Danny Howells: Still Digging Deeper After Three Decades

There are DJs who arrive on a wave of industry hype and algorithmic favour, and then there are those who build a career through years of patient, purposeful craft. Danny Howells belongs to the second category.

Born in Hastings in 1970, Howells was playing local clubs in the late 1980s when a mix tape found its way to John Digweed, then establishing Bedrock as one of the more significant club nights of its era. Digweed heard something worth acting on, and Howells was invited into the fold. What followed was nine years as warm-up DJ at Bedrock, including the residency at Heaven in London. It is a stint that taught him things no headline slot can: reading a room before it fills, building a set without the luxury of dropping the big records early, understanding that the job is to serve the night.

By the early 2000s he had added residencies at Renaissance, Cream, and Ministry of Sound, alongside a period at Twilo in New York. His Nocturnal Frequencies mix series, launched in 1999, gave listeners a consistent reference point for where his sound was sitting: deep, functional, and unhurried.

The Global Underground relationship produced two well-regarded entries in that catalogue. Nubreed 002 established him on the imprint, and Global Underground 027: Miami, drawn from a Club Space performance in October 2004, remains a reliable touchstone for the kind of techy, techno, proggy, house he has always gravitated towards. The 24:7 compilation, with its downtempo opening disc and more club-focused second, showed a willingness to work across formats without forcing it.

Howells has described his own sound as “deepsexyfuturistictechfunkouse,” a self-coined term that does a reasonable job of capturing why he has never slotted neatly into a single genre. His work as one half of Science Department with Dick Trevor extended his reach into production, and his Dig Deeper label, launched in 2008, has continued as a platform for music made on his own terms. More recently he has been operating as part of 3D alongside Dave Seaman and Darren Emerson, a collaboration that brings together three artists who have each spent the better part of thirty years doing things their own way.

In an industry that increasingly rewards those most willing to perform their own visibility, Howells has quietly gone in the opposite direction. He would rather be behind the decks than behind a camera, and getting him to sit down with a journalist is, by most accounts, not something he pursues with any enthusiasm. In a moment defined by TikTok DJ sets and personal branding as a full-time occupation, that instinct to simply get on with the work makes him something of a rarity. Whether you call it an enigma or just a refusal to play the game, it is a genuinely refreshing quality in someone who has earned the right to coast on profile alone and consistently chooses not to.

He returns to Australia in June as part of the Global Underground and TMRW Music tour, appearing alongside Sasha, James Zabiela, and Anthony Pappa across dates from 5th to 7th June 2026. We caught up with him ahead of the run to talk about where he has been, what still holds his interest, and what three decades of DJing actually looks like from the inside.

Danny, you’ve been at this for well over three decades now—what was the moment early on where you genuinely thought, “This is it, this is what I’m doing with my life?” And was there ever a point where that conviction wavered?

Well I got my decks in 91 and genuinely never thought it would be anything more than a hobby. But things really took off after a few years. I held onto my day job in the psychiatric hospital for as long as I could as I didn’t think I’d be able to make a living from music, but things got so mad that I had to make a choice. That would have been around the time that I made my Nu Breed album for GU.

I quit my job and it was pretty scary to be honest, but it was the best decision I ever made.

Your sets have always carried a real sense of narrative: a beginning, middle and end that feels almost cinematic. Is that something you consciously construct or does it come from instinct built up over years behind the decks?

I think that’s how I’ve always thought a set should be, and I got a lot of that from my early experiences in Hastings. It’s just how I naturally approach my sets. My first (brief) residency was a local club, The Crypt, playing open to close, so I took a lot from that. Then I got the gig opening for Digweed at the Bedrock parties around Hastings. I think club nights should have a narrative so that extends to all aspects of the night, from lighting and sound to the programming of DJs. 

Global Underground essentially helped define a sound and an era of clubbing that a generation of us grew up with. What was it like being part of that family during its commercial and cultural peak, and did the weight of that legacy ever feel like a creative burden?

It was all very surreal and exciting! I remember being quite shocked when I got approached about doing a Nu Breed, that was a huge honour. And then doing 24/7 was unforgettable as it gave me an opportunity to pour all of this music that I couldn’t play in a club set into a mix, one which I am still proud of. And then the icing was getting to join the main series which I still think is pretty nuts. Compared to the 24/7 album, I actually had a little struggle with that one in terms of direction but I remember I was always pleased with how CD1 turned out. God knows what made me wear those white jeans on the cover!

It was all so exciting, and I’m proud of the whole experience so I’ve definitely never felt any sense of creative burden.

Walk us through what actually goes into putting a Global Underground mix together from your perspective: Where do you start, how long does the process genuinely take, and how do you decide what makes the final cut versus what stays in the box?

Well it’s a long time since I did one! With my earliest CDs I put a lot of focus on trying to obtain unreleased music. But I think later on I realised that, with a compilation, you are aiming to make something that will still (hopefully) be listened to in 10, 15 or more years, so having a ton of unreleased exclusives started to take less of a priority,

I feel a mix album is a chance to really show where you are at musically, digging into the music that you are currently playing but also showcasing those tracks you’ve been playing and loving for months and years before. We go through so much music as DJs but there are always so many tracks that remain important to us, those little obscure tracks that virtually no-one picked up on. It’s a great opportunity to give some of those tracks a bit of love!

The GU mix format has a very particular demand: it needs to work as a listening experience away from a dancefloor. How do you balance your identity as a club DJ with the need to craft something that holds up on a long drive or a late night at home?

I think I’ve always found that a little easier as a lot of the music I’m most passionate about is the music that works either when the club is opening up or when things are winding down – I’ve always loved things that are a bit quirkier or less dancefloor focused.

The 3D project with Dave Seaman and Darren Emerson is a genuinely fascinating proposition—three artists with distinct individual voices sharing a booth. How do you negotiate who plays what and when, and does it ever get competitive in there?

It’s never been competitive – we’re friends first and foremost. I nearly always go on first but mainly because I see it as a chance to dip into a few of my deeper bits. 

We play it by ear and try to work out how best to approach our set based on how many hours we’re playing, how big the event is etc. The goal is to keep it flowing as well as possible. Sometimes we’ll play a short set each then all pile in at the end, or we’ll do two tracks each – whatever feels right! Personally I like it when we’re doing a couple of tracks each. 

There’s an argument that the 3D format strips away some of the ego that can creep into solo headline sets. Do you find that collaborative dynamic actually frees you up musically, or does the compromise occasionally frustrate you?

It’s not something I’ve really thought about to be honest. I do think the 3D gigs require extra effort because, despite crossing over musically, we do have our own styles, so we have to put in extra effort to try and make sure everything flows. It doesn’t always go to plan but then not all of my solo gigs go to plan! 

You’re coming back to Australia with GU—a country that has always had an extraordinary relationship with this kind of music. What does playing here feel like compared to the rest of the world, and is there something specific about Australian audiences that you can’t quite find elsewhere?

I have so many amazing memories of touring Australia – I’ve always found the crowd to be so supportive and enthusiastic. For a number of reasons (one of which being the pandemic) I didn’t come for maybe 6 years or so, so I was worried about how I would be received on my tour there in 2025.

I needn’t have worried – I was blown away at every gig. It was incredible.

Cast your mind back over the years you’ve spent touring Australia—what’s a moment or a night that has stayed with you, something that reminds you why this whole thing is worth it?

Oh wow that’s hard. Going way back there have been so many memorable nights, it’s hard to single out any in particular. Although at a push I could mention the last Sydney gig at Chinese Laundry – for the vibe, the room, the sound – everything was exactly how it should have been.

Life as a touring artist sounds romantic from the outside but the reality of long-haul flights, irregular sleep and living out of a suitcase is something else entirely. How have you managed to sustain that lifestyle over so many years without it grinding you down?

I don’t like touring relentlessly and thankfully I have just enough good gigs come in that keep me busy but without causing me to experience stress or exhaustion. I enjoy travelling so much more now than I used to because I always have good breaks inbetween trips and nearly always feel I’m on top of stuff, not just music related but in my personal life too.

The conversation around DJ health and wellbeing has opened up considerably in recent years. Is that something you’ve had to be deliberately mindful of across your career, or did it take getting older to really pay attention to it?

I’d never thought about it when I was younger and travelling non-stop. I was smoking then, drank way too much and ate absolute shite. It wasn’t until my 40s when I was struggling with my back and generally feeling like crap that I made a bunch of changes which have helped me no end. I do feel a lot of the unhealthy stuff I did was a result of being away from home too much though. And with booze, I always found that it helped me overcome my nerves when I’m playing. I’ll still have a few drinks during my set but my tolerance is so low now that I can only have a few before I start seeing double.

You’ve witnessed DJing go from vinyl-only to CDJs to laptops to stems and all manner of technology in between. Where do you land in 2026 on what constitutes a genuine DJ performance, and do you think the goalposts have shifted too far?

The technological side is something I’ve never really cared much about to be honest. What matters to me and has always mattered is the quality of the music and how it’s presented. Tune selection, finding your own unique tracks and your own sound, programming, mixing and so on – these are the things I care about. 

There’s been a lot of noise about AI-generated music beginning to find its way into DJ sets and onto labels. As someone who has spent his career championing music with real soul and intention behind it, where do you stand on that?

I’ve seen a few bits online about AI bands and the like – it’s pretty scary and unless controlled it’s going to affect artists so badly. And we’re talking about artists that are already being treated like shit by the likes of Spotify. I plough through all the new house and techno releases every week and sometimes there are artists releasing 10 or 20 new tracks a week – I’ve checked a couple to see what they are like and they’re ok, but I’m very suspicious of anyone releasing that amount of music and will stay away for that reason.

AI can definitely be used in a creative way but the fact that it will only deprive genuine artists of work, as well as being environmentally destructive, I say use with extreme moderation!

If you had to identify the single most significant shift in the culture of DJing since you started out—not the technology, but the culture—what would it be?

I’ll come back to this .. running out of time!

You’ve never really chased the spotlight in the way some of your contemporaries have, and your reputation has been built almost entirely on the quality of what you do in a booth. Is that a conscious philosophy or just the natural result of caring more about the music than the machinery around it?

Thanks! I’m not comfortable in the spotlight. I don’t enjoy plastering my face over my socials or being on a big stage with bright lights on me – I care about the music and I know I’m way more likely to deliver a set I’m proud of in a dark underground club than on a big stage with pyrotechnics. I feel very lucky that I’m still able to play out regularly without having to push myself into areas I don’t feel comfortable with. 

Danny Howells appears as part of the Global Underground & TMRW Music Australia Tour from 5th to 7th June 2026, alongside Sasha, James Zabiela, and Anthony Pappa. Buy tickets at  https://tmrw.to/gu-au2026 

by Damion Pell

• Share
• Tweet
• Pin it
• Share
• Email
• More