by: Nina Khachatourian
You teamed up with the Wideboys label. How is that going?
I'm a new artist and deejay on their label roster. I'll be doing original tracks and remixes with
the first release being "The Lonely" which is starting to show up in stores now, and hopefully
more to come after that.
Production wise what have you been working on lately?
I've been working on a lot of dubstep and UK Garage recently. I have a couple of new 12" releases in January. One is a garage track,
"Lonely", on an established UK vinyl series called "Mind the Gap Vol. 6." The other 12" is the first release on my new dubstep label, "Dub Assembly", which will also be manufactured and distributed in the UK. The dubstep record, Mundo "Still Stand Rasta / Hear Dis" will be in stores late January. Some other things are in the works too.
What are your thoughts on the similarities between the dubstep scene right now and the early years of the drum and bass scene?
The frenzied excitement from people and the extreme variety of the music itself is what first comes to mind. Even the song structure hasn't been decided upon yet, everything is still evolving. I hope the variety stays in this music. Variety is good.
You are currently running the only dubstep night in Dallas . Tell us about the night.
The night is going great. Dub Assembly occurs once a month. The family of people that assemble each month for this event have been a fun group with lots of cheering and dancing. You can hear them loud and clear in the event recordings. The Dallas Kru is a rowdy crew, good times. Guest deejays have included Suraj K from Houston, Nick Argon (Argon Records) from California, Dave Q (Dubwar, NYC), and Maneesh the Twister (Surya Dub, San Francisco). Each of these guests promote and spin dubstep in their respective cities. In addition, Keith P, Royal Highnuss, DragonMan, Tiny, and Lifted MC have performed regularly with me at Dub Assembly.
What is the main focus of Dub Assembly label?
I think initially the tracks will be my own productions and maybe expand it in the future if the
opportunity arises. It really depends on what the distributor likes, as well as what I like. The distributor is excited about my tracks right now. The label will help promote the Dub Assembly
event and vice versa. And the Dub Assembly events (and label) will continue to help promote the
family of deejays and mc's that perform there, similar to the way Groovology did. Starting with the Dub Assembly IV event I started recording the deejay sets as a great way to give back to the
family that attend and deejay at the event. These sets will help promote Dallas, similar
to the recorded sets at Groovology like the Red CD, etc. People in other states and countries
somehow found those Groovology sets and we hope to do the same with Dub Assembly. Plus, we have so much fun at the events; its great to record them and go back to listening to them.
What are some of the challenges you face when trying to push such a new genre of music?
Hmmm...The variety within dubstep can be a challenge (and also a plus) when promoting it: Is it downtempo like dub? Yes. Is it like Techstep? Yes, it can be. Is it like Reggae? Yes, at times. Is it like UKGarage? It evolved from dark garage by people with a drum and bass background dating back to 2000. Does it have reeses, mentasms and hoovers like drum and bass? YES! Is the culture similar to drum and bass? Yes. Does it have deep subbass like hip-hop? YES! Where can I hear it? DUB ASSEMBLY. We like it slow, low, and hard!
Anyone you want to thank?
Jeff K, Redeye, & Merritt for the early inspiration; Groov-e-Company for the early opportunity; my musical families over the years including Arthur & Valence, the Groovology family, Lifted, Pibb & Tiny, Unit One, the "2-step List", Subtronic Theatre, Dub Assembly, all Dallas junglists, my househead friends, breakbeat heads, my parents and sister, and my UK friends; Thanks for everything!
Anything else to add?
Check out the tunes at www.garagejams.co.uk
