Danny Byrd Signs To Ministry Of Sound

Drum & Bass icon Danny Byrd has teamed up Grime superstar D Double E for a brand new track ‘Selecta’! This single also happens to be Danny Byrd’s debut release on the prestigious Ministry Of Sound label. We caught up with the man himself to find out more!

First & foremost, tell us about the new single…

Danny Byrd & D Double E isn’t a combo I would have thought of but it sounds great. How’d this link up come about?

Ah no it isn’t something you’d think you’d see, but I guess its why it probably works?

I had made the instrumental of Selecta with a friend of mine James Watts, and we both decided that it could do with a UK MC vocal, because the tune was so quirky with the horns etc we thought that D Double would sound amazing on it.

Luckily he was into it when we sent it to him. I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but I think he probably picked up on the 1998 Jungle/D&B vibes on this as he was a DJ & MC in the D&B scene before basically being in the origins of the grime scene!

And how was it working with a Grime legend?

D Double E was a honour to work with, I mean that session was pretty daunting because you never know how its going to go down in the studio. Also the day before I’d just had my first son born, so it was hectic! Thankfully my partner is very understanding and let me go to London to record the session.

Double is very intricate with his recording and knows exactly what he wants. What he wrote fit like a glove round the beat!

WOW… Congratulations on the new addition to your family!

The track is called “Selecta’. How do you go about selecting which artists you collaborate with?

Good question, I think you just have an instinct for it? As a producer you paint with audio colours, and I can see different artists as different vibes that might fit in with what I’m working on.

There is also the organic way like bumping into someone at a festival. That happened with Benny Page a few weeks back & we’ve been talking about getting in the studio… Which I can’t wait for! 

Danny Byrd & Benny Page is a link up I want to hear!!

This is your debut release on Ministry Of Sound! Is this the first of many releases with them?

We shall see! So far its been excellent working with them, the knowledge and experience they have in dance music is pretty much unmatched. They are all really passionate about music and the A&R’s there have a good ear for whats working!

I can’t wait to see what the future brings for sure.

What can we expect of the deal? Will you be working up to an album with them?

I do have quite a lot material on the hard drives which probably could make an album, but I think we will just focus on the singles for now and see how that goes.

If I’m not mistaken you were the first artist Hospital signed weren’t you?

I always feel bad for saying that because technically their first signing was an artist called Landslide, but he was making more 2step/Broken Beat kinda stuff at the time.

I was the first D&B act alongside London Elektricity, who owns the label, to be signed in mid 2000. It’s been a mad journey since then. They were very much a boutique label when I signed and to see how far they’ve come is massive.

They really have become a phenomenon!

After so many years signed to Hospital is it strange or exciting to be working with a new label team?

There are actually a lot of similarities between Ministry Of Sound and Hospital Records. I can’t quite put my finger on it, perhaps it’s the friendly team? More so the passion for the music is there between both labels.

I think I did find it strange at first working with a label as big as Ministry Of Sound but then going down to their office and meeting them all made it all less scary and more exciting than anything! 

And do you see yourself working with Hospital again in the future?

Yes definitely they will always be family to me. I built my music career with them and put out 4 albums over there. We are in talks about putting some more stuff for 2022! Watch this space 🙂

Finally we loved your Trip To The Moon remix on the Moondance album. How hard is it to remix an anthem beloved by so many? There must be a lot of pressure to get it right?

Yes with that one there was because it was a tune I grew up loving so much in the 90’s! I just wanted to do it justice and in the hope that Acen would like it, which is he did thankfully!

I think with remixes, if the originals are excellent tunes it’s not that hard to remix as the parts are so good.

Where it gets hard is when you’re trying to work a not very good 130 BPM house tune, for example, and trying to make a D&B tune of that can be hard. The tempo differences can be quite extreme when sped up, Saying that, with good tunes you don’t notice the chance in tempos nearly as much!!

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