. But anyway, I bought a load of drum and bass and I got these decks off a guy my dad knew—a guy down the pub. I think he just got some new decks and he was looking to sell them, and we managed to get them off him for 50 quid.
I learned on them for ages, maybe two or three years. And then I recently got a new pair for Christmas last year. They’re proper.
Good for you. So was that self-taught as well? Or did your dad’s mate help you a bit?
That was completely self-taught. I was a bit worried about that, especially when I did Boomtown last year, because I’ve never actually had anyone teach me DJing; I’ve literally just done my own thing and I didn’t know whether I had any bad habits I didn’t know about.
What do you reckon was your breakout moment as a DJ?
Boomtown was probably one of the first moments where I thought something could potentially come out of this music. But it’s been a massive problem in the past as well with my age. I remember it must have been probably 2024 when I got booked to play this gig in Southampton supporting Bushbaby.
It was when I first started getting into garage music. He dropped his DESIRE96 EP; that was one of the first things that made me go, “Yeah, I really want to do this fully.” I got booked to play on a lineup with him, and then I told the club that I was 15 and they said, “You can’t do it.”
How is it being a DJ and not being old enough to get into clubs?
It’s frustrating, because apart from social media, clubs are the main source of promotion, really—just playing your tunes live to people.
How long till you’re 18?
I’m 18 in January, but I think we’ve got a plan in place until then for release-wise. I did an EP called ’16’ for my 16th birthday, and we’re going to do a ’17’ EP in June. I don’t know whether it’s an EP or album, but ’18’ will be in January. I’ve got some good features on that as well.
Have you got anything lined up before the big birthday?
I might be doing Isle of Wight this year. But apart from that, not really. I got really lucky with Boomtown because they reached out to me.
It’s not just luck, though, is it? You’re doing bits. You’ve got some great music coming out. You mentioned social media as promotion. How are you using that? Are you putting content out yourself, or are people helping you?
I’m just putting it out myself. I’ve got some good plans for June that I think could potentially, really kick stuff off for my next release.
It’s called 17 right? Tell us all about that…
It’s mainly a lot of my own singles. Over the last six releases, I’ve tried to transition from proper garage stuff into a bit more of a tech-house influence. That seems to be the way that the scene’s directing itself now.
And what about your musical taste?
That’s the difficult thing; I’ve had to try to balance. I don’t want to just make music for other people and not like it myself, so I’ve been trying to get that balance. There’s still that old-school garage vibe in there, but it’s still got the tech-house influence. It could go either way: it can get played in a tech-house set and still fit in, or a garage set, similar to a lot of Silver Bumper’s stuff.
Your parents were into old school garage, and there’s been a new wave of garage in the last few years. Why do you think it’s come back around?
I’m not really sure. You look at Sammy Virgi now and he’s just gone absolutely mental, but then again, the people like him, Oppidan, MPH, they’ve all been consistent with their sound for the last four, five, six years, which could easily be the reason that they’re blowing up. That in itself helps to elevate garage to another level and make way for new people. Silver Bumper has blown up massively this year.
It’s really good to see, because none of my mates were into garage music and stuff; I was the only one who made it and they’d always take the piss.
And now you’re getting released, getting uploads and you’re getting a bit of a name for yourself out there.
That’s the thing about garage; when you look at Interplanetary Criminal and Main Phase or even Charlie Shell, it is looking more international rather than exclusively British. The garage scene in Australia is just going mad at the minute. I’ve even released a track with Charlie Shell.
What do your parents think?
They’re pretty proud…
We’re sure they are. You’re going to have to bring your mum and dad to your first club gig…
Yeah, definitely. They had to come to Boomtown with me, which is quite funny. I must have been the only one at Boomtown with their parents there; I’m just mega grateful that I got to play there.
For Does it feel weird to have people know who you are?
It’s a bit weird. I think mainly because of social media, but I’ll go out somewhere and have a few people say, “Yeah, I know your music.” Even just little things like that—it’s just surreal. It’s just mad to think that if I go to a bigger level, I mean, that’s going to be mad, isn’t it?
Hopefully you’ll get used to it a bit.
Yeah. Hopefully.
Do you find that people always mention your age?
No, that’s the thing. If people know me personally, then they bring up my age. But a lot of the time if I’ve got a bootleg out and people are messaging me about it, and it just comes up in the messaging that I’m 17, half the time they’ve got no clue.
That was one of the first decisions we made. When I first started doing releases and stuff, we didn’t purposely market or monetize my age, because we didn’t want people only listening to my stuff because of how old I am.
Tell us more about the EP…
I think it’ll probably be about seven tracks. With this EP, I’m a lot happier with the sound. I feel like the sound that I’ve got on that EP and after that is a lot more consistent than the sounds I’ve had before. Before, it would be testing the waters and replicating things and seeing what sort of thing would stick. But with this, it’s been more putting out the stuff that I enjoy, maybe, and I think will appeal as well.
Is there anything else you want to say to the world of UKF?
Yeah. It’s just mental; such a prolific… It’s just iconic, really. UKF have put so many good tunes up on YouTube and it’s just nice to be acknowledged by that and be a part of it.
When you do get your DJ sets together and what kind of vibe do you reckon it’s going to be?
I did a little sort of free gig with Garage Shared. That was mostly bumpy garage and mixed in with some tech house stuff. But in January this year I got really into making 140 and dub stuff as well. I’d like to do that as well because I’ve made loads of speed garage stuff. So potentially, that could fit in with some 140.
Have you got any dream collabs?
The list is probably endless, to be fair. In terms of garage, probably Interplanetary Criminal, Sammy Virji; I mean, Fred again.. would be pretty wild. But in terms of similar people in the scene, I think Osmosis Jones is the new sound that I’m coming out with now—it’s on a similar old-school bumpy garage vibe. So I reckon that could really work.
