We Need To Talk About Warhead

<2 years ago>

Dave Jenkins

WORDS •

We Need To Talk About Warhead

NOW READING •

Warhead: a nuclear name to match the heavy artillery sounds.

Based in Preston and regularly spotted on the likes of Sub-liminal, Grid, Co-Lab and beyond, he returned earlier this month with his most comprehensive and biggest EP since Rebound way back in December 2020.

Stranger Things, out now on Grid, is the sound of an artist reinspired and fully loaded with new ideas and new techniques. Having taken a moment during the lockdowns to reboot his chops and rediscover his groove, he’s back packing more weapons of mass destruction than ever before.

We called him up to find out more…

WARHEAD DNB UK · Stranger Things

Krust fan eh?

You know the mad thing is, that’s not where my name comes from!

Woah. Mind blown.

Yeah. I actually fell asleep on the sesh and my friend changed my name on my Facebook to Jack Warhead. We can’t even remember why. People say, ‘I can hear his influence in your music’. You could say my early tunes had that wobby feel of the original Warhead track, but truthfully I’d never heard his tune before that. People would say, ‘Is this you?’ And I’m like no. It’s been an education.

So what was your route into this?

My dad actually took me to a Pendulum gig. I was about 15, it was in Blackpool Empress Ballroom. At the time I wouldn’t have thought it was drum & bass, I didn’t even know what drum & bass was, but after that I loved it and I buzzed off them for years.

Then after that a friend sent me a Traumatik tune and was like, ‘Have you heard this? You’ll either love it or hate it.’ Turned out, I liked it but I could tell why people wouldn’t like it; jump up is an acquired taste!

After that we all downloaded this app called Cross DJ and we’d all go for a drive, park up, have a smoke and try and mix D&B on our phones in the car. Then I got a little controller, which was terrible. It had an iPod doc on it, it was that bad. At the time I was like, ‘Yes I got decks!’ But looking back they were hindering me massively.

The only reason I got into producing was because I wanted to record our mixes. My mate bought a soundcard and it came with Ableton Lite and we started playing with it and ended up making tunes. It was my mate Pyro, you might know him

Yeah man, Sub-liminal!

That’s right. He’s popping right now and it’s long overdue. I love his tunes. So that’s why I started producing – he bought a soundcard, I bought the same one, they came with a basic version of Ableton. It literally had just eight instrument tracks but it was enough to get us into it.

Sub-Liminal Recordings · Pyro – Bring Me Up (Warhead Remix)(OUT NOW)

Amazing. Your first release came out on Euphonique’s Subwoofah didn’t it?

Yeah I used to see Euphonique around all the time in Preston with a collective called Bad Wax Audio. She used to play all the time and she approached me for some tunes. I listen now and I think, ‘Wow how did that even get a release?’ I heard her play it at Beatherder festival and I could tell I had such a long way to go.

She could hear the raw talent though!

That’s right you know. And I was buzzing to hear the tune. Like, ‘Wow this is my tune!’ But compared to other tunes she was playing, I could tell I needed more bass. Then after that I was sending tunes to Agro. I was inspired by all the guys he was signing. Leaf, Too Greezy, all them guys coming in with unique sounds. I loved the label and I’d made a tune which sounded like his tune Dub Fi Dub so +I sent it to him and he signed it. That was my first release on the label.

You became part of this wave of really interesting and exciting artists coming though on the label…

Oh loads of them came before me. Guys like Leaf and Damage Report and them guys. They were the professionals and were making the tunes that inspired me and spurred me to do my thing and find my sound. I was buzzing when he signed it. He played it and then messaged me saying, ‘What’s happening with this tune? I need to sign it!’

Sub-Liminal Recordings · Warhead – Thinkin Bout U

From there it’s been booming out. I remember the Bloodclart Dubplate EP was the release that made me start paying attention and there are two sides to you… The war side and the peace side.

I love it all to be honest. And I love to show I can do a bit of everything. Every now and again I put out something more chilled or a roller or whatever. You often hear jump uppy sounds because that’s what got me into D&B but, as I got more into it, I’ve got into the dark rollers.

When I’ve mixed, I’ve always mixed the two together – jump up with dark rollers. When you make a tune you can sort of put those elements into one tune. Take guys like Upgrade – he’s got everything in his music but the base vibe is jump up.

All the big guys now came from jump up five years ago… Kanine, K-Motionz, Bou…

Yeah you’re right. I must admit Bou has been a huge influence on me. This is early doors – I’d go to Manchester and see them lot out all the time, his tunes were always so unique and his attitude has been amazing. I take a lot of inspiration from him musically and professionally.

You run a label too, right?

Yeah. It’s nothing massive, but one of my oldest mates runs a label Strictly 140 on a deep dubstep vibe. He does well with it. Years ago, I said ‘Mate let me do a D&B side to it.’ He said, ‘Nah’. Then a few years later he messaged me like, ‘I’ve been thinking, you should do the D&B side!’

So now we’ve got Strictly 170. I underestimated how much time and effort it takes to run a label. It’s hard work man. People let you down on music a lot. There’s so much to do. We’ve done two paid releases and, with my day job and writing music and everything, it’s hard to find the time. To give you an example of how long things have taken – I had six EPs on the go in mid-2020 and they’re only just finishing now.

It’s a discipline isn’t it?

It is. Some days I’m just so knackered I need to lie down. I got a very physical day job so it’s hard to find that motivation you know.

Where does Stranger Things come into this?

That tune is only a year old which isn’t that old. But the tune Tekkerz, people were into that one two years ago. I played it and lots of people were asking for it.

WARHEAD DNB UK · Tekkerz

Love that tune. It’s got an instrumental grime vibe to it…

Yeah it’s a bit different isn’t it? I’ve done a few tunes with that arpeggiated sound on it. It’s the tune I’m the happiest with. It went off when I first played it, but I never got round to mixing down the EP. Mixdowns have been a major issue for me. It’s sent me into this wall of not releasing anything or writing much. But up until this Stranger Things EP I’ve got to the point where it’s like, ‘Okay I’m happy with this…’

Did you have any key advice or learn something where the penny dropped?

I follow a lot of tips accounts on Instagram. Basically, if I’m going to waste my time scrolling then at least some of it should be informative or helpful. I can’t remember what tip it was that made any penny drop, but I do have a lot of moments where I see a tip and think, ‘Yeah actually that sounds like a sick idea’ and I’ll go and try it out.

I recommend any producer does that. Also speaking to people and asking them questions. I’ve never watched tutorials. I just started playing on Ableton and worked it out for myself. I’ve got into all kinds of bad habits on it because of that.

You’ve found your own sound, though. You’ve not been copying the same tutorials as everyone else

Hopefully. It’s so easy to end up sounding like someone else! I’ve made something and then heard the idea in another tune and I’ve been like, ‘Ah shit, that’s in my tune!’ It’s like its subliminal or something. So I’ve been very wary of that with releases and always wanting to do something different.

Like the foghorn tunes a while back; they were all a bit different, or had something else to them. But I feel I’ve come a long way as a producer and that gives me freedom – I know how to get what I’m aiming for from the start. Going back to the mixdowns, returning to tunes that were doing my head n, it’s now like, ‘I’d have done this different, I’d have done that different’. It’s easier to make new tunes from fresh, instead of updating those tunes. I’m much more likely to be happy with the end result and go ‘yeah I really like this tune’

Awesome. Are you playing out much? And what’s the scene like in Preston?

A lot of people thought I was from Manchester, maybe because Bou was shouting me on his streams. So that led to quite a lot of gigs. I’m not far from Manchester but the difference in scenes between Preston and Manchester is worlds apart!

Anyway, pre-lockdown I was playing in a different city every weekend. But during lockdown a lot of people were like, ‘Okay let’s seize the time!’ They were doing streams and being really productive. But for me it was like, ‘This is the end of the world.’ I wasn’t inspired as much and I didn’t make the most of my time and put myself out there. A lot of people did, because there’s now this new wave of talent who’ve come through. I took it for granted that I was playing so much before lockdown. The weekend before lockdown I was in Leeds, London and Southampton for example.

But big up to everyone who pushed themselves on live streams. I missed a bit of a trick, but recently I’ve been getting my EPs out, labels are sending my music out and things are picking up. Every day has been a new message or situation coming up. It feels like things were like two years ago when I released my Thinking About You EP which was huge for me. I woke up see Upbeats had tweeted me saying, ‘Stranger Things and Tension are sick’. I had Holy Goof asking about tune. Plays by Noisia on Vision Radio. You hitting me up for an interview. It’s good.

WARHEAD DNB UK · Tension

When you have positive things happen around you, it inspires and drives you doesn’t it?

Yeah, and I gave myself a kick up the arse too. Seeing mates like Amplify working so hard, it’s rubbed off on me. I put my head down, finished a load of stuff off and it’s all picking up.

Sick. So all this started with a gig with your dad, but has he come to see you play?

No he hasn’t! But he’s come into my room and told me to turn it down. It’s a very new school style – I can appreciate some of the older generation might not like this new style of drum & bass. It is what it is. I do remember him singing a vocal sample I had on a tune so it’s not like its totally alien to him. It’s cool though.

So what’s up next? Some more of these EPs!

Yeah the Grid one is out now. A Sub-liminal EP for end of May and an EP for Gradient at the end of June. That EP is the one I’m really excited about releasing. It’s all new music and I’m very buzzing to have them out. If you liked my old stuff, you’ll go mental to my new stuff. I got another release for Octave, Sub Zero’s asked for one for Propaganda and something for Abyssal Music.

Oh a deep one!

There’s a mad back story to that one. I was invited to play a rollers vs jump up night. I was repping the rollers and two guys called Sub Skankerz were the jump up headliner. They were staying at the same place and I’ve become good mates with one of them. It’s his brother who runs Abyssal. So I’ve been getting them tunes together for a while. I’ve actually done a collab with one of the Sub Skankers guys. He sent me some Belgian jump up synths and I’ve made a deep tune with it. It’s basically what we were saying about that jump up / rollers hybrid style

No subgenre is meant to live on its own!

That’s it. And it’s the same in my DJ sets. I play a lot of jump up, but I’ll drop every style in a set. Blending liquid into jump up, or rollers into techy stuff.