From a young age Denham Audio has always immersed himself in music. From spending his formative teenage years spending trawling the internet for grime music and digging for Track ID’s from garage tape packs before moving into deep house and deep techno, to surrounding himself with the household sonics of Motown, disco, rap and R&B, it is clear Denham Audio is a music head from top to bottom.
Fast-forward a few years, and the London-native is now switching up the modern UK rave scene with his innate breakbeats, b-lines and acid hooks, widely renowned for his 140-160BPM sets influenced by his love for hardcore, jungle and anime. Having released a number of bangers such as his collaborative effort “Make Me” with Borai, which currently stands at a cool 25M streams, “Everything I Do” with legendary house duo Dusky and “Single Minded People” featuring Coco Bryce, Denham Audio has already kickstarted 2024 with a bang thanks to his two recent offerings, “Wasting Time With You” and “Love Me Less”, both taken from his hotly anticipated forthcoming EP Six Days.
Ahead of the new project due this April, we caught up with Denham Audio about the release itself, influences, his ones to watch and more…
Hows things at the moment? What have you been getting up to?
Things are good thanks, I’ve spent the start of the year pretty much in the studio writing music which was nice. I was struggling to find the time towards the end of last year so it has been good to dedicate some time to it.
To first time listeners, how would you describe your sound and style?
I’d say it’s breakbeat infused dance music, I try not to stay stuck to one tempo or style of music but I think that’s the common theme.
Musically, who and what are your main influences?
My friends and peers really. There’s a solid group of us who have been friends for years and it feels like everyone is constantly having a moment or pushing the boundaries of what we do further and it feels like a great community – everyone knows each other, and everyone celebrates each others success because we’ve all been grafting for so long.
What influences me? There’s so many indirect influences. My dad has an extensive record collection, my love of video games (shout out Ridge Race & Ape Escape), my mum’s side of the family being from Jamaica and being introduced to that sound and culture early on. Growing up listening to Grime and having to ‘dig’ to find new music. All of these influence and shape how I approach music today whether consuming, making or looking for it. A love of rave culture and a want to recontextualize and push it forward .
Your upcoming release Six Days is a wicked record. Firstly where did the name for the project come from?
Thank you so much. I wish it was a cooler story but I felt Love Me Less EP or Wasting Time With You EP made the project seem like it was some heavy heart felt emotionally driven release, when in fact it’s club bangers!
Can you tell us more about the main inspirations and influences behind the record?
As I mentioned before, I’m trying to try add my stamp on Dance music and make some songs that are ‘what if Denham made a trance track’ or ‘what if Denham made something more atmospheric’.
What can listeners expect sonically?
Breakbeat infused dance music, “Wasting Time With You” has more of a Hard Groove and Trance flavour to it whilst “Love Me Less” is a stripped back skippy drum track with a bit more of an atmospheric vibe to it. “Six Days” is a modern take on the 90s Rave music scene.
What was the overall creative and production process behind the EP?
Relatively simple to be honest. For “Wasting Time With You”, Triple Point sent me the idea and on first listen I knew what I needed to add to it, and within a few hours I reckon the version you hear now was made! The beauty of being friends for so many years I think made that process super easy. “Love Me Less” originated from when I came off the back of releasing my EP on my label Club Glow and wanted to try to make something that felt like the next step, and try delve into some sonics that were different to the usual and after some trial and error the end result was this. “Six Days” was kind of the reverse of “Wasting Time With You”. I’ve been a fan of Drumskull for ages and we had actually been introduced by a label to work together so I sent a few os my ideas over and Joel returned “Six Days”. As soon as I heard it I knew it was gonna do some damage in the rave.
If you had to pick a favourite track from the project which one would it be and why?
I think “Wasting Time With You” if I had to pick as it’s the first time myself and Triple Point have collaborated in production together, which is strange as we’ve been friends for close to a decade now. Also it reminds me of my Sports Banger x Boiler Room X Boomtown set which really felt like a special moment in my career — I get goosebumps every time I see that clip.
Can you highlight a few emerging artists outside of London who we should be keeping an eye on this year?
Groovy D, a Leeds based producer and DJ and also co-founding member of Denham Audio back in the day. Silva Bumpa — bit of a cheat as he’s now based in London — but a sick Sheffield producer championing the iconic steel city sounds. Oldboy, who is another Sheffielder making moves and has already got some solid releases but definitely is a one to watch for 2024. Lala, but I wouldn’t say emerging again as she’s been grafting for years, but had her debut release last year and expect more big things to come. And finally French producer Beau Didier, who is making some wicked groovy music. I play 3 or 4 tracks of his every set.
Whats next for Denham Audio? And where can we catch you over the coming months?
Music wise, I have one more single off the EP to drop, the title track “Six Days”, which is a collaboration with Drumskull. Outside of that it’s making as much new music as possible. Show wise, I’ll be embarking on a tour of Asia, Australia and New Zealand in March with my good friend Mani Festo, so that’s going to keep me busy for a few months. Once i’m back I think it’ll be a good time to figure out what’s next properly, but we have some ideas I think…
Three tracks you have on repeat at the moment?
Joy O – “Flight FM”, Vromo – “Pump the Rhythm” and Fritz Schnackenpfefferhausen – “Bratwurst Beatz”.