Ever since first making his mark on the drum & bass scene, with releases on Propaganda, Ganja Recordings & of course Playaz, Jaydan has been one of those buy on sight artists as you know he always comes with something special.
His latest release ‘So Into You’ has been receiving rave reviews from the drum & bass elite with extensive club support & radio play. We caught up with Jaydan to find out more about this hot new release & everything else he’s up to right now…
Your work rate over the past couple of years has been incredible, what do you put this burst of creativity down to?
I have to say it’s 100% down to meeting Missy C, I had become very much out of the loop in terms of what was happening musically over the couple of years I had taken out and had been feeling a bit stale and uninspired for a while as a producer. I asked her to show me what she was feeling musically at that moment and she showed me a load of tracks I hadn’t heard and they really piqued my interest, so with her constant encouragement I started to experiment with newer sounds and styles and found myself really enjoying it all again.
It initially took me a little while to find my feet again having not made any music for so long but then the tracks just started to flow again as I found what worked for me.
It’s been invaluable having another set of ears to play tracks to and has really helped me to raise my levels again.
How did you fall out of the loop musically? Was there a reason for that? I think all artists need to step back and assess what their doing every now and then so as not to end up caught up in the content making machine
Yes I took a couple of years out of the music game. I experienced a mentally abusive relationship where shutting down my career was the constant focal point, and over time it really made me feel a resentment towards the things I had always loved.
This is something that doesn’t seem to get talked about much but I know from having had many conversations with other artists that this situation is far more common than I realized at the time. But the positive is that you can come back from these things and get back to being yourself.
I can’t stress enough the importance of having people around you who want to see you succeed and believe in you
This latest release ‘So Into You’ on LoveThatBass has been getting some amazing feedback from the likes of Andy C, S.P.Y, Danny Byrd, Nicky Blackmarket, just to name a few. What do you think it is about this tune that’s caught people’s attention?
I think it’s almost a bit of a crossover track in terms of a variety of DJ’s could play it in their sets whatever their more dominant sound might be, and it will still work and not sound out of place.
I’m happy to see such great feedback
There’s a deeper vibe to this track, this is an evolution in your sound from the bits you used to release on Playaz. Is that a conscious shift or just natural progression?
I think it was a bit of both. I felt like I had been just going through the motions for too long, stuck in a cycle if you will and I wasn’t really enjoying the creating process in the same way.
The styles of music I enjoy have changed a little bit in recent years and working on newer fresher sounds really started to get me excited about making music again.
More recently I have started to mix my sounds a little and add a bit of my old dancefloor energy into a few of my newest tracks and the results have so far been great as has the feedback so that’s positive
You’ve been getting regular releases from labels like DarkMttr, Digital Terror, and of course us (this’ll be your 3rd LoveThatBass release). It must be reassuring to have that sort of continued validation for your music?
It’s a feeling that never gets old. I always try to keep my standards high with my production so it’s great to get that acknowledgement and support from people whose opinion you value highly.
Yes 3rd release now! Good working relationships are something I place a lot of value on and it’s always a pleasure working with your label so long may that continue
S.P.Y. has been a big supporter of yours. How did you link with him for your releases on his DartMttr label?
I have always been a big fan of S.P.Y, musically and also with how he conducts himself in the industry. He’s a very humble, talented, and genuinely friendly guy. I always held an ambition that one day he would start his own label and I would try and get a release on it.
Well as you know he did start that label and I became the very first guest artist to feature on it which as an ambition fulfilled I am very proud of
As mentioned earlier, your work rate is up there right now, you must be sitting on so much music! Your own label Smokin Riddims must have a good few releases lined up?
Yes after a long hiatus I decided to bring the label back and this year I’ve been really organized and have got it running like clockwork again. In recent weeks we have had a couple of debuts on there from Gravit-e and Hologram with the latter already having more releases lined up in the schedule for later in the year. I also dropped my EP “The Sound”.
Moving forward I’ve compiled a couple of singles and an EP of my own music, and I’m always on the hunt for more talent. I’m speaking to several artists at the minute so the schedule will continue to grow
We like to ask all the producers we speak to for a production tip to help the next generation of producers hone their craft… What 1 piece of advice would you pass on?
I always used to tell the people I have tutored over the years that part selection is massively important, I never like to have to over EQ or over process any parts I use as it can cause a headaches when you get to the mixdown process, it becomes frustrating and time consuming trying to correct it.
Also take advantage of all the free tutorials online. There was nothing like that when I started out and people kept everything top secret but now the information is freely available and can really help speed up the learning process
And to get a little more nerdy, do you have a go to plug-in (that isn’t serum) that you use on every track? If so, how do you use it?
Probably the Waves Rcomp, Its as old as the hills but it works for me and i always use it when doing parallel compression on my drums
Lastly, what’s next for Jaydan? Any new releases, gigs or mixes for us to watch out for?
Lots more music! I have a 4 track EP coming up on Serial Killaz soon, 2 EPs on Nws Digital, and tracks coming on a host of other labels including my own.
I’ve also spoken to S.P.Y. and we are looking to start compiling my next project for Darkmttr as well as finally getting around to a long overdue collaboration together which I am very excited about
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