We couldn't be happier at Native to welcome the Drum Safari crew to do an exclusive mix ahead of their biggest show to date - June 23rd at Hideout with none other than SpectraSoul. Stepping up to the decks we have Safari residents, Side Effects providing over an hour of seamless drum & bass rollers to get you pumped for the much anticipated event next week.
The Brighton based drum & bass promoters, Drum Safari, began their endeavour in the new year to provide the south coast with an exciting new series of events on the Brighton seafront, covering the best of the wide spectrum of subgenres drum & bass has to offer.
After the success of their first show w/ Polabryson, TempzaMC and Deadline in April, the Safari crew return on June 23rd accompanied by an arguably even bigger lineup. With a reputation of being two of the best in the game since they broke onto the scene 12 years ago, SpectraSoul will be joining Deadline, Ownglow and the Side Effects boys at Brighton's hottest new club, Hideout.
We caught up with Robin Watts, the man behind Drum Safari, before the huge event to get a flavour of what to expect from their night, about having tacos with 6IX9INE and what's on the horizon for the team.
Drum Safari only started promoting events in January - can you tell people that haven't been to one of your nights yet what to expect?
I’d say expect a range of sub genres of D&B in an intimate venue with an amazing sound system! The nights tend to be structured to start with soulful liquid and work its way into deeper, darker rollers by the end of the night. We also try to take a light-hearted approach to our branding and decorations in the venue, while also hosting the best quality artists we can.
This is your second show at Hideout - a new addition to the Brighton clubbing scene like yourselves, what do you like about throwing events at the venue?
As mentioned before the Function One system is amazing in there so the sound quality is fantastic. We also like the fact the MC and DJ booths are on separate sides of the room, quite unusual but its different and the artists and audience loved it last time out.
How did you get into Drum & Bass, what's your earliest memory?
Other than listening to artists like Pendulum & the Prodigy and so on from the age of 11, I’d say it was hearing Etherwood’s debut album when I was 16 round a friend's, it was the first time I found out what D&B actually was and started listening to Hybrid Minds, Logistics and others from there.
You say to expect a range of sub-genres and styles the genre has to offer, do you have a favourite Drum & Bass sub-genre?
Soulful Liquids been my favourite for 2 or 3 years now, followed by minimal rollers.
Which producers / musicians do you take inspiration from?
Producer wise people like LSB, London Elektricity, Calibre and Keeno would have to be up there. If I had to pick musicians then I’d say Henry Rollins, Mac DeMarco and Mike Skinner off the top of my head.
Congratulations on booking SpectraSoul! How does it feel getting them to play at one of your events?
Thank you! Amazing, they’ve been two of my favourite producers since first hearing “Always” back in 2015 so it’s a huge privilege. Ever since I thought about putting on events they’ve been one of the bookings at the top of my list. It’s going to be challenging to top it!
A silly one: You can have dinner with one DJ, one rapper, and one pop singer - who's coming round for tacos and why?
That’s an interesting one, I’d go for Calibre because of how mysterious he is, then that 6IX9INE guy because I’m curious to see if he can get through a portion of tacos without throwing some cash in the air and finally Chico; not sure what he’s up to these days but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind filling me in in exchange for some free tacos.
What does Drum Safari have in store for Brighton over the coming months?
We’re taking a break over the summer months to plan events from Autumn through till summer 2019 and to work on building the brand.
Finally, what are you listening to right now?
A few things that stick out are Koherent & Deadlines debut ep’s, Klinical’s releases, the tracks Degs has been on from De:tune and Bcee and Lenzman’s “One Another” remix.
Like and follow Drum Safari on their social pages to keep updated on future events.
