Battering down the doors of the genre elitists come a pair of producers plucked from the ranks of Ram's new generation of incredible music talents. In just under two years, Delta Heavy, or Simon James and Ben Hall to their mums, have already proven their electronic prowess with a succession of heavy-hitting original tracks. They met at university in Nottingham and after several years of hard work, their production efforts resulted in dance floor anthem 'Abort', which came out on Viper's headroom EP in June 2010 to a huge response and gained them recognition within the scene.
With Radio 1 support from Zane Lowe and Huw Stevens as well as Andy C, Friction, High Contrast and the rest, it became a vital fixture in DJ sets across the country. Signing to Ram in early 2010, their debut single 'Space Time / Take The Stairs' was nominated as Best Track at the 2010 Drum & Bass Arena Awards as well as nominations for Best Producer and Best Newcomer DJ. Hitting number 1 across all the download stores, 'Space Time' was undoubtedly one of the biggest d&b tracks of the year.
2011 saw remixes for the likes of Example, Avicii and Chase and Status ft. Tinie but the highly anticipated follow up to their massive debut single was always going to deliver. 'Overkill / Hold Me' cemented them as bass innovators and leading lights in current hype that surrounds much of bass music today. The video for 'Hold Me' has hit nearly 5 million views as well as receiving a nomination for Best Animated Video at the UK Motion Video Awards, plus received daytime radio play from Sara Cox as well as specialist spins from Zane Lowe, Skream & Benga, Mistajam & Kissy Sell Out.
The release of their highly anticipated and critically acclaimed EP Down The Rabbit Hole in 2012 saw Delta Heavy firmly established themselves as one of the most exciting artists to emerge in recent years. The EP had outstanding radio support from Fearne Cotton, lead track 'Get By' was Annie Mac's special delivery, Zane Lowe, Huw Stephens, Sara Cox and all relevant specialist DJ support on BBC Radio 1; Mistajam Record of the Week and play listed at 1Xtra, plus spot plays on Capital & XFM. The video for 'Get By' was hailed as a 'cultural back story to the 90s' and was an outstanding performance of stop motion graphics being used to utter devastation when teamed with the best in electronic music. It had homepage features on Youtube, Vevo, The Sun & CBS News and also saw two additional nominations at the UK MVA's. Add to this a remix for Nero which hit over 150,000 downloads in the first 3 months of release (275 000 downloads to date), 2012 was a big year.
Their DJ schedule certainly echoed their releases, with headline performances from Buenos Aires to New Zealand including key festivals shows at every Electric Daisy Carnival Festival in North America (Las Vegas, New York, Chicago & Orlando) to crowds of over 20,000 people. The Apollo EP is Delta Heavy's first release of 2014. Ben & Si have been hard at work on their next level new material. Concentrated lockdown business: the explosive fruits of this dedication are set to be unleashed throughout the year. With the first of these harvests sporting three incredible workouts from two of drum & bass's most talented individuals, 2014 is going to be yet another vintage year for Delta Heavy.
