Rumours of a brand new house album coming out of a mysterious UK studio featuring superstars of the scene have been circulating for over two years. Thankfully the wait is now over as North London producers Designer Doubt unveil their first single from their debut album ‘Like I Do’ feat. Kyla.
DMCWORLD grabs a world exclusive with front man Haynzy…
Hi Haynzy – a huge welcome to DMCWORLD Magazine. Where in the world are you right now?
Hey, thank you 😊 I’ve actually just bought a house in Kent, it’s lovely and peaceful out here. I’ve built my own office here too, so I’m tucked away working and being creative after years of traveling around before Covid hitting us all.
Sounds divine. So what is the best piece of new music you have heard this week?
For me there will always be more than one new track floating around my head whether released or unreleased – because I work with so many artists. But this week on the house front I’m feeling Aluna & MK – ‘Kiss It Better’, the dope artist from Derby K Harrison – ‘3 In A bed’ and one of my boys De J Ashman played me his single ‘Thinking About You’ which isn’t out yet but my gosh, what a banger. Keep your ears out for that one.
So, a big congratulations on the new single ‘Like I Do’ feat. Kyla – which we will come to later. But let’s rewind for a moment and discover how your musical journey began. What is your earliest musical memory as a child?
Thanks man! Yea ‘Like I Do’ is sick and took us ages to construct. It’s mad you ask this question actually because I was talking about the subject with my dad the other day! My earliest musical memory is actually being one and a half and going to the Isle Of Wight with my mum to watch my dad’s band Parix. Crazy how I still remember that, I remember being carried around at the sound check haha. I also remember being around three years old and him having a band rehearsal at home, dad defenceless with a bass guitar in his hands and me running up to him and punching him square in the never regions, lol.
Sounds like your childhood was full of music?
Well as I said, my dad was in a band called Parix and so yes, I grew up around music. My mum was always blasting out Kenny Thomas, Stevie Wonder and Janet Jackson around the house, so those smooth vocal tones definitely set in me.
Was a career in music always the number one choice for you or was there ever anything else you had in mind for your life path?
Music has always been my path. I’ve played sports to a decent level too but I’ve only ever worked and earned money in and around music. I joined the gospel choir from primary school and I was in that until I left school at 18. I had started working at a studio called Rudo Music in Holloway after school when I was 14 and I’ve worked in music ever since. My mum took me to my first concert when I was 13 which was Craig David at Wembley Arena, he was so good. The vibe that he created in there was so magical that I knew I was locked into that industry forever after that.
What did your folks think of your career decision and what was your dream back then?
All of my parents and family have always been ultra supportive of my career and dreams, which I thank them dearly for. It has helped that from around the age of nine I’ve always known that I wanted to be in music – buying CDs and reading the booklets to find out who the producers, A&Rs and labels were! So it’s not like they had much of a choice anyway haha…
Who were your early musical influences both in the dance music and commercial worlds?
I used to love garage music when I was young, the DJ EZ Pure Garage Compilations, the Artful Dodger – ‘It’s All About The Stragglers’ album and in the 90’s, house influenced tracks like Rosie Gaines ‘Closer Than Close’ and Robin S ‘Show Me Love’. I never new until recently that Sia, who I considered a big cross over commercial star, was on the vocals of the massive garage tune ‘Little Man’, so that was inspiring to me too.
What was your first steps into the music industry?
I was singing Jagged Edge – ‘Walked Outta Heaven’ in the school talent show which I won or came close to winning every year haha. This one particular year one of my teachers had brought a talent scout to the talent show to see me sing, he liked what I did and invited me over to the studio (Rudo Music) where I started doing backing vocals for them and helping them around the studio. And my journey into the music industry flourished from there…
Where were the clubs and DJs we would have seen you raving to back in the day?
Haha pretty terrible really. When me and my friends started raving it was apparent to me, even at the time, that we’d missed the golden years of the 80s and 90s. Everyone thinks that their time was the best, but I knew that our time in the 2000’s wasn’t. It was kind of dry really; the Opera House in Tottenham, Aquarium in Old Street and Destiny’s in Watford to try and see some ‘out of London’ girls lol. Although I always saw out and about another music industry peer of mine, DJ Ironik. He’s a legend, he’s been DJing in clubs since he was 13 years old and he’s truly one of the best DJs around now. His story is great too.
You first appeared on the DMCWORLD radar in your funky house days when you released under the Haynzy moniker – tell us about the music you were creating back then and also your first forays into the world of video…
Haha Yea, oi we had a big tune back then, ahead of it’s time, ‘Thinking Bout Me’ featuring Aidonia, what a tune. We made a video that was really cool at the time with just a white background lol, we couldn’t have started off anymore basic to be honest looking back now lol but some basic video effect ideas you can see were forming and I had some artists come through as cameos in the video like Scorcher, Jammer and Crazy Cousinz. We were performing all over the clubs with that one, it was produced by my friends Crazy Cousinz, one of the cousins is Paleface who is married to Kyla and that’s how the feature for our first single for Designer Doubt came about, kind of full circle in a way and Kyla featured on Drake’s ‘One Dance’ which is one of the biggest tracks of all time and she also just featured on an Arrdee single too, so they’ve done really well for themselves and I wanted to feature her on a house track because I always want to try something different. 
You’re a Londoner through and through – so much so you once appeared at the Spirit of London Awards and was once an Ambassador for The Princes Trust. What’s the story there?
Yea it’s mad when I think about it. I’ve been so focused every day since I was 9 years old on my music career that I’ve managed to pop up and appear in all of these places, just trying to achieve new things. I was nominated for a Spirit Of London Award in 2009 for achievements in music as a young Londoner and I went onto represent the Awards themselves in schools and colleges all around London after that, doing workshops and talks with young people. This got me involved with The Princes Trust too, who I tried to help with donations from all of the Grime Live shows I did at the Indigo at The O2. It’s mad.
Ahhh Grime Live, our next question! Tell us how your musical tastes changed from funky house to grime…
I’ve always worn many hats within the music industry, (Richie from Designer Doubt calls me ‘Matt 7 Hats’ lol) starting as an artist but quickly getting into the studio and video side of things before becoming an A&R man and a manager. I’ve always just been super interested in the industry as a whole and I’m very thankful that my skill set as a person or abilities allow me to cross over them all so freely. I was also always into Grime growing up because that’s just the generation that I’m from; Dizzee Rascal, Skepta, Scorcher etc. – so when I was able to sign Scorcher to Universal as his A&R, that was a big moment for me and I’ve since gone onto manage him which has had me in and around everyone in the Grime scene since 2010. I’m very proud to say that I put on 3 big Grime shows at The Indigo at The O2 with all UK acts; Giggs, AJ Tracey, Notes, Big Narstie, Ghetts etc. – I was so tired of seeing the U.S. acts come over and pack out these venues and use our acts as support acts, I wanted to see if our UK acts could sell it for ourselves and it turns out that we could!
Your mobile phone is like a who’s who of the grime scene. Who are some of your big name mates you count as friends and who appear at your shows?
I don’t know really, it’s just whoever is about at the time lol. K Koke has come to a few shows, Scorcher and DJ Ironik obviously and a couple of footballers like Troy Deeney and Jermaine Pennant etc. There’s always somebody floating about haha…
As you mentioned, you were once A&R Manager at Universal/Geffen/Polydor – why did a role like this appeal to you?
It was always a dream of mine to become an A&R person for a major label ever since I used to read the CD booklets and find out who the A&R person was haha. I was over there for almost 6 years and loved it and it’s where I truly learned what this industry is all about and how it operates. There was no better place for me to learn at that time.
Who was the biggest act you signed whilst there?
I brought Ed Sheeran into the building to work with Scorcher at the time on the single ‘It’s My Time’ – you can see Ed doing all the acoustic guitars and vocals for Scorcher around that time. It was Ed’s first time in a major label environment, they wrote ‘Lego House’ together with Jake Gosling, I should have probably signed him really lol
Err, yes you should! Okay let’s hear some personal shit…your favourite…
Film of all time – The Matrix. That shit is real life now lol.
Album – Craig David ‘Born To Do It’. That’s where it all began for me
Teenage crush – Jessica Alba. She had it all, full package lol.
Guilty pleasure tune – Megan Trainor – ‘Wave’ feat Mike Sabath. That shit BANGS.
Track you wish you’d have made?
A few!! Calvin Harris & Disciples ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ – Major Lazer, DJ Snake & MO ‘Lean On’, CamelPhat ‘Cola’, Disclosure ‘White Noise’ feat Aluna George and Redlight ‘Lost In Your Love’. All very important tracks for me and Designer Doubt wouldn’t exist without those.
Which brings us to the incredible Designer Doubt. Please, tell us how DD was created, who are the members of this ground breaking act and what their roles are…
Well, there’s actually five of us really when you include Richard Upshall who is the business brain behind Designer Doubt. I’m Haynzy the front man, the Chris Martin, the vocalist, concepts, production ideas, top line writer and A&R man lol. Then you have Richie who is the programming, music studio production wizard, he’s always off buying new plugins and creating new sounds from scratch and all that type of thing. Bobby is the musician (as all as Richie) making sure that everything is musical and he gives us diversity and magic, we can make any form of music we choose to. Bobby helps write the songs too, which is obviously important. Then Antoine is the visual man, anything visual or conceptual both musically and visually, he is a real life genius, there aren’t may geniuses in life but he is definitely one of them. He’s also a great producer too.
Your CGI Unreal Engine visuals you create are insane and totally unique. Who comes up with the stories for the videos?
This is all Antoine and his department. You just have to trust the process because it’s an extremely complicated one, but he has the mind for it. This first video is more of a test really to see what concepts we can achieve. We want to create our own Designer Doubt type universe; worlds and characters as scenes and concepts for anything visual that we do and the live show will see fans immersed in that in a way that nothing else has been done before. The closest thing would be Abba’s new CGI show but they’ve just created younger, better looking versions of themselves. We want to create worlds and characters and that plugged into the meta verse in the future and our live show… it’ll be incredible! Now you see why The Matrix is my favourite film!
The first single from the new album ‘A Day In The Sun’ is out now; ‘Like I Do’ Feat. Kyla. Talk us through the song and video…
We have to mention the club remix as well because for the House heads, that really does BANG – I hope everyone enjoys that one in the festival tents! Yea the single is dope and a really nice place for us to start in terms of first single entering the market as a new act. Kyla and Paleface are legends in their own right and we’ve managed to create a bangin’ House tune with a really smooth vocal, you can hear some of the sprinkles of Garage influence in there as well – a real combination of everything I’ve loved musically over the years. The song is about being in a relationship where you’ve spent so much time together that you start to copy each other’s mannerisms and sentences and slang words etc but the song says, ‘you’re sounding like I do’ but ‘there’s room for me AND you, you’re more than I need, so be one of us two/too’. Be yourself basically and that should be more than enough. Antoine then had the visual concept of making myself and Kyla superheroes to represent that concept, where we can fight crime or anything in life together, but you’ll always have to figure out your own way of doing it and your own path.
The rest of the album is littered with huge name contributions and features; Justin Beiber, Snoop Dogg, Spice Girls, Chris Brown, Tyga, Ray J and K Harrison all feature. How did these names end up on the album?
This all just comes from experience, traveling around and being in really cool music environments really. I was working with Ray J for a few years and some of the stories and artists that I met along the way have enough stories there for a whole separate interview in itself haha. But essentially it’s all vocals and artists and people that we met along the way on our journey so far. We’ve featured on a Ray J, Flo Rida and Brandy single as well and I tried to steer them in the direction of Electronic and Dance music haha, which they loved.
What is your favourite track on the album and why?
In terms of pure head banger dance tent energy, I’d say ‘Bedroom Floor’ featuring Tyga because it’s an undeniable banger! But I love the writing and the vocals on ‘Birds Fly High’ featuring the Spice Girls because we had some old Spice Girls original vocals and I wanted to see if we could make them sound cool on a House track. And I think we achieved it. I also love ‘A Call Away’ because unfortunately Richie’s wife passed away whilst we were making the album and my partner’s nan also passed away and that song is for them. Richie and I were literally crying in the studio writing that one. Sometimes you wish you could just pick up the phone and speak to them one more time.
Who would be the dream artist to create a piece of music with?
I like doing different things and thinking of concepts that could potentially create something new to listen to, so something like having Boyz II Men on a House beat or Brian Mcknight, something like that lol also though to work with Calvin Harris on a record would be a dream come true. We’ve also worked on a remix for Paul Oakenfold too, which was epic! What a legend.
A new year is fast approaching, what are some of the plans for 2023 for Designer Doubt?
We want to keep releasing singles and building the brand. This is a long lasting, quality brand that we’re trying to create and we’ll be making bangin’ tunes for the foreseeable future. We’ve been around for a while and seen a lot and feel as if it’s all been coming together for this moment.
You have also been smashing it up on tour in the U.S. with Ray J – what was the highlight from that trip overseas?
That tour was crazy, as you can imagine! We went all around the U.S, which was an experience and really good to get the name out there and scoop up some fans for Designer Doubt, especially introducing them and pointing them in the direction of our sound, which was cool. The highlight was probably being on stage in Orange County with Ray J, Ja Rule and Ashanti all at once and thinking ‘is this life’? Or spending Christmas time with Ray J, Brandy and their parents at their house in LA which they were moving out of at the time – going through old boxes with them, seeing old original Moesha VHS tapes and plaques for ‘Another Day In Paradise’ which I also had sung in one of the years school talent shows with my school crush at the time. How crazy is life?
London has never been hotter right now for new talent – who is a young up and comer we should all be looking out for next year and beyond?
I’d definitely say K Harrison or Bdidit, those boys are crazy talented and have some really great music coming out. Good looking lads too, so people will love them – keep your eyes open for them but the way it’s going for them already, I don’t think you’ll have trouble seeing them haha…
You have technology at your fingertips and a great team around you. What other boundaries are you looking to push in the future?
We want to take the technology to the stage in a way that only really Abba have tried thus far, with CGI performing characters on stage as if they are really there performing in real life, which in essence they will be. Imagine an immersive show which is a complete environment created by us for fans who are watching CGI characters and CGI versions of music stars performing all around them to bangin’ House and commercial cross over, good vibes music. You’ll think you’ve been transported into a movie! That and making our DD logo into a character and a brand for NFTs, metaverse, emojis and merchandising. It’ll be good to make a series or a movie of some kind too, once the brand is super well established. Let’s see how life shapes out for us.
What are the 3 big tunes in your box this weekend?
Aluna & MK – ‘Kiss It Better’, K Harrison – ‘3 In A Bed’ and the club remix of Designer Doubt – ‘Like I Do’ featuring Kyla.
And finally, Christmas is around the corner. What does Designer Doubt want Santa to bring down the chimney for you this year?
Just some traction and light for the Designer Doubt project please. People need to hear how good our music is, we just want them to resonate with it and enjoy it. That’s what music is to us.
*****
DESIGNER DOUBT – ‘LIKE I DO’ FEAT. KYLA IS OUT NOW ON RU-LISTENING
NEW ALBUM OUT 2023
