Nights In Reverse is the exciting new project from KDN Q (formerly Kade) and BETAQS described as “Bicep meets bass”, whose music fuses their bass sound and evolves it into something more rave-centric, capturing the emotional spirit of ‘90s / early 00s rave music. With the duo’s new release ‘The Need’ out on NewState, DMC chatted with Nights In Reverse…
Hi KDN Q and BETA95! Thanks for speaking with DMC. What have you been up to?
We’ve both really been putting hours into honing our sound and enjoying the process of making bangers! We generally have a tight-knit team of people we work with creatively, from people who we just ask for feedback and advice down to our videographer, we also do a lot of stuff ourselves aside from just making the music, so the last year or so has just been getting really hands-on with it, which is exciting and a positive learning experience for us.
How did you both meet?
We’ve known each other for years, first making contact through the grime scene, I (BETA95) was working under the alias of Priceless at the time, making beats and collaborating with MC’s. So, I met KDN Q through that as he was DJing – but even then, we had probably communicated by email for a good 3-4 years until I landed in London and he invited me onto his radio show. He then went on to release a few of my tracks through his label and the rest is history!
What made you decide to form Nights In Reverse?
The two of us had successfully released a couple of singles and it just felt right to team up! It was also well advised by a few people that it would be easier for marketing too, creating our own brand has definitely helped to define our sound and aesthetic moving forward.
Tell us about the name and what it means?
To be honest, we just wanted the name to represent what our music is about: raving, emotions, spending time with friends, nights out and all that comes with them. The name can be interpreted in many different ways too which is sick.
You’re about to release ’The Need’ on New State which is inspired by rave culture. Tell us a bit about the meaning behind the track, how it came together, and also about the video?
‘The Need’ is really just a track to capture the emotion of raving. Depending on the mood you’re in, the song could mean so many different things, and we actually set out a lot of the time to make tracks that people can cry in the rave to haha! But in all seriousness, we are so happy with ‘The Need’, it was one of the first tracks that we really thought deeply about the structure, as well as building emotion and meaning through what we come up with during our creative process. The video was all based around something that can feel nostalgic and futuristic at the same time, which is why we landed on something partly synth-wave and partly cyberpunk. The vivid lighting really matches up with energy of the track too.
What can people expect from Nights In Reverse over the coming months?
Good quality dance music that can capture the way people are feeling, and hopefully bring some positive energy to what has been quite a shit time for many people around the world.
Do you intend to perform together live as Nights In Reverse, or play any DJs sets together? Do you have anything confirmed?
Of course, we’d love to start doing shows and playing music around the world, it’s part of our plan and we’re available!
Which other producers (past and present) do you look up to?
We both have a really broad taste and coming from more grime and bass orientated scenes originally played a big part in our influences. But to name some, Sir Spyro, Redlight, Disclosure, Commodo, Flume, Salute. We both also listen to a lot of Rap, both UK and US too, we often find with electronic music we’re actually harder to please when it comes to finding tracks we love, as we’re always searching for dance music which is slightly out of the ordinary.
But we are definitely loving a lot of the euphoric ravey stuff coming about at the moment from guys like Tommy Farrow and Lawrence Guy. There seems to be a nice scene of producers in this field starting to grow through 2020 to now and it’s something we want to be a big part of.
What is your favourite rave anthem?
KDNQ: Benga & Coki – Night
BETA95: Breakage feat. Newham Generals and David Rodigan – Hard
Finally, when not in the studio, how do you both like to unwind?
I think for me the studio is unwinding! (BETA95). But aside from music I love watching sport, drinking rum and relaxing in a pub.
KDN Q dabbles in Meditation, and enjoys fitness, he also shares the love of the pub.
Nights In Reverse is out now on NewState. Buy / Stream at https://orcd.co/theneed
