Jungle/D&B soldiers Dawn Raid are having what appears to be a hectic 2015 thus far, what with ‘Red Sonja’ dropping as part of the Mac 2 Pieces comp. And anyone down with them and their Hocus Pocus imprint will be aware that they’ve been busy compiling a certain beast of a release themselves. More on that to come…
Dawn Raid what’s new with you? Busy as ever!?
Yeah it’s been good with us: we’ve just been working on managing & building the label really. The live sets have been fire and we’ve able to showcase the fruits of the label which is now gaining momentum and has in turn fed our sets well.
Just recently more time has been spent in the studio and we’re very happy with things are going overall.
Now to the Mac 2: I have to say I love ‘Red Sonja’. What inspired the tune?
Well, the inspiration for the tune has come from our love for that kind of time when the music was taking a darker turn and you had alot of big tunes knocking about from the likes of Dillinja, Ed Rush and Optical, Origin Unknown, Jonny L and the Full Cycle/V camp.
We just wanted to do a track that harked back to that time as it was a real focal point for us coming from the ragga jungle era into a new darker more ‘intelligent’ sound.
And if you were asked to name a few inspirational tunes… ?
That’s a tough one because there’s so many! sounds cliche but it’s true. If you were to ask us 50 tunes that have inspired us over the years that would be a lot easier!
Where does the vocal come from?
We’ve amassed a massive library of sounds over the years and the vocals came from a colllection of samples we got around 2002/3 time and when we were writing the tune we felt it would add a bit of soul to it the dark direction the tune was going in.
We threw a few different ones on the tune but those were the ones that just felt right to go with the vibe of the track.
How did the linkup with Randall come about, for the Mac 2 inclusion?
We sent him ‘Red Sonja’ and he loved it and snapped it up for Mac 2 straight away. We now send him what we’re putting out both from the label and ourselves as artists and he’s into the sound which is a big honour to us as he’s our favourite DJ since we first got into the music in the early 90s.
Tell us more about Pieces? Dramatic was chatting to us about it as well.
You got a nice mix of old and new artists all coming with quality productions that cover the full spectrum of the music and we are really chuffed to have been made a part of it.
Every tune is a highlight and you can tell Randall has gone in on the selection, much like he does with his sets: with absolute meticulous attention.
Is there some form of tour or shows happening to promote it?
We expect so, you’ll have to keep your eyes and ears peeled for the forthcoming shows both on radio and on road.
So, on to your activities? I hear your compilation features the likes of Nian Dub, Sappo, Dan Miracle, Callide, Firesyne & Sudden Def, Symptom/Savage Rehab… whoa.
Yep. It’s the first various artists album on Hocus Pocus and it’s called The Prestige which features ourselves alongside some of the hottest artists right now in the jungle game in our opinion, all bringing their own style of the music which we’ve been championing.
And what’s looming for Dawn Raid?
We’re also writing a load of new material to drop over the course of the year in our sets to come through after the album. The schedule for the label is also boxed until next year so were pleased with that and look forward to unleashing it all on the ravers of the course of the next 12 months or so.
Aside from that collabs are in the pipeline with the various big hitters in the game so watch out for those coming through.
Any shouts from you?
Big up the Hocus Pocus Family, hold tight all the labels repping Jungle right now, big up MC BIC and the Heavy Water scientists, Sappo, Adam at NBA, the Manchester crew, the Birmingham crew, the London crew, the Sheffield crew, the Liverpool crew and the Cambridge crew, all the DJs and ravers who are loving the music and enable us to keep doing what we love to do.
