18 Years of Viper

As we celebrate 18 Years of Viper Recordings in 2022, we sat down with a few of the artists who have been featured on the label over the years to ask them 5 essential questions – including Futurebound, Grafix, DC Breaks, BMotion, Miss Trouble, Moving Fusion, Millbrook, Jack Mirror, Phetsta, Optical, and Dossa & Locuzzed.

What’s your all-time favourite Viper release?

Futurebound: Acts Of Mad Men (2009)
Millbrook: Broken Love
Miss Trouble: Lights – Prototypes
Jack Mirror: Metrik – Freefall
Phetsta: Universal Truth LP
BMotion:Insideinfo – Glimpse
Optical: All of them!
Moving Fusion: Skyscraper Matrix and Futurebound
Dossa & Locuzzed: impossible as there were hundrets of bangers, so we go for “Hollow” by ourselves – our first viper release!
DC Breaks: I think the Acts of Madmen series was such a good time for the label, so many great artists, many of whom have become huge in the scene now. Really exciting times in dnb.
Grafix: Metrik – Drift

How did you celebrate your 18th birthday?

Optical: I had a party with my mates in the New Forest…half way through the local cops turned up so we all scattered to get away….I ran like a bat out of hell into the darkness full tilt and straight into a tree…I broke my collar bone and then had to flag down a kindly lady at 6am on the nearest road to take me to hospital…..it was awesome!
Jack Mirror:I wish I could say I went to RUN in Bristol to see a stacked line up, but ended up getting snowed in. Great. So I think I basically ended up playing Cod:MW2 for the day.
Phetsta: I set up a mini rave in my backyard with a bunch of mates.
Futurebound: Raving at Quadrant Park in Liverpool which is still one of the greatest nights the country has produced. The vibes in that place were mental.
Moving Fusion:Drinking copious amounts of alcohol
Dossa & Locuzzed: Just like every birthday – with family & friends!
DC Breaks (Dan): Actually it was my sister’s 20th and my Dad’s 50th so we all did a party together. No raving, sadly!
Grafix: Getting stupidly drunk out in Exeter
BMotion:Pretty sure i went to local weather spoons and most probably had 3 pints and thought I was ‘ard as f**k!

And what’s the first rave you remember going to?

DC Breaks (Dan): Crikey, that’s going back a bit! Probably a Raindance, Swerve, Movement, Bar Rumba… it all kind of blurs into one!
Futurebound: Brave New World in Blackburn
Millbrook: Somewhere in Luxembourg.
Miss Trouble: Innersence
Jack Mirror: Nass Festival in 2009
Phetsta: An all ages gig in Perth, 2001 maybe. Just after I turned 18 I saw moving fusion.
Movion Fusion: Destiny Sunny Isles night club Bromley by Bow
BMotion: Hospitality at Matter
Grafix: Hospitality at Bristol Thekla – I was 16
Optical: A warehouse party with Bedlam Soundsystem by Wandsworth Bridge when I was 14 or 15….scary and bonkers at the same time!
Dossa & Locuzzed (Benni): UAF hosted a rave in a courtyard as part of the cityestival in our hometown when I was like 15. Will never forget!

Where you were at in your career/life when you made this record?

Futurebound: In the early years of becoming a producer I was still going to the DnB shows almost every week as a fan. I was so obsessed with the scene & the culture and always wondered would that wane as I got older but i’m as hungry now as I was as a youth and my passion to keep learning, improving & contributing to the culture remains at a high level. I feel totally blessed to be involved in DnB & have Viper as my label. 
Millbrook: I had just started releasing music with my new alias ‘Millbrook’ – Rituals one of my first releases and still is up there as one of my most known tracks to this day!

Miss Trouble: In a transition, finding my own power and not being afraid of stepping into it. I’d been recording a body of music over months at a friend’s studio, none of which ever saw the light of day, but one night I asked if I could have the studio to myself to record. Paul had sent me this tiny but awesome drum loop, and so with the luxury of a beautiful studio, a bottle of somethin somethin and Lady Leshur’s Queen’s Speech fresh in my ears.. Meta was born. It all came together so fast, from writing and recording, to Paul putting it all together, to the artwork, to the release.. Those are the best ones, the clarity of the path. And I think that’s evident in the track. People still talk about it to this day. It certainly changed my life.
Jack Mirror: I went over to stay with Oscar in Hamburg for a few days, before I had even launch the JM alias. I was really trying to find my feet and understand what sonic world I wanted Jack Mirror to live in. I still feel like I’m pinning down that ‘sound’ but definitely a lot further along now, and have more confidence in ability to produce the music I imagined making when kicking off the project.
Phetsta: I was coming off the back of my Congo EP on Technique Recordings. I was in London doing my first run of international shows. Shockone and myself met up with Tom Metrik after a few years of chatting online and trading music.
Movion Fusion: We’d just got back together after taking a long break from writing as a duo, It was great spending time together again in the studio we’d built years before, mystery stranger was a nice little vibe we enjoyed making
Dossa & Locuzzed: Love Blind: At that time we were just evolving our signature sound. When Ben BMotion sent over that Guitar-lick it was just another part of the puzzle leading us to the funkier edge of Drum & Bass.
BMotion: Much the same!

DC Breaks (Dan): Reasonably early. The HALO ep is when we really felt it all coming together.
Grafix: I was at Uni, was probably 18 years old myself!

And finally, What is the most memorable birthday gift you’ve ever received?

Miss Trouble: Nothing comes to mind..but the day I was proposed to was highly memorable. It was a surprise of course, I was proposed to in a helicopter soaring over the Thames through the heart of London. It was mangificent. We drank champagne when we landed and had lunch at Cargo, the club where we met. They’d set up an area for us under a tikki hut with scented candles, more champagne and a massive platter. Was awesome! Then we went back to the studios in Chiswick and celebrated with our friends, before he had to go and seal a business deal! Was a very exciting day.
Jack Mirror: My parents bought me Logic Express 8 to use on the family computer. Fairly life changing gift. Although I must admit I’ve defected to Ableton in recent years.
Futurebound: My son bought me a new computer mouse the other year and it meant a lot to me.
Phetsta: My son gave me a gummi pizza last year.
BMotion: Doing a Skydive!
Movion Fusion: Flying lessons
Dossa & Locuzzed (Benni): For my 30th birthday my family built a real life Super Mario Quest for me to solve in a Mario Costume – at the end I had to “rescue” my girlfriend and got a Nintendo Switch as prize. That was epic.
DC Breaks (Dan): VW Beetle, 1972, white
Grafix: 10 bottles of Jager 😂