The Thunder Disco Club residents collated ten of their favourite Maurice Fulton productions/tracks/arrangements in the run up to his return to Sub Club tomorrow (These are in no particular order). This guy dismisses any hype yet has a back catalogue that begs for attention. To celebrate this they have pulled together some tracks from his various guises that shine…
Javen Souls ‘A Walk Thru The Park’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc4VAUFYez0
Mu – Paris Hilton
Crystal Waters – Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)
Alice Smith – Love Endeavour (Maurice Fulton Remix)
Syclops – Where´s Jason´s K
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDpnf477IPM
Mim Suleiman – Nyuli 12” [Dub]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00Q4BTUMihQ
Syclops – Jumpbugs
DJ Nori – Happy Sunday (Maurice Fulton Remix)
Rhye – The Fall (Maurice Fulton Alt Remix)
Mim Suleiman – Mingi
For all you intergalactic boogie merchants out there! SPACE IS THE PLACE is the theme. So Thunder Disco intend to give the Sub Club a super freaky deaky UV/OPTI Kinetic planetary space vibe to complement this Friday night with the disco nomad & master of alien boogie Maurice Fulton.
You can also catch the Thunder Disco residents laying on a spread of beats with some pre-theatre party action at the Kiltr Street Food Feastival on Gordon Street.
£7 Adv. Tickets are available here for the Sub Club and there will also be more on the door priced at £10.
Industry leaders DJ Mag in partnership with Miller Genuine draft have launched voting for their annual poll to find the ultimate clubs from around the world – The DJ Mag top 100 clubs.
The club has regularly featured amongst the top clubs in the DJ Mag poll over the years but as it is now a readers poll rather than a vote by DJs as it was previously, we would like to ask you all to help out with a vote for the Sub Club to and give us a push towards the top again. Being a small club with a highly selective booking policy, and tucked away in Scotland as we are, our catchment in a public vote is seriously limited. Despite this, last year the Sub Club was voted number 42.
We think if we can get enough people to vote for us this time we can at least get into the top 20 and hopefully give our wee city something to shout about!
Normally we don’t like to shout about our own achievements in this way but following our fantastic 25th anniversary year in 2012 and with the record breaking 20th anniversary of Subculture pending, we think there is quite a lot to be making a noise about.
Many of you will know the club as your second home, but just in case you need a reminder, here is a list of selected highlights and a few reasons why the Subbie is your favourite underground party spot…
The Sub Club hosts a broad choice of regular and irregular residencies and special guest dj appearances but the club’s signature night Subculture, with Harri & Domenic at the helm, has endured like no other club night in the world and is now firmly established as the longest running weekly underground club night on the planet.
Subculture continues to go from strength to strength as Harri & Domenic refuse keep pushing the boundaries and reworking their ever relevant take on the house music blueprint. As testament to their integrity and longevity, they continue to steer clear of trends or fads and remain true to their roots, serving up flawless selections of house and techno to the clued up masses. This is electronic funk for freaks that never grows old. Vote here…
In more recent years Harri & Domenic have appeared on some massive festival line-ups such as at Unknown, Stop Making Sense, T in The Park, Rock Ness, and The Big Chill.
In November 2013 H & D hosted the Sub Club pod as part of Red Bull Music Academy’s amazing and unique Revolutions In Sound event on the London Eye with a colossal global audience witnessing our high jinks in the sky. Vote here…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjvg5GwqtDA
Last month, on January 22nd the Subculture residents hosted the first ever Boiler Room session north of the border as Harri & Domenic went b2b with Optimo in the back room of the club for a truly remarkable 4+ hour party.
On Saturday 14th of December our Subculture residents Harri & Domenic, descended onto Rinse FM headquarters and took over the station from midnight for two hours.
As part of our Keeping Sunday’s Special series in the Autumn, we invited house music hero & all round good guy Derrick Carter to bring his ‘Derrick Does Disco’ party to the Sub Club on 13th October, helping to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of GLASGAY!
With Derrick in control for the full four hours we had to get the roadblocks out. Here is an hour of this amazing set specially picked out by the one man block party himself. Vote here…
For the last weekend of September 2013 the Sub Club crew invaded London to squeeze the very last goodness out of the summer. Harri and Domenic were the highlights on the rooftop of South Place for the hotel’s final terrace party of the year. As a wee taster, this is the first 80 mins recording of what went down in London town…
Back in August 2013 Harri, Domenic and Telford went to back to back to back for five solid hours hours. This live recording from the Sub Club, covers the last hour and a half, where our three finest residents took us through till 4am on a summer Sunday morning… Vote here…
Kicking off the Summer in June 2013 we took the Sub Club SoundSystem line up to the renowned Rockness festival in the Scottish Highlands. It was one of the best parties of the summer where we pulled out as many stops as we could get our hands on to bring what we believe is our most exciting line up at Rockness to date. The tent was pretty much packed out all weekend and jumping from start to finish, making it a very special atmosphere for all concerned. Special thanks also to all the musicians and their pals who joined the party on stage, in particular Jessie Ware and Basement Jaxx who took over backstage whilst Julio Bashmore and then Kerri Chandler played on Friday night – some very special memorable moments!
As well as being a Subculture legend and renowned house music DJ across the dance world Harri’s love for reggae has shone through in his sets over the years. He recorded this Jah Rasta Ferrar Fae Harri Reggae mix with all killahs no fillahs… in celebration of International Reggae Day. Vote here…
To some it all up here is a short video feature which was released ahead of our 25 year Birthday celebrations…
https://vimeo.com/39753993
On the first Saturday of April (5th) we kick off a series of celebratory events with a residents party marking 20 years almost to the day when Subculture launched in 1994. We are also delighted to announce that we have some special treats coming your way to help commemorate the 20th anniversary over the coming months, beginning with a return visit from the unique and totally brilliant house music icon that is Lil’ Louis on April 12th.
Looking forward towards the early summer we welcome the legendary DJ Harvey (Locussolus) who is confirmed to play Subculture on Saturday May 3rd, making his first UK appearance of 2014 and his first in Scotland since 2001. More events will be announced over the coming weeks and months with many more exceptional parties and one off events already in the pipeline.
You can help to put the Sub Club where it belongs at the top of the next DJ Mag top 100 club poll.
Tonight at The i AM Beta & Kappa step down and relinquish control to Richard Fearless for the full night. Before Beta sat down with Richard we wanted to ask a few questions to them about this one off event…
Why Four hours?
Fearless was resident at the famed Social in London with the Chemical Bros. They took it in turns: first, mid and end of night sets for three and half years before he went to Razzmatazz in Barcelona and was resident there with Ms. Kitten and Hell.
How come Beta & Kappa aren’t playing?
He’s too good and we wanna dance all night! The other small matter of being warm-up and after-band DJ for two Primal Scream tours and the fact he bent us over and rode us like schoolboys when we invited him to play in Cab. Bottom line is that there are few people we would entrust a full Tuesday at i AM to…. and Richard is in that list.
1.) Richard, you are as seasoned as they come – although we’ve not seen you on any Sub Club listings (in our lifetime) – have you indeed played in the club before?
Nope I haven’t, but it’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to play, a hallowed ground in my book.
2.) Tell us what exactly you enjoy most about playing full nights over peak time slots?
When I was one of the resident at the Heavenly Social and Razzmatazz in Barcelona would all take it in turns to do the warm up, middle and end slot. I’ve always loved playing a first as you get to dig out those WTF records and then the middle slot is great to work those slower heavy no into total meltdown at the end but yeah a great warm up djing is second to none in my mind.
3.) Your label ‘Drone’ seems poised for world domination, can you give us a bit of insight in things to come?
Well the first two releases are under Richard Fearless and are a reflection of the music that shaped my djing I guess, first track’s a kind of jacking Chicago number and the second is a piece of final crafted Techno of the highest order, can’t say who I’ve got lined up for remix duties but they’re all my heroes that’s for sure. As far as other artists, its a fine span across the field of electronic music so far. Oh yeah and that band that keeps following me round Death in Vegas.
4.) We’ve got the feeling you’re the type of lad thats got a few stories under his belt, what’s been the pinnacle moment in your musical career?
Playing Glastonbury to 64,000 people at sunset was pretty mental.
5) Whats been the weirdest fucking moment in your musical career?
I once went drinking with an army of dwarves then took them clubbing, that got pretty wild, right bunch of randy fuckers I seem to remember, high times.
Get your ears round this exclusive mix which Richard put together ahead of his Sub Club debut…
One of Deutschland’s finest disc jockeys, Marcus Worgull and his music have been a firm favourite of Subculture sets for many years. Keeping his house deep and down, the Innervisions insider returns to the Sub Club this Saturday. We managed to pin him down and as we swayed away from normal chat, we found out some interesting facts, for instance his passion for football, love of Reggae, and his talents as a childhood piano player…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIb2Fb0JdII
With his disco/funk/jazz influences, he focuses on the deeper side of house music. By owning and running Groove Attack, the most famous music store in Germany, Marcus sure knows what music his people want to hear.
1. What is your favourite way to spend a Saturday?
In fact, it still is Djing! Although it means very often to be in a train, on a plane or in a car to end up in one specific city, which most of the times you only get to know through the window of a hotel room and some window of a car.
But – the perfect way is to end up on time in the hotel room to watch the the german Bundesliga games online. Then dinner, then playing. ;-)
2. Someone asks you to design a club ,where would it be, and who would play your opening night?
So, if it was to happen, it would happen in Cologne, it would be outside of the city centre, so no neighbours will disturb us with their affliction. It would be close to the river Rhein, that divides our city. It would have an out view on this river, so the light comes in when the sun goes up. System wise it would be just powerful, subclub-style if possible. Design wise it would be very, very simple, so no distraction from the music. And – only good drinks. Opening night would be Laurent Garnier.
3. Can or Tangerine Dream?
Can. I just finished an album together with Danilo Plessow as “Vermont“[Marcus’s latest collaboration project with Motor City Drum Ensemble.] It will be out on Kompakt in March and for this, we even recorded some tracks together with Jaki Liebezeit, the drummer of Can. But, Tangerine Dream is good too. Just listened to a reissue by Tangerine Dream member Günter Schickert, called “Kinder in der Wildnis”. Good stuff !
4. If you had one day in your life to live over again, which would you choose and why?
I think I don’t have an answer to this. I prefer to look out for the next day. Maybe the birthday of my son Ole. But – would this mean that it would be twins then? Mmhh… I don’t know.
5. Last movie you saw that blew you away?
Mad Men, Season 6.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4qSuQ9Tn08
6. Three music producers who have inspired your own productions? Can you give us a tune from each one?
Scientist:
Johnny Osbourne:
Frank Wiedemann:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LScyjl1_qLk
In fact, only the latter one really influenced my own production by helping and advising, the other ones just stand for my love for Reggae and Dub music, which has been the initial hint for me that i knew, that i really love music. Like…REALLY!
7. What sort of music did your parents listen to when you were growing up?
No music at home :-/ except my sister playing violin and me playing the piano. I was the first one who organised a tape recorder to listen to Michael Jackson at home. It was quickly replaced by a turntable.
8. Olympics or World Cup?
Pffttt…you should know that ;-)
9. First 12″ you bought?
First record was a 7″ of AC/DC: “Highway to Hell”.
First 12″ was Clint Eastwood & General Saint “Stop that train”
Here is a very rare mix from Marcus which he recorded for Innervisions back in Spring 2012…
£10 Adv. tickets to catch him alongside Harri & Domenic at Subculture are available here and both online and in store from Tickets Scotland.
After an emotional launch featuring legendary producer / DJ extraordinaire Terrence Parker, Krystal Klear continues his ‘Labour Of Love’ with a Valentine’s Day debut & first in a series of quarterly sessions in the Subbie basement.
Keeping with the general vibe of good people playing good records in fun spaces, we’re pleased to welcome Paul Nickerson & Francis Englehardt aka Slow To Speak aka the two who run NYC’s infamous Dope Jams record store.
We took five minutes to chat to Declan(Krystal Klear) about Labour of Love, his guests and the role of the resident..
1. Tell us a bit about Labour of Love and the ethos behind the night?
The ethos behind the night is a drawn influence from everything I have every read about legendary parties such as the Loft,Gallery or Body & Soul and a real opportunity for me to hone in on the details of every element of the night, from the bouncers to the booze to the people and really focus on things that seem to have fallen by the wayside in club culture at the minute.
It seems (to me) that predominantly people aren’t really cared about once their money has been paid at many club nights and these same people are often hooshed in by security to perhaps a hostile environment with a crap system and some gobshite pissing in the corner (believe me I’ve seen and probably been that gobshite..Im no a saint) so Im trying to eradicate these things and a create an environment that people really don’t want to leave,a place people really feel at home in and a place that creates the right comfort for people to be entirely open minded musically and visually.
Im not breaking any moulds…Im just trying to saturate an area which seems to be quite small in the grand spectrum of club nights in the UK.
2. You booked Slow to Speak for the Sub Club and London launch parties what do these guys mean to you musically?
Huge influence in terms of their taste..the guys are absolute beasts in terms of their releases,re-press’s and mix-tapes but more importantly I respect their ideology in trying to bring the dream alive musically and ultimately they are two of the finest selectors in the genres I love and two dj’s who will keep me wondering what each record is all night long and thats something I had to see.
3. Obviously you will be the resident at all these parties going forward, Whats your thoughts on the role of the resident?
Being a resident and being part of a party and not the focus is a skill I have eventually learned from being part of Hoya Hoya and something which at the very beginning I didn’t grasp nor understand. So for me the important role of the resident is to warm the party up and keep things at a level vibe, giving space for the dj’s after and the people in the room and to me that is the most important role of the resident.
4. Recently you launched your Cold Tonic label? Are you solely active and involved in the A&R?
Pretty much..I mean the label is ran by myself and Boltonmore (Manc Legend) alongside input from one or two voices but generally we A&R it together as a unit just to avoid me running off on a tangent and releasing a dual LP of slow jams.etc but fortunately I have a great crew around me helping me get it off the ground.
5. Quite an original name for the label, and for your Tumblr, how did this come about?
It was more a joke between me and my roommates that ironically described our lifestyle and how we once complained about “how the tonic water on our rider is always fucking warm” haha and after realised how ludicrously wanky that was decided it was the perfect term to describe what we had become haha.
6. A while back you remixed, the dancefloor classic ‘Gypsy Woman.’ Hypothetically speaking, is this a tune from the past you wish you could have signed to your own label?
Yeh of course…one of the greatest chord sequences of all time.
7. What’s your guilty pleasure (favourite non-house music tune) maybe some soul, reggae or Bruno Mars ;)?
Deadmau5 – ‘I Remember’……easily the most outrageous guilty pleasure of all time and i’ve never told a soul this but the chord progression drives me nuts.
Dont hate me!
8. You are now Manchester based, What things do you miss most about the old country?
Small things like family & friends and frankly a good pint of Guinness.
9. We hear you’re planning on wearing a dress on Thursday to ‘mark the occasion’, in your own words what else can we expect from the launch of this party?
Might just turn up naked presuming its not fucking freezing. Honestly,Subclub is one of my favourite spots in the world,a place I have never had a bad night in and somewhere I LOVE playing so personally for me this is a really big deal and I can’t wait to start this residency. Party’s gonna be fucking class!
Here is the first in a truly vibe occupied two part mix, the second of which will be handed out on CD as an exclusive gift for those in attendance at the Sub Club on Thursday. Get your ears round this groove-heavy, soulful sonic treat, which seriously showcases the extensive range of musical styles on offer at Labour of Love…
For anyone who has been living or dancing under a rock for the past two decades and doesn’t know, Harri is synonymous with Glasgow’s vibrant House scene and his record breaking 24 year Sub Club residency is the foundation for it’s growth into one of the UK’s premier electronic music venues.
On a production level Harri has created and recorded music as H Foundation, The Pa Pa Washington Trio, Daddy’s Favourite, Harri and The Revenge, and Burnt Island Casuals amongst many other aliases, showcasing his exceptional mixing and production skills. His most successful track “I Feel Good Things For You” was recorded under his Daddy’s Favourite moniker, which propelled Harri into the charts, was heavily featured on the T.V. series “Queer as Folk” and still features on many classic House compilations to this day.
After cutting his DJ teeth in the Sub Club and elsewhere around Glasgow during the 80’s, Harri teamed up with Slam duo Stuart McMillan and Orde Meikle in 1990 and started the infamous Sub Club weekly Saturday, “Atlantis” The departure of Slam from the club in 1994 saw Harri join forces with one of Glasgow’s most talented young DJs, Domenic Cappello. Together they created Subculture, our flagship weekly Saturday night which in April will celebrate 20 continuous years. Harri also held down the renowned “Fridays are Firing” residency with the late and much missed Kenny Hawkes at London’s Plastic People for 5 years from the mid 90′s and has regularly travelled across most of the worlds continents plying his trade at some of the best clubbing venues on the planet.
The Face (R.I.P.) and many other leading music magazines have lauded Harri’s unique contribution to the UK House scene and he has been voted in the world’s top 100 DJ’s in the DJ Magazine poll on several occasions.
Harri is never one to blow his own trumpet – so sometimes we have to do it for him – but we know he is rightfully very proud of the fact that his track Laika made it into John Peel’s Festive 50 in 1993. At no. 12 no less! Even to be in the same sentence as Mr. John Peel, says it all really!
This Saturday Harri is laying it down at Subculture himself for the full four hours. The last time this happened was so long ago that neither Harri nor anyone at Subbie HQ can remember when it was. Despite their 20 year residency this has hardly ever happened for either Harri or Dom, so this is shaping up to be a truly special and rare event.
We caught up with him over a half pint of Guinness and asked him to list some of his favourite pieces of music from different genres within his personal musical kaleidoscope. Harri felt it obligatory to clarify beforehand that these choices are listed in no particular order. It is difficult for our H to do a chart of any particular musical style because there are copious amounts of good out there, but anyways, here are 2 ten-track selections of some of his much loved music.
The first assortment are mostly pretty mushy with heartfelt lyrics and melodies, one love ’n’all that! Sex, Love, Peace, Harri Krishna and power to the people! Right on…
1.Luther Vandross – Never Too Much
2.Fat Larry’s Band – Act Like You Know.
3.Todd Rundgren – Just One Victory
4.Bread – Baby I’m a Want You.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq3biClGRNk
5. Detroit Spinners – I’ll be around
6.Carpenters – Close to you.
7.Carole King – Its too late.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDKnQ0ERgdo
8.Billy Paul – The Whole Towns Talking
9.Cilla Black – Anyone Who Had a Heart
10.Herb Alpert – This Guys in Love With You
The second list is made up of some favourite ‘non house’ instrumentals….
£8 Advance Tickets are for this Saturday’s Subculture are available here & online and in store at Tickets Scotland. (There will also be more on the door from 11pm)
Kicking off their first party of 2014 this Friday the 7th of February Sensu welcome Tobi Neumann and Enzo Siragusa to the Sub Club. Cocoon hero Tobi Neumann has played to a sold out Sensu crowd several times over. Joining him will be Sensu debutant Enzo, the man behind the infamous East London FUSE parties. In 2013 his hectic tour schedule took him all over Europe where he hooked up with likes of Loco Dice and tINI and the gang, as well as playing on the Space Ibiza Terrace for Richie Hawtin’s Enter.
Straight up and ‘fresh’ off the back of last Sunday’s FUSE party, we reached out to Enzo ahead of this event. Read some of his thoughts on afterparties, music technology, Ibiza , label business, Star Wars & expectations of Glasgow…
1. You are renowned for FUSE fame, for anyone who doesn’t know can you tell us how these parties began?
Originally, It was a Sunday morning after party, It came about because we felt there was nothing to do if you wanted to carry on after the afterparty. We used to start at 11am and go all day until 10:30pm every Sunday.
2. When you and the boys set this up 5 years ago did you expect FUSE to become the runaway success that it is now?
Not at all, we were actually focused on other Saturday night projects at the time, Sundays were an after thought because I just wanted to play and have a bit of fun.
3. FUSE started off as an after hours affair thanks to London’s 24 hour licensing. How do you feel the after party scene has benefited you as a DJ?
Saturday nights are a completely different thing, at an after party you can (and should) go places with your music. As a DJ the benefits have been immense, I have been able to culture my sound and understanding of how you connect with people through music.
4. The success of FUSE and all the hard work at local level never went unnoticed; tell us a bit about how you became involved as a resident for Loco Dice’s Under 300 event?
The connection came through years of playing with tINI. Dice had played at Fuse before and I had also played for him previously so I suppose it happened organically. It was a massive honour to be asked!
5. The Under 300 tour was a vinyl only set up. With technology having evolved dramatically and the recent digital revolution, what’s your take on Traktor and Soundcloud etc? Were you happy to embrace these and get involved?
You have to embrace change. I play on both vinyl and USB. This is my 20th year of buying and mixing records, it’s what I know and love from when I was a kid. However technology has progressed and I’m sure it will be different in a further 20 years with the digital DJs who are starting out now. I think its important for a DJ to play to the people not just the records. It doesn’t matter what platform you use, as long as you focus on the experience on the dancefloor.
6. The parties at Sankeys Ibiza were pretty special this summer. You all looked like you enjoyed every minute of it. How do you feel the summer went this year in comparison to the previous year?
This year we were weekly, which was a whole different ball game! All of us had to dig deep into our record collections and we all loved it and I think it came across in each and every party. It really was an amazing summer from start to finish.
7. A few of us were at one of your parties with tINI & the Gang down on Sirocco beach last summer. Apart from beach parties, what are your five much-loved things about the White Isle?
I love the sunsets in Ibiza, that’s my favourite thing in the world. I have a spot on a cliff in Cala Vadella where I go to watch the sunset. The beaches on the island are incredible too and there are so many to explore.
The food too – there some unbelievable restaurants in Ibiza, proper fresh Mediterranean food, good for the soul.
I also enjoy the people I meet on the island, its a melting pot of weird and wonderful characters and cultures. Finally, I love raving, I have raved there every year since 1996 and I cant see that stopping any time soon. People say the island isn’t what it used to be, but this is nothing new because its always changed, you just need to go with it. Its an amazing place!
8. On an industry level, how’s the Fuse and Infuse labels coming along? Any future stars on there?
They are going really well. We have lots of brilliant and fresh new music coming from London on Fuse. With Infuse we are releasing music from far and wide, it’s a platform for the people inspired by our music and the parties. There are too may artists to mention but there’s some serious talent there. The next few EPs are featuring tracks from Seb Zito, Rich NxT, Archie Hamilton, Dan Farserelliand Joseph Williams to name a few. I’m also currently in Berlin working with Alexkid on the follow up to our Kilimanjaro 1 track.
9. In terms of dance music now being more popular and often mainstream, what are your thoughts on the possibility of it becoming excessively commercialised?
It doesn’t bother me, i’ve seen this happen with house, jungle, garage and now house again… it opens up opportunities for the so called ‘underground’ to happen. The key is to focus on your own stuff, who cares what people are buying. 10. We heard you’re a bit of a Star Wars fan, out of all the Star Wars films, which one would you liked to have produced the soundtrack for?
A New Hope!!
11. Any other films or productions which you would have liked to have shaped the soundtrack for?
Benny Hill.
12. In an ideal world past or present, which track do you wish you had signed to your label?
19.5 by LTJ Bukem & Peshay, I love that record!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLJOaEHxauE
13. What are you expectations of Glasgow and the Sub Club / Sensu faithful?
I’m really looking forward to the weekend! Sub Club is an institution and I’m sure its going to be a special party. Tobi is a great DJ and we have played together quite a few times before. My expectation is a proper PARTY!!!
My only other expectation of Glasgow is to eat some haggis. I should probably do that before I let the party consume me!
To tie things up here is a clip of Enzo’s last release (mentioned above), where he teamed up with Alexkid on the first (vinyl only) track of this new VA from London’s esteemed Fuse label ‘Killimanjaro’ is heavy on percussion and soaked in serious bass – having been part of the original Jungle era Enzo certainly knows about grimey basslines…
Advance tickets are available here and both in store and online from Tickets Scotland.
Our Unleash The Beast started just over two years ago now. Disheartened with the lack of Drum and Bass in Glasgow, we wanted to bring something new to the fore of our beloved city’s club scene and project the ideals that are important to the spirit of Frogbeats – community, originality and enthusiasm. As the name suggests, it has always been about letting loose to an array of old and new school jungle and Drum and Bass, hand-picked by our residents. ‘Subbie’, with their world-renowned sound system and underground culture to boot, was chosen as the perfect venue to hold our night in. There were many whom, although they loved the idea, doubted the local appreciation for Drum and Bass. But here we are still going strong.
From the start we knew it would be a venture into the unknown; we were amateurs just starting out. Our innocence was, however, outstripped by our desire to succeed. We decided that we wanted to challenge the homogeneity of club nights, keeping our bookings fresh and local. This gave the night more of the community feel we were going for. It also kept the cost of entry low, and we could do more in preparation in tandem with our guests before a show. It would be nice to make a living out of this one-day, but we treat it as more of a hobby, or passion for use of a better word. We’re ultimately out to show people new music (or old), make new friends and put a sick night on for our old ones, keeping everyone coming back for more.
In the beginning there wasn’t much of a Drum and Bass scene in Glasgow and I remember hearing on numerous occasions that ‘Drum and Bass and Glasgow do not work together’, to which my response was “we’ll fuckin’ see about that”. While Symbiosis, a night that has been running since before we started, was catering to the harder side of Drum and Bass, we decided to go down the relatively lighter route of styles like Intelligent, Liquid, Dubwise and especially Jungle. It’s a genre not for the faint of heart, but we knew under the crumbling wrecks of student flats lay a generation of bass lovers lying in wait for our arrival. Unfortunately for us, having a Thursday night slot means that all the old-school junglists find it difficult to make it down on account of having to take little Timmy and Isobel to school the next day, but when they do show they’re always the last standing. I think that in recent years we’ve definitely seen a trend in different styles of nights popping up, and it’s good to see that everyone is yearning for a slice of something new. Despite our concerns for an audience, at our first event we managed to attract around 200 people down which was happily a sign of things to come. Proof that there’s a niche for every type of music, you just need to know people who love it or will love it – fortunately the Glasgow community has a wide palette.
As most promoters will know starting a night is tricky and the few nights after your launch can really make or break it for you. Unleash The Beast had its ups and downs, profits were made and lost, and at times we weren’t sure what we’d got ourselves into. But in true Frogbeats style a positive attitude prevailed and we started finding our stride. With that stride came more guest bookings and the night evolved to bring a variety of MCs and DJs down, shaking up the vibes with their own flavour in sequential sessions. One thing that has established the night more was moving from a monthly slot to a bi-monthly – ‘unleashing’ on a monthly basis is not what the doctor ordered. This is a good tip for anyone who wants to start up a night while juggling other priorities.
So what does the future hold for UTB? Well we’re certainly broadening our horizons. There has been some chat about experimenting with MCs and scratch battles next year. There’s been even more chat about bringing some bigger names to bolster up our bookings, names that are renowned and respected in the underground. Name’s any discerning Drum and Bass enthusiast would sit through a Paris Hilton remix of ‘Friday’ to see. Frogbeats are proud to report that residents Denney, Rize and Pharo are already committed to festivals in the summer and we’ve been spreading the word to bring a crowd in from further lands.
For our latest project we put together this video of our next guest, JMD from Perth, showing off his turntablist skills alongside our resident Denney. This is one of many we’ve got in the pipeline and it’s projects like these that keep us excited about what we do. We know it’s our passion for bringing you the freshest sounds that keeps people coming down to the night. Or maybe it’s just to have a wicked time. Either way, we always feel blessed to see smiling faces down at our nights. Now when we hear of people asking where they can hear Drum and Bass in Glasgow we have an answer, and if you were one of these people then now you know.
On Tuesday at The i AM, JD Twitch and Beta & Kappa take us back, all the way back.
In advance of the night the boys asked Twitch to chart them a list of his top 20 tracks as if it was 1994. He would like us to note that these are literally off the top of his head, in no particular order and also that, “the records on the night may be a bit more mental than these…”
Unique 3 – The Theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRSHHuACILE
2 Bad Mice – Waremouse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69bE2e50SyU
A once-a-year special returns as we plough the rich ore of formative rave culture. Optimo star, Keith “The Oracle” McIvor, is one of the few evergreen survivors of a sound which, we guess, would have helped define a generation of dancing over two decades ago. Tickets are £5 on the door.
All over the world tonight people will be celebrating and paying tribute to the life, works and spirit of the great Scottish poet, Robert Burns (1759-1796). Celebrated on, or about, the Bard’s birthday, January 25th, Burns Suppers range from upperclass formal gatherings of artists and scholars to uproariously informal rave-ups of the the nations party people . Most Burns Suppers will involve the eating of a traditional Scottish meal, the drinking of Scotch whisky, and the recitation of works by, about, and in the spirit of the Bard. “There’s some are fou o’ love divine, There’s some are fou’ o’ brandy.”
In true Subbie Style our very own bar Bard and poet extraordinaire Sam Small paid tribute to our beloved underground home and our own wee beastie legends Harri & Domenic…“A man’s a man for a’ that!”
Tuesday morning, Wonder where the week went? Dropped half a months rent, Well spent. Not yet. Still got a night left Hibernate, weathers wet Don’t hide, not yet – Unless it’s in a basement.
The years just started,
This is the first party No good reason missin’ Haggis, neeps and tatties
Unless you hide with the best of them
Missing colours in the spectrum A low ceiling laser show Burnin’ in your cranium Burns like the best of them Burns night’s beckoning Watch a promo whisky Cure the thirst of a nation
A quarter of a century
Nocked off infinity If you wanna blaze a snout We’ll pay for the penalty
Don’t need a later licence
Don’t need a guest fay Italy Don’t need another reason Cause we pack em in intensively
For the hero of a country
Changing lives with poetry Who the fuck really thinks Thatcher needs another holiday?
No me, no need.
Reward love, not greed 99 reasons We’re holding on to free speech
The kind that makes weak knees
The kind that makes the roof week The kind that moves instead of speaks, The kinda music we can breathe.
Dom, tell Harri
We want another tune, Please.
You can catch sam performing regularly as part of Spoken Word at Glasgow’s Inn Deep. Be sure to join him next time for a wee nip.
(Cala Vedella Image courtesy of 
