We first introduced you to No Nation in our 2023 One’s to Watch after our ears perked up when our mates over at Planet Wax tipped us off to this rising star, and boy, are we glad they did! No Nation’s sonic style defies genre boundaries, crafting an enchanting mosaic in the expansive realm of drum and bass, one that defies confinement by mere sub-genre labels.
Step into a No Nation mix, and you’ll find yourself plunged headfirst into a sonic dreamscape, where jungle breaks collide with mind-bending experimental rhythms. His eclectic palette, drawing inspiration from the likes of liquid, hip-hop, techno, and the revered UK garage vibes. And his tracks are just as interesting as his sets. You’ll catch his unique tunes gracing the decks of wildly experimental and unequivocally underground labels like Different Music, Banoffee Pies, and Slippery Sounds.
No Nation’s music isn’t just for the die-hard drum and bass aficionados. If you’re a fan of good music, regardless of where it falls on the bass and breaks spectrum, No Nation’s got something special for you. And we thought it was high time for a chat.
How are you? How’s your day been?
I’m enjoying the weather, when you wake up in bed and the sun is on your face immediately it is so hard to move.
Nice…I just want to go in the garden when it’s sunny…
Yeah, my garden is glorious as well. I live in an estate with a nice communal garden. So it’s nice out there, kids running around and playing. I say hi to some of my neighbours which is nice, it’s just nice to just see people out.
I’ve been in Bristol for two years, but I’ve been in this place for two months.
What have you been up to recently- apart from enjoying the sun?
I work as a data scientist- that’s like my day job. That was the reason why I moved to Bristol- to study for my masters. I finished my masters in data science and then I got this job with AA Breakdown which is great because it means I can work on music at nighttime.
I went to Headroom festival, which was about 500 people. I’ve got a couple of releases with the label that runs it so they booked me. It was fun but it was the most civilised festival I’ve ever been to. It wasn’t overly civilised but I’m more used to Bangface Weekender. I don’t want to be somewhere where everyone is completely out of it and hugging the generator, but I definitely recommend Bangface, it’s like being a school kid on a school trip and there are no teachers around ever.
Have you been playing many festivals?
No, just the Headroom one. That was my only festival booking this year, people see me more as a producer. I’ve been relatively busy compared to other people, some people aren’t playing, every month, and I’m maybe playing twice a month. So At least that’s an opportunity to show myself and my style.
I feel like people have started to clock that I’ve got a certain vision and brand that I’m trying to put out there. My brand has a certain flavour and I think people are starting to f*ck with it, it’s starting to become recognisable to people.
When I listen to music obviously I hear hard-hitting jungle, but it has got this soft, glowy edge that just sits on top of this hard underbelly. How would you describe your vision and your sound?
I like soul music and I don’t mean just 70’s soul music, obviously, that’s the big part of jungle breaks in that. But I like music for the soul, music where you go to a party and it’s like you’re having a religious experience, music that makes you feel something. I like the atmosphere that a lot of old music brings and I try to pull through with my music, but with that hit of the breaks in it, it mixes nicely at a party.
I take a lot of inspiration from film scores because of the feeling. Take R&B for example, especially the R&B music that I grew up listening to. The feeling can sometimes be very basic, the songs can be like- “I love you so much and I’ve got so much money” they’re happy tunes but their sentiment is really simple. But when I think of for example ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ the soundtrack creates really complex feelings. It’s like- “I love you but I don’t understand why I love you and I hate that I love you. I want to forget you but now I regret that” and it’s like that all comes through in the soundtrack there are layers to it and it just takes you on a journey. That’s what I like to convey with my music.
You mentioned soul and R&B, what were your very early connections to music in your family and in your household?
My first experience of music was probably through my mum and her younger sister. My mum’s big R&B head, and she really likes neo-soul music. I discovered a lot of 70s music through them but mostly, conscious rap and neo-soul music and home. I was a sweet boy in secondary school, and I liked to listen to heartbreak music. I used to leave my house an hour before school started because I used to sit in the playground by myself and listen to music. I was really obsessed with sound quality, so I made sure I saved for the best MP3 player and the best headphones that I could afford. Then my uncle bought me a guitar when I was 12 and I started playing Spanish classical.
Then I fell in love with instrumental jazz and progressive rock. I loved experimental instrumentals, I wouldn’t call it experimental music but definitely to the left a lot of what most people my age were listening to. I mean, at that time, most people in East London were listening to grime I never really f*cked with grime at the time I could see the appeal but I was always a bit eclectic in my musical taste.
When did you find jungle, breaks and bass music?
Late. I was always listening to jazz, so I always like to think that I’ve had some connection with jungle there. Personally, I think jungle is just an extension and an evolution of jazz. It was only when I started going to the parties that I’m going to now. The first were Jungle Jam, Distant Planet and Rupture at the end of 2019. It’s very recent.
When did you start producing?
I was messing around with samples and stuff in 2018 about making my hip-hop and lo-fi. I wanted to be J Dilla. I was making hip hop beats just for fun and then, I went to these parties at the end of 2019 and I was just mad inspired.
Did you just go out with a friend and stumble across a jungle rave?
It was Sheba Q…
And is that your connection with Dexta, Diffrent and Planet Wax?
Yeah…I mean she brought me to the party. But then if I go to a party I’m going to enjoy myself. I’ll meet everyone in the room. That’s just what I’m like to be around. During the week I’m a solo person but when I’m ready to go out and socialise, if I’m with 300 people, I’ll say hello to everyone. The jungle scene is very welcoming like that, in underground dance music in general people are kind of like that. I made an effort to get involved and the scene was ready to receive me in it. But yeah, Sheba- Q she’s the first person to take me to the party.
How did you meet her? Was it through music?
She was on the same course we were studying engineering at the time. I never really spoke to her too much during the course, but we noticed that we shared some interesting music tastes together and then we lost contact for years. We just happened to reconnect again, it turned out that she wanted to go to the party. So I came through and one thing led to another.
How many tunes have you two had together now?
Three? Maybe four, something like that.
Do you collaborate a lot with people? Is it something you enjoy doing?
I like to do it, but it can be difficult. It depends on who I’m collaborating with. But with her, it just works. I mean I didn’t even feel like I was necessarily making music, it was just chilling and then a tune would just come out at the end. With some other people, it might feel a little bit more like there’s friction there so that can be less enjoyable. But I’ve been collaborating with people and I’ve got remixes and stuff coming in. I’ve enjoyed doing remixes, having people just send me the stems for a tune then I just work.
With my remix for Future Bounce, they just gave me the tune and I just came up with a remix. That was nice because it wasn’t jungle as well, it was more like a singer/songwriter thing which I want to do more of.
I know you like to mix up your influences in your sets too. Do you know what you’re going to play out before you get to a party?
I don’t know exactly what I’m gonna play until I get there, but I definitely have a lane that I stick in because that’s the brand and my art. I’m trying to push that. I’d like to think that my brand is not just me, obviously, it is me, but I would like to think that It’s conceptual. I’d like to think that I’m putting something artistic into the space, something considered rather than just being what I want to play.
I tread the line between working out what I want to do on a night and playing for the crowd but then also, telling a story. I’ve played instrumental jazz at certain parties for little interludes and little during the set when it makes sense to the story I’m trying to tell.
And is that the story of how you’re feeling at that time? When you consider the concepts, are you saying I want to talk about this movement or that issue? Can you explain that a little bit?
The brand is ultimately an expression of my own experience. The set that you might see me play, I’d like to think, is just an extension of my brand. I think I’m a very emotional person and personally, I’m trying to get people to feel how I feel or they can have their own interpretations. I don’t really know, but when I’m making music, when I’m playing I’m very much in my feelings.
I wanted to talk to you a little bit about Diffrent, I came across you through those guys, how did you get started with them? Was it literally just talking to Dexta at a party at Planet Wax?
Yeah, I went to the opening of the record shop when it was at the market yard in the beginning just before lockdown started. I was out meeting everyone, Stretch, Mantra, and Double O, saying hi to people at parties. If you go to parties you start to see the same people and start making friends. I started to hear more about what’s happening to those circles and obviously heard about Planet Wax. At the time I was very close with Sheba Q. I was hanging out with her every week, so we went through to the launch party and then met them there.
I’m a very excited and eager person, so even if my tunes were shit I’d still show them to everyone just to get feedback. I went to a shop one day with some tunes that I made, they were really shit. I’ve still got them, it’s quite funny when I listen to them now! But Diffrent just loved my energy, and then I just kept sending them tunes and then eventually we just made something work.
They’re good people though. They’re like family I put on my 30th birthday at the store.
I wanted to talk about that lineup because it was mad. How did you get that to work?
Because I’m that guy at the party that’s going to meet everyone. I’m the friendliest guy in the room. I’m the friendliest guy on the planet in it. With J Majik, I basically made friends with him immediately. It’s like I said before the scene is so welcoming. A lot of people are ready to do things for you and return your energy. So that’s what happened. I gave out the energy and people did me a favour.
How was the party? Because to have that kind of line up in that tiny little room…
Yeah. ridiculous. It was Ramo. It was nice though because it was like I gave people a little drunk speech talking about how thankful I am that people have supported me in my music. I haven’t even been involved in the scene that long there have been people that have been in the scene going on 30 years that see me doing something and supporting it. They respect what I’m trying to do and they tell me which gives me confidence.
Just before I started doing all of this stuff, my mental health had always been really bad but I might have with really bad at that point, and having something to focus on and having people in a community around me really helped. That’s why I kept it free, it was just my thank you to everyone, it was a thanks for being part of my journey.
What should we keep our eyes out for from No Nation?
I had my first solo EP come out on Banoffee Pies which was exciting. And I’m starting a party in Bristol called ‘Border Control’- it just fits with the No-nation brand.
With club season about to start back up, I’m looking forward to getting booked more. It’s difficult, it can be a fickle business. You can be popular one moment and no one the next.
The last question is what should we be talking about within the scene that we’re not currently talking about?
That’s a hard question.
I would say certain people that have been making contributions to the scene almost invisibly. I don’t think that they get the credit that they deserve from the scene. These people have been growing the scene from the ground up. They’ve helped me get into the scene but also, since I’ve known them, I’ve noticed, they have that exact same relationship with so many other people.
The likes of Chickaboo, Chris Inperspective, Threshold, Louise+1, Hughesee, Equinox, Double O and Mantra. To be honest, maybe Double O and Mantra do get spoken about in some publications, I don’t know if they necessarily even want it, but I think it’s good to acknowledge what they do. And I haven’t been around for that whole time, but from what I hear, especially through the dark period in the breaks scene, when no one was really supporting the music, they kept on it, they kept it going. For it to now get to this place where the music is banging again.
I feel like there are a lot of people in the scene that haven’t got their flowers or their props for at the very least the contribution that they’ve made not even necessarily in music, but the people that they’ve managed to bring through.
That’s a really nice way to finish. Is there anything else you want to mention that we haven’t spoken about?
Since I’ve been in Bristol, I’ve noticed that the scene is in two parts. There’s a student scene, which is very commercial. The parties are still cool, but it’s not exactly my bag, but I’m glad that it’s happening for someone somewhere. For the most part DJs in my circles are pretty much looked over by those parties, because they don’t want to play our music, they need a big name, and they like big-money events here.
But one thing that I’ve enjoyed recently is the growing number of small parties in Bristol. I don’t know what it was like before COVID-19, I imagine from the way that people talk that the small party scene pretty much died, but I think it’s bouncing back in a really good way. There are a lot of people in Bristol that do really good things. For example, Strange Brew is a venue where they’re doing a lot to keep the small party scene going and it’s banging. Bad Girls Club is another one to watch, there are so many good small parties in Bristol we should support them. I feel lucky to be here.
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