tsheritage

O.k. y'all ... I'm getting ready to head down to the club in a minute. My set is at 1am in the Black:Silicon room ... so stop by and say wuzzup if you're there at that time!

Check the history ... Original Nuttahs Miami's famed BeatCamp returns with a vengeance BY HUMBERTO GUIDA BeatCamp hosts its fifth-anniversary party with guest DJ Craze Details: 9:00 p.m. Thursday, February 13, Tickets cost $12 to $15. Call 305-576-1988. Where: Soho Lounge, 175 NE 36th St. Drum and bass doesn't leave much white space for the listener. It fills the air without pause: drum fills layered on top of one another, breakbeats at a breakneck frequency, and a splatter of chest-pumping bass that can stop someone from breathing. This is drum and bass around the world, and thanks to the birth of BeatCamp, which turns five on Thursday, that's the way it is in Miami too. Creating a meaningful legacy is fine and good, but it wasn't part of founder Marco Fabian a.k.a. Influx Datum's original vision. Marco and his contingent of jungle junkies -- Grrl13, DJ Day, T. Farmer a.k.a. T.S. Heritage, DJ Ken, and Aura -- had simple goals when they formed BeatCamp. They just wanted to play the kind of music seldom heard around town, in clubs, or even at raves: thump-infused drum and bass programmed at 170 beats per minute. "Everything seemed to just happen all of a sudden on its own," says Marco of BeatCamp's sudden rise. "Everything always led to something bigger." BeatCamp went through mad evolutions as the beat went on. Back in the day, drum and bass was more commonly referred to by its adherents as "jungle," Britain's answer to American hip-hop. Marco was turned on to it by local connoisseurs of the genre, particularly a charismatic Rasta and DJ named Justice. "Justice was a big part of introducing a lot of locals to drum and bass," Fabian says of the black British Jamaican, who has since moved back to the U.K. Marco says he soon picked up his first set of decks, a wobbly pair of turntables he bought for $50 and a bag of reefer. Marco traveled to New York in 1996 where he attended DJ Dara's now-legendary club night Concrete Jungle. He remembers being instantly blown away by the urban underground's frantic pace and the way "everyone was dancing funny," the syncopation and intensity of the music making them pop around like kernels. When Marco returned to Miami he logged on to a raver message board, where he met T.S. Heritage and his wife Grrl13. Both shared Fabian's enthusiasm for drum and bass and both wanted to DJ. The three, along with friends DJ Day and Aura, decided to form BeatCamp. Marco recalls how easygoing he was about the project in the beginning. He and his crew played chillout drum and bass grooves at restaurants and other odd gigs until John Paul, who was looking for "something different," asked Marco to play at Zanzibar in South Beach during the summer of 1997. A few weeks later, Marco told the owner he didn't want to play on the back patio anymore, but would stick around if he and his crew could move into the main room. "I didn't really expect anything, and I was ready to quit and move on, so I just let him know I wouldn't stay if I was put in the back," he shrugs. Most club owners wouldn't budge for a DJ with so little experience, but Marco says, "He told me I could have the entire venue and my own night." Shit blew up soon after. Although the first night was sparsely attended, with maybe twenty heads showing up, the small club was soon drawing over capacity every Thursday night. For the most part, BeatCamp advertised no-hassle engagements, leaving the pissy doorman, guest list, and "dress to impress" prerequisites to other clubs. The night was all about beats you couldn't hear on the radio, and a vibe you couldn't get at most clubs. The draw was the urban underground sound of jungle, fat-free, no cheese. This wasn't a gimmicky party. The times called for a little more love than other promoters were giving the kids. The underground music scene was beginning to fraction off into subscenes classified by the beat (breakbeat, downtempo, 4/4 house snares) and attitude (sultry, snobby, ghetto, or freaky). Marco admits, "We thought our style of music was a little hard to get into, so we went out of our way to be nice to everyone who showed up because we wanted people to like us." That included hosting B-day parties, complete with cake; shoutouts for supportive patrons; and giving out cookies to appreciative habitués (especially the stoned ones). And the party was just as inviting to DJs as it was to the audience. A big chunk of local jungle, breakbeat, and house disc jocks got a chance to make a name for themselves in BeatCamp's second room where experiments in IDM, downtempo, and acid house were conducted, including house DJ Nova and Fashion TV's Duncan Ross. "We always had another room with music other than drum and bass," Marco says. At that point, BeatCamp had a brand name. Mark Christopher, the man who gave these jungle misfits their first outlet on electronic music Website TheWomb.com, and John Butler of the Roughneck Massive collective asked them to move into the Mission, a two-story club down the block from Zanzibar. But the BeatCamp collective wasn't sure how the party would do. "Most of the group didn't think it was a good idea to leave the club we were at," Marco remembers. "We had a good thing going." They were packing Zanzibar, but that held a few hundred people. The Mission had space for a thousand. Marco says he went against the will of everyone else in the group when he accepted Christopher's offer in time for BeatCamp's one-year anniversary. "We were worried about filling the club," says Marco. "It was so much bigger and it could have been a huge disappointment." By booking big-time British DJs like Dillinja, Doc Scott, and Bad Company, he easily filled the venue, the club being so full of sweaty bodies that the walls were perspiring from the humidity. Soon other promoters like Culture and Basscore took notice of the growing army of BeatCamp faithful and began booking jungle DJs like Dieselboy and Metalheadz themselves. The end of BeatCamp on South Beach came two years ago, soon after the city passed an ordinance barring anyone under 21 from places serving liquor. The BeatCamp crew held their namesake party at different places on the mainland like the Design District, while putting together spinoff events like Reload and Planet of the Drums. But as BeatCamp cut back on dates, the general jungle scene seemed to stiffen. So a lot of drum and bass fans are thankful the original incarnation is off hiatus. If you haven't been to a BeatCamp party in a while, though, don't expect them to just play old drum and bass records. "We've evolved just like the music has," Marco explains. "These days I'm spinning much more soulful drum and bass, guys like DJ Day are into two-step, T. Farmer spins garage." The one constant is the crew as a small collective. "We're tight," Marco says, "and picky about who plays our parties. If Joe and Blow are playing something, we don't want a copy of those DJs spinning the same thing. BeatCamp has always been about doing something different." miaminewtimes.com | originally published: February 13, 2003

One more day to go ... so who's coming to this shibby?

Here ya go ... Mostly UK breakbeat, but some of the talent, like DeeKline specifically, have a fascination with Miami Bass / Breaks. Last year the party went off ... this year is round two. Check it out on Thursday 3/20 Transatlantic Garage/2step/Breakbeat Showcase Presented by: Boosted, 2stepsound, Valance Artists Sponsored by: Deuce Magazine, WMCwap, XLR8R Location: Club Reserved - 643 Washington Ave Time: 10pm-5am Price: $5 Websites: http://www.boosted.com http://www.wmcwap.com http://www.2stepsound.com Contact: wmc@boosted.com wmc@2stepsound.com Lineup: * US Side: confirmed: T.S. Heritage (Boosted Recordings - Miami) Rama (2stepSound, Soiree - Seattle) Mundo (Groovology - Dallas) Edgar Um (Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh) Syrup (SanFran, NYC) Cooper Bethea (North Carolina) Annalyze (Stanton - New York) * UK Side: confirmed: DeeKline (Rat Records - UK) DJ Touch (Feminine Pressure - UK) Lisa Unique (AIM Records - UK) Beats and Styles (Finland)

Flyers ...

Transatlantic Garage/2step/Breakbeat Showcase Presented by: Boosted, 2stepsound, Valance Artists Sponsored by: Deuce Magazine, WMCwap, XLR8R Location: Club Reserved - 643 Washington Ave Time: 10pm-5am Price: $5 Websites: http://www.boosted.com http://www.wmcwap.com http://www.2stepsound.com Contact: wmc@boosted.com wmc@2stepsound.com Lineup: * US Side: confirmed: T.S. Heritage (Boosted Recordings - Miami) Rama (2stepSound, Soiree - Seattle) Mundo (Groovology - Dallas) Edgar Um (Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh) Syrup (SanFran, NYC) Cooper Bethea (North Carolina) Annalyze (Stanton - New York) * UK Side: confirmed: DeeKline (Rat Records - UK) DJ Touch (Feminine Pressure - UK) Lisa Unique (AIM Records - UK) Beats and Styles (Finland)

I heard there may be an article appearing in this week's New Times about BeatCamp, so look out for that as well. I'm really looking forward to this party ... haven't played out as BeatCamp for almost 6 months now. It will be good to get the whole crew back together again!

Bumping this to the top again ... full flyer below:

Sux that this is a Radio1 party, but there is no: EZ, DreemTeem, J Da Flex, Fabio or Grooverider on the bill. Of all those acts you have booked, I've never tuned in to Radio1 to catch their broadcasts ... and yet I'm there every week listening to the DJs listed above.

Yeah ... it was pretty interesting. Basically showed Jackson as a recluse with far too much money and little concern for his children (of which he now has three by three different women, none of whom see the children at all). Brought up the plastic surgery questions (which he said were only one or two nose jobs, that's it, the rest of his facial changes he attributed to going through puberty ?!) and the interviewer focused a lot on how Jackson still has children and adolescents sleeping over at his house and staying with him in his bedroom. The strangest scenes were from his tour in Germany, during which people would just rush up to him, ask him for a hug, and then collapse into tears when he gave them a quick embrace. What's wrong with people that they lose all control of themselves just because they touched somebody famous?

Gotta give my vote to Scarlet's as well ... yummmmm.

We'll be playing both kinds of music that matter ... Country and Western!!

We're having an electro-clash room at the next BeatCamp party. DB from Breakbeatscience NYC will be heading up that room. I don't particularly like the stuff, but it's better than trance (heheheh ). Check us out on Feb 13 at SoHo lounge...

I use the Sony 7506 ... same headphones for the last 6 years! When I get new ones I'll probably either get the Pioneers or the lollipop style ... but I'm sticking with my Sonys until they die.

BEAT CAMP MASSIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The crowd grrl13, Day and Marco TS and Marco Joe Shockley and TS Wade, grrl13, TS and Shockley Merly B. Anyways, yeah, big up the Beat Camp crew

Heh ... not quite Commodore64, but just as retro-hipster

Boh!

You know that BT ... Every Damn Beat Camp Party over the last 5 years ... that's what parties I've been to ... plus maybe a couple more here and there

Yeah ... I'm looking forward to this! I've tried to catch at least some of the show every night, change to mun2 during commercial breaks, etc. It's usually hip-hop when I have checked it out (excluding the NYE show I saw that had Merly on), but I have seen them play some dance music videos on occasion. I hope the UK Garage I'm going to play goes over o.k. ... the rhythms are a bit different from what most Americans hear on the radio and in the clubs. I'm going to stick to mostly the Latin and Caribbean influenced stuff, figuring it should be pretty close. Can't wait to see how the dancers interpret it Have fun tonight Merly!

email sent ... thanks! I knew you guys weren't running the door so no big deal ... still had a good time anyways. Got to see Patty when I was inside and she filled me in on how it was running that night. Edwin told me he got to do the hip-hop-bling-bling opening set Looked around for you a few times but every time I'd see you it was from the other side of the room. Anyways, see ya on Saturday for sure, we'll link up then.

Heheh ... I could use one of those. I just had my 23rd birthday this past week-end, or at lease that's the story I'm sticking with. My wife says I'm dyslexic 'cause my driver's license says I was born in 1971 ... but I could swear I'm really only 23.

We got there at 12:05 ... they said the guestlist was closed at midnight, took 10 bux from us, and then we went inside. Kinda strange. Anyways, beautiful space, I walked in to hear Todd Terry's "In E's Dubs" on the sound system (one of my favorite songs of last year) got my Tanqueray and Tonic, and wandered the floor. First time since I've been there since it was converted from The Chilli Pepper ... what a change! My only real complaint is the lack of dancefloor space, and the sound lacking in bottom end. I assume that was a one-off there for DHM? I'm looking forward to Maze ... I think that will work much better than staying at Oxygen. It made me long for the vibe at Lola, though. The crowd there seemed a bit too dressed-to-impress for me

Well ... I'm partial to Tanqueray and Tonic ... but some Champagne can be good for special occasions like these

I've seen The Roof a few times now and it has always been a pretty cool show ... mixture of hip-hop, reggae and dance music. Thankfully they also speak in English like 80% of the time ... so gringos like me can follow the interviews and such I've seen much better music videos on that channel then I have on MTV, that's for sure. They're a more specialized market so they can do something a little different. Just the fact that they had Merly B on there spinning d'n'b on NewYearsEve gives me hope ... you'd never see that on other channels (except maybe a3, which also seems to have a good grasp on the more accessible Underground styles). It can only be good for the local DJs if they give us a chance. Don't talk shit on them before you've even seen the show ... that just reveals your ignorance. Like tbooty said, so long as the artists stay true to their sound and do their set/interview/video sincerely, the music can only benefit from the exposure.

The guys you want will be around soon enough ... just watch for the big white van. If you want to get in touch with them directly, try http://www.bangbus.com ... ask for Sanchez. Heh ... silly thread ...