Jungle
Jungle is a genre of electronic music derived from breakbeat hardcore that developed in England in the early 1990s as part of the UK rave scene. The style is characterised by fast tempos (150 to 200 BPM), breakbeats, dub reggae basslines, heavily syncopated percussive loops, samples and synthesised....
ASTRO - THE PEOPLES CHOICE
The DJ
Ian aka DJ Astro has been a DJ playing the best in old skool hardcore jungle & Drum and Bass for nearly 30 years. He started as a raver exactly 30 years ago when one night his brother was telling him there was a rave night at their local nightclub & said to him that he should go to it - that he might like it..... So the next Friday night Astro went to the event to see what it was all about and as soon as he paid his money and got into the club - what he saw blew him away!! The music -the atmosphere and the vibes. Astro started to go every week and when that event finished at that venue he started travelling to Birmingham to more raves in the clubs and seeing the DJ & MCs doing their thing - that's when Astro decided he wanted to become a DJ. He went to local record shops and started buying records to build up his collection and then a year later he went out and bought his first pair of decks and started to practice learning the art.
The Music
When Astro was confident with his mixing he decided to record them and he gave them out to people at events he would go to. The perseverance paid off when he got his first booking at a local community centre in Birmingham and then continue to keep practicing and recording his mixes. He then got another booking for a famous and legendary dance promotion Pandemonium at MR B's Nightclub in Willenhall near Wolverhampton and did become resident DJ for a couple of years. Astro then went on pirate radio and that boosted up his profile a bit more and ended up getting more DJ bookings and playing out across the Midlands - playing for the likes of Pure X Hysteria Raveology UHT ect. Astro went on internet radio and did a few shows and more bookings. Astro's biggest break came in 2016 when he had a go at a new feature that Facebook introduced which was the live streaming platform - so you can be seen DJing to people all over the world. Astro had a go at streaming live on Facebook on his phone and when he did he was an instant hit with a well received response and a few weeks later he got a message from a legendary DJ by the name of DJ Brockie for booking him to play at Brockies first ever Brockie Group party in London. Astro was overwhelmed & shocked as he hadn't played in London for many years - since 2004. When Astro played his set....he was a huge hit and that has got him more radio bookings and made him a resident DJ to the group parties. Astro ended been invited to play on stations like Rough Tempo, Dream FM Dose Radio, Life FM and including the legendary Koollondon. Astro continues to do his live streams and suddenly he gets a message to play for the legendary AWOL in his hometown in Birmingham. At the last minute and when he did his set last year the response was overwhelming as they loved it. 'The People's Choice' name came about for Astro when he was playing on many pirate radio stations. He always has busy shows as he had 3 shows a week and all are busy and the listeners call Astro ' The People's Choice'.
The Inspiration
Astro would say the music and vibes are his inspiration. DJs like Fabio,Grooverider, Micky Finn to name but a few have inspired him to become a DJ when he first started raving as he liked seeing them do their thing on the decks....
Anna Key
The DJ
Anna Key – The Black widow of DNB/Jungle
After taking a break from the scene since starting in 98, Anna Key started doing events in Birmingham, organising events at venues such as Plug, PST, Suki10 and The Tunnel Club.
The Music
She decided to run smaller events locally so she could focus more on returning to djing and producing. Identity DnB was formed and her djing and producing career took off. Her name is so relevant to the style of music she produces and mixes, pushing the boundaries of DnB/jungle. This is so evident in her most recent work as a producer, with tracks like Distubia, Unique, Unspoken Words and Sadistic Bass.
Anna Key is also one half of dnb duo Twist’D Systa’Z with fellow dj and close friend DJ Nyx, which was formed in early March 2020. They have their debut track – Die A Little Death, put soon on mp3/wav.
Anne Key - Inspiration
Inspirations definitely have to be Blackmarket, Finn, Swift, Ed Solo and Brockie, LTJ Bukem to name a few. Anna Key has a unique style of mixing, usually following a very dark, sadistic and heavy sound through her mixes. She is one to keep an eye on for 2021.....
DJ SUBDRIVEN
The DJ
Dj Subdriven recently rebranded his DJ name as he wanted a brilliant stage. He felt this one would draw good attention and dude to the music he plays - its very subdriven.
The Music
Over the 18 years he's been playing out , he started off with jump up drum and bass then to liquid drum and bass and then he found himself really at home with jungle and reggae drum and bass. His main drum and bass genre is jungle & reggae drum and bass. The two separate genres mix so well together and give the reggae drum and bass a awesome sound. Subdriven also likes to include a bit of scratching in his sets when the times right. He can still play all genres of drum and bass if needed but he puts all the skills he has learnt and mixing style over the years into the jungle, reggae drum and bass and it works very well it’s a massive crowd pleaser .
The Inspiration
Subdriven's main inspiration was from going out to a few drum and bass nights when he was 18 started to follow DJs and from that day he had to purchase a set of vinyl decks and learn to mix pretty much self-taught but he has picked up skills and techniques from other DJs and put this into his own style of mixing. Through out the time Subdriven has been playing out he has gigged at flex out audio, Cutz recordings, white rooms and a few other good nights up and down the country, Subdriven has warmed up for some awesome talent Danny Byrd , Ray Keith, Andy c , Also played at a night where the famous Kutski was performing and a few other good DJs. Subdriven has a good attitude and very motivated. he has played to empty dance floors with only one or two dancing and biggest crowd was 900 strong which he says was awesome. If there’s one-person dancing or 900 dancing if he can make that one person enjoy what he plays - that’s what its all about.
Subdriven is very passionate and he is ready to pursue a bigger career in the drum and bass scene and he will put in as much work as he can and as much time that is needed.....
FAINT SILENCE
The DJ
This is Chris/Faint Silence... He has been producing on and off for about 6 years playing events about 9 months....
The Music
He has played alongside Nicky Black Market, Aries,Chopstick Dubplate ... to name a few. Chris is mainly a jungle/ rolling dnb kinda guy but he does like his garage....
Faint Silence - Inspiration
Aries, Enei , Champion loads tbf ... probably to many to mention
NU:TEMPER
The DJ
Fresh on the Scene last year- NU:TEMPER has been keeping an eye on what the Drum&Bass culture are rating and has racked up a huge inventory of some of heaviest tracks in the game. Mostly playing Jungle/Drum&Bass tracks from up and comers to the big names. He found his love for Drum&Bass/Jungle music in Late 2018 when a close friend invited him to what would be a life changing event for NU:TEMPER. Having never listened to Drum&Bass properly until that night he soon found a huge passion for the scene and became obsessed with DJing shortly after attending that event! Since then has supported the Likes of Benny L, Kelvin 373, Unglued and more as well as featuring on Bloc2Bloc in March 2020. Definitely a Selector to keep an eye on with some massive plans for this year!
The Music
He soon built a name for himself in the Free Party Scene, Performing at events all over the country. However, has recently started moving towards Club events. Mixing Drum&Bass/Jungle music NU:TEMPER is sure to take you on a journey with his unique mixing style and high energy track selection. He has also recently indulged into the production side of things and planning on releasing a 4 Track EP as a Free Download on Soundcloud for the end of the year!
The Inspiration
His inspiration comes from the feeling he gets performing and seeing a room full of people showing nothing but happiness, good vibes and of course Bass faces. For NU:TEMPER DJing is like a form of therapy allowing him to simply get lost within the music.
Samplur
The DJ
My passion for dnb and underground music started when I was about 12 listening to Fabio and groove rider on the radio at 2am. Being a drummer from the age of 10 I've always had a massive interest in wicked drum beats and riffs. When I heard d&b for the first time I fell in love straight away. From there my passion grew more and more. My mates had decks growing up and I used to have a little mess around but nothing to serious. Then when they sold them to party, I just had to listen to tape packs and CDs.
The Music
When I was in my mid 20s - I got the chance to have a go on technics again and from then I was hooked. I'd go round my mates and practice once a week. Within 2-3 months I had beat matching down to a T. I grew and grew from there. Within a year and a half I started playing at parties building my confidence to play in front of an audience.
DJ Samplur - Inspiration
Since then I have been working my way forward playing at events and festivals to the masses. I have a monthly show on dose radio. I love all styles of dnb which I put in all of my sets along with raggatek as well. I mean who doesn't love a mashup of all styles. I also love playing trance, minimal techno. Well the list is too long to write... I love playing all sorts of music but d&b is by far my favourite go to style.
Doctor Jones
The DJ
DJing became a huge interest for me when I was 15 on an old beaten up belt drive technics deck and a soundlab belt drive with the cheapest of cheap citronic mixer, within about a year I could string an hour or so together so decided to buy a pair of Vestax pdx2000 and a pcv175 mixer. Then things really started to come together! I loved happy hard-core to go out raving to, but drum n bass n jungle was my go to influence for mixing. From way back when I've always gone out of my way to put together the hardest in darkest jungle sets I can muster. I use influences from hard tekno producers such as Producer and Tech Freak, and love dropping in the 4x4 beats into heavy choppy jungle amen riffs
The Music
In Dr Jones own words....
'Dr Jones is the one'
Dr Jones - Inspiration
Dom and Roland is my all time favorite dnb/jungle artist and also take alot of influence from the Tech Itch lable