In the spring of 2007, Tim Sweeney headlined the first Basstown event at Axis, a 1100-capacity room once on the well-known Landsdowne Street which is ground zero sacred ground for Red Sox fans as well as laiden with immense history in house, techno, and other electronic scenes that thrived in Boston for the last ten, twenty, thirty and beyond years. After that was Joakim at Axis' upstairs room. Some pairings with Black Magic and a memorable performance by The Field in midsummer, where the mutual attraction between Basstown and Great Scott was jumpstarted. Not long after, Basstown's founder, David Day (a local DJ, promoter, journalist, and all around personality who now edits the Weekly Dig's A+E section) had a brief move to San Francisco followed by a prompt return on November 1, 2007, going straight from a Penske moving truck in Jamaica Plain to the Middlesex Lounge in Cambridge for the successful minimal techno night, Make It New. Vicki Siolos, who had emerged from the basements of Allston and was working, at the time, as a music publicist for the Planetary Group, joined him as a business partner from a friendship that was formed on the dancefloor.
Since that night, the evolving idea of Basstown has been forming around its popular monthly residency the last Saturday of every month at Great Scott in Allston, the 21+ night highlights local talent and occassionally brings in loved (inter)national acts with one of the cheapest cover prices around. In January of 2008, Basstown paired up with Make It New to be its official promoter, and formed a solid six-pack of resident DJs: Alan Manzi, Baltimoroder, Baldur, Volvox, David Day, and DJ Die Young. Working on its 4th year, Make It New is magic. Basstown is very much about the performance of electronic music while very much a dance party, and Make It New is, simply, our favorite of Boston's skilled DJs playing the techno that we love.
L'est we forget that Basstown presents the almighty Thunderdome, which in its existence of just a bit over a year has grown into the party of Boston that mixes such an eclectic combination of scenes, ages, and sounds in one very, very large room. A bit of a moving monster, Thunderdome hasn't officially stayed put in one particular venue, and has housed itself in the Elk's Lodge, the Greek American Political Club, and along the Charles River. Mistaker, once a Basstown resident and now a resident of London, created Thunderdome and cultivated it into a legacy in such a short time. Trouble & Bass, Flosstradomus, Scottie B, and DJ Assault had all headlined within the event's first year alone, and it will return to meet the demands of Boston's growing party scene.
The dream of Basstown is happening NOW.
Gone are the days when there was only Hearthrob and many of us weren't quite sure where to go on a Saturday night. The calendars are bursting with events and Basstown is proud to be a big part of it with the main goal of bringing quality music to people of all ages and salaries who want to find themselves on a dance floor. When it all started we were the little city bookended by New York and Montreal, but as a whole the city of Basstown grows by the month. Some may say that disco is dead (they're wrong wrong wrong), techno lives on.
Massachusetts, United States of America
