There’s a new label in town! NOX is proud to introduce LUX, featuring various genres. One of the artists that’s featured on their upcoming EP is DubApe. We had a talk with him about his release and about what he has been doing these past few months. 

Congratulations with your release on LUX! Can you tell us a bit more about the track, Lucent? 

Me and my brother, who is featured on the track as Vertex and whom I currently live with at our flat, started working on the track during lockdown. It slowly progressed into this lush, liquid track that we both love a lot. That’s great, since it’s also our first real collab. For me, music always comes from a feeling and the vibe I am in, so there aren’t really genres and styles I haven’t touched. Generally, I’m more based on the deeper side, but we felt like making a lighter one, as we felt that summer was coming soon. 

How did you get to know LUX?

I got to know Alora (link naar interview) a few months back due to a lot of coincidences and that’s how I learned about NOX and their new label LUX. I’m really happy how things turned out and that I get to release on LUX. I know they are featuring a lot of genres, and as said I am already touching a lot of sides in both dubstep and drum and bass. I’m always happy to explore new sounds and expect the unexpected. 

What else have you been up to these past few months?

Hard times, for sure. Lately I lost most of my contracts, gigs and I became unemployed, just like everyone I worked with, due to corona. But thanks to a lot of free time, I got to make lots of new music and also rebuild my apartement. I’m trying to make the best out of these crazy times.

You released an EP, Storm, on the 17th of July. Can you tell us a bit more about that process and how the EP came to be? 

I met RDG two years ago and we decided to make some collabs, which after lots of work formed into an EP. I’m really happy we found Boka Recordings to support this exciting project and release it. Getting a legend like RSD to remix on of our tracks was a dream coming true as well. Next to that, it was my first vinyl release so super proud of that one. 

Have you got any other upcoming projects we can look forward to?

I’m releasing lots of new dubstep and drum and bass soon. The next big project will be a vinyl on Encrypted Audio.

Now, a bit more about yourself. At what age did you decide you wanted to do more with music?

Around the age of 16, I started playing around with Reason 4. After I moved to Vienna ten years ago, I really started to take producing seriously. I rolled into drum and bass back when only one person had the bandwidth to download DJ sets. I remember that my friends and I listened to the same sets over and over again. There were sets by J-Cut and Kolt Siewerts that I can still remember to this day. The first track that i went completely mad about was Original Nuttah by Shy FX and UK Apache. Other artists that really inspired me are Alix Perez, Panacea, Bad Company, High Contrast and many many others. 

How has your music evolved from 2012 until now? 

I haven’t really evolved, apart from production skills. There are still really bad tracks and really good ones. Though I started with only dubstep and went to drum and bass/dubstep, I feel like I always stuck to my style. 

Where do you get your inspiration?

From everyday life, every single impression can be an inspiration to me. Sometimes it’s just sitting behind the computer, listening to snare samples, that can spark an idea. 

Which events / festivals that you already played stick with you the most?

Definitely playing at Outlook Festival after visiting it for seven years! The vibes and the soundsystem there were something to remember forever. For now, NOX, Let It Roll, New Zealand and USA are on my bucketlist of places I want to play at.