VJ-3

A stylistic shift

The Back to Chill year (2006-2007)

(Dub)stepping into a new style

Dubstep became my thing around the end of 2005 and it was the musical style that finally broke my love affair with drum and bass.

I had heard of Goth Trad a bit as he regularily played at Meguro Milk (the same place we did Barricade) but the first time I saw his live set I was quite confused at the morphing bass which turned out to be along the same sonic lines as dubstep was in those days. He played at a Saple which was now running at Milk and I had the chance to talk to him after his set, we had similar taste in some music and to be honest he seemed happily suprised that we were into the same artists, the other thing he seemed was very focussed and serious, he wasn’t like the usual post set lets go to the bar kind of vibe, more like his job was finished and he was winding down. I expressed to Goth that I would like to work with him in the future and to please keep me in mind.

Dubstep, Grime, Madrave

I was walking home one day from Shinjuku when Goth called to tell me that he was starting a party called Back to Chill and he would like me to VJ and be part of the crew. I felt really excited because here was this music I was so into that was pretty niche at the time and I had managed my way in. When he hung up I realised that I didn’t have many visuals for dubstep (the tempo was a lot slower and there was a lot more space than drum and bass) so

I started to really put what I was hearing into visual form and made a LOT of clips for the party.

I knew Back to Chill would be a monthly thing (Barricade was at its most frequent bi-monthly) and so I would have to start with a big base of clips and add to that every month. Considering the average set I would have to do would be 6 hours or so I had my work cut out for me.

The first BTC was amazing. I think there was 20 paying customers but for me hearing all these tunes that I had only heard on PC speakers before on a real sound system with real bass was worth every of the many hours preparation I had put in, just to be a part of it. Goth was pretty connected with the London guys making the tunes so he had all the newest stuff to play at each party. The other DJ’s turned out to be a really interesting mix of guys aswell and it was a real time of renewal for all of us. the music was new, the crew was new, the venue was new (to us anyway) the crowd for the most part was new.

Getting restless

Somewhere along the line I started to grow weary of Vjing for 6 hours at each party each month. It was hard to make new material and also I wanted to be able to enjoy the music as a regular Joe aswell, out on the dancefloor or at the bar. I decided that I needed to move on and after the first year anniversary I stopped regularly VJing at BTC.

It was at this time I also noticed that I could effectively express what I wanted to in an hour or so rather that 6

and I would like to work with an artist individually building complimentary visuals for their sets of music.

Some highlights of BTC would definitely be

  • Seeing Chinza Dopeness MC for the first time, horizontally with a can of Heineken as his wingman.
  • Meeting great people both sides of the decks.
  • Back in the day when any of the crew could grab the mic and have a go.
  • The first really busy night we got (2 or 3 weeks in)
  • The time 100 mado’s wife dropped a glass of Makkori into my laptop and it didn’t (and hasn’t until now) miss a beat.
  • The floor at BTC
  • The floor at BTC
  • Goth, Rumi, 100mado and Ske
  • The main floor of Art Jam session, a party that we were part of
  • The main floor of Art Jam session, a party that we were part of
  • Kaji Peace and myself
  • Chinza Dopeness and Skyfish
  • Mala and Doc Scott
  • Mala
  • Mala
  • Kaji Peace on the decks
  • The floor at BTC
  • Goth, Rumi, 100mado and Ske
  • Goth, Rumi, 100mado and Ske

I think I made a lot of mistakes during that year as well (BTC and non BTC related). I was starting to get a bit of a rep and becoming well known due to my involvement in the drum and bass scene for so long and now this burgoening scene aswell.

In hindsight my head grew a bit big for my hat and my enjoyment of the party’s themselves was outweighing the quality of my VJing.