- The Redrum name (pronounced "red rum") apparently came about due to the recent Ja Rule tour, according to Lombardo when I interrogated him - Murder Inc. tour reveresed equals Redrum! Who woulda thought that some mainstream hip hopper would be the inspiration for a drum'n'nbass/breaks tour? Redrum also marks DJ SS' first appearance in Sydney - the drum'n'bass scene in Australia's most populated city has almost dwindled to a point that DJ's like him have been to every other city eg Perth & Melbourne and have missed out on playing in Sydney. Big ups to Storm & Lombardo for actually making a huge gamble to bring him and Twisted Individual out to Tantra for one night of dark drum'n'bass beats.
It was the first time I had been to Tantra, not being much of a Plastic goer nowadays, so it's a new experience for me. The music was so loud from inside the club, the sound filtered out into the street. Upon entering the place the whole venue shook and the dancefloor also shook along to the dancers' footsteps - like a basketball court as my friend said on the night... the place wasn't even packed so I couldn't even begin to imagine how jumpy Plastic would feel.
If it wasn't for finishing work at 12 midnight, there would have been enough time to catch Storm & Lombardo play their 2-step/garage sets... argh! That was basically the main reason for me to go that night. To hear some dubplates and wicked garage tunes was my mission that night and there hasn't been much 2-step/breakstep exposure lately so any event to put on 2-step/breakstep would be good for the scene. Guess it's about time I go to FabricLIVE in the UK as Storm & Lombardo are heading back home.
Ritual was warming up the decks at 12 with some hard drum'n'bass tunes - real hard and REALLY, REALLY loud - so loud that ear plugs were very necessary. He and his MC's brought on a good vibe that night. Even though it was a small crowd, all the people there were up for it. Antic, as usual, kept spitting out the rapid lyrics but there was one MC who delivered a furious flow on the mic as if he was a heavy metal singer - crazy!
2 o'clock arrives and DJ SS is finally gracing the decks. His profile and recent interviews showed that he played jazzy drum'n'bass and was one of the first drum'n'bass DJ's to do so. Well after reading all that, you'd think you would know what to expect right? Wrong! He just followed on from Ritual's set giving up even harder tunes that shook the place even more. So much so that Lombardo had to tell them to turn it down a bit. SS was dropping such dark tunes that the only tune that I could make out in all the madness was "Shake Your Body" which got the cheers and whistles from the crowd, even doing a couple of well timed rewinds, without losing the beat - just straight into the next tune.
Twisted Invdividual comes on and it's a back to back set with SS and they're both going off on each others vibe.
1 hour later and the ears are ringing signalling the time to leave before serious hearing impediment comes on. It's a pity, the night was OK and the tunes were OK, but it was just too loud - maybe the venue didn't suit it too well. Hopefully this will signal a return for drum'n'bass in Sydney as dedicated d&b nights have been opening up then closing very quickly - it's a shame however you couldn't really see it on the faces of the crowd that night - seems they got what they've been missing!