British drum & bass producer and DJ Monrroe started DJing at around 16 years old.
"I started out with heavy hard trance/techno and hardtek (I've come a long way since then)," he says. "Nothing serious, I was just playing free parties/squat raves at the time. Wasn't until a year or two after I started producing... well producing properly, had dabbled with it for a few years before but nothing serious, was more just making bait edits of tracks. Production wise, I definitely started taking it more seriously around 17/18 and slowly transitioned into drum & bass/jungle after a painful couple of months of grinding away. I caught a break with Liquicity (shout out) with the release of 'Dawning' and that's when things felt like it was moving."
Monrroe says that it's tough to describe his sound as it has changed throughout the years.
"But I would say my sound is deep tech-focused drum & bass with a flavor of liquid and heavy jungle based rawness" he says. "Bit of a mouthful."
It's been a busy year for releases, after a brief hiatus from the Shogun Audio family.
"I've been able to evolve 'my sound' and work with some wicked labels," Monrroe says. "Start of the year we had a four-track with MustMake, was really proud of this one, explored all elements of my sound and progressed it to what I feel is some of my best work. I owe so much of this to Jack Workforce, he worked with me on getting the tracks to hit as heavy as possible and pushed me to try new approaches to music... Learned so much from him and forever grateful, he's a don!"
"Next, working with the legendary DJ Die n his imprint GutterFunk, was a surreal feeling to be honest, grew up rinsing Die's tracks so it was a real full circle moment for me... Two cuts of rolling jungle, another genre close to my heart... Shout out Die and If. Lastly wrapping up the year for my Shogun 'gap year', release a lairy tech heavy 4 track with the legends over at Overview, such a sick label to work with and been a staple for years with sets. Wicked to get these out, was a good feeling to embrace this side of my sound. Love out to Pete & Ollie."
As for gear: "Gear wise I run a real sketchy hybrid setup of hardware/software. Ableton based through & through, such a wicked DAW, something about it just clicks with me. Monitor wise I've recently been using Adam A8H's, love them... After years of being on Yamaha HS8's (which are sick) I thought it was about time to pull the trigger and get an upgrade. Hardware wise I've been rinsing the Prophet Rev 2, mad synth... Has been a game changer for any lead bits... Get this amazing nostalgic/cyberpunk sound to it. For most things low end I'm still rinsing a Novation Bass Station, got it as the first bit of hardware years back and honestly has been a staple since... It is a simple mono synth but you can get the maddest beef out of it."
"More FX based bits of kit, I love the Elektron Analogue Heat... For anything distortion based it has this rawness that just hits right and in moderation can add so much glimmer to masters. Lastly something that is always getting a lot of use is my rouge collection of budget guitar pedals haha, every couple of months I'll try and pick up some busted second hand pedals, coming from a band based background these just make sense, having these can add so much grit/character and depth to instrumental bits. Properly went into a bit too much detail haha."
Looking ahead, Monrroe has plenty planned for the coming months. "Deffo got a busy couple of months inbound, gonna be in full hermit mode chipping away at a big project. But before that I've been working with my brother Duskee (love as always) on getting together an EP strictly for the dance. Homecoming to Shogun Audio."
Monrroe's Romance EP is out now. He's currently on tour. See dates below.
Photo by @NUFFHUNGRY
