Covert Operations was setup in 1999 by ASC, originally intended as nothing more than to showcase his upcoming material. Around about early 2000, ASC hooked up with Tom Hill who became involved with the label on a full time basis. The label then went on to push the deeper side of drum & bass, and music people were referring to as intelligent or atmospheric at the time.

After the initial plans were cemented, and long deliberation, the two then went about securing music from some of the scenes most exciting and prominent figures and the label was “officially” born with ASC's sought after release, "Ethereal Images" back in 2001. A quick fire succession of high quality releases followed from artists such as J-Laze (Good Looking), Chris J (Phuturistic Bluez), Pariah (720) and new talent Mykra & Probe-One. By late 2002, Covert Operations had established themselves as a fresh exciting new label to take note of.

2003 rolled around, and Knowledge Magazine were soon knocking on the doors for a feature, and eventually a 2 page interview with ASC about his music and the labels progress came about. Also included with the magazine was a CD containing 11 tracks from Covert Operations future back catalogue, mixed by ASC himself. The mix gained legendary status over time, and is still cited today by many as a showcase of cutting edge drum & bass conforming to its own rules.

After the success of the first batch of releases, and the Knowledge Magazine article and CD, Covert Operations teamed up with like minded label, Warm Communications, to bring about a new concept in compilations. The CD “Thought Process” saw Covert Operations artists remixing tracks by Warm Communications artists and vice versa. This had never been done before in Drum & Bass, and was another example of the “outside of the box” way of thought that people had started to associate with the label.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t all positive, and around about the same time, the label lost distribution when current company, Vinyl UK, went bankrupt. This was a major setback and left the label without a distributor and in need of a new one during times when a lot of new labels were also forming, and the influx of labels just seemed to keep growing. However, always ones to never state the obvious or follow the crowd, Covert Operations decided to do things their own way.

Late 2005, after a few CD projects to keep consumers happy, Covert Operations decided to offer their music direct to their consumers via vinyl and MP3. Not many labels had taken this initiative, and in trying times, pioneering new methods were needed. After a successful stint with this new method of DIY distribution, Covert had put out 17 pieces of vinyl directly to their customers and distribution companies were interested all of a sudden.

Nu Urban ended up picking up Covert Operations in early 2006 and the label has been going from strength to strength ever since. Early 2007 saw the inception of a new sublabel, Cov Ops Ltd, which will continue under the same ethos as its parent label, in releasing more of the cutting edge future tinged drum & bass, that Covert Operations has become known for.

While people may look back in years to come, and cite the bigger labels as leading the way, there can be no doubt that this label has stood the test of time, and paved the way for creativity, originallity and diversity. You already know the name by now.