Quivver’s Controlled Substance bomb appeared on Soundcloud today with no announcement from the man himself; so of course we wanted to get the lowdown!

Hi Quivver, talk about surprise!

Quivver (laughs!): Yeah I guess. Some of my originals don’t tend to get released for ages because labels have either got so many releases in the queue or we’re waiting for remixes…

‘The World You Create’ is a personal fave of mine and has been rocking crowds every time I play it. I’ve had a great year and feel like loads of people have given me huge support, so this release is my way of saying thanks to them. This hasn’t even gone out on promo either, so it’s completely fresh!

So Controlled Substance is a label now too 🙂 

I’ve been thinking about doing it for a while but have been really busy this year… so as soon as I got some free time I just cracked on with it.

Controlled Substance will be showcasing some of the darker Quivver sounds, or maybe a few of my secret weapons; plus artists that inspire me.

The branding seems quite edgy

Quivver: Yeah, the track’s quite dark so the cover suits it. As for the logo, I hosted a competition on social media so I have Nick Berta to thank for it. The UK underground scene was born out of political rebellion, and I’ve always been a fan of graffiti and street art, so Nick nailed exactly how I wanted it to look.

Will you still be releasing on other labels again or doing remixes?

Absolutely, yes. I’m trying to avoid remixes at the moment though because I want to focus on my own material.

I have some big releases already planned for 2018. Tronic announced they’re releasing one of my tracks which was massive buzz as they’ve been one of my favourite labels of the past few years. Christian seems to consistently find some of the best music out there, so was a huge compliment to land a release with them.

I’ve also been exercising the vocal cords again for another Quivver track. Everything’s top secret on that one for the time being though.

You’re known and loved for being a progressive artist. Does the release on Tronic signal  you’re switching to techno in 2018. 

Quivver: No. Tronic were kind enough to sign one of the toughest track’s I’ve ever written. But my new Controlled Substance release is dark but still has a big progressive edge. Anyone who’s heard me play out or listened to my shows, knows I play a lot of different shades of house music plus the occasional bit of techno. But in the main, I’ve always been drawn to playing and creating emotional sounding music, so that’s never going to change.

Controlled Substance will be showcasing some of the darker Quivver sounds, or maybe a few of my secret weapons; plus artists that inspire me.

We saw you’ll be appearing Sasha’s ReFracted: Live show in February again. 

Yeah I felt really lucky to be part of the last ReFracted shows because they were wicked, so I’m really looking forward to the next ones.

You also got to remix ‘Rooms’ under your old Drum & bass alias ‘Skanna’ and mentioned you were working on a Skanna EP last time we spoke? How’s that coming along?

It’s coming along nicely. My roots are from the early Jungle/Drum & Bass scene, so the contrast of light and darkness has always had a heavy influence on the Quivver sound. It’s been literally 20 years since the Skanna EP and there are so many sub-genres of Drum & Bass now…! I’ve been experimenting a lot and finally found a direction I’m happy with…

We’ve noticed you’re one of the first big name artists to start inviting fans to send you their mixes and have promised to repost some of them. What’s the reason for that?

People are always been sending me their music and mixes and to be honest, I’ve found it hard enough keeping up with label promos, let alone giving people 1:1 feedback. I thought it would be a good idea to set aside one day a month to check out whatever people had been sending. Then at least I’m showing a bit of support for my fans and giving them the opportunity to get their music heard.

Any more bombshells you want to drop on us?

Yeah, I may well decide to do another surprise release or two depending how CS001 does!