How Veritas Make Underground Club Tracks That Get Played Everywhere

Every electronic producer wants their music played by DJs, but the reality is that most tracks never actually even make it that far.

For every record that becomes a staple in rave sets, thousands more are uploaded, shared, and often forgotten or lost. Yet every so often, an unknown track starts appearing everywhere. One weekend it’s played by a local DJ; the next it’s turning up in sets from some of the biggest names in dance music - all without the marketing campaign or viral TikTok moment. Just a DJ choosing to play it.

If you’ve been to a set from Interplanetary Criminal, Josh Baker, Riordan, or Silva Bumpa over the last year, there’s a good chance you’ve already heard music from garage duo Veritas. Tracks like Funk Soul, All I Need, and Freestyler have frequently featured across numerous well-known sets, helping the pair quietly build a reputation through DJ support rather than social media hype.

I caught up with Jack and James, the duo behind Veritas, to find out what actually goes into making music that DJs want to play, and more importantly, music that works on a packed dancefloor.

Like many great music stories, Vertias started with a shared obsession. Jack and James met through a mutual friend and quickly realized they were drawn to the same sounds. What started as a joke about one day becoming a DJ duo eventually became a reality just a few years later.

Growing up on the edge of London, their influences stretched far beyond one genre. Garage sits at the heart of their sound today, but so do old-school hip hop acts like Mobb Deep and electronic pioneers such as Fatboy Slim and The Prodigy. When it comes to DJing, Enzo Siragusa remains one of their biggest inspirations.

This has resulted in a sound that’s difficult to neatly categorize, which is exactly how they like it.

"We have never really thought of ourselves as one genre. Over the years we've chopped and changed styles a number of times that fit what we are enjoying and inspired by at the time. The outcome will always be an amalgamation of current inspirations, past inspirations and experimentation, rather than being bound by genre."

While many artists in the same space are currently building an audience through constant content creation, Vertias is taking a different approach. Much of their growth comes from unreleased tracks finding their way into the hands of respected DJs, creating demand long before songs are officially released.

For the duo, that organic support means much more than social media metrics.

"We have a bit more of an old-school mentality when it comes to social media and our wish to let the music do the talking. It's definitely how we wish to grow as artists by building a solid discography and being supported by peers and legends in our scene rather than likes on a social media post."

One of the biggest examples of this is Funk Soul, a track that received multiple plaudits and was eventually remixed by Danny Snowden. Ironically, it wasn’t intended to be such a hit.

"It was actually made with the intention of being a bit of a personal DJ tool. We've always loved the vocal, and it's super catchy. Without our friend and manager Nicos sending it to IPC in its early days, who knows if we would've ever sent it out further."

There may be a lesson here that sometimes the tracks that connect most aren’t the ones carefully designed to become hits…

Ask any electronic producer, and they’ll tell you there’s a huge difference between a track sounding good in the studio and sounding good “in the open”. For Veritas, the creative process really starts with chasing an initial feeling.

"First of all, you catch a vibe sitting in your studio making it, then you start to think about how to get it really standing out in a club."

This often means creating moments that DJs and crowds can react to. As Veritas explained: "Little things like having the drums cut out at certain parts to allow a vocal to shine or creating little moments within the track like a fake drop or cool transition between sections are when you can really make a track fun."

They also mentioned that when it comes to large sound systems, technical fundamentals still matter a lot.

"Just having a real solid low end and making sure the highs aren't too harsh. There's a reason most DJs end up with tinnitus!"

Moreover, one of the most interesting insights from the conversation was their view on production quality. In a world where software makes it easier than ever to create polished tracks, Vertias believes many producers focus on the wrong things.

"The core idea is fundamentally more important than having a super polished mix. Most of our tracks we send out to DJs are made in one session and are super rough. They don't really get a proper mixdown until the release is upon us.

"Sometimes too much polish can actually take the soul out of a track."

It’s a thought process that may explain why so many classic and house records still feel alive decades later.

Even after a track makes it out of the studio, the process is far from finished. Like many producers, Veritas regularly tests unreleased music in their own sets before signing off on a final version. And even then, perfection remains elusive.

"Of course when you can test it out you do, and adjust accordingly. We usually end up messing with the mixdown until five minutes before the label's deadline for sending off for mastering. The track is never truly finished in a weird way - just on its latest iteration."

That aforementioned feedback loop between DJing and producing remains central to how the pair work.

"Everything we make is for the dance floor, but DJing is where you see what actually works in real time. A lot of what we play out feeds back into the studio, so it all comes full circle."

It’s fair to say that garage music, especially in the UK, is enjoying one of its biggest resurgences in years. While that’s opened opportunities for emerging artists, it’s also made the landscape a lot more crowded. So rather than chasing trends, Veritas is focused on longevity and curating tracks that will be played for years to come.

"The garage revival's opened loads of doors, but also made things way more saturated. For us, it's just about staying individual and putting out records that last, rather than rushing music out to keep up."

It’s this mindset that’s arguably helped them earn support from some of the biggest names in the industry at the moment, without compromising their identity.

With so many options on the table at the moment, it’s easier than ever to learn and produce your own electronic music. And for aspiring producers, Veritas’ advice is quite straightforward.

The biggest mistake they usually see isn’t a lack of skill or understanding, but people overcomplicating the process.

"A common theme I'm seeing is overcomplicating your track."

Whether it’s overly busy basslines, too many competing elements, or excessive processing, the solution is often the same: "Less is more is very much a true saying in our experience.”

It’s simple advice, but probably why it works so well when it comes to producing.

One of the most important aspects of our conversation is how passionate Vertias is about helping the next generation of producers.

The duo now offers production lessons for artists of all experience levels, covering any genre and helping students of all skill levels develop their own approach to making music.

"Doing these lessons has been one of the most rewarding things we've done in music. We get just as much excitement seeing past students getting support from big DJs as we do when we get supported ourselves."

The pair has built their reputation from truly understanding what makes music work on a dance floor, and if their recent run of DJ support is anything to go by, it’s a formula that’s working pretty well.

For anyone interested in lessons, Jack and James say the best way to get involved is simply send them a message on Instagram.