Manchester’s very own Dawn Raid are smashing things down this month with a new release, the single ‘Breakdown’ on DJ Vapour’s 36Hertz label. The single features vocals from Leanne, who the sharper-eared amongst you will remember from Noughties garage group Sweet Female Attitude, and will come with a series of banging remixes, from Vapour himself, Stanza and Tim Reaper, amongst others . We caught up with the boys from Dawn Raid, and ask them more about who they are and what they do.


- How did you get started producing music?

Suppose like with most producers who focus on a genre within electronica…  The main reason was because we just wanted to have the opportunity to DJ more. DJ’ing was always the first love for both of us, which had a natural progression towards wanting to explore how the tunes we wanted to play were actually being made. Everybody now knows that if you’re making tunes that are successful within your chosen genre, it’s likely to lead towards exposure, and as a by-product of that, more gigs.

- Who/what were your inspirations when you first started, and now, both inside and outside music?

Initially I suppose to make some sort of mark on the Jungle / Drum & Bass scene. I would say that ‘life’ itself is our primary inspiration, along with listening to quality music… that tends to be from a bygone era. We love listening to old skool & new skool hip hop, soul, funk, rnb, reggae and dub… then try to marry those influences with our primary inspirations hardcore & jungle.

- How did the hook up with 36Hertz come about and how does it feel to work with DJ Vapour?

In a nutshell it feels good. The initial hook up with Vapour and 36Hertz came through us just sending him a few of our tracks. The tracks were well received and the rest just kind of fell into place when we met. We both have the same core values when it comes to the sound we believe represents Dnb/Jungle best, so in that sense it’s easy for us to work together.

  - How did the new tune ‘Breakdown’ come about, and what are some of the ideas behind it?

The tune came about through simply laying down some beats on a summer’s day. Funnily enough, the weather was probably the key inspirational factor in the choice of instruments/samples etc. Upon completion of the track we thought it would be criminal if we didn't at least try and lay down a vocal for it… because it was screaming out for one. We passed it to our friend Leanne, and rest is history.

- The new single has a quite marked jungle feel. Has this always been part of your sound, or was it a deliberate idea to incorporate a slightly old skool mood?

Without sounding like a severe chinstroker, lol! We feel we are Jungle! In the same way for example someone like KRS 1 would say he is a living embodiment of hip hop…that's how we feel we represent Jungle. Drum & Bass is in our hearts because essentially they are one & the same thing.  However, I would say we always try to maintain & keep the menace of Jungle at the forefront of everything we do because there is something golden about that sound.

- How are you finding the drum & bass scene at the moment, UK-wide and specifically Manchester?

Yeah… the scene is thriving in terms of the sheer amount of DnB that's out there. There are many, many talented DJ’s producers, with the Manc/North-West scene being no exception.

- What are your hopes are for the release on 36Hertz and, more widely, for yourself? What are your future plans?

Our hopes are simply that people will purchase, play & enjoy any music we release.  ‘Breakdown’ in particular has crossover potential, so it will be interesting to see how it does. Furthermore, since signing to 36Hertz we feel like Dawn Raid has been given a clearer sense of direction. We have a couple of albums to complete over the next few years, and its not all going to focused on Jungle/DnB… so I suppose our future plans are to keep making as much quality music as possible, and stack the tunes until we & 36Hertz are content.

 - What is your studio set up like? Do you use just software, or do you use any outboard equipment as well?

We both run MacBooks  & Reason is our baby. All our tracks are 70/80% built in this program and then mixed down in Logic or Cubase. We do own some hardware as well, but to be honest aside from our Yamaha O1V digital desk, Reason & currently Logic, we feel that we have more than enough software & plugins to allow us to make the beats we want to… whilst still keeping the software learning curve on an upward spiral.

- Can you let us know about your production techniques?

As stated earlier, we use Reason primarily & we love using samples, big time! So a lot of what we do will initially start with chopping up a sample that catches our ear or a breakbeat that has that something ‘hard’ about it. When we have something rockin’ as a 32-64 bar loop, I suppose its like with most other producers… we just vibe with the track. Adding and taking away sounds until it’s worth laying out as an actual song.

- Are there any new artists that we should watch out for, and are there any shouts you would like to give?

New artists wise I would say keep an eye out for new dubs from our label mate Lighterman, and (not so new) Jem One…Their production is top notch at the mo. On top of that Birmingham’s K-Jah & Lionfire. Mr Explicit, Frisk, Erbman, & JRG now known as Freeze… all of them have real talent and dubs to boot! Big up to MC BIC and all our crew at Heavy Water Studios, & to DJ Vapour and the clan at 36Hertz! One.


The single will drop on the 5th of September, but if you can’t wait, check the video at 

Also, check out Dawn Raid at

Dawn Raid Facebook

36 Hertz Website