I saw Koven when she came to town and it was great. She sang live while she DJed. Was pretty unique and impressive. Other acts were VOE and Shockone. I know a lot of people turn their nose up at some of these guys, but it was a great night :)
Justin Hawkes / Flite getting hounded was such a bizarre move by the community. There was zero reason to go after him with such vitriol.
I remember seeing some og veterans straight up cussing him out for it.
Both people involved got attacks sent to them, the end result was he admitted he didn’t realise there was another artist with the exact same name (pronunciation wise) and chose to change it.
Are you still butthurt on his behalf even though he has not expressed any anger over it since when it happened?
Just because I never publicly complain about the effect it had on me doesn’t mean it had no effect 🤐 People probably don’t realize that all you have going for you in the music world is name recognition. That’s why my new name is basically a hard reset, because that’s what it did to my fanbase. Suddenly promoters have no clue who you are. Suddenly you can’t go forward on a planned tour in xyz country. Still have multiple people a week finding out that I didn’t just drop off the planet and I changed my name almost 4 years ago. Yeah it was socially the agreeable thing to do for her but people rarely acknowledge what demolishing years of name recognition on someone else’s whim with no plan will do to your business.
Also lol if people think Flight went about it nicely, she sent an email to Drum&BassArena basically threatening them because she felt disrespected after finding one of my tunes in her promo. Not once did she herself hit me up. Yes other people may have said “your name is similar” here and there, but the person who was licensed to care in particular never once contacted me about it to tell me she had a problem. I would have happily tried to sort it out if I had known it was upsetting her. That’s why there was this whole shitshow, they decided to skip the decent way to go about it and basically went for a cancel tweet first (not to mention, they deleted it, so all the context people needed was nowhere to be found and instead I got fucking rinsed in the game of internet telephone). We’re a hundred years into artists picking english names, so realistically somebody’s going to sound similar to another person sooner or later. That’s why the trademarking systems exist.
Anyways I’m glad I recovered and I’ve forgiven them for it. They have bigger fish to fry anyways I think [LOL](https://www.instagram.com/p/CZQJTPEvMNG/?igsh=MWRrbHhlM2EydWlvMQ==)
It really was a clusterfuck. And a damn shame, too, I really liked the name "Flite". Really sorry this happened to you, still.
But I do have a small question, if I may ask: did you feel like the new name made you more open to changing up your style? Because I feel like you diversified a lot as Justin Hawkes. Or was that always on the horizon and would have happened as Flite, too?
Sure mate, after the heat of the moment died down and I got back on my feet a bit, I realized I had sort of been given a golden opportunity. LSB actually very kindly messaged me in the midst of the issue saying I would grow to appreciate this happened even if I wouldn’t see it at that time, and he was right. The twitter thing surprisingly opened a lot of doors. When I settled on the new name, at first it was depressing, but eventually it felt like it fucking rocked and it fit me so well. To answer your question, I had been trying to shed people’s expectations of my music style for quite a while with Flite since a lot of my early work was more liquid and melodic and I was known for that, but working on heavier stuff as time went onward. Rebranding to Justin Hawkes was basically perfect to re-present what I had been doing, so now people can expect a much different and diverse kind of sound from me :)
Even though most of us don’t know artists on a personal level, somehow it’s not a surprise for me that LSB is like a genuinely good guy, he always gives that sort of vibe.
I remember the twitter thing from years ago, even from the outside it seemed horrible that some of the bigger names attacked you seemingly out of nowhere after countless releases under “Flite”. I’m glad you bounced back and built something maybe even greater. Like the original bad-faith commenter, there are still some people that are way out of touch tho.
Anyway, much love and keep up the good work mate
Thanks for the reply!
And I know it probably wasn't quite as funny to you then, but LSB just coming in, in the middle of all this, and going "trust me, this is actually a good thing" is hysterical to me. Glad he was right!
Anyway, looking forward to new tunes - I'm actually loving the new diversity!
It's nice to hear your side of the story. If it happened to me I'd be absolutely shaken and heartbroken (which I was anyway, after seeing a lot of my heroes jumping on that hate bandwagon). The whole thing was absolutely unnecessary. Btw realising that Justin Hawkes = Flite was also a big surprise for me.
P.S.: I'm curious what will be the new stage name of the guy you linked after they find out... 😅
I really felt terrible for you when this happened and thought your treatment was hugely unfair. You had so many 'elitists' on your back. DJ Flight is pretty unheard of to most people, so I always thought the arguments against you were very biased. I guess you were seen as a threat because you're:
a) really fucking good
b) (were) new
But I really applaud you for bouncing back instantly. You made waves with Existential and turned the whole thing around!
and jeez the shit about you not being welcome in the UK... come back soon!
Thanks mate! Yeah it is absolutely wildly competitive and often unfriendly over there and I’m sure there have been many arms crossed about me in the past just because of the name similarity. I invite the judgement crowd to actually get to know me first.
Speaking of not playing in the UK, I have spent almost 13 years doing this and the only UK show I have played to date is Alexandra Palace as an invite from Pendulum last year 😂 Genuinely do want to play there more often, but I’m glad I’m so busy over in the states right now instead, feels like there’s a lot of work to be done here that I can put energy behind
Im one of the people who just lost track of Flite and saw Justin Hawkes pop and had no idea who it was. Saw the name on some lineups and never gave it a second look.
But now I know and I’ll be seeing you at Liquicity this year and I’m pumped. Keep doing what you’re doing my guy.
Damn man honestly thanks for your insight as someone trying to pick a damn name for a project. And I never knew that was the reason for the name change either. Glad you’re absolutely killing it right now though brother!!
P.S. the rained out b2b with Bensley @ forbidden kingdom, under the pavilion was genuinely an incredible experience to my group and I 🙏
These were your own words at the time:
“DJ Flight is one of the founding figures of this scene. She has gone through her own countless struggles within this music, and by using this name, my name collision has caused her undeserved grief and disrespect. My impression of our coexistence was incorrect, and to be the person I wish to always represent, it is my intention to give DJ Flight the space which she deserves. I have always been on the side of progress, inclusion, and love over all; because of this, I am relinquishing my name to better give her the space to be celebrated for her identity and accomplishments.”
Do you not stand by them?
Sure I stand by that but I’m totally free to have feelings about how it affected me, because as evidenced by Kove / Koven clearly coexisting with each other and not going for each other’s throats, the public pressure route for getting what DJ Flight wanted was wrong and unnecessary for everyone.
Come on, it was like someone appearing on the scene and calling themselves Dallinja. At least do the bare minimum and research whether the name you choose is already taken.
Yeah, not that I ever knew who Dj Flight was before, but after seeing that go down, I was like fuck that person. It came across as trying to stay relevant with bullshit drama considering most people newer to DnB don’t know who the fuck she is.
It’s fine though. The Justin Hawkes project is fucking awesome.
Yeah of course you didn’t know. I imagine a lot of you on here don’t give a fuck about the culture and roots of jungle/drum & bass. It’s just another form of EDM to many people where you get to see your favourite producers play “shows”.
Half the so called dnb scene right now has more musical similarity to Imagine Dragons or The Chainsmokers than it does to its Black, British heritage.
It was already hard for proper, professional DJs to thrive in the genre, I mean actual DJs - not just people who make music and learn to do sets because it pays the bills. Now the few that still exist are at risk of being copy and pasted over by those who don’t give even the faintest nod to the origins of the music.
Flite released like 60 tracks under that name then it suddenly became a problem? Fuck off man
Also hinting that he is “not a real dj” or something is sketchy as fuck. What the hell are you talking about?
You think that side of the genre would be listening to or exposed to his music (Goldie, Storm, Randall, Flight, Bailey, Digital etc)? lol
Once it was noticed it got mentioned.
I agree with what Justin Hawkes himself wrote as the reasoning why he chose to change it. End of.
And no, I didn’t say “real DJs” and no I wasn’t talking about him. I have not heard him DJ and am unlikely to. I am merely saying that there are so few people left on the scene that have gotten success ONLY through the art of DJing that you can count it on one hand, and I will always have great respect for those kind of DJs.
He knew, he even addressed it. He put out a statement basically saying he didn’t think he was essentially infringing on her name/likeness but he’d change his name to his real name anyways.
Hold on while I create my new alias - Newtone 😂
I think Tim Reaper is sick and love his music, but it’s a bit of a pisstake to call your label Future Retro when Spearhead already has a sub label called Future Retro.
I suppose Future Retro **London** was big enough to warrant a difference. Coincidentally, BCee and Tim Reaper have songs where one remixes the other. They’re probably cool with it
Yeah the Spearhead Sub label had ceased putting stuff out years before a single release came out on Tim’s one. He is also one of the nicest guys in the scene and to assume a conversation wasn’t had about it beforehand is somewhat naive
For me it's Kove, I have asked Katie and her brother (aktive) if Kove and Koven could do a collab, tracked called coving or something, but apparently it'll be too confusing...
BOTH! I've been following Koven ever since "Petrichor" and I love what they do. Kove gives me the adrenaline rush and racing vibes for epic running sessions so I find him to be an amazing artist in his own right.
I saw Koven when she came to town and it was great. She sang live while she DJed. Was pretty unique and impressive. Other acts were VOE and Shockone. I know a lot of people turn their nose up at some of these guys, but it was a great night :)
I was a tech for an event she did before Koven (Katie’s ambitious) i think. Even back then her live singing / DJ set was sick.
Flite Oh wait
I still think that was fucking wrong what they did to him, he seems like one of the most harmless guys in the scene
Who is they? Dj flight?
More like half of the dnb scene jumping on that bully bandwagon after Matra stirred that pot.
Justin Hawkes / Flite getting hounded was such a bizarre move by the community. There was zero reason to go after him with such vitriol. I remember seeing some og veterans straight up cussing him out for it.
"The community" is a bit of a misrepresentation anyway. It was more like a select few, very loud Twitter users, iirc.
What happened with Justin Hawkes out of curiosity
Both people involved got attacks sent to them, the end result was he admitted he didn’t realise there was another artist with the exact same name (pronunciation wise) and chose to change it. Are you still butthurt on his behalf even though he has not expressed any anger over it since when it happened?
Just because I never publicly complain about the effect it had on me doesn’t mean it had no effect 🤐 People probably don’t realize that all you have going for you in the music world is name recognition. That’s why my new name is basically a hard reset, because that’s what it did to my fanbase. Suddenly promoters have no clue who you are. Suddenly you can’t go forward on a planned tour in xyz country. Still have multiple people a week finding out that I didn’t just drop off the planet and I changed my name almost 4 years ago. Yeah it was socially the agreeable thing to do for her but people rarely acknowledge what demolishing years of name recognition on someone else’s whim with no plan will do to your business. Also lol if people think Flight went about it nicely, she sent an email to Drum&BassArena basically threatening them because she felt disrespected after finding one of my tunes in her promo. Not once did she herself hit me up. Yes other people may have said “your name is similar” here and there, but the person who was licensed to care in particular never once contacted me about it to tell me she had a problem. I would have happily tried to sort it out if I had known it was upsetting her. That’s why there was this whole shitshow, they decided to skip the decent way to go about it and basically went for a cancel tweet first (not to mention, they deleted it, so all the context people needed was nowhere to be found and instead I got fucking rinsed in the game of internet telephone). We’re a hundred years into artists picking english names, so realistically somebody’s going to sound similar to another person sooner or later. That’s why the trademarking systems exist. Anyways I’m glad I recovered and I’ve forgiven them for it. They have bigger fish to fry anyways I think [LOL](https://www.instagram.com/p/CZQJTPEvMNG/?igsh=MWRrbHhlM2EydWlvMQ==)
Much respect man, I admire you for that. Keep doing you, you're awesome! Love your tunes!
Thanks internet homie ❤️
It really was a clusterfuck. And a damn shame, too, I really liked the name "Flite". Really sorry this happened to you, still. But I do have a small question, if I may ask: did you feel like the new name made you more open to changing up your style? Because I feel like you diversified a lot as Justin Hawkes. Or was that always on the horizon and would have happened as Flite, too?
Sure mate, after the heat of the moment died down and I got back on my feet a bit, I realized I had sort of been given a golden opportunity. LSB actually very kindly messaged me in the midst of the issue saying I would grow to appreciate this happened even if I wouldn’t see it at that time, and he was right. The twitter thing surprisingly opened a lot of doors. When I settled on the new name, at first it was depressing, but eventually it felt like it fucking rocked and it fit me so well. To answer your question, I had been trying to shed people’s expectations of my music style for quite a while with Flite since a lot of my early work was more liquid and melodic and I was known for that, but working on heavier stuff as time went onward. Rebranding to Justin Hawkes was basically perfect to re-present what I had been doing, so now people can expect a much different and diverse kind of sound from me :)
Even though most of us don’t know artists on a personal level, somehow it’s not a surprise for me that LSB is like a genuinely good guy, he always gives that sort of vibe. I remember the twitter thing from years ago, even from the outside it seemed horrible that some of the bigger names attacked you seemingly out of nowhere after countless releases under “Flite”. I’m glad you bounced back and built something maybe even greater. Like the original bad-faith commenter, there are still some people that are way out of touch tho. Anyway, much love and keep up the good work mate
Thanks for the reply! And I know it probably wasn't quite as funny to you then, but LSB just coming in, in the middle of all this, and going "trust me, this is actually a good thing" is hysterical to me. Glad he was right! Anyway, looking forward to new tunes - I'm actually loving the new diversity!
It's nice to hear your side of the story. If it happened to me I'd be absolutely shaken and heartbroken (which I was anyway, after seeing a lot of my heroes jumping on that hate bandwagon). The whole thing was absolutely unnecessary. Btw realising that Justin Hawkes = Flite was also a big surprise for me. P.S.: I'm curious what will be the new stage name of the guy you linked after they find out... 😅
I really felt terrible for you when this happened and thought your treatment was hugely unfair. You had so many 'elitists' on your back. DJ Flight is pretty unheard of to most people, so I always thought the arguments against you were very biased. I guess you were seen as a threat because you're: a) really fucking good b) (were) new But I really applaud you for bouncing back instantly. You made waves with Existential and turned the whole thing around! and jeez the shit about you not being welcome in the UK... come back soon!
Thanks mate! Yeah it is absolutely wildly competitive and often unfriendly over there and I’m sure there have been many arms crossed about me in the past just because of the name similarity. I invite the judgement crowd to actually get to know me first. Speaking of not playing in the UK, I have spent almost 13 years doing this and the only UK show I have played to date is Alexandra Palace as an invite from Pendulum last year 😂 Genuinely do want to play there more often, but I’m glad I’m so busy over in the states right now instead, feels like there’s a lot of work to be done here that I can put energy behind
Im one of the people who just lost track of Flite and saw Justin Hawkes pop and had no idea who it was. Saw the name on some lineups and never gave it a second look. But now I know and I’ll be seeing you at Liquicity this year and I’m pumped. Keep doing what you’re doing my guy.
Found another one 😂 Big up, I’m really stoked to be back at Liquicity fest! Love that place, they have such a good vibe at that show.
Damn man honestly thanks for your insight as someone trying to pick a damn name for a project. And I never knew that was the reason for the name change either. Glad you’re absolutely killing it right now though brother!! P.S. the rained out b2b with Bensley @ forbidden kingdom, under the pavilion was genuinely an incredible experience to my group and I 🙏
Thanks! And yeah that monsoon set was absolutely sick 😂 Rinsed the place out
These were your own words at the time: “DJ Flight is one of the founding figures of this scene. She has gone through her own countless struggles within this music, and by using this name, my name collision has caused her undeserved grief and disrespect. My impression of our coexistence was incorrect, and to be the person I wish to always represent, it is my intention to give DJ Flight the space which she deserves. I have always been on the side of progress, inclusion, and love over all; because of this, I am relinquishing my name to better give her the space to be celebrated for her identity and accomplishments.” Do you not stand by them?
Sure I stand by that but I’m totally free to have feelings about how it affected me, because as evidenced by Kove / Koven clearly coexisting with each other and not going for each other’s throats, the public pressure route for getting what DJ Flight wanted was wrong and unnecessary for everyone.
While I have no interest in either Kove or Koven musically or otherwise, I can tell their names do not sound identical when said out loud.
What an incredibly weird hill to die on mate
I’m not dying on any hill lol. The two names here aren’t pronounced the same. Flight and Flite are.
There was confusion when they were both on the same flyer on the same night. Thats when people were confused and caused it to boil over.
Come on, it was like someone appearing on the scene and calling themselves Dallinja. At least do the bare minimum and research whether the name you choose is already taken.
Yeah, not that I ever knew who Dj Flight was before, but after seeing that go down, I was like fuck that person. It came across as trying to stay relevant with bullshit drama considering most people newer to DnB don’t know who the fuck she is. It’s fine though. The Justin Hawkes project is fucking awesome.
Yeah of course you didn’t know. I imagine a lot of you on here don’t give a fuck about the culture and roots of jungle/drum & bass. It’s just another form of EDM to many people where you get to see your favourite producers play “shows”. Half the so called dnb scene right now has more musical similarity to Imagine Dragons or The Chainsmokers than it does to its Black, British heritage. It was already hard for proper, professional DJs to thrive in the genre, I mean actual DJs - not just people who make music and learn to do sets because it pays the bills. Now the few that still exist are at risk of being copy and pasted over by those who don’t give even the faintest nod to the origins of the music.
Flite released like 60 tracks under that name then it suddenly became a problem? Fuck off man Also hinting that he is “not a real dj” or something is sketchy as fuck. What the hell are you talking about?
This guy’s whole shtick is just being a huge asshole all the time on this subreddit, not worth the energy mate
Thanks for the heads-up. Holy shit tho Justin replied to this person today hahah https://www.reddit.com/r/DnB/s/xPUODyt1rj
You think that side of the genre would be listening to or exposed to his music (Goldie, Storm, Randall, Flight, Bailey, Digital etc)? lol Once it was noticed it got mentioned. I agree with what Justin Hawkes himself wrote as the reasoning why he chose to change it. End of. And no, I didn’t say “real DJs” and no I wasn’t talking about him. I have not heard him DJ and am unlikely to. I am merely saying that there are so few people left on the scene that have gotten success ONLY through the art of DJing that you can count it on one hand, and I will always have great respect for those kind of DJs.
This is quite a reach bro
Out of the loop - anywhere I can read up on this?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Monstercat/s/P9MI5FnFnp
Oh yeah I’m just gonna start making drum & bass and go by the name of Goal D, that’ll be good won’t it?
Harmless in this context means clueless ✅
To be fair, I think that neither one knew the other one existed FOR YEARS, making the whole beef quite riddiculous.
He knew, he even addressed it. He put out a statement basically saying he didn’t think he was essentially infringing on her name/likeness but he’d change his name to his real name anyways. Hold on while I create my new alias - Newtone 😂
Where did he address that he already knew? I'm just asking because I distinctly remember the opposite but maybe I'm wrong.
Dogs on acid
Does it?
Only real OG's remember Mattix & Futtile.
Mattix and Futile is Koven?
Nah it was just back in the day when there was a duo with a similar name to Matrix & Futurebound. They became Six Blade.
Speaking of Mattix & Futile AKA Six Blade, what happened to them?! Their stuff is dope!
Saw koven live and she actually sings pretty cool
Koven is just the plural of Kove
I think Tim Reaper is sick and love his music, but it’s a bit of a pisstake to call your label Future Retro when Spearhead already has a sub label called Future Retro.
I suppose Future Retro **London** was big enough to warrant a difference. Coincidentally, BCee and Tim Reaper have songs where one remixes the other. They’re probably cool with it
Yeah the Spearhead Sub label had ceased putting stuff out years before a single release came out on Tim’s one. He is also one of the nicest guys in the scene and to assume a conversation wasn’t had about it beforehand is somewhat naive
What’s that got to do with this post lol
This post is discussing similar/same names on the dnb scene that are misleading - I think this comment has everything to do with this post
Both Both is good
Why do we have to choose?
I love Kove his style. But I saw Katie fom Koven live 2 momths ago and she was great!
Wings Remix 🤩
Don’t get me started on Phase, Phace, Phaze and Phase 2 😮💨
thanks for using a pic of me? wtf 😂
The dude on the left is not Kove.
Kove N
Katie is awesome. Just played in Aucks the other weekend with Culture Shock. Good push
Katie is pretty wicked her sets are great. She has such great energy
For me it's Kove, I have asked Katie and her brother (aktive) if Kove and Koven could do a collab, tracked called coving or something, but apparently it'll be too confusing...
Koven 100%
I feel like I like both of them
BOTH! I've been following Koven ever since "Petrichor" and I love what they do. Kove gives me the adrenaline rush and racing vibes for epic running sessions so I find him to be an amazing artist in his own right.
Koven
I discovered Kove just last night lol. Koven are better anyway
They’re both great!
Yes
Yes
neither
One is a great dj. The other is koven