Danny Breaks

Bootstrap producer Danny Breaks is one of only a few artists from the rave scene's early hardcore days to have successfully followed the style into full-blown jungle while remaining both innovative and widely respected. Breaks was one of the first big names on former hardcore and current cornerstone jungle imprint Suburban Base's roster, recording dancefloor anthems and playlist toppers like "High Up" (a Top 40 tune), "Peace and Loveism," and "Style Warz" as Sonz of a Loop Da Loop Era. His full-length debut under that name, Flowers in My Garden was one of the first long-players in the genre, and his roots in hip-hop and turntable tricknology as both a DJ and producer were instrumental in bridging the gaps between post-rave and happy hardcore's scrubbed suburban face and the more streetlevel, working class grit of darkside and hardstep. Himself a suburbanite (residing in Southend), Breaks connected up with Suburban Base in 1991 when he began working at Boogie Times Records (Sub Base is the store's in-house label). "High Up" was the product of Danny's first go at the mixing desk, and his rapid acclimation to the recording studio (as well as the popularity of his tunes) meant the label made room on the pressing schedule for whatever he was working on. After taking a break and working in A&R for Sub Base, Breaks returned in 1995 with his own label, Droppin' Science, releasing periodic volumes of frantic, heavily percussive jungle similar to artists such Dillinja and Bristol stepper Roni Size. His rep carried over big-time, and his label quickly became associated with the front line of nuts'n'bolts hardstep. Droppin' Science's release schedule slowed in 1996 as Breaks played the runaround game with a few majors (he eventually decided to stick with the underground, signing...