Justin Hawkes announces second album ‘Now or Never’ with new single ‘Stomp’: Listen

Justin Hawkes has officially unveiled his highly anticipated second album ‘Now or Never’. The American drum & bass artist drops new single ‘Stomp’ as the latest preview of the project, with the full record landing as the inaugural release on his newly launched independent imprint Drumcaste Collective.

Crucially, the rollout is as ambitious as the music. ‘Now or Never’ arrives first as a Bandcamp Pay-What-You-Want exclusive on July 31, 2026, before the full DSP release follows on August 14. As a result, the dual-window approach is a deliberate experiment in trust, putting the value of the work directly into the hands of the community before opening it to the wider streaming world.

Notably, the album is framed as Experiential Drum & Bass. Four years on from his 2022 debut ‘Existential’, Justin returns with a continuously mixed body of work conceived as twelve interlocking chapters of cinematic storytelling, hidden meaning and character. Furthermore, every song is designed with intentionality and an enigmatic purpose.

Meanwhile, ‘Stomp’ sets the tone for the journey. The track threads the ritual roots of dance into a contemporary frame, connecting the ancestral rhythmic instinct with a modern, dynamic drum & bass mantle. Indeed, Hawkes framed the single as a place inside his journey where the instinct to dance evolved.

Equally important is the label launch. Drumcaste Collective is conceived not only as the home for his own catalogue, but as a broader artist world that will sign and develop other drum & bass voices. The imprint will also operate as a generative-AI-free label, prioritising originality, artist-led storytelling and championing music that explores rather than generalises.

Crucially, Hawkes opened up about the mission behind it all. “Dance music as a medium for expression goes back to the oldest times and places in the world. Now, being intentionally human in the age of AI feels like an act of resistance,” he said. “We don’t get the messy, empowering complexity of life delivered into music by letting go of the creative reins; especially not to a machine that could never experience your own life.”

Furthermore, he framed the philosophy behind ‘Stomp’ directly. “I wanted everything about this record to feel fully intentional, from the first to the last. ‘Stomp’ is one of my sequences, a place inside my journey, where the instinct to dance evolved. What draws someone to a certain tempo? What gives you that spark? Where did that come from?” Hawkes shared. “It’s a memory within the present.”

Equally, the album represents a personal reset. “I wanted every piece of this next album to feel like discovering myself again in a new light, letting go of the pressure to please or do something commercially comfortable in favor of creating nothing but the raw, core memories. Now or Never challenged the concept of my reality, and I am so excited to finally share it,” he added.

Meanwhile, Hawkes has spent the better part of fifteen years building an unlikely path through drum & bass. The journey began in the foothills of Southwest Virginia in 2011 and has since made him one of the few American producers with a genuine foothold in a largely European genre. His records move between widescreen, melodic highs and harder, more mechanical club material.

Notably, his catalogue has earned plays and support from Sub Focus, Andy C, Wilkinson, RL Grime, Knife Party, Pendulum, Porter Robinson and Black Tiger Sex Machine. Furthermore, his catalogue has now passed 100 million streams, taken him through more than 14 countries, and led to sets at London’s Alexandra Palace, Electric Daisy Carnival and Tomorrowland in both Belgium and Brazil.

Still, the bigger picture is the brand he’s building. Through 2026 he continues to tour across North America with festival dates at Shambhala, Bass Canyon, Electric Love and Friendzy Fest. In short, the album, the imprint and the rollout together signal Justin Hawkes‘ arrival as one of the most distinct North American voices reshaping the global drum & bass conversation.