We did a few smaller student nights at local Bristol clubs throughout 2019 and we continued to plan events for 2020. This is when the Covid-19 pandemic happened which cancelled all our upcoming events and left us with so much uncertainty at the time and I did not want the brand to die out during lockdown. This is where I decided to diversify the brand into a record label so we could keep active through music releases and start to reach a new market overall. I rebranded our logo and changed our name from just Invicta to Invicta Audio in April 2020.

The label's popularity has seemly exploded over the past 12 months, what tools and practices would you credit to the rapid growth of your label? (networking, using a PR company selecting artists…etc?)

There are many different factors that have contributed to our success over the past 12 months. Hype Edit being 1st on that list when I discovered that you could gain real active followers from free music I was blown away. We started to give away so much high-quality free music from up and comers who people had not been heard of before and ended up creating a platform where we could give new artists an opportunity to get their name seen by a much wider audience.

Another factor that has contributed to our success I believe is consistency through some really difficult times. The music industry has taken such a huge hit over the past 12 months and motivation has been difficult for everyone, but we managed to try keep our heads on the long game and keep pushing the music we love ready for when we can return to events as the opportunities would be so much greater for us post lockdown.

Following on from my last point there is a really strong team behind Invicta Audio! We are all very motivated to make this our careers and understand what it is going to take to make that a possibility. My team is made up from a lot of my close friends and I think for that reason we all bounce off each other very well and come up with some great ideas for projects that we can then implement through the brand at the highest quality.

Do you have a particular focus or game plan for the label in the short and longer term? (breaking new artists, pushing a particular style, getting back to events, Festivals…etc)

On the label side of things, I really want to continue focusing on pushing brand new talent that deserve the opportunity to be exposed on a wider scale whilst upping the quality of our releases. With the hugely anticipated return of events, I want to carry on selling out our Bristol shows and expand to other major cities across the UK within the next year or so as we continue to grow. It is also a dream of mine to get involved with some huge UK and abroad festivals. Regarding our style, at first, we always said we don’t mind the sub-genre as long as the quality is there and naturally with the tunes we have released, we have created the labels own unique sound which is what our followers are really enjoying so now we are going to carry on catering to this as shown in our 1-year album.

Can you tell us a bit about the 1 Year of Invicta LP you have coming out? Is this album all new material, best of the year, or a mixture of both?

Our 1-year album is full of brand-new material. We have broken the album up to showcase all of Invicta’s different styles and sounds with 6 vocal tracks and 6 heavier styled tracks ranging from liquid to ragga vocals and of course some jump up to finish it off. We have a huge remix from Rise on one of Invicta’s signature tracks Gonda – Hold Up from our Launch LP that was released just over 1 year ago, this has been one of our most anticipated tracks since people first heard it on livestreams and sit-down shows.

Does the label have a particular focus when it comes to the artists and music you put out on the label?

I have previously touched on this a little, but we want to focus on the quality of music over everything as believe good music talks. We have had some of our most successful tracks be sent to us through our demo submission box that is available to the public. I find it interesting having so many new artists show us their productions as you can really uncover some hidden gems, and this is something I want to keep pushing no matter what size we grow to as it’s what the foundations of our success have been built on.

What advice would you offer to a budding producer wanting to break through and get noticed in the D&B scene?

I think with music production the opportunities are endless and the best thing someone can do is focus on making what they love and define a sound that is unique to them rather than get caught up in the trends as I feel it can be very easy to do. Listener’s love finding fresh sounding music as do label owners, after listening to countless of similar demos it is always refreshing to hear some different sound design! I also think the way you market yourself is very important, finding unique ways of pushing your music and making yourself stand out amongst the crowd is an essential to your success. Finally, music can be very stressful and is a long journey for everyone so keeping focused and driven through the hard times will always make you end up with the rewards, make sure you don’t get caught up in comparing yourself to others as everyone’s path is different!

For those looking for a sample taste of Invicta can you share with us 5 of your most influential tracks of the past year?

1. Gonda - Hold Up

This track came out on very first ever LP on the 8th May and due to the unique sound of the first bass we attracted attention and support from artists such as AC13. Gonda is one of our residents and he has been with us since the start so to see him get so much attention when we started the label as a smaller artist was an amazing feeling.

2. Scuffed - One By One (Napes Remix)

Napes has had a couple of huge releases on Invicta now, it was a tough decision to choose between this remix and his track from our launch LP ‘No Hesitation’ that took the scene by storm with over 1,500 downloads. Our 10k free download however had to be included as it has been one of our most requested tracks over the last few months and we could not think of a better milestone to give it away for.

3. Oppidan - Nasty

Oppidan is a UKG producer who has multiple releases on Kiwi Rekords. On her debut track she managed to turn a lot of heads in the drum and bass scene with her own unique sound. We used a very special marketing technique for this track on the streets of Bristol doing a tune review with the public last summer which is an experience we will never forget!

4. Magenta - Rude

Magenta made his debut on Invicta Audio with one of the most unique jump up tracks of the year! A huge VIP of this will also be seen in summer this year that a lot of our fans are currently looking forward to.

5. Harley D - Run Away

Harley D is another artist who has been with us since the very start of the label with his track ‘Fear’ he then followed up multiple releases with us over the year leading up to a huge 4 track EP which hit number 2 in the Juno charts with his star track Run Away being one of our best sellers on the label. We have some more huge plans with him this year that we can’t wait to share including a Run Away VIP.

What else do you have planned for 2021? (Gigs, releases to watch out for?)

We are going to continue with our releases monthly however we are looking into our first ever Invicta USB which will be filled with exclusive Invicta content and some brand-new merch releases for the summer. We will also be launching a little side label called InvicTek sometime this year where we will be releasing some of Bristol’s finest Tek music and having some fun with that. Events wise we’re currently organising multiple Bristol shows on the 26th May at Lakota, 12th June at dare 2 club Bristol as well as takeovers at Motion Bristol to be announced this summer! Lots of exciting things are still to come from us this year on all aspects!