The Following articles come courtesy of Catherine Wellington of [The Star].


DRUM `n' bass is in your face _ or at the very least dominating Dunedin's gig guides.
[ReFuel] Bar manager Scott Muir has booked acts pedalling the country's dominant sound, for nine weeks out of 12 this University of Otago semester, and he is not the only venue operator in town tuning into the mass-market frequency.

'It seems to have become the new disco,' he said.

[Bath St.] owner John Devereux has also made a shift to drum `n' bass DJs.

'We've probably gone over to about 60 to 70 per cent, maybe even slightly greater,' he said.

At $30 a pop, the recent Phat 08 Taster gig, featuring Concord Dawn, the Upbeats and Black Sun Empire, packed the university's Union Hall with 2000 drum `n' bass followers. Mr Muir, a co-director of dunedinmusic.com, expects a similar turnout for the coming Shapeshifter gig.

Darryl Horne, co-owner of [The Backstage], teamed up with drum `n' bass promoter [DJ Drop] (Michael Roberts) soon after opening last year.

'It's a theme I'm glad we've tapped into early because we've done pretty well out of it,' Mr Horne said.

At the 'retail end of it' there are the scene-setters, like Shapeshifter and Concord Dawn (Evan Short and Matt Harvey) making it big nationally and off-shore. They had pulled what was essentially an underground sound out of the closet, dusted drum `n' bass off and plugged it on the mainstream stage, Mr Muir said.

It is a far cry from seven years ago when Concord Dawn now tagged the New Zealand pioneers of drum `n' bass was 'coming to Dunedin and playing to no one', Mr Muir said.

He referred to drum `n' bass as the 'most durable' of the genres; lasting out against trance, break beat and house. Credit for this was due to Dunedin drum `n' bass crews such as [SBK] and [Future Sound o Dunedin], who kept the promoting and playing going at the same frenetic pitch as the music, he said.

Whether the crowd were fad followers or genuine fanatics 'every man and his dog wants to go'.


By Catherine Wellington



Related artists: Future Sound Of Dunedin, SBK Kru

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