Delta Heavy talk about their collab with Kayzo on ‘Tormenta’

For the first time, Kayzo and Delta Heavy come together on their new single ‘Tormenta’ which dropped on 10th December via Monstercat. It’s been three years since Kayzo released on the label, and two years for Delta Heavy.

We caught up with Drum & Bass duo, Delta Heavy to speak about their highly anticipated collab with Kayzo – ‘Tormenta’ out now on Monstercat. 

The collab started with a tweet that Kayzo would like to work on a Drum & Bass track. 

“I guess we were aware of each other online. So we tweeted almost like saying – almost half jokingly saying – yes, we’re down or something like that. And then Kayzo DM’d me instantly and was like, let’s do it!”

‘Tormenta’ has been finished for 18 months and the track made its debut at festivals before the pandemic, but it’s only just now that they found the vocal to fit the track – “it basically took us a year to get the right vocal sample!”

The song is an amalgamation of both artists’ musical stylings, with vocal chops and dubstep drops that Kayzo’s fans are very familiar with. The second half sees a thunderous drop and a tempo change to Drum & Bass, showcasing Delta Heavy’s rhythmic variety. 

“We had a basic sketch for an idea that started – that the first drop at 150 BPM and then it sped up to DnB, so the tempo shifted as the tune progressed. We sent that over and Kayzo really liked the basic concept and so we kind of passed the project back and forward and he added some of his signature sound and it formed from there”.

The duo both met at Nottingham University, where they frequented nights like Stealth and Detonate. Since then, they have been unstoppable with countless highlights throughout their decade – from signing to RAM under Andy C to playing to 20,000 people at EDC. 

“If you asked me 10 years ago that in 10 years time we’d have toured the world or done 1500 ticket shows in London and done two albums – not in a million years! So yeah, it’s crazy looking back. But the last few years have felt like we have had a permanent sense of momentum. Ever since we’ve put out Paradise Lost it has felt like one big highlight”.

It’s evident that Delta Heavy are versatile and capable of experimenting with different styles, however, they won’t be delving into different genres anytime soon. Rather focusing on their current sound and honing it to the best of their ability.

“Musically it’s more about – within those frameworks – just pushing ourselves sonically, songwriting and sound design, so yeah I don’t think we will be experimenting with many more BPMs. It’s more about pushing our sound within what we are known for”.

As well as being known for their sound, Delta Heavy have made an impression in terms of their visuals and thematic videos. The visual aspect is something that has always been important to the duo and feel like this is something that Dance Music as a genre isn’t known for.

“We felt that Dance music didn’t really have kind of, thoughtful innovative videos and it all felt very generic. So, we really wanted to do something that would set us apart and just feel a bit different. We started looking for cool, young animators doing different things so that’s when we first started working with Ian Robertson, who worked on ‘Get By’ and after that, seeing how well it did and getting nominated for a several awards, obviously it felt like this was slightly our thing and we wanted to keep looking for different ways of styles of animation and different ways to bring our music to life visually”.

Any Drum & Bass fan will be familiar with vocal heavy tracks ‘Ghost’ and ‘Get By’ and their thematic videos. The lyrical aspect of these songs gives room for a story to be told, evoking certain emotions and different worlds. 

“It’s exciting – we just like the fact that someone that may not necessarily be into a Dancefloor Drum & Bass track may be able to appreciate it and it enables our music to be seen and heard by a different audience”. 

It also looks like the duo have some of these in store along with some planned collabs for 2021…

“We’re not going to reveal who it is now, but this is an artist that has come through very strongly over 2020 and is very popular and we’re good friends with this artist and a lot of people have wanted to see us collab with them… so quite excited to come through and that should be within the first couple of months of next year. We also want to focus on more pure original content now and more vocal tunes and a few more collabs”. 

Despite being in the game for over 10 years, the duo feel like their journey has only just begun. 

“10 years does feel like a long time, but it really does feel like we’re just getting started. DnB is our first love.The energy and the prestige that comes with Drum & Bass is one that you don’t find in many other genres. It’s still very much our first passion and combining it with other stuff that we’ve done and fusing it with other influences – we still find it inspiring – whether it’s music being made by our peers or from new artists coming through – it’s really exciting. So yeah, we see us making Dnb and stuff for a really long time”. 

‘Tormenta’ has already made an impression at festivals prior to the pandemic, but it’s sure to continue its streak next year. 

Thanks to Delta Heavy for taking the time to talk to us. Listen to ‘Tormenta’ below and purchase it from here