After two decades away from production, NBC9 has returned to drum and bass with a clear sense of direction and pace. Working independently through Embassy 9, his output has been steady, structured, and notably self-driven. We caught up with him to talk about returning under a new alias, building a label from scratch, and how instinct shapes the way he writes now.

Coming back into drum and bass after your earlier Influenza work, what actually pushed you to restart as NBC9 rather than pick up where you left off?
Well, that’s an easy one. Influenza was myself and Psidream, a good friend, a former roommate (twice), and drum and bass pioneer for Canada. If I was going to make a comeback as Influenza it would have needed to involve him. He, at the time, lived in Edmonton, a province over from me, and wasn’t really into making music. I also wasn’t really feeling the Nu Skool Breaks sound, and drum and bass was really moving the needle for me.

When you listen back to those early 2000s productions now, do you hear ideas you’ve carried forward, or does it feel like a completely different person made them?
It feels completely different, having a skilled partner really pushed the sound in the early 2000s. Psidream has an amazing music ability; he’s a classically trained pianist for starters, so his understanding of music theory was far above mine. I’ve slowly had to relearn everything from scratch since 2024. But ideas and sounds have carried over; in fact, I used some of the drums from one of our earlier tracks on my State of Control album. Ripped them right out of the original and plopped them into a new, fresh sound. I’m not afraid to borrow. ;)

There’s a noticeable discipline in the NBC9 sound, very controlled, very deliberate. Was that something you had to consciously build into your workflow, or did it come naturally with time?
Everything has come naturally with time, and in the last 1.5 years, my sound has evolved A LOT, mostly based on skill reacquisition. With 20 years off, I barely had the basics down. I also relied heavily on Psidream for mixdown and mastering, and getting things to fit just right. I had no concept of this in 2024 and had to figure it all out. Most of my sound is synths, very little comes from samples, so maybe that’s also where it comes from, I’m not just willy nilly picking samples that sound like drum and bass and arranging them to make a tune. I’ve got to come up with each and every bassline and melody from nothing but MIDI notes.

How much of your process now is technical problem-solving versus creative instinct? Do you ever find yourself over-refining things?
Absolutely not, I’m under refining things if anything. I believe that making music should be done quickly. The longer you sit on a project, the less real it becomes, the less soul it might have, because you’re over analyzing and just doing TOO much. The best tracks come quickly and flow through you like water. I also don’t have much patience; I don’t have the ability to listen to something 10,000 times. I want to make it and move on to the next one. That’s also why I’m able to put out so much music.

Embassy 9 feels quite tightly curated already, even in its early stages. What made you decide to build your own platform instead of continuing through established labels?
I started this 100% for fun. I wasn’t even sure it would stick. I’m ADHD, one of the classic ones. Before we knew what ADHD was, I was the loud kid in the back who always got kicked out of class for not paying attention or talking too much. So waiting around to develop my sound to where it was good enough for Established labels to want my music would have just put a big stumbling block in front of me, and I may have quit before getting anywhere. Releasing my own music and watching it grow organically was probably the only way this was going to work. The labels came along later.

Running a label alongside making music can get messy quite quickly, What’s been the biggest reality check since launching Embassy 9?
I don’t find it messy at all; it’s only mildly more challenging than just releasing my own stuff. Plus, when you’re doing this for fun and entertainment, you don’t tend to get too upset when things don’t work out exactly as planned. I’ve got it better than most, carefree, without stress, just making tunes and releasing music. No gigs, no tours, no pressure.

With projects like State of Control and the Fragments releases, there’s a sense of long-term planning rather than one-off drops. How far ahead are you thinking when you’re building these releases?
I have seemed to have built a formula that works for me. July rolls around, and it’s album time. I try to make a track a week, for 8 weeks, and then release. I did it two years in a row, and then Fragments is probably the harder process because I now have to find, manage, and work with so many different artists, personalities, and schedules to get it done on time. Album releases in the Fall, Remix Album releases in the Spring, rinse, repeat.

You’ve started bringing in artists like Howton, Fr4ktion and S.I.O.N this year. What are you looking for when someone new lands on your radar?
Straight up? I’m just looking for bangers. I use Label Radar and Instagram to find and communicate with new artists. I must have listened to every single DNB track on Label Radar over the past 5 months, and found 3 artists that I liked and were interested in working with a new Label. It’s 100% music first, then is the artist cool, that’s it. I don’t care about following size, or location, or anything but those two things. Music/Artist, that’s it.

There’s been a lot of noise around AI in music and visuals recently, where do you personally draw the line between useful tool and something that undermines the craft?
I’m willing to embrace new ideas, but there is a line in the sand for me. If you want to use AI to enhance your track in some way, sure, that's fine. If you want to use AI vocals, sure, that’s fine, as it’s almost impossible to find and work with quality vocalists, and then you need to trust that they’re disciplined and organized enough to get stuff done on time. BUT, if you log in to an AI music generator, and prompt yourself a track, and expect me to sign it, or even listen to it from start to finish, you’re sorely mistaken. That is not art, that is not production, that is nothing more than trying to be a prompt wizard. It takes no skill, it takes no time, it takes no reference; it’s just relying on a computer to do your job, it’s garbage. Plus, it sounds like garbage. I can usually pick it up instantly. What’s scary is that in a couple of years, it might be impossible to pick up, and labels will ask to show your work. ;)

Balancing a full-time career with a project and label at this level is no small thing. What does a typical week actually look like for you, or is it more chaos than routine?
I’m old, 49 in August. Everything I do is routine now; there is very little chaos. I’m up 5-5:30am every day of the week, work on music or label stuff until about 6:30. So, at minimum, there’s 7 hours a week to work uninterrupted, in a quiet environment, the only distraction I get is from the dog, cat, or sometimes social media. This allows me to get things done in an efficient manner and removes all the chaos from the process. I have an upper hand on someone in their 20's, who has to manage their hangover, their friends, their job, their social lives, on top of production and running a label. I’ve been there and done all that, and have nothing but drive and perspective.

You’re stranded on a desert island with one turntable, a generator and one record. What’s it going to be?
Oh, I don’t do favourites, but to answer the question, let's say Pendulum Immersion album. Witchcraft gives me goosebumps every single time I listen to it. And Self vs Self gives you all that you could ask for with a drum and bass/metal amalgamation.

NBC9 continues to build through Embassy 9, with releases like State of Control and the ongoing Fragments series mapping out a steady, self-contained path. Early mornings, quick turnaround, and a workflow that keeps things moving. It suits him.