Justin Hawkes is an American drum-and-bass producer and DJ from Southwest Virginia, now based in Austin, Texas. He grew up in a small town in Virginia and began making music at 17, releasing it as Flite. His first track under that name, Blue Spark, arrived in 2013; Featherfall followed in 2014 and brought BBC Radio 1 support, as well as a connection with UKF. The 2015 single Colorless came out on Liquicity Records. Hawkes later explained that he moved on from Flite because the name was too close to that of established drum-and-bass artist DJ Flight. He adopted the Justin Hawkes name around 2020.
Under his current name, Hawkes released the album Existential on Pilot Records in 2022. One of its tracks, Better Than Gold, features vocals from his uncle, Andrew Hellier; Hawkes’s father played mandolin and acoustic guitar on it. The album followed releases on labels including Monstercat, Hospital Records and Drum&BassArena, alongside earlier work for UKF and Liquicity. His Monstercat releases include the single That Look and a remix of REAPER’s BARRICADE. Hawkes also worked with Audioscribe on the track Hymn. His releases have also appeared on RAM Records.
Canadian producer Bensley has been a collaborator: the pair have released Sell My Soul and Carry The Fire, as well as performing back-to-back DJ sets. Hawkes described their styles as a strong fit and their performances as having onstage synergy. Later releases include the 2024 single Autonomy and his remix of Gunfinger Music, released that year on VISION. In 2025, he joined T & Sugah for the single Bebe on Bassrush Records, then reunited with Bensley and Kumarion for Sell My Soul (VIP) on Pilot.
Hawkes established Drumcaste Collective, the label behind his 2026 album Now or Never. In an interview that year, he described the 12-track album as personal and discussed making it as his second full-length.