“It’s like a new sound”: Brighter Days Family are bringing positive change to dance music

The Brighter Days Family don't follow trends in music or fashion. They don't care if you think they're cool, and they’re definitely not trying to be edgy or mysterious. The close-knit collective of DJs, producers and MCs, otherwise known as BDF, do what’s right for them and their community, when it feels right. And so far, it’s been working out pretty well for them.

Having put their first tune out on Bandcamp five years ago, the eponymous ‘Brighter Days’, the London-based multi-hyphenate collective have been gathering momentum over time, playing their second Glastonbury set this summer, along with appearances at We Out Here, Outlook and Boomtown. In September, they held a month-long Friday night residency at Night Tales Loft in Hackney, selling out every show and inviting the likes of Wookie, Hagan, IG Culture and Katy B to join them on their already busy stage.

As a label, they’ve garnered praise from Gilles Peterson and made music with Eliza Rose. With a distinct sound that sits somewhere between garage, jungle and broken beat, the BDF are redefining old skool genres for a new generation. Their jazzy productions are infused with African and Latin rhythms, and often paired with grime-influenced bars and soulful vocals. It is a sound that is hard to pinpoint – the result of both their own innovations, as well as the effect of having so many different musical minds involved.

While serving as both a community and a platform for its musicians, the BDF also perform together, taking turns on the decks and sharing the mic. “You know when you see a live band, and they’re looking at each other when they’re playing,” OG member Samtheman tells me over a Guinness and a bowl of chips at a pub in Dalston. “That’s what we do. I love salsa music and in a salsa band, everyone’s so locked in. If someone makes a mistake, someone else in the band is gonna make that mistake not sound like a mistake. When we’re doing our thing, we be flowing like that.”

It's a feeling that MC Reek0 can only describe as “like being on the football pitch”. The BDF put that level of chemistry down to the fact that, for them, friendship comes before anything. “With most of us, music didn’t bring us together,” says founding member IZCO, also tucking in to a pint of Guinness and a bowl of chips, but this time at a different pub, in Hoxton. “And I like to think that we would have maintained friendships without the music.” As one of the group’s most prominent names, IZCO, or Izzy, frequently gets people asking him how they can join BDF, or receiving emails from managers asking if an artist can come on their radio show.

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“Obviously I know that's normal, but for us, it’s not,” he explains. “There’s no process to joining BDF; no membership. People think it's some regimented shit, asking man how it works, but that’s not really it. It's not even about what you can do. You could be the best artist in the world, but if we don’t feel it, we don't care. Even the people we’ve worked with who we don't necessarily know in the family sense, over the years, we’ve grown close with them. So there’s always something more than just music.”

And by ‘family sense’, he means those in the collective who quite literally grew up together, making connections at school or through mutual friends. “Reek0 went to school with a close family friend, so I’d go to birthday parties and Reeks would always be there,” says Izzy. “Then me, Sam[theman] and Dyl [AKA Cuppa], we’ve known each other for years, and we’ve been inseparable for all those years.”

Taking it back all those years, Izzy, Sam and Dyl grew up together in Hackney. Around the age of 16, they began hanging out more frequently, meeting up every Friday at Izzy’s family home. By this point, Izzy had already been cutting his teeth in the world of DJing and production, emerging as one of the youngest artists pushing a new wave of garage coming out the UK, but also deeply embedded in the sounds of jungle and grime. With the support of MC Capo Lee, he landed a show on Mode FM in 2018 and subsequently Rinse FM later that year – a station the collective now has a weekly residency on.

When Sam and Dyl went round to Izzy’s, they would hang out in his bedroom, playing records, mixing and experimenting with making beats. “So much of it was just about enjoying music together,” Sam tells me of those formative days. “It’s how we like spending time together. Some groups of friends might like playing football, others like playing monopoly,” he laughs. “But we wanted to be in the studio, hanging out, and making music. We just liked doing it together and feeling each other's energy.

“Things just happen with BDF. We have ideas, and then over time, things just click into place when they feel right,” he continues. “That’s a big thing for us: things will happen when they feel right, we won’t try and force nothing.” And at first, that idea was to throw a party playing the music they liked. Inspired by the positivity of ’90s garage raves, Sam and Izzy decided they would call it ‘Brighter Days’.

But, before they got round to organising the event, Izzy and Sam produced a song together and used the name for that. “That track was the ting that started the ting,” asserts Izzy with more clarity on how the collective started – a sign of his natural drive that was essential to getting the BDF off the ground. “I always think forward with stuff like this, and I think about what things could become. I definitely started out knowing it was going to be more than just a track, that it was the start of BDF, and the first of many songs.” The release notes on its Bandcamp page simply state: “Brighter Days intro. So much more to come…”

And he wasn’t wrong. The ‘Brighter Days’ track was released in February 2020, sparking a period of intense creativity and productive output. Other local friends who were into making music joined the family including Reek0, FELIXCW, and Gil sm. “It was a special period of time,” recalls Sam. “It was at the right stage in our life, we was all about 20, and we all loved music. Some of our best tunes got made that way.”

Then, Izzy met South London producer Jkarri (real name Josh Gaskin-Brown), who opened BDF up to a whole new group of like-minded musicians from across the river including Dochi, Natanya, Osquello and Angel Seka. “Linking up with Jkarri was a game changer,” says Izzy. “I met him at college in Bow [the arts and music focused ELAM] and when we started making music together, it changed everything. At the time, he was exactly the influence I needed – sonically, and as a man – and I had what he needed.”

“I think our creative processes are very different,” Josh tells me over the phone. “But they complement each other. I create music in a more traditional way, playing instruments and crafting song structures, whereas Izzy is more about sampling and the electronic side of production. But they kind of blend together beautifully whenever we work together.”

For Josh, who is mainly focused on producing R&B and pop (for the likes of Bell Cobain, PinkPantheress and Pip Millett), BDF provides an outlet for him to express a different side of his creativity. “Meeting Izzy, Sam and Dyl was a big thing for me because they showed me how to make music that slaps on the dancefloor, music that makes people react in the club. I always had a love for dance music and an appreciation of its long-standing history in the UK, but they showed me I can make a whole song that doesn't have a vocalist in, and it can be just as impactful, in its own way.”

Spending time together as a group, getting to know each other as friends, but also as musicians, the BDF began to develop a sonic identity. “It's like an internal network,” Izzy explains. “People who are close and listening to each other's music, being so inspired for so long, it makes that sound stronger, it compresses into itself. None of it would have happened without that orange wall studio in Clapton,” he remarks, referencing his bedroom’s brightly coloured walls.

FELIXCW reflects on that period of time. “We used to just chill together and then whoever pulled up to the studio would add their little piece to the tune. So sometimes you’d have like 10 people on one track, which is nice because you can hear each of us in the tune, even if it’s just one riff or one drum hit. Sonically, we are more about the soulful side of music, which I think is lost sometimes in the current climate of dance music.”

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That soulful influence can be attributed, in part, to a local record shop, Eldica in Dalston, where many of the BDF go digging for samples. “We like that shop because it’s got a lot of obscure jazzy, soulful records from different parts of the world – Brazil, Africa, the Caribbean. Stuff that’s a bit leftfield, a bit different,” says Sam. “Without Eldica, my music is gonna sound very different. The BDF sound is going to be very different.”

“It’s a place for music lovers,” says Dyl, who also works there. “It’s run by these older heads and they’ve taught us so much about music. A lot of the BDF influence is music that has come out of that shop.”

2021 saw a string of releases from the BDF. There was ‘Firework’ (produced by Samtheman, Izco and Jkarri with vocals from Dochi), ‘Fix Up’(by Dochi and Felix CW), ‘Kaieteur’ (by izkarri, the pseudonym used by IZCO and Jkarri), and ‘Xplain’ (produced by izkarri and Gil sm, with Natanya signing). ‘Xplain’ (their most streamed track on Spotify with close to 1 million plays) also came with a visualiser made by a young Nia Archives, who had just moved to London, and was fast becoming friends with the BDF.

“I was working with Jkarri doing izKarri music,” Izzy reminisces on how he first met her. “When Gilly [AKA Gil sm] played me a song on SoundCloud and it was Nia’s. She had just dropped the demo of ‘Sober Feels’ and I thought it was incredible – it aligned with some of the things I’d dreamt of making. I was really impressed, so I reached out to her and she came to Orange Wall Studios, and we made a beautiful song called ‘badmind’, and after that we kept linking up.”

“Izzy was one of the first music friends I ever had before he became an actual friend,” Nia says of her own memories. “I met him and all the other members around the same time, and it was a great time. It was summer and we were just making music and hanging out at Izzy’s house – super cool.”

In July 2021, BDF released ‘Good Dreams’, the first solo project from Reek0, with features from Dochi and Nia Archives and production credits from FELIXCW, Samtheman, Jkarri and IZCO. Among the tracklist was ‘Setting’, a fluid dance track with deep, melodic chords, effortless bars from Reek0 and Nia’s distinctive honey-sweet vocals, which helped put the young junglist onto the musical radar.

“Nia was ready, she had a ting, there, ready to go. And really and truly, all she had to do was sing that little ‘Don’t mind me…’” says Sam, quoting the song. “It was incredible to see someone transform their life like that.”

Dyl agrees: “She deserves it more than anyone else in the music industry. Nia had to do what she does. If she had just stuck with us, she wouldn’t be fulfilling her full potential.”

I ask Izzy what he thinks about Nia’s ascent to stardom. “I love Nia to bits. Seeing her growth has been so inspiring, so motivating, so beautiful. With or without BDF, Nia was destined for the stars, but I’m just grateful that we’re a part of that journey. We’re all very proud of her. And I wish that for everyone in BDF, to be too busy for us, because we’ll always be here.”

At that time, Nia wasn’t yet “too busy” for the BDF and she was there at their first dance, which took place at Night Tales Loft in October 2021. Group member S.I (real name Silla) remembers seeing the BDF for the first time that night. Having known Izzy and Dyl when he was younger (“Cuppa used to sell me hash,” he laughs), Silla hadn’t seen them in years. “I just pulled up,” he recalls. “I didn’t know what to expect. I heard Nia for the first time, and Reek0 and Dochi. I didn't know who any of them were, but I loved it. It was very wholesome, it had a warm feeling and I was very comfortable there.”

“A week later, Sam invited me to come to the video shoot for ‘GUY’,” he continues. “That’s when I met everyone properly, and that same night, Sam played me one of his beats. I had been making music before that, but it wasn't at the forefront of my mind. I just started freestyling and the ‘She’s so wavy, but I’m so wholesome’ bar came out.”

That track, ‘Wholesome’, was later released in April 2022. It has become a BDF classic, along with ‘Shoot Day’, released that same month, and created on the day of the ‘Guy’ video shoot – a testament to the prolificacy of that period in time.

The first BDF dance would also introduce the world, or at least the scene, to the collective’s vibrant performance style, in particular the old skool-style of MCing over a DJ set that had become less prominent in the dance music scene – particularly among the younger generation.

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“The modern man don't do that,” says Reek0, the group’s main MC. “Even when I was making them early tunes, I didn't think I would ever be in the dance hosting.” Growing up, Reek0 had been introduced to the sounds of garage and UK funky by his uncle, a fellow music lover. “The first ever time I went to a club was for Supa D with my uncle. So that type of MCing was just what I thought clubbing was,” he says. “Me and my cousin used to have competitions of who knew the most UK funky songs.”

“And I was into the grime thing,” Izzy chimes in. “And then linking up with Reek0, he brought that whole scene with him.” That mix of grime and UK funky, gave Izzy an idea. “It was Iz that gave me the first opportunity,” says Reek0, recounting the first time he ever MC’d over one of Izzy’s sets for Korean radio station Seoul Community Radio. “I was shaking like a little chicken, I didn’t know what I was doing,” he laughs.

“I saw something in him,” says Izzy, characteristically self-assured, but never self-important. “You see, we grew up in a time where the rapper is the main character. Most of the time, when you go and see a rapper, you don't even know who the DJ is on-stage. There’s a lot of ego with rappers these days. Whereas there’s been times when the DJ felt as much as, or more, of the main character. Reeks has always been into producing, he’s always been into dance music, and he’s not got that main character syndrome – he don’t need it to be about him. Reeks has the skill and presence of a rapper, but the humility of a producer. That’s what makes him perfect for this.”

If you’ve ever seen the BDF perform, you’ll know what Izzy means. Dancing on-stage, mic in hand, Reek0’s infectious energy is the perfect accompaniment to the summery BDF sound. “Reeks loves the music,” says Izzy. “He understands it. So sometimes he’s like a translator to the people. He can vocalise things, explain things in just a couple words, that might show someone how to get the vibe, how to enjoy it, how to dance to it; he’s like an interpreter.”

Izzy’s foresight to “see something” in Reek0 is indicative of his guiding role in the family. With a gentle hand, Izzy quietly steers the group from a distance, intent on providing everyone a space on the BDF platform. “I love breakthrough projects,” he tells me. “When it comes to managing a project that’s not mine, like a debut single, that’s by far my favourite thing to do. I like trying to make stuff with people they can be proud of forever, something that reflects them. That’s my proudest work. That’s something you can’t just do.”

While his own career as IZCO has taken off in recent years, Izzy has remained close to the BDF. “A lot of the things I do with IZCO, like signing with an agent or working with certain companies, it’s easier knowing that, if it goes well for me, it will open up the door for other people. BDF gives everything more meaning.

“There’s a whole world of music out there to get involved in. And when I was younger, I saw different parts of that. But with BDF, instead of having to play these games and be part of some big industry, we built our own corner of it, where we maintain it. No one can bring us down or bring us up, it’s our own responsibility.

“We call it ‘straight to the good bit’,” he continues. “Obviously I’m still very passionate about IZCO, but I could use IZCO to make money, whereas I wouldn't use BDF to make money. IZCO’s more like a career and BDF is the good bit, the best bit. You can't rely on it for everything, but you gotta protect it, because no matter what you have going on in your life, you’ll have BDF.”

BDF has a delicate balance. It’s not a normal business structure, it’s built on a lot of trust. That’s why they’re so precious with who they work with. “Some of us are privileged enough to have a core family,” says Dyl. “And some of us aren’t. We all come from different backgrounds. But we built this family and we chose each other. And we protect that. That’s what a healthy family is supposed to do. We’re not trying to be a dysfunctional family.”

“It keeps us all right as well,” adds Izzy. “You don’t wanna embarrass the BDF, if you know what I mean. As a young person growing up in this world, everyone makes mistakes, but I feel that BDF sets a good example. It pushes away the darkness. The things we promote are things that are actually good for us.

“A lot of people act bad, even though it’s not them, but we choose to be positive,” he goes on. “We’ve seen darkness in this world; we don't do the positive thing because we don’t know anything else, or because we’re naive, or because we’re young. We do the positive thing because we know that’s what our community needs, more positivity, we’ve seen it first hand.”

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Reek0 corroborates. “One powerful thing I’ve seen with the mandem, is that everyone’s been on their own journey and BDF is like that place where you can actually revamp yourself and be a new person, and a good new person. And you’re around like-minded people who are basically on that same path. No one’s ever gonna be perfect, but at least there’s that thing that makes you strive to keep the good energy.”

And this positive energy has a ripple effect on everyone around them, not just within the family, but also the wider community. Rinse FM resident LILA started playing with BDF around 2023, having been friends with FELIXCW and gone to the same secondary school as Izzy and Dyl. She thinks that the “strong sense of embrace, love, kindness, joy and honesty that the boys in BDF show for each other on stage has a huge effect on other young boys in the crowd who might feel like they can’t express themselves emotionally. There’s no pretence or overly egotistical attitudes to our parties, which I think is special because that can be rare in nightlife. Everyone is so open to appreciating each other and showing love.”

“It’s important to feel heard and valued in your art,” she continues. “And BDF makes me feel both of those things. There’s a good sense of support in the family and the collective unit is strong, but there’s also a respect for each other's individuality and everyone is celebrated for their unique ability to contribute something different.”

2023 also saw the addition of DJing twins 2simila, singer P Wavey and rapper Ramonie. Growing up together on the same block, P Wavey and Ramonie were introduced to BDF via the latter’s older brother, Frenzy, who had been making music with Izzy at the time – keeping the circle tight as usual. ‘Bacardi’, a classic Samtheman track filled with syncopated beats and J Dilla-style samples, features S.I, P Wavey and Ramonie. Sam later found out it was the first time P Wavey had ever recorded.

“He must have come to my yard one time with Ramonie, because I was having a studio session. He wanted to jump on the mic, and I was like, ‘Yeah, cool’,” recounts Sam. “But as soon as he started singing, I thought, he’s a special one. With him, he just had a style from the get-go, he was mad cool with it, mad swag, sauce, lyric. After that, he would call me at 11 every Saturday saying ‘let's link up, let’s make music’. You’d barely finished a beat and he’d be like, ‘let’s record, I'm ready, put me in the booth’. And he got better quick. He’s truly amazing.”

A few months later, in May, came ‘Breathe’, a collaboration between IZCO, Gil sm and Natanya. Pairing liquid soft chords with a slowed down, UK funky-esque beat, ‘Breathe’ perfectly encompasses the BDF balance between drive and delicacy. Natanya describes this particular quality as a “relaxed but vibrant feel – the drums always lean back and everything is so deep in its pocket.”

“Rather than being inspired by whole genres,” says Izzy. “We’ve kind of grown up under the umbrella of all of them. So we take inspiration from specific songs, or specific artists, rather than specific scenes.” J Dilla, Roy Ayers, Dennis Bovell, Moodymann, Prince, EL-B, Loose Ends, Linda Lewis, Wookie, Joe Bataan, Patrice Rushen, Heartless Crewand Ranking Ann, are just a few of the names thrown out when I ask the group who shaped their sound.

“A lot of BDF is about paying respect to history,” explains JKarri. “And honouring the forefathers and foremothers that came before us. I think that's very special because a lot of bonds that are made in the music industry aren't fully about that. And that's fine. But I feel like for BDF, that’s definitely a binding factor that brought us together. I think that's why when people come to a BDF show, it's a deep experience for everyone because, as well as being able to have fun and party, you're also getting a lesson and mind-opening experience in music.”

Nia, someone who is no stranger to the music industry these days, relays this sentiment. “I think they're all proper music lovers,” she says of the collective. “Not everybody that's in music loves music, but you can hear it with their selections and the stuff they play at their parties. It's very varied, never just one thing, it's always multiple genres, and that's super special.”

This amalgamation of different cultural and musical influences is present throughout the BDF repertoire, from the bassy, dub sounds of ‘Heavysoul’ (February 2023) to the four-to-the-floor beat of‘On the Breeze’ (October 2023), the Latin percussion of Samtheman’s ‘Zumma’ (June 2024) and the broken beat that pops up throughout.

“It’s like a new sound,” says JKarri. “Because we’re into so many different styles of music, everything kind of amalgamates into a sound that hasn’t really been heard before. But it’s also familiar. The fact that we’re all interested in the history of music, has allowed us to be super futuristic at the same time.”

With their five year anniversary coming up in February next year, the BDF will be releasing their first ever full-length album as a collective. Entitled ‘Audio Sunrise’, the collaborative project will be an “overview of our foundational years as BDF”, says Sam, with almost every member featured, as well as collaborators such as Capo Lee. Some of the songs are already out, and the rest is unreleased. As with everything they do, it “feels like the right time to do it”.

‘Audio Sunrise’ will mark the first release on the BDF record label. It will pave the way for the collective to start operating as a single artist. “I wanna try and function more as BDF,” says Izzy, always thinking of the next step. “Make BDF its own entity and do shows where it just says one name. This project is opening the door for that.”

No one has to be involved with the collective to be released on the label. Most likely it will be a continuation of the natural connections they have already fostered, working with artists they respect and admire. Arthur Franks, they say, is the next one to look out for. A bass-playing parkourist, BDF will be releasing his debut album next year.

“I could have never even dreamed for BDF to be at this point,” Izzy says. “We’re not looking for much. We would be happy with less than this. We’re at a point now where we’re just grateful for the love shown, so we give it back by working hard to make more music, keep the community thriving and give opportunities to those who deserve it the most.”

One of the ways the BDF are doing this is by nurturing the next generation of musicians. Volunteering at Capo Lee’s non-profit organisation Yeah Youth, many of the members provide mentoring to budding producers, DJs, and rappers. They’re also looking forward to returning to the festival circuit next year, playing in different environments and introducing themselves to new audiences. “At the end of the day, take away the music, we’re just a group of friends,” says Izzy. “And that’s what you’d want for any group of friends. To go away together, see places and have a good time.”

Check out Brighter Days Family on SoundCloud, Bandcamp and Instagram

Meena Sears is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Instagram