Whether it was King Tubby, the weed, or the copyright laws in Jamaica that birthed dub music in the early 70s, no one can deny that it was the sound systems that raised and nurtured it. Recording engineers were making the first remixes of reggae tunes and cutting dub plates specifically to be played on the sound systems. The sound was characteristically loud and bassy.

Such a sound could be heard upon entering The Den (formerly The End) on Wednesday 9^thth December 09. Channel One sound system were celebrating their 30 year as on of the UK’s leading sound systems with a six-show-tour called Dub to Dubstep. Its aim was to highlight the link between the genres and showcase some of the leading artists on the scene.

Sanctuary reporters Ellie and Nick, were greeted by several thousand watts of pure bass as Mikey Dread and Ras Kayleb of Channel One dominated room one for most of the night, playing on their custom, hand built sound system. It was the first outside sound system to play in the End/Den in 13 years. After several hours and some savage skanking, our reporters met with Rachel Bevan from Channel One and sat down in the green room (completely out of their trees) to speak to some of the artists.

Jazzsteppa are the first live Dubstep band formed by Shmuel (Gal Moore) & Barbie (Gal Bar-Adon) in 2006. Gal and Gal agreed to answer our questions.

Nick: So this night is all about the roots of Dubstep and where it came from… How did you guys get into it?

Gal BA: I’m an educated dub player: I used to play in dub and reggae bands in Israel and in Germany and basically Gal [M], who was living in London, came for vacation in Israel and bought Dubstep.

Gal M: I was working in promotions at Hyponik back in 2005/6 and I met a girl called Natasha, professionally know as Dot; she’s a DJ from Slovenia. Back then, we met in Herbal and she told me: “There’s a new type of music and only 1000 people in the world know what it’s called: Dubstep.”

Nick: Who were the first artists you were aware of?

Gal M: I think my first rave was Forward at Plastic People. It was Sgt. Pokes and Mala. Off my tits on ketamine man, fucking amazing.

Nick: So from 2004 to now, how has Dubstep evolved?

Gal BA: The kids today are getting too extreme and are doing lots of noise and stuff. On the other hand you got labels like Hot flash or minimalists that do IDM and people like Mala that push the old sound, and Rusko who is totally pop, and people like us.

Nick: What part do you think Jazzsteppa have played in the evolution?

Gal BA: It’s a hard place to put ourselves and say yeah of course we’re doing it. We’re Israelis; we modest people.

Nick: How do you think the scene varies across the country?

Gal M: There’s definitely the Bristol sound and the London sound. Bristol people are always more up for it. Always our best gig is Bristol. And please keep that in because we love them.

Gal BA: It’s a strong community.

Gal M: It’s the one place we don’t ask for a hotel because we’ve got mates there so we know we’re going to have a good time.

Ellie: What do you think is the roll of the MC nowadays for you guys? What do you look for?

Gal BA: Well we’re working with lots of different singers so it doesn’t necessarily have to be an MC.

Ellie: But why have anyone?

Gal BA: I think it’s really important for communication

Gal M: We both come from classical music, you know, from instruments; I mean, I come from classical music; from jazz music.

Ellie: Do you think that’s important?

Gal M: To understand music? Yeah. Like dub is the roots of Dubstep, classical music is the roots of everything.

Ellie: So would you say that Dubstep does require a lot of musical talent.

Gal M: What are you studying?

Ellie: Philosophy.

All: AAAAHHHHHHHH

Gal M: We’re not doing this interview.

Gal BA: I don’t want to be hard on any other artist, but most other Dubstep tunes have the same form and the same trick. We’re trying to have a melody, a harmony and different sounds; different flavours in each track. We don’t want to keep one sound.

Ellie: do you think consumer pressure has an influence on your sound

Gal M: What is consumer pressure? I’m not getting ten emails a day telling me what to write. No one knows what works.

Nick: So what about the future? Where do you see this all leading?

Gal BA: Actually we are from the future. And we just came back in time to tell you what will happen.

The Uplifter and Tenja also played a killer set, fusing their special brand of roots Dubstep with some live percussive turns and classic toasting. We asked them for some insight into their musical backgrounds.

Uplifter: Tenja and I have more of hip hop background.

Tenja: No, I have a guitar background.

Uplifter: Ok, if you’re going that far back.

The roots and the dub scene is more where I’m coming from. The whole idea of the tour is to bridge the gap between Dubstep and roots reggae and about showing people where Dubstep has come from, looking at the predecessors: Mikey and Channel One and showing that the tunes that they’re playing now, a lot of which are foundation tunes from years back, have influenced Dubstep.

Nick: Young people these days don’t know, when they hear a sample in a modern Dubstep tune that it came from one of these roots tunes.

Uplifter: A lot of the samples you hear from the original tunes crop up all the time in the new tunes. In the Uplifter show, we strive to make it nice contrast between the Dubstep and the old school roots and reggae.

Tenja: Ever since I’ve lived in England I’ve known him [Uplifter] and that he’s a guy who’s been into reggae for a long time; he has a proper original sound and a ‘selection’.

Uplifter:  In fact we got some new tunes today on the way here; we stopped off at a few record shops: Dub Vendor in Clapham Junction. The place I usually go to is in Brixton: Supertone records on Acre lane in Brixton. They’re good friends of mine and they’ve been doing it for a long time.

So we picked up two fresh tunes today which we played out tonight. We keep things a fresh as possible.

Ellie: So is it hard to keep things as fresh as possible whilst respecting the heritage as well?

Uplifter: I really enjoy merging the two together because a lot of the roots tunes that are coming out today still sound vintage because of the way they are recorded. I like to play old school tunes and mix them with new productions, which are still done live in the studio. I’ve always tried to play out tunes that are organic sounding. Dubstep and the digital scene: there is some of it that I really appreciate, but my roots are really the live instruments.

Nick: Is that why you use the live percussion in your set?

Uplifter: Exactly, that’s where the drums feed. I like to really fuse the live side of things with the DJ thing. It’s more of a selector’s set really, and getting the sirens going, like in sound system culture and pulling in some of the live percussion and mixing it with tunes. I try and provide something that’s a little bit different.

Nick: What about the relationship between the DJ and the MC? Do you have a system?

Uplifter: It’s all about vibes.

Tenja: We don’t have to practise. Like at the shop earlier, I’ll select a riddim and say ‘hey what do think of this? Can you show me a few versions before the gig?’  You can never really prepare, it depends what the DJ has beside him. The DJ has to have the selection at his finger tips.

Uplifter: That’s why my hands are hurting because we’ve been carrying six boxes up and down the stairs. I try and do a set that requires a lot of my music. So depending what the vibes are like in the crowd, I’ve got something to accommodate everything.  I’ve got one box of 7 inchs, one box of 10inchs, CDs… I’ve got the whole lot. I could just bring an IPod and plug it in but it’s not the same. The labour is half the fun in putting on a show.

I’ve got my own sound system as well: Uplifter Sound System. It’s like Mikey’s; not as big but we’re slowly getting there. I’ve got 4 big scoops.

Mike and Channel One have been going for 30 years now so we’re just following in their footsteps.

Finally Kromestar arrived for his interview. He and Son of Selah sat down with us and we asked him how his long musical career had led him to Dubstep.

Kromestar: I’ve been in it for a hot minute man; since the garage days; the two-step days; the Forward era. I just went from there.

Ellie (to SOS): Why are you laughing?

SOS: I’m happy, man. I’ve just been listening to Dubstep; Channel One Soundsystem. Very rarely do you hear that sort of bass line on those sorts of speakers. They deal with different frequencies.

Ellie: What do you think of this place (The Den) now since it changed its name? 

SOS: I liked it before because they used to have a metal furnace so you could lick [hit] the side, like BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Kromestar:  What?

SOS: Yeah. Remember the metal bit on the side? Blap blap blap blap: it sounded like fake gunshots ringing out. When a good tune came on everyone would be licking the side: Bang Bang!

Nick:  Since the two-step days how have you seen Dubstep change over the years?

Kromestar:  It’s changed enough and it’s still changing with a whole heap of new styles coming about.

SOS: I think people are drawing from different influences like heavy metal.

Kromestar:  Distance [artist] set that sound

SOS: It’s not my cup of tea. I like musical Dubstep. That “wah wah wah tsch, wah wah wah tsch” all stats to sound the same.

Kromestar:  If you make that sort of music you have to know how to work it. You can’t just make noise.

We are interrupted by some scantily clad strippers walking through the green room.

Ellie: That’s interesting. (To stripper) Can we have an interview?

SOS: That was buttOX!

Kromestar:  Where was I?

SOS:  A lot of people are trying a lot of different ideas at the tempo 140 bpm. That’s what we’re getting.

Nick:  What do think of the influence of glitchy hip hop in Dubstep?

Kromestar: To be honest, I’ve been writing a lot of that.

More strippers pass through the room.

Ellie: I almost wore that tonight.

We all silently watch.

Kromestar: Yeah I’ve been writing a lot of that [glitch] but at a 140 bpm so I can still get away with calling it Dubstep. I like Hudson Mohawke. He’s proper saga, man.

SOS: I hosted for Downshifter, Rusko’s manager. A guy called Debruit [artist] was bustin’ some French moves blad. Rusko’s manager puts out a lot of his tunes.

Yet more strippers walk past.

Nick: Is this a dream?

Ellie: So what do you think of the feminist cause?

SOS: I approve of the feminist cause. You can’t ask questions like that.

Ellie: Ok then, has being successful changed your attitudes to women i.e. with the groupie culture?

Kromestar: Nah.

Rachel: Do you meet more women now you’re a DJ?

Kromestar: (he hides his face)

Ellie: Don’t make me use the word coitus.

Nick: What is the best DJ/MC relationship?

SOS: I always look what his hands are doing

Kromestar: I look what he’s doing.

SOS: I don’t want to get caught out and look stupid.

Ellie: What do think about Dubstep becoming more commercialised?

Kromestar: I don’t like commercial Dubstep man.

Rachel: How do you write tunes?

Kromestar: When I’m on the bus or at my mate’s house with no equipment around me, I record it on my phone; each bit separately.

Rachel: How did Kalawanji come about?

Kromestar: I bought a massive bass box and I wanted to test it out. It was massive; about the size of this chair. It was a dub tune originally; like a rockers tune and I just kind of broke it down.

SOS: That’s a wrap, that’s a wrap!

Kromestar: What is that (sound recorder) by the way? Can I have a look?

Nick: Yeah

Kromestar: Oh shit I’ve done something.

SOS: Stick to beats, mate. Stick to beat makin’.

The long-awaited ‘Dub to Dubstep’ tour comes to London next week as part of a six-date showcase of one of the world’s leading music genres. A collaboration between the scene’s leading artists and DJ’s, the tour started in Leeds last week and will visit cities including Birmingham, Bristol and London on the 9th December.

Dub to Dubstep is a unique exploration of the connection between dub, reggae and dubstep. The tour features five leading dub artists, working in collaboration with Channel One, the UK’s pioneering sound system.

Celebrating their 30^th Anniversary, Channel One will bring their custom-built soundsystem to each venue, with Mikey Dread as Selector and Ras Kayleb as MC. The tour will also feature four leading dub artists; The Uplifter, JazZstepPa, Kromestar, and Rob Smith aka RSD.

A fixture on the scene since 2003, The Uplifter is an established DJ, who brings his performances to life with animated art projections, live percussion and vocalists. He will be joined by JazZstepPa, one of the UK’s leading dubstep acts that have already attracted attention from BBC Radio 1. Another sought-after dubstep DJ, and BBC 1 Xtra and Rinse FM resident, Kromestar, will also feature in the line-up. The final act to take to the stage as part of the exciting tour is Rob Smith aka RSD, who has produced a number of songs including Massive Attack’s first single Any Love.

Brought together by Punch Records and Vagabonz, Dub to Dubstep runs from 28 November until 12 December 2009, and promises to bring together a fusion of dub and reggae beats, through the sound system, acts and DJ’s that will be taking to the stage.

3 December                         The Rainbow, Birmingham

4 December                         Trinity, Bristol

9 December                         The Den, London

10 December                       Digital, Brighton

12 December                       Old Firestation, Bournemouth

For more information, visit www.blackroutes.org.uk or www.punch-records.co.uk.

Information courtesy of Tara Tomes (Rewired PR)

By Fiona Yumi and Ellie Golder

With the last years bringing on the closure of some of the most respected venues in London, clubland had been looking rather destitute. But now South London gives a new home to the electronic music fan- but which of them are really worth the trek to our southern capital?

THE ARCHES

With its 40,000 sq/ft of floor space divided into four railway arches and incredible sound system it is home to some of the biggest parties in town, but pick your night wisely as the crowd and atmosphere depend greatly on the program. You can’t go wrong with a night from We Fear Silence (www.wefearsilence.com) – such as Buzzin Fly and A Bunch of Cuts. The Sanctuary particularly recommends Chew the Fat [edit: next held this Saturday at Cable with Fake Blood headlining]  -the fun, fidgety, glitchy celebration of electro, dupstep, bassline and more with energy-filled acts– expect filthy music, sneakers, caps and of course great DJs on the deks.

Nearest Tube: London Bridge

MATTER                                                                                                 

The definitive superclub: This is Keith “Fabric co-founder” Reilly’s attempt to add an extra artistic experience to music, with an unrivalled sound and lighting system.  Once the problem with the over-crowded public transport has been sorted out, it will be unstoppable. In December look out for Faithless, Fatboy Slim and Andy C who will all be headlining Room 1.

Nearest Tube: North Greenwich

CORSICA STUDIOS

Corsica Studios is a non-profit arts complex, and during the week you’re likely to stumble upon some amateur abstract art exhibition consisting of mashed up toilet paper but at the weekend it’s 6am licence and “off the clubbers beaten track” status make it one of South London’s greatest gems. Since its opening it has become the venue of choice of many amazing record labels such as Border Community delighting with a rare night  last Friday, which we had the pleasure to attend. Though a little crowded at the beginning of the night, the DJs managed to keep the suspiciously euphoric audience dancing with a spectacular line up such as James Holden and Nathan Fake. The smooth professionalism underpinning the “house party” feel of the event ensured a great time was had by all- definitely the kind of night you want to buy your tickets well in advance and plan your outfit for!

 For seasoned dubstep fans, watch out for Bristol label Subloaded’s fifth birthday on the 4^th of December with the finest of the genre, and Applebim headlining.

Nearest Tube: Elephant and Castle

Ellie Golder

Snap, Crackle & Pop @ The Russian Bar

Upon arrival it is essential to be sporting the vacant "I-don't-really-care-about-anything" pout of your standard Hipster repertoire, and costly “vintage clothes” - the dirtier and cheaper looking the better.

When buying drinks keep in mind a) that either wine, alcopops, or cocktails will be likely to earn you judgemental looks and b) smiling or saying "please", "thank you" and "how much is that?" are severely frowned upon.

When needing to make use of the facilities at the Russian Bride, you must first navigate the "Ket Run" (def. n.  line of men by toilets in chemical and testosterone fuelled frenzy. Often found stumbling after brightly clad girls, making uncontrolled swipes/lunges at them and then apologising for it) as well as the gaggle of 16 year olds, fresh out of rehab one presumes, taking suspiciously long in the toilets.  Leave plenty of time to avoid a mishap.

Also to be noted, shun the regular dreadlocked backpackers (easily recognisable by their dread-locks and backpacks), recently returned from their South-American acid tour resulting in a story-line similar to that of Hostel and a new found respect for drugs. They will ask everyone in the club in turn whether they would like to buy some of their dubious spare store. Beware. Failing to sell any they will inebriate themselves on it and end the night in A&E.

Keep a watchful eye and a keen ear, even over the cutting edge music packing out the small space, for any well known DJs/promoters/semi-celebrities and then attempt to engage them in faux intellectual conversation. The main goal is to be able to claim them "friends" by the end of the night, and log away their names in the  "to be dropped" file. Repeat your rehearsed Sartre and/or Banksy quotes as needed. Remember not to waste your time on anyone unimportant or engage with any of the ruffians who have found their way there by mistake and will offer you lines instead of a drink as a means of courting- remain focused on your mission of cool! And whatever you do: DO NOT LOOK LIKE YOU ARE HAVING A GOOD TIME. That is widely accepted as the main cause of social suicide in these parts.

Music Editor - Beth Whittle

Entitled Humbug, references to toothache, liquorice allsorts imagery… Hang on, there’s a theme emerging! And, like a big sticky bag of Pick N Mix, this is a guiltily pleasurable album that unfortunately leaves you feeling quite sick in the after glow.

Ellese Golder 

A recognisable hook, an unoriginal beat and we have the intro to the Gossip’s fourth effort Music for Men.  Everything about them is a statement: not least their totem feminist lead singer Beth Ditto, whose romance with the media at the launch of their third album Standing In The Way Of Control early in 2006 was to blame for their stint in the spotlight.

She was applauded as someone who didn’t give a fig for conventions and stood comfortably in her own shoes or in her skincoloured-leotard or even in her leopard print bikini. Never mind how many leopards had to die for that, the point here was that she was fat in an industry where it was the norm that the onset of an extra few pounds heralded the foreboding creak of the media’s guillotine.

But people were ready for something new. People were ready to see Beth and Kate Moss out on the town together, beauty and the beast juxtaposing the ideal and the values, rejoicing “We are not superficial!”, while returning home to ceremoniously burn every unsuspecting carb that dwelt there.

That her looks and not the Gossip’s music was always the issue is much more the fault of the general populace than hers. But from their last success off the back of the Dittofad came that tragic misinterpretation that samey timid guitar riffs plus token electro jangle with a splash of overdependence on vocals creates a winning combination.

And now they are bored of her confidence. Now every interviewer at some point poses a variant of whether she is “happy with her appearance”. Perhaps vaguely hoping that after years of poise she would suddenly throw herself on the floor screaming inconsolably “I AM HIDEOUS!” Indeed, the one thing people like more than a novelty Fatty is a novelty Fatty in tears.

This novelty-wear-off may explain the lack of attention their latest concoction got. On the record the band ambles, sort of, a little bit, in the direction of “rock'n'soul”; then inexplicably they decide they are way too avant-garde for that and take a few steps back into play-by-numbers 2D disco-punk.

The whole thing is just reminiscent of that party where a speaker blew at 9’oclock and everyone sat around, nervously avoiding each other’s gaze and praying for drunken oblivion.  Where has the bass slinked off to?  Where is the crescendo? Why the same recycled guitar wail in every song?

It cannot be denied that Beth's impressive warble sometimes gives the songs precious centimetres of depth, but mostly it does not, leaving Music for Men pretty flaccid. The lyrics have turned from dauntless to daunting: “You're so conventional it's comical...”, perhaps a ditty reserved for anyone who happens to be heterosexual.

By her own admission, she would never base herself to have any of them in her social circle because, as a lesbian dating a gender confused woman, the entirety of their number (oh yes, she has met them all) have shown her nothing but prejudice. Hm.