[INTERVIEW] Yeadon Talks Upcoming Release ‘Fall’, Anjunabeats, 10 Steps North, And More

We recently had a chat with one of Progressive’s most promising rising stars.

There’s no end to the great sounds born from Dance music. You can always find a new song to listen to, a different style to explore, and a constant flow of melodies to discover. And inside the huge little world of Dance music, if you zoom in, you’ll find some weeds grow faster and stronger than the rest. Such a botanical analogue is the one we’re using to describe today’s interviewee, Yeadon.

Since his debut track in 2018, Yeadon has shown he’s made for the big leagues. Not even a few releases in, he was already getting support from Cristoph and Hernan Cattaneo, and he’s been a strong presence in the Progressive charts ever since. Furthermore, he’s become one of the most recent players added to the Anjunabeats roster, showing the world he’s more than just a guy with a few hits.

Adam is already the proud founder of his own record label, 10 Steps North, through which he’ll be releasing his upcoming scorching tune ‘Fall‘ alongside Peter Illias. Ahead of the release — due on August 22nd —, we sat down with him and had a friendly chat, involving everything you need to know about his new track, his label, his influences, and maybe, if you’re a fan of Above & Beyond’s 2001 hit ‘Razorfish‘, you’ll get some info on a cheeky little remix that the boys themselves have had fun playing.

Keep on reading, as we dive deep into our conversation with one of the most exciting up-and-coming Progressive artists, Yeadon.

It’s an honour to have you with us. To begin with, we’d love to talk about your upcoming release, ‘Fall’, alongside Peter Illias. Amazing track. How did it come to be, what’s the story behind the collaboration?

Thanks for having me, and really glad you’re enjoying the new track. ‘Fall’ was a track I wrote around 2-3 years ago now and was one of those ideas I loved but could never seem to get over the line. After chatting with Peter online for a while last year, I ended up sending him the project to finish, and he did a great job, adding some really nice finishing touches to the song.

I love how clearly the song shows both of your sounds combined. The piano is very Peter-ey, while the saw bassline and arps have Yeadon written all over. Are there any unconventional, straight-up weird techniques you used while creating ‘Fall’?

The weirdest sounding part of the track has to be the acid line just before the main drop, which I made just by messing around with the Ableton Push and seeing what came out of it. I like to use it to mess around and jam until I get something that sounds interesting and works in the context of the track, before tidying it all up manually.

Have you had the chance to test this track live? If so, how’s the reaction been?

I got the chance to play at Anjunadeep Explorations in Albania in June, which was pretty amazing! The festival was easily one of the best things I’ve been to, with so many great artists playing in an unreal location. I played ‘Fall’ about an hour into my set and it seemed to go down well. The crowd at the Yacht club that night were so cool, it was great getting to meet a few of them after the gig, there were quite a few people even waiting for me at the end to ask for a picture which felt pretty wild! It was a night I’ll never forget.

As if that wasn’t enough, I also got to see Dosem play the night before where he played a couple of my tracks, ‘Fall’ being one of them! I’ve loved his music for ages and getting to see him play out there and play some of my songs was such a wicked experience. Like many producers, I can sometimes second-guess my music, but hearing him play those tracks on that stage I was like “Oh, they actually sound pretty good here“, haha.

‘Fall’ leads us to your record label, 10 Steps North. Talk to us about it, why it was born, what kind of music it puts out, what’s your vision for it in the coming years, even the origin of its name!

So I initially started my label as a way of releasing my own music, and the plan was to put out 10 of my own releases, then end the label concept (that’s where the ‘10 Steps’ bit came from). The ‘North’ bit is just because I’m from the north of England.

After the first release though, I quickly started getting demos from some wicked artists like Port Manteau, and I started to really enjoy hearing demos from relatively new artists at the time and feeling like I could maybe help promote them as well as myself.

So I started releasing tracks from other people as well, initially artists from the North East of England where I grew up, and then from artists all over the world. We had a few cool features in Mixmag and DJ Mag very early on, which was pretty surreal. I had very few contacts in the industry at the time and both of those opportunities came about just through networking online and sending speculative messages / emails. I’d always encourage other artists to reach out to people and try things, as you never know what response you might get.

What’s your approach to making music? What’s your process when you sit in the studio and decide to start a song from scratch, do you often come inspired? What’s the first thing you make when you start a project?

Typically, I just try and sit down every day to make music, concentrating on making a bunch of ideas, knowing that maybe one in five projects might be worth progressing. Normally, I’ll try and get outside for a walk before starting to make music, which I find helps the ideas flow in the studio.

I’ll also sometimes get random bursts of inspiration or an idea that comes to mind. When this happens, I’ll grab my laptop and headphones and quickly try to get the idea down in Ableton. I recently made an edit of Atlantis vs Avatar – Fiji this way, where I had a bit of inspiration and an idea for it and got the track arranged in a couple of hours, just sat on the sofa with my laptop and headphones.

Are there any artists you’d credit that have influenced your sound up to this point? Could also be non-electronic, it’d be very interesting to hear a general background.

I love a wide range of music and listened to a lot of bands when I was growing up, like Oasis, The Verve, Maximo Park, and used to play the guitar (badly 😆). I also loved a loads of old Motown songs growing up, in addition to 70s / 80s power ballads, haha. I’d listen to pretty much anything and was fascinated with how music could make me feel.

I got into dance music when I was about 12, when me and a few mates started getting into DJing. The first records I remember listening to and buying were all Trance records. The energy and emotion in those records blew me away, and they still do to this day.

I then started listening to more progressive type stuff, people like Deep Dish, Sasha, John Digweed, Sander Kleinenberg and Nick Warren, who I discovered initially through Global Underground compilations and mixes on sites like Electronic Groove. This then naturally led to Anjunadeep and artists like Dosem, Jeremy Olander, Cristoph and many more, who I look up to and am really inspired by.

I’m also hugely inspired by Above & Beyond, not only by their music but for everything they have built around it and the positive impact they’ve had on their listeners, artists involved with their label, and the whole community they’ve created through Anjuna. It’s pretty incredible.

In terms of my own music, I feel like I’m still finding my own sound, and I’ve been working a lot recently on trying to develop a consistent and signature style that people instantly recognise as me. I’m excited to see how this develops in future. I’ve been making music for around nine years, now but genuinely feel like I’m just getting started, which I find really exciting and motivating.

As one of Anjunabeats’ rising stars at the moment, we’d love to know more about this bond. We’re aware you arrived at the label through the Rising series, particularly with your track ‘Expanse’. How did that signing happen, and how’s the story been written after that, landing some remixes and even a full EP on Anjuna?

I’ve been a fan of Anjuna for years now, loving their music even before I started trying to produce, and attending lots of their events over the years. As well as the music, I had always loved the community around Anjuna, and for me, their events have a special feeling about them that can be hard to explain until you’ve experienced it.

I had my first release with them last year, which was amazing, as it was something I’d been aiming for for years. I’ve not shared this before, but I actually used to imagine my first release on Anjuna, even down to visualising the track cover in my mind, almost like a random manifestation type thing. Strangely enough, the track cover for my first release as part of the Rising EP ended up the same colour green as the one I was imagining haha!

It has been a really amazing experience working with them, from meeting some of the team at their offices in London and getting to see Above & Beyond’s studio, to warming up for PROFF & Tony McGuinness at Dalston Roofpark, and then playing at Explorations festival this year. I’m really proud and grateful for those experiences, and for all the people I’ve met along the way.

I’m unsure if you’re allowed to share details about this, but there’s a cheeky little ‘Razorfish’ remix of yours making the rounds online ever since Above & Beyond played it at their deep set at Finsbury Park. How did that happen, and can you hype us up with news of a release sometime soon?

This one was such a cool experience and a real honour. It started early last year when I was sitting in a cafe near where I live early one morning, and I was emailing Gareth (Anjunabeats A&R) about a demo I’d sent, when he mentioned he was in the studio later that week working on some new A&B remixes.

I cheekily replied and said, “Oh, if you’re ever on the lookout for remixes of any Anjuna classics I’d love to get involved“, not really expecting a response. I got a response back within a few minutes asking which tracks I had in mind, so I replied instantly with a few of my Anjuna favourites (‘Razorfish’ being one of them).

Almost instantly, I got a reply back with a message saying “Like the Razorfish idea” with a link to the Razorfish stems. It was around that moment that I nearly fell off my chair! Like an excited child, I instantly ran out of the cafe and back home to get in the studio to start the remix, and by the end of that day had it 90% of the way there.

It all seemed to happen so quickly from the emails with Gareth to getting the remix pretty much finished the same day. Looking back I was completely in the flow and just following the excitement of what was happening, without really thinking much about the outcome.

A&B then played the remix at Anjunadeep Open Air at Finsbury Park, which was such a crazy surprise that I was not expecting at all! To be there in person to see that, along with my girlfriend and my sister, is another moment I’ll never forget and I’m so grateful for. I didn’t even know that they had heard the remix or that it had gone much further than Gareth, and I’m really thankful to him and the rest of the Anjuna team for the surprise and that experience, it was so cool.

In terms of a release, I’m not sure if there are any plans at the moment. But who knows in future. For now, though, their full Finsbury Park set is available to stream in most places, which includes the ‘Razorfish’ remix.

What would you and your life look like if you weren’t in the music business? Any other careers you were/are pursuing that could’ve become your Adam from a parallel universe?

I actually spent around 12 years in quite a corporate career after doing a business studies degree, but decided to leave that around two years ago now as it wasn’t fulfilling, and I just wasn’t the same person anymore who got into it.

It got to a point where I was doing quite long hours and just wasn’t happy in the role I was in and what I was contributing to. One night around mid-2023, I found myself unable to sleep as I was thinking about work, and I decided to write a plan at around 3 am for how I was going to quit my career and try to do music full-time somehow.

The morning after I handed my notice in, and three months later I was free to work on music full time, which was both exciting and scary in equal measures, but something I’m so glad that I tried. Having that time to focus on music led to so many cool things happening, meeting people and getting opportunities that just wouldn’t have happened if I was still in my full-time career. If anyone is ever in a similar position where they’re wondering whether to leave a stable but unfulfilling career to pursue a passion, I’d always encourage them to make a plan and go for it.

I’m now back working part-time alongside music, but in a much less corporate role, where I feel like I’m contributing to something that has a positive impact on the world. This gives me a nice balance between a stable income and having time to focus on music, which works well for where I’m at in my life currently.

If you could go back in time, say five, ten years, or any amount of years you’d find interesting, and meet your past self, what would you tell that younger Adam? Were you worrying about something that wasn’t really necessary?

Oh wow, good question. I probably spent most of my childhood, teens and 20s, worrying and being anxious about various things. Then almost trying to escape how I was feeling through drinking.

I guess that was the main reason for loving music so much, and then getting into making my own music, as it felt like a completely healthy way to process how I was feeling and then turning that emotion into a song, instead of trying to escape from it.

I like the idea of putting whatever emotion I’m feeling into a song, which maybe is then heard by someone who recognises the emotion in themselves, and maybe it helps them process how they’re feeling somehow.

In terms of a message to my former self, I’d probably just let him know that everything will be okay. I don’t think I’d change anything, as even the stuff I used to see as bad has helped me become the person I am today.

Thank you for everything mate. Any last words on your end?

Well that got a bit deep didn’t it! But yeh, listen to my new song 😆

Thanks for featuring me on the interview, I’ve really enjoyed revisiting some of the cool things that have happened over the last few years and sharing a bit about my journey so far .

Final Words

Huge thanks to Adam for being so open and insightful throughout the interview. We strongly believe this industry benefits from interactions like this one, where an artist is willing to sit down and have a closer conversation, without the usual “artist” mask one wears. We’re human after all, and having the pleasure of speaking with those making a difference in this corner of music is something incredible.

While you wait for ‘Fall‘, Yeadon‘s upcoming release alongside Peter Illias, below you’ll find a Spotify playlist with a few selects of this good man’s discography. Also, make sure to follow him on his socials. And follow our page to stay up to date on the latest news and views regarding our beloved Dance music industry.