Dubstep in Ipswich

Benga, Coki, Joker and Burial are not who a lot of people in Suffolk would think about when they are reminiscing over what music they heard in the club the night before. However, for many in other parts of the country, especially in the London underground scene, these names have become very well known. These are all dubstep artists who over the past couple of years have generated thousands of fans to the new genre of music.

However, Ipswich has only recently; in the past few months started hearing these artists and their music in its nightclubs. Taking inspiration from London’s famous underground station, Rinse FM, the music has encouraged young, local people to begin nights dedicated to dubstep, offering Ipswich some diversity in its music collection.

Charles Krolik-Root, who organises the Low Pass Promotions nights at Fire nightclub, one of the very few in Ipswich, said: “I first heard about dubstep from a friend about two years ago. We got fed up of having to travel to see decent dubstep nights and DJ’s, so we decided to start giving it a go ourselves. It happened at the same time that my friend, and the owner of Bassment Clothing, was planning a launch night for his new clothing range. We decided to team up and did our first night at Pals Nightclub. After that we struggled to find venues to host them and after nearly giving up on Ipswich, one of our friends suggested to Fire that a dubstep night should happen, and they asked us to do it.”

Since organising the events at Fire nightclub, which usually take place on a Friday night, one of the biggest names in the dubstep scene, Coki, has been to DJ at the nightclub, attracting hundreds of young people from around Suffolk. Charles is pleased with how successful the nights have been and said: “I would really like to build up a scene with plenty of DJs on regular spots, with a good following from people coming to the events.”

However, as many might agree, Charles has said that, “In Ipswich the scene is very unwilling to change. In the club scene currently, it seems to be mostly R&B and Funky based. There are some places putting on good house nights and old school garage nights”, but he believes all the music is pretty much the same wherever you go in Suffolk.

Dubstep is distinguished by its emphasis on bass and has been popular in the underground scene for a number of years now. The interest in the genre spread to a larger scale a few years ago, predominantly through the Internet, and quite significantly after BBC Radio 1 DJ, Mary Anne Hobbs, began a show devoted to it called ‘Dubstep Warz’.

This is one way that Josh Smith, who organises the Pubstep nights at the Cock & Pye in Ipswich, became a fan of the music. He started the popular Pubstep nights as an output for everything he’d bought over the last few years but wasn’t sure how it would be received by the management or public. However, the nights, which are free entry, have been very well received and on July 2nd, the owner of Ramp Recordings, Tom@Ramp performed.

Josh said: “With Pubstep I try to cover as many angles as possible, there’s a lot of early dub, reggae, and Ska, which can give a perspective into where the influences for today’s music come from, it also helps to draw in different crowds & ages. The dubstep I play is perhaps more angled towards the progressive headnod tracks as opposed to the instant ‘wobble’ a lot of events play. I’m a big fan of both but as it’s not a club night I’d like to think you could listen to what I play on your iPod, in the car, at home, in a rave, wherever!”

Josh explains that, “the pioneers and early artists of the scene are still bringing out the best material, Skream has always got a track that everyone wants to get hold of, and Benga too.” Skream’s remix of La Roux’s single, ‘In for the Kill’ earlier this year, is possibly the biggest dubstep single to date, which you can hear on almost every night out.

Josh believes that the scene growing in Suffolk can only be a good thing and wants to turn Pubstep into, “the biggest free dub event in East Anglia, a meeting place and focal point for everyone who wants to be involved or already involved in the scene. I want it as a platform for people to get heard; promoters, DJ’s, producers, artists and fans, just like-minded people who want to listen to good music on a Thursday night!”