Audio & Ed Rush Are Back: Inside the Return of Killbox and Reclaiming UK Neurofunk

Killbox is back. With their Killer of Killers EP, they once again show what they are capable of, which is making big-sounding neurofunk bangers.

In their five-year hiatus, both Audio and Ed Rush released solo albums on Blackout and took time to level up, but they felt like it was time to combine their powers again.

For their comeback, they chose to team up with a fresh new label, Valkyrie. The label is UK-based and very community-driven. Moreover, they want to bring the physical aspect back. Combine all three of these things, and the decision was made. With the Killbox EP out on May 1, their small release party in London on May 7, and many more things to come, we felt that this was the perfect time to catch up.

How are you doing?

Audio: Doing good, thanks! We’re really excited about the EP.

Ed Rush: The two singles we dropped before the EP have been well received. There are slightly different styles to both of them, and there seems to be an equal amount of buzz on each one, so we’re really excited for people to hear the whole thing as a package.

How does it feel to be back after a five-year hiatus?

Audio: It feels great to be back. We’ve been talking about doing new Killbox stuff because we were both conscious that it’s been a while. We both released solo albums in 2024 on Blackout, so I think we scratched that itch of doing solo stuff. It’s always nice to work with someone you get on with and someone you have a good musical rapport with. I can understand his language, and he understands my language. If there’s a list of ten tracks, we’ll both probably pick five of them that we would play, and they would be the same tune. This felt like a logical step, whether it be an album or an EP. Not a single or one remix, but actually a body of work.

Ed Rush: Five years is quite a long time. It didn’t really feel like it. It felt like maybe a year and a half, two years, but quite a lot happened in that time. We’re both quite hungry, and we’re constantly learning and pushing the boundaries. I think we’ve both learned a decent amount within the five-year gap, so it felt like a good time to come back together. We could bring more to the table and push things in a different direction from the first few Killbox projects that we did five years ago. Plus, it means we get shows together. It’s quite a solitary thing, what we do, our business, our careers. You spend a lot of time sitting on your own in a studio, and then you travel, but very often you’re on your own, on the plane or in a hotel room. It’s nice to have someone to bounce off of and have some company and someone you get along with to be part of the journey of your career.

You said there are a lot of similarities between you two, but what are the differences?

Ed Rush: We both have our own skill sets. Gareth (Audio) is renowned for his really hard-edged sound, cutting-edge production, and a lot of my stuff in the past has been slightly funkier, with a bit more groove and space. When we get together, there’s an element of both. It’s nice to have two opinions and two different ideas on a project. He would start something, or I would start something, and then we’d bounce out the stems and send them over. Sometimes, he’d push something in a totally different direction from the project I’d started. Having two brains on one idea is always better, especially if you’re like-minded.

Audio: We’re very similar in how we approach things and what we like, but we both have very individual ways in which we would manipulate sounds. You could give us a sound, and Ben (Ed Rush) would twist it one way, and I would twist it a different way. That’s what you get when you’re working with someone else, because otherwise it’s just you, yourself, and I. When you’re doing anything creative, it’s just you banging your head against that wall, trying to get through any obstacles that you’re having. Working together is a win-win all around.

Absolutely, and you keep learning from each other. When you’re alone, you’re alone, like you said, but then when you’re both two people, you both inspire each other constantly.

Audio: Yes! It’s just more weaponry added to the arsenal of what we can do, and ultimately, the music’s better because we’re both serving the music. We’re both trying to push this thing until it’s something we feel that ticks all the boxes.

How has the scene changed from when you first started?

Ed Rush: Back in the day, people were a lot more withdrawn and would hold back information on production skills, and people were doing in the studio. Even down at Music House, you could try picking someone’s brain about what you’re doing with your bass distortion or whatever it might be. People were very reluctant to give up information. Whereas now I don’t feel like that gatekeeping is really going on anymore. People are a lot more willing to share. We’ve got things like Patreon that I know Gareth (Audio) is active on. There are hundreds of thousands of YouTube videos of the world and his wife making serum wobble patches. If you’re curious enough and you really want to learn the skill sets, the information is out there. The flip side of that is there’s a lot of chuff out there. We’re saturated with lots of very average-sounding stuff. That does keep you on your toes as well; things have changed now. We can’t come with any mediocre stuff. It’s got to be banging, and it’s got to sound great. It’s not just about the vibe of the tune anymore.

Audio: It’s great that there is more accessibility for young kids to produce. But on the flip side of that, back in the day, that was the filter for people, because you had to put so much work and time into learning the craft, that people who were in it for perhaps the wrong reasons would quickly fall away from the sidelines because they would realize how much work you actually had to put in to get to that level. I say this with all due respect. I can paint, but I shouldn’t be painting pictures that go in museums. We’ve lost that filter, which is a shame. On the flip side, we have all these kids who have access to music production, and we’re getting a lot more great musicians who wouldn’t have taken a chance with music before because it was inaccessible. I think the balance is that we’re winning in that.

Why did you choose Valkyrie for your comeback?

Ed Rush: Several reasons. We had a few options, and we went to meet them on a few occasions before we decided to do the project with them. We like the crew, they’re great people. They’re all very relatable, very humble. A good team. We also like the ethos behind the label and the way that they’re really pushing certain things. They’re very keen and big on community, which I think is really important. We seem to have lost the sense of that, especially in the modern world we live in, with social media. People have become more isolated, so they’ve found a way of bringing people back together. They’ve got community groups where they’re very active. People are making tunes, they’re connecting through really healthy discussions.

When Gareth and I were both coming up through the ranks back in the day, the scene was very much community-driven. You had a community of ravers. You could always see a raver in the street because of the way that they might be dressed, in oversized clothes, bucket hats, and everything. You had the goths and the hip hop guys as well… There was this sense of community in the raves and also between the DJs and the producers. We had places like Music House where we’d go, and we’d cut dub plates, and everyone would congregate and talk. It would be a catch-up for DJs because we didn’t have any other way of communicating. We didn’t have WhatsApp or even AOL instant messenger. The only way the information got out there was through magazines, and there was only a limited amount of those back then. I feel like now with Valkyrie, they’re very much pushing this community angle again, which is really important for us because it’s part of our background. It’s what got us to where we are today.

Audio: It was a big part of what attracted me to jungle and drum & bass, that sense of community. The music was part of it, obviously. I loved the breakbeats and everything, but the essence of you feeling part of something that not everyone was part of, that was special. Valkyrie is adamant on creating this community, everyone’s together, and we’re trying to create something, even though it’s already here. They’re rejuvenating this sense of community within dance music that we have lost, unfortunately.

Ed Rush: As I mentioned earlier, they’ve got this WhatsApp group that’s very active. There are a lot of messages in there every day talking about all kinds of different things, not just music, and that’s creating connections between people. You’ll see someone’s name in the chat there and then at the Valkyrie party, and it’ll be easier to start talking to each other. It brings everyone together in a natural way in this digital world. At the end of the day, we’re all human beings, and all we really crave is connection.

Audio: And with mental health issues as they are at the moment, I firmly believe that the human connection is what we’re missing. We all walk around – and I’m guilty of it as much as anyone – staring at our phone, watching stuff in our own little world, noise-cancelling headphones on. Before, you had engagement, you had friends, you had laughs, you had banter. It seems to have been pushed to the side.

Ed Rush: The numbers are higher now than they’ve ever been before. Pretty much everyone I talk to has a family member or a very close friend who is struggling or dealing with certain things. It’s a modern issue, and if there’s anything we can do to help resolve that, then it’s going to lighten the load a little bit. This kind of pushing people together with similar interests that Valkyrie is doing can only be a good thing. It’s super healthy for the scene. Another reason we wanted to work with them is that they’re UK-based, which for us is a really nice thing. A lot of the neurofunk stuff is very strong outside of the UK. We’ve got the Netherlands with Noisia, Black Sun Empire, all these guys laying down the path. Back in the day, we were strong with Virus in the UK, but I feel like we’ve lost that a little bit. Other people and other nations have taken over and pulled it in their direction. Valkyrie, being UK-based, wants to put their stamp back on the scene, and with us both being British, we’re fully behind that.

Audio: And not to forget the physical aspect of music as well. They’re very keen on bringing the collectible aspect of music back. When I got into drum & bass and jungle, it was all about 12-inch records. I enjoy going back through my records and playing old records, having that physical thing that I can put down. I know that the format is obsolete, but I don’t think collecting something and treasuring something is an obsolete thing. Valkyrie is very keen on bringing back vinyl and something collectible for this. That’s what sealed the deal for us. The community and the physical were music to our ears.

Let’s go back to the EP. How was it to be working together again?

Ed Rush: It was different from the last Killbox project, because then, we spent most of the time in the studio together. This time, we decided to try and do it a little bit differently. We’ve both been working on the projects, but in our own spaces and then sending stems across to each other. It’s worked out better in a way, because although it’s nice to be in the room together, there’s also a beauty in the fact that, if you want to nerd out on something for four hours and really dial it in and get technical with something, you can. You can delve a little bit deeper. There’s also this element of surprise, knowing that he’s not heard it yet. There’s anticipation of his reaction to the new stuff that you added to the project. I think it’s worked out for the better.

Audio: Absolutely. In just over two months, we’ve done almost like eight or nine tracks, which is quite a lot of music, you know. But like Ben (Ed Rush) was saying, I’m starting something, getting it to a point, stemming it, sending it to him. At the same time, he’s working on something on his own and sending it to me. It was super productive. We’d had a couple of meetings with Valkyrie about what we’re going to do, and that got the juices flowing. It gets you in the correct mindset. Instead of thinking of the tune that you’re working with right now, you’re almost working two or three tunes ahead. I find it very, very inspiring to write a big project like this. The things that we’d learned doing solo stuff for five years were invaluable, really. We literally hit the ground running with music. It’s lovely being in the same room, but this is a very productive way of actually getting music done.

Ed Rush: When it comes to mastering the vinyls, though, we’re going to be in the same room. That’ll be a way of celebrating the tunes collectively when we’re hearing the end product.

What’s the story behind this EP?

Audio: The EP name comes from a Predator film. I’m obsessed with Predator and Alien, and they dropped a new film called Predator, Killer of Killers. And as soon as I heard that name, I thought, ” That’s it. That set a precedent. With a title like that, you’ve got to come out swinging. Having that weight of that name for me was like, this has got to smash, everything has got to be top-notch. Once we did the first track, that got the ball rolling.

Ed Rush: There are not going to be any minimal rollers on an EP called Killer of Killers. It’s got to be balls to the wall. During the writing process, we had quite a few shows together. It was really nice to be able to actively test the projects whilst we were DJing. It would be taking notes, and then we’d come home on Sunday, make the tweaks, and then Monday, bosh, it was ready.

Predator : Killer of Killers film artwork

Is there any more Killbox material coming?

Audio: Yeah. There’s a remix for Annix that’s coming out. We’ve done another remix as well that we can’t say a lot about yet, but it’s huge. We’ve also got a couple of tunes left over from the surplus of tracks that we wrote for this EP. So, we’re going to find a home for them at some point. We’ll just keep going. At the moment, we’re sitting back and enjoying the EP and doing that whole process.

Ed Rush: We’re both very active at the moment. There’s not really a day off every day in the studio, whether you’re messing around with patches or starting a new idea or finishing something off. As soon as we decide, OK, we need another three tracks for this next EP, the ideas are already going to be there.

Is there anything in particular you’re looking forward to at the moment?

Audio: We’ve got the small launch party coming up on May 7, which I’m super excited about. That’s a free thing for people to come along. They just have to sign up for free drinks, so I’m expecting it to be packed just for that reason. That’s going to be nice to give the EP a full launch. We can let our baby out into the world. The weekend after, we’ve got a South Coast launch in Volks, because we both live very close to Brighton.