Have you ever been to a club where the music is so loud that you can feel it reverberate up through your feet, where you can actually feel the bass curdle the contents of your stomach? If yes then chances are you have been to a
dubstep night.
Dubstep is the
marmite of the music world but weather you love it or hate it; it is hard to ignore at the moment what with massively popular
dubstep remixes commandeering the charts. This summer’s most frequently played tune is the ‘Let’s get
ravey’ remix of
LaRoux’s In For The Kill and we have 23 year old
dubstep wunderkind Ollie Jones AKA
Skream to thank for that.
Croydon based dub maestro
Skream started laying down
choones from the tender age of 15 and since then has been a forerunner in the defining of the genre. Hard to describe the sound
Dubstep has its metaphorical fingers in a number of musical pies including;
dancehall, electronic and early 2000s UK garage. Noticeable for its brooding and heavy baseline
Skream’s music has been described as ‘morbidly semi-instrumental suburban paranoia-
scapes’ (
WTF?) Bristol has been named as one of the homes of
dubstep and considering Bath’s close proximity you would assume that there would be plenty of nights to cater for the ever hungry
dubaholics, however
PoNaNa’s seems to be the only venue in bath to take notice of the growing phenomenon that is
dubstep.
Skream’s massive popularity was evident by the enormous queue snaking its way down the street to get into Po’s before the doors were even opened. On entering the club you are transported into a Moroccan wonderland of cheap terracotta paintwork and the overpowering scent of nag
champa joss-sticks (instead of the usual smell of illicit
biffta smoke that usually accompanies a
dubstep night.) The small main room is probably not the kind of venue that
Skream is used to but he
didn’t seem to care, this may have been due to the large fee that he was paid (his “driver” told me it was £1,500 for one hours work!) I have been a massive fan of
Skream for a number of years and was not disappointed in magnetic live DJ set, he got the audience involved and dancing, I reckon I lost a good 5 pounds what with all the sweating and jumping. In between tracks
Skream asked the sweaty just out of school audience weather anybody had ‘got any K?’ (And I don’t think he meant the special kind)
Skream’s reputation for a ‘good time’ preceded him so I was not surprised by his excessive ways when it came to alcohol and the finer sex. Naively, What did surprise me was how easy it was for him to get what he wanted, drinks were bought for him and girls threw themselves at him, at one point I heard this conversation between two girls;
Girl A: ‘
Maaate! I just pulled DJ
Skream’
Girl B: ‘
Ahhhh! Me too!!’
Needless to say even after agreeing to an interview Mr
Skream wasn’t really interested in my questions (resulting in him chucking my Dictaphone across the club!) I began to wonder; to what extent do musicians and famous-type chaps owe their fans (other than allowing them to buy them beer and getting in their knickers.) when I asked
Skream’s opinion on the growing popularity of
Dubstep He replied ‘I love it; Money, Money, money.’ Fair enough I guess so does the fact that we as consumers are in a some respect paying celebrities wages mean we deserve anything more in return? Risking sounding like a party
pooper I feel to some extent celebrities do have a duty to their fans, especially at an event where people have paid top dollar to see them. I’m not saying we have a right to know all about their private lives or their views on the political state of
Darfur but simply the appreciation to the people who have got them where they are.
Have you ever been to a club where the music is so loud that you can feel it reverberate up through your feet, where you can actually feel the bass curdle the contents of your stomach? If yes then chances are you have been to a dubstep night. Dubstep is the marmite of the music world but weather you love it or hate it; it is hard to ignore at the moment what with massively popular dubstep remixes commandeering the charts. This summer’s most frequently played tune is the ‘Let’s get ravey’ remix of LaRoux’s In For The Kill and we have 23 year old dubstep wunderkind Ollie Jones AKA Skream to thank for that. Croydon based dub maestro Skream started laying down choones from the tender age of 15 and since then has been a forerunner in the defining of the genre. Hard to describe the sound Dubstep has its metaphorical fingers in a number of musical pies including; dancehall, electronic and early 2000s UK garage. Noticeable for its brooding and heavy baseline Skream’s music has been described as ‘morbidly semi-instrumental suburban paranoia-scapes’ (WTF?) Bristol has been named as one of the homes of dubstep and considering Bath’s close proximity you would assume that there would be plenty of nights to cater for the ever hungry dubaholics, however PoNaNa’s seems to be the only venue in bath to take notice of the growing phenomenon that is dubstep. Skream’s massive popularity was evident by the enormous queue snaking its way down the street to get into Po’s before the doors were even opened. On entering the club you are transported into a Moroccan wonderland of cheap terracotta paintwork and the overpowering scent of nag champa joss-sticks (instead of the usual smell of illicit biffta smoke that usually accompanies a dubstep night.) The small main room is probably not the kind of venue that Skream is used to but he didn’t seem to care, this may have been due to the large fee that he was paid (his “driver” told me it was £1,500 for one hours work!) I have been a massive fan of Skream for a number of years and was not disappointed in magnetic live DJ set, he got the audience involved and dancing, I reckon I lost a good 5 pounds what with all the sweating and jumping. In between tracks Skream asked the sweaty just out of school audience weather anybody had ‘got any K?’ (And I don’t think he meant the special kind) Skream’s reputation for a ‘good time’ preceded him so I was not surprised by his excessive ways when it came to alcohol and the finer sex. Naively, What did surprise me was how easy it was for him to get what he wanted, drinks were bought for him and girls threw themselves at him, at one point I heard this conversation between two girls;