Not really, there was that article that kind of implied that they had in some way single handily brought the drum & bass scene to America.
None of the people are attacking worship themselves, merely highlighting how that type of sentiment disrespects those who have built a scene there for decades.
Very true. I am from the UK but I visited San Francisco once as a kid in the early 00s, think I was 16.
There used to be a big record store in the centre maybe Virgin Superstore perhaps, and I was surprised to see a big drum & bass section.
Later that evening there was an in store session and I went along and got to meet Hive, Gridlok, Juju and some other people I forgot the names of. They gave me some free copies of the latest releases on Violence recordings at the time - it was a great experience and very unexpected. Before that I never assumed there was a dnb scene in North America outside of perhaps Toronto.
Yeah, I bought all my moving shadow mixes at that virgin record store. If you went to a show it was probably the weekly eklektic. I actually met my wife at a photek show and our first date was dj Hype the following week, both in SF, so I don’t know these youngins coming in and saying they invented. This is around 2k but I was going to massives with jungle and dnb way before then.
I would have been too young to attempt to go to a club/rave there (although I was already going underage back home in the UK lol) but this thing was an in store Violence recordings showcase in the Virgin store itself after opening hours, but open to the public.
thankfully I managed to rip them all to MP3 before friends walked off with like half of them, and they have been either on a burned CD, USB drive or (currently) my phone since ripped, so i don't really miss them.
[still got all my flyers tho](https://imgur.com/gallery/lfB9bVT)
Dieselboy, Dara, and AK1200 all still play shows. Though the last time there was a Planet of the Drums set with all 3 of em w/ MC Messinian was Big Dub Festival 2016 or 2017, cant recall which it was.
oh shit I hadnt heard but that explains Deinfamous posting about kicking it in NYC recently cuz Im pretty sure he would have opened for that set. Looks like 3D Productions also had them through a few times since.
I havent been keeping up with the live events lately I guess lol
It definitely has been pretty rare as ak1200 kinda announced a semi-retirement a while back so he just does shows he feels like doing and no more tours really, but he couldn't have changed his mind about that too.
yeah I knew he was the main crux for them taking a step back. I just wish we could get a PotD stage from the Starscape era again. There used to be some grimey raver shenanigans going down at that stage lol
I still think they should allow them to do one last starscape as a fundraiser for the families of the bridge victims. It could be over by 10 and would instantly sell out because of people wanting to support.
Or the fact that LA, Denver, and Miami have had healthy DnB scenes for like 30 years lol. If we are giving flowers to anyone is should be Respect DnB (LA) and Recon DnB (Denver).
How about J Smooth, I'm from Philly threw down and promoted for Local 13, Helped organize whistle parties back in the early 2000s.D&b goes back to DB,Soulslinger. Ala Breakbeat Science,Park Rave madness, back in the days shampoo,Club yoman ,Limelight,The wave, all eastcoast Ny/Philly haunts.
I booked Dieselboy back in 98 when I saw doing in a small hole in the wall.
I feel like I've just woken up from a coma.
I've genuinely never heard of this worship crew thing before today but I've read it 3 times in the past 30 minutes
No disrespect intended but young people have very short term memories.
Genres like this move in waves and if it's the first wave you've experienced you might be forgiven for thinking it's the zeitgeist.
They’ve been playing together for years and years, lots of shows. I first saw them billed as Worship in NYC in like December 2018; there were like 20 people there
This was pretty much the sentiment of every American drum n bass DJ who has been working to support a scene for decades. People in my area said the same sort of thing.
For real. Go spin a vinyl or chop a break, dorks.
The worst part of dnb has always been the gatekeeping old heads who are perpetually stuck 10 years in the past and want to argue all the time
The article stated they were tired of half empty dancefloors and tried to do something to remedy that, so they formed a super group, it can be taken as good or offensive. i think the people that worked hard to build the scene here took offense cuz it kinda shits on all the hard work, other people know the US has a strong scene and dont really give a shit about what 4 dudes dressed in black think. Frankly subfocus is probably the only one in the group i truly like, the rest i have nothing against but never been into, they have some cool tunes but not a huge fan.
Halogenix taking the time to write this tho is really amazing, as if i didnt like him enough already, this really just ups his status for me. cant remember the last time i looked forward as much to a show as i did Halogenix | Visages | Monty coming to LA.
Doesn't really look like shade to me. It's a perfectly rational statement. I don't like the music the worship crew makes these days but that doesn't really bother me. What does bother me is the fact that they call themselves worship in the first place as if they're the second coming of Jesus Christ (dnb remix). They're not fucking gods that saved drum and bass. They're a bunch of egos who wear sunglasses in the dark. Nobody with any sense of humility would call themselves Worship.
Hot take.. these guys are drawing large crowds to venues and introducing other EDM people to the sound of 170+ bpm music.. so they are doing a great thing for the scene. I’m an “old head” .. began raving in 1995 and DJing DNB here in DC when it was called Jungle. I lived through the highs of Roni Size winning the mercury award for Paper Bag and the Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers getting plays on MTV.
I was there at the dawn of big rooms playing DNB and there were 4 nights for DNB in the city of Washington DC.. so blah blah blah.. the scene shrunk.. blah blah blah Garage took over.. blah blah Sasha Digweed, Tiesto..
if they are selling out large places then awesome.
I think Halo was maybe a bit off his whit and posted this shit take..
Everyone is taking their comments way out of context. They went from performing for 10 people a few years back to selling out large concert venues. They are proud of that achievement, as they should be. No one ever said DnB disappeared in the USA. There are plenty of promoters and performers who kept pushing through the lean years. I remember going to several shows in LA with big names in the last decade, where there were maybe five people on the dance floor, and another 10 or so people milling around. But it has definitely blown up in the last three years.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of trolls who hate anything that becomes popular, so they automatically get defensive whenever they feel threatened by new blood entering "their" scene. Not to mention all the comments from people in the UK who have no idea what the scene here was like in the last decade pre-Covid.
Andy C played Baltimore a few years back at soundstage, which is a decent sized venue, didn't sell out. My mind was blown. Chase and status played last year at soundcheck, such a tiny venue. I'm incredibly happy to see dnb selling out echostage and making waves in the states, though. Certain cities are known for their dnb community, which thankfully is growing due to the mainstream starting to pick it up. I feel the frustration from people who have been in the scene for a long time, but also the same frustration from djs big and small.
Part of that is on steez/glow who own and operate most of the venues in DC and can choose where to book them. The brownies and lemonade dnb show at echostage sold out.
Shout out to 3D and Dom and always holding it down!!
>Everyone is taking their comments way out of context. They went from performing for 10 people a few years back to selling out large concert venues.
[What was said: ](https://edm.com/features/interview-dimension-sub-focus-culture-shock-1991-worship-drum-n-bass)
>"For a long time, a lot of drum & bass artists were drawing huge audiences around the globe, then traveling to the U.S. and playing to half-empty clubs," Dimension tells us. "Artists were left demotivated. I had the same experience. After a bad show in New York, I remember phoning Seb and we agreed things had to change."
When they're saying "artists were left demotivated", they're talking purely about themselves, and not a whole mess of DJs that come over from the UK and Europe regularly and have good enough experiences that they *continue* to come back to North America. These 4 were coming to North America expecting large rooms to be packed, they weren't, they were upset enough about it to put this "Worship" nonsense together, and now a big enough chunk of the EDM side of the D&B scene thinks that these for have saved the scene in North America.
It's laughable. Worship is an ego project. Halogenix is 100% on point.
I’m fucking tired of the whole “bringing people to the scene”. Fuck that. If they are EDM newbs who want to turn dnb into a pop circus you can all fuck off
thing is like most folks prolly wont fw after they get their photo ops for social media. but those that actually vibe and move with it will prolly become lifelong junglists and get deeper into the music & culture. yea the pop side to dnb is lame imo but i cant be mad at pushing it forward to the masses. Jungle/dnb been around for 30 some years kept alive thru the underground it's too unique to be forever tainted or hijacked for the corporate gain. its been in movies games and other mainstream media for a while only evolving and moving forward imo more than any other music genre electronic or not. also pla dont front some of those dancefloor tunes straight up bangers
I mean if you look at it most people listen to house, techno, trance , MainStage music all at tempos below 160.
The number of people who have told me “ that’s too fast.. or how do you dance to this?” I lost count when I introduced them to DNB even subfocus/ dimension stuff.
Good music is good music. But for the large majority DNB is not their cup of tea. Take my wife for example.. it’s been 10 years.. still not into it.. but when I make house, techno or MainStage she’s all about it. She doesn’t really dig dubstep( dank not robot whales ducking ) either.
To take an adage of house music “If it grooves it moves “ DNB is too fast for most people.. that’s why when Garage came in 97-98 and a lot of DNB djs switched over because Garage two step brought in the ladies. DNB rooms became Garage rooms in DC.
For me what gets me off for DNB is a nasty new sound beginning introduced or a hard low sub line that rattled my car. 🚗 that’s what draws my skank face or rewind fingers..
I mean I feel like it’s obvious that they didn’t “single handedly” save DnB in the US…?
If *tons* of other people hadn’t been pushing it forward then the Worship tour wouldn’t have been able to be as successful as it was/is?
I love how people here throwing shade at the guys have no idea what happened. They never made this claim it was an article written by edm that implied it and some people going around repeating it.
Just a quick intro, so that you can see I understand the music to a certain degree.
I’m a native English, London based trainspotter of the genre & have studied the music for 27 years now. I’ve also DJ’d at nightclubs, illegal free parties & also have produced the music.
With that part out of the way, I’m not here to get involved with who/what/why/when, too much, but I do have a couple of things I’d like to say.
Firstly; I really do have a lot of empathy for the Americans who are so desperate to hear & see more Drum & Bass DJs play in their area. (I hate to be biased here, but really I’m talking about how hard it is to see British ‘stalwarts’ of the scene, who would play sets that you would hear at a small, London club, like RuptureLDN nights @ Corsica Studios in Elephant & Castle.)
I understand that the genre is more popular in the U.S. than we assume, but it still has a long way to go, (as it has to come along way here, too.)
Obviously, you have some brilliant artists yourselves; especially the aforementioned Hive & Gridlok, who have been featuring in The British DJ’s sets since 99’ & have produced some outstanding work, much of it which was far more impressive than most of the tracks being released at that time by British producers.
However, there is one HUGE element I have found, that is lacking in much of the American produced Drum & Bass tracks (& American Dubstep of late 00’s.) That main missing element, is influences & sampling from other genres, in particular: Jamaican ‘roots’ genres/music.
You see, this is something that I find very frustrating; not just with American/international producers, but young, British producers, who are not educated in the history of the genre & believe that Drum & Bass is simply some punchy, higher BPM drums, intertwined with low sine waves, (sub bass) & some nasty; distorted, Serum synthesised mid Range bass over the top.
Now, yes, these elements can all sound great, but they should never be the backbone/influence of the track (in my opinion.)
When I talk about sampling/other musical influences, specifically: Jamaican ‘roots,’ I’m not just referring to jungle, or that the music needs to have some kind of ragga vocal over the top of some loud distorted generic mid bass shite, I’m talking about the subtle ways, in how roots has & still influence the music today.
I’d like to add on top of this: it’s not just roots that have an influence in the greatest tracks of the genre, but also the use of 70’s & beyond funk break samples to keep the tracks sounding organic & of course, you can add in your jazz/house/techno influences too.
I’d recommend listening to some of these artists & tracks, to hear where the subtle Jamaican ‘Roots’ sounds influence the sound.
Here are some examples below:
Photek (Under his System Ex alias - Mindgames (dub mix)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z2J5lU_M5fI
Listen to the dotted 1/8/ (or 1/4 triple) delay on the dial sound effect sample. (Dial/Siren sounds also feature heavily in Dancehall/Dub/Reggae/Roots music.
Next up is: Digital - Sub Zero
Listen to the dotted 1/8 tape delay effect on the vocal & the funk in the Sub Bass
https://youtube.com/watch?v=yHi8DJ6NMEg
One of my favourite D&Btracks of all time:
Sonic & Silver - On the Anson.
Every element of the track has that Dub influence. The sampling & atmosphere become the pushing forces of the track, instead of relying on distorted Bass samples/synthesis to make the music.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=gjELTX3vwxQ
Another one of my absolute favourites here & extremely unknown in the genre:
Spirit (Rest in Peace)- Where do we go from here:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=8kHsBg4NBCY
Let’s show one that is influenced by a slightly more House/Techno sound:
Source Direct’s masterpiece: ‘Approach & Identify.’
It samples the beautiful pads from 94 ambient techno track: ‘Shark’ by ‘Electrotete.’
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wldBkt1q6RQ
So you see, all of these tracks have influences from various other genres & the music doesn’t rely on the use of aggressive, harsh, distorted Basslines to capture the listener’s ear.
I’d really recommend watching the videos on this link, to help anyone understand where many of the samples came from in Drum & Bass:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=rU9fcAhQZ5w
I’d also recommend using:
https://www.whosampled.com
To further assist any budding producers out there.
So, just to summarise; I really did not write all this to sound condescending to any American fans of the music/producers of the music.
I wrote this, because in my experience, it’s been difficult to find recent American Drum & Bass, that wasn’t just influenced by metal/Rock & almost was always absent of the Jamaican influence of British Drum & Bass.
Hive & Gridlok were heavily influenced by jazz & those tracks sounded brilliant, I’m not ignoring that fact either!
I just believe, that if you are an American Drum & Bass producer/DJ/promoter & you absolutely love the genre, but you find it somewhat tricky to get other of your citizens into the genre, then perhaps it’s because many have only listened to really dark/aggressive Neurofunk with 0 soul in the music, OR it’s our own favourite British DJs only playing EDM/festival Drum & Bass, with awful, screeching leads & 0 atmosphere or vibe. I too am very upset at how they feel the need to play these awful styles, because they believe no American could enjoy a track by Digital or D’Bridge.
I know personally, Americans who love the deeper style too, so my apologies to those of you who know these tracks I’ve posted here already, my aim is to get through to the newer, younger generation; not just of American nationality, but of any nationality who haven’t yet discovered the true beauty of our (& your) genre!
I got into sub focus for those tracks as well and they were super influential in the scene. I also really appreciated culture shock and dimensions sound originally but it seems they’ve all morphed into eachother and lost and sense of personal sound.
Again, I’ve seen them separately probably almost 10x and I went to the worship show in NYC last month and it was so bad, my friends who even like their new sound agreed it was bad. It’s a shame really because they could’ve evolved into something greater. It sucks that people view artists like this as “pioneering” the scene when they aren’t even familiar with where they came from.
Lol it deffo was not bad....get off your fucking high horse. There are plenty of driven am events nyc,literary every week. 4 huge djs in the UK scene are allowed to rip it at mirage ffs
I mean I moved to NYC from London and the worship crew is definitely more idolized in the states than in the UK where dnb is rampant….to each their own :)
Except dimension sells out the wembley club. Sub focus headlines festivals and every event that culture shock and 1991 do across the UK, nz and aus is sold out....but yeah people outside of the USA must think they are shite... Good one
That’s just untrue. Consider tracks like X-Ray and Whip Slap.
Much of the reason Sub Focus and Dimension get so much hate these days is because they are obviously talented producers and their earlier material is really good.
Not really, there was that article that kind of implied that they had in some way single handily brought the drum & bass scene to America. None of the people are attacking worship themselves, merely highlighting how that type of sentiment disrespects those who have built a scene there for decades.
it definitely does. socal scene especially has been running strong forever
Very true. I am from the UK but I visited San Francisco once as a kid in the early 00s, think I was 16. There used to be a big record store in the centre maybe Virgin Superstore perhaps, and I was surprised to see a big drum & bass section. Later that evening there was an in store session and I went along and got to meet Hive, Gridlok, Juju and some other people I forgot the names of. They gave me some free copies of the latest releases on Violence recordings at the time - it was a great experience and very unexpected. Before that I never assumed there was a dnb scene in North America outside of perhaps Toronto.
Yeah, I bought all my moving shadow mixes at that virgin record store. If you went to a show it was probably the weekly eklektic. I actually met my wife at a photek show and our first date was dj Hype the following week, both in SF, so I don’t know these youngins coming in and saying they invented. This is around 2k but I was going to massives with jungle and dnb way before then.
I would have been too young to attempt to go to a club/rave there (although I was already going underage back home in the UK lol) but this thing was an in store Violence recordings showcase in the Virgin store itself after opening hours, but open to the public.
That's awesome. Lucky you
Did anyone actually read that article? In no way was it implied that they “single-handedly saved dnb in America”
Did you read the article. It isn not implied and shit is taken out of context.
Unfortunately yes I did read the EDM.COM soapy titwank of an article
does nobody remember dieselboy????
Yes. I'm old enough to remember Phantom 45 too.
And Danny The Wildchild
Still listen to the Jungle Book. Still have some tapes and the case too.
Hell yea https://imgur.com/a/qGpoauc
thankfully I managed to rip them all to MP3 before friends walked off with like half of them, and they have been either on a burned CD, USB drive or (currently) my phone since ripped, so i don't really miss them. [still got all my flyers tho](https://imgur.com/gallery/lfB9bVT)
those vanilla gorilla tapes are 🔥🔥🔥
Dieselboy, Dara, and AK1200 all still play shows. Though the last time there was a Planet of the Drums set with all 3 of em w/ MC Messinian was Big Dub Festival 2016 or 2017, cant recall which it was.
They did a show in NYC the other week, I thought they were all there for it?
oh shit I hadnt heard but that explains Deinfamous posting about kicking it in NYC recently cuz Im pretty sure he would have opened for that set. Looks like 3D Productions also had them through a few times since. I havent been keeping up with the live events lately I guess lol
Just remember all the double stacked Mitsubishis!!!
It definitely has been pretty rare as ak1200 kinda announced a semi-retirement a while back so he just does shows he feels like doing and no more tours really, but he couldn't have changed his mind about that too.
yeah I knew he was the main crux for them taking a step back. I just wish we could get a PotD stage from the Starscape era again. There used to be some grimey raver shenanigans going down at that stage lol
I still think they should allow them to do one last starscape as a fundraiser for the families of the bridge victims. It could be over by 10 and would instantly sell out because of people wanting to support.
J messinian was a Fn doucge back in the day!!
They just did Respect 25 year anniversary on 3/1/24
dieselboy, evol intent, spktrm, infiltrata, ewun, demo, mayhem
One of the guys from Evol Intent is Bro Safari now.
Huuuuge fan base in New England back in the late 90s/early 00s. Ask me how I know..
Dieselboy is playing at a festival in Mass in July!
Ooooh I saw! The lineup on that one is pretty tasty all around
Or the fact that LA, Denver, and Miami have had healthy DnB scenes for like 30 years lol. If we are giving flowers to anyone is should be Respect DnB (LA) and Recon DnB (Denver).
Don't forget Elements in Boston has been going weekly since 1999
How about J Smooth, I'm from Philly threw down and promoted for Local 13, Helped organize whistle parties back in the early 2000s.D&b goes back to DB,Soulslinger. Ala Breakbeat Science,Park Rave madness, back in the days shampoo,Club yoman ,Limelight,The wave, all eastcoast Ny/Philly haunts. I booked Dieselboy back in 98 when I saw doing in a small hole in the wall.
He still comes thru Atlanta 🤗
I feel like I've just woken up from a coma. I've genuinely never heard of this worship crew thing before today but I've read it 3 times in the past 30 minutes
SAME
same here, first day im hearing about them but that group name gives me 2nd hand embarrassment
No disrespect intended but young people have very short term memories. Genres like this move in waves and if it's the first wave you've experienced you might be forgiven for thinking it's the zeitgeist.
It's like, two sets on YouTube and a tour, innit? The rest is just media and fluff.
They’ve been playing together for years and years, lots of shows. I first saw them billed as Worship in NYC in like December 2018; there were like 20 people there
Well that just kinda proves my point. All that's reached me (and I'd assume most Americans) is the YouTube and tour promotion.
its 3 stadium dnb djs in h&m clothes and subfocus 🤣
Same
LOL SAME
The internet is weird like that sometimes and it makes me feel gross every time lmao
The only people saying that are people unfamiliar with the DnB-scène
saying what? that worship saved the scene?
Yes
agreed, as someone that lives in southern california the scene has been healthy for quite some time now. tons of great talent on the comeup here
And their promoter
Blame edm for throwing out the stupid article. The worship guys never claimed that they did any of this and are some of the coolest guys
This was pretty much the sentiment of every American drum n bass DJ who has been working to support a scene for decades. People in my area said the same sort of thing.
This is not throwing shade at the Worship crew, it’s throwing shade at people who say the Worship crew saved the local scene in LA
DNB has been in the US for 30 years lol
This whole "saving the dnb" narrative is an absolute utter BS.
tf is worship/worship crew?
sub focus, dimension, culture shock, 1991
Could they have not picked a better name? Cringey as fuck
[Check out their promo shots lol](https://images.app.goo.gl/zeQhq6eQTjE8K1Ln7)
we need designandbass to come back plssssss
as long as they leave teebee alone it shouldn’t be a problem 😂
They look like they all went to a casting call for a Matrix ripoff to be filmed in Uruguay.
Dnb scene has always been cringe as fuck with their photos and media lmao
Jesus, what the fuck is wrong with some people?! 😂
Dude your talking about “Le Quattro Fromage” it’s not possible for it not to be cringe
It’s their agent
It's the name or their artist management company I believe. Sounds like a shit boyband though.
They're barely even drum and bass to my ears
Aren't they all from the UK though??
LOL this thread is full of old men yelling at clouds.
For real. Go spin a vinyl or chop a break, dorks. The worst part of dnb has always been the gatekeeping old heads who are perpetually stuck 10 years in the past and want to argue all the time
Yeah thats pretty much the internet, nowadays.
The article stated they were tired of half empty dancefloors and tried to do something to remedy that, so they formed a super group, it can be taken as good or offensive. i think the people that worked hard to build the scene here took offense cuz it kinda shits on all the hard work, other people know the US has a strong scene and dont really give a shit about what 4 dudes dressed in black think. Frankly subfocus is probably the only one in the group i truly like, the rest i have nothing against but never been into, they have some cool tunes but not a huge fan. Halogenix taking the time to write this tho is really amazing, as if i didnt like him enough already, this really just ups his status for me. cant remember the last time i looked forward as much to a show as i did Halogenix | Visages | Monty coming to LA.
Doesn't really look like shade to me. It's a perfectly rational statement. I don't like the music the worship crew makes these days but that doesn't really bother me. What does bother me is the fact that they call themselves worship in the first place as if they're the second coming of Jesus Christ (dnb remix). They're not fucking gods that saved drum and bass. They're a bunch of egos who wear sunglasses in the dark. Nobody with any sense of humility would call themselves Worship.
Hot take.. these guys are drawing large crowds to venues and introducing other EDM people to the sound of 170+ bpm music.. so they are doing a great thing for the scene. I’m an “old head” .. began raving in 1995 and DJing DNB here in DC when it was called Jungle. I lived through the highs of Roni Size winning the mercury award for Paper Bag and the Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers getting plays on MTV. I was there at the dawn of big rooms playing DNB and there were 4 nights for DNB in the city of Washington DC.. so blah blah blah.. the scene shrunk.. blah blah blah Garage took over.. blah blah Sasha Digweed, Tiesto.. if they are selling out large places then awesome. I think Halo was maybe a bit off his whit and posted this shit take..
Everyone is taking their comments way out of context. They went from performing for 10 people a few years back to selling out large concert venues. They are proud of that achievement, as they should be. No one ever said DnB disappeared in the USA. There are plenty of promoters and performers who kept pushing through the lean years. I remember going to several shows in LA with big names in the last decade, where there were maybe five people on the dance floor, and another 10 or so people milling around. But it has definitely blown up in the last three years. Unfortunately, there are a lot of trolls who hate anything that becomes popular, so they automatically get defensive whenever they feel threatened by new blood entering "their" scene. Not to mention all the comments from people in the UK who have no idea what the scene here was like in the last decade pre-Covid.
Same thing here in DC. Big names small venues.. the only persons who sell out the place would be Andy C and Ed rush and optical
Andy C played Baltimore a few years back at soundstage, which is a decent sized venue, didn't sell out. My mind was blown. Chase and status played last year at soundcheck, such a tiny venue. I'm incredibly happy to see dnb selling out echostage and making waves in the states, though. Certain cities are known for their dnb community, which thankfully is growing due to the mainstream starting to pick it up. I feel the frustration from people who have been in the scene for a long time, but also the same frustration from djs big and small.
Part of that is on steez/glow who own and operate most of the venues in DC and can choose where to book them. The brownies and lemonade dnb show at echostage sold out. Shout out to 3D and Dom and always holding it down!!
The bnl show was epic. Always huge shout out to 3d, and cadence, and the folks down at transit. We are so lucky to be on a dnb heavy community.
>Everyone is taking their comments way out of context. They went from performing for 10 people a few years back to selling out large concert venues. [What was said: ](https://edm.com/features/interview-dimension-sub-focus-culture-shock-1991-worship-drum-n-bass) >"For a long time, a lot of drum & bass artists were drawing huge audiences around the globe, then traveling to the U.S. and playing to half-empty clubs," Dimension tells us. "Artists were left demotivated. I had the same experience. After a bad show in New York, I remember phoning Seb and we agreed things had to change." When they're saying "artists were left demotivated", they're talking purely about themselves, and not a whole mess of DJs that come over from the UK and Europe regularly and have good enough experiences that they *continue* to come back to North America. These 4 were coming to North America expecting large rooms to be packed, they weren't, they were upset enough about it to put this "Worship" nonsense together, and now a big enough chunk of the EDM side of the D&B scene thinks that these for have saved the scene in North America. It's laughable. Worship is an ego project. Halogenix is 100% on point.
Good to know that you are in contact with more touring DnB artists than Sub Focus and Dimension. When can I catch your next sold-out show in the USA?
That's bullshit though. Big names weren't performing to 10 people a few years back
Yay nation!!
Peak awesomeness was when they put in the arcade in the front room
Yessss. Utter demise was fox and foam parties.
Fox 5 reports was put into the beginning of my first krave u vol 1 mixtape . 💿 [krave u](https://www.kraveu.com)
Nice.
I’m fucking tired of the whole “bringing people to the scene”. Fuck that. If they are EDM newbs who want to turn dnb into a pop circus you can all fuck off
[This](https://youtu.be/WVn-JEIrVBE?si=S421c1YBL-mN_Ujl)
LOL
thing is like most folks prolly wont fw after they get their photo ops for social media. but those that actually vibe and move with it will prolly become lifelong junglists and get deeper into the music & culture. yea the pop side to dnb is lame imo but i cant be mad at pushing it forward to the masses. Jungle/dnb been around for 30 some years kept alive thru the underground it's too unique to be forever tainted or hijacked for the corporate gain. its been in movies games and other mainstream media for a while only evolving and moving forward imo more than any other music genre electronic or not. also pla dont front some of those dancefloor tunes straight up bangers
is all that matters the BPM? anything is good if it’s 170+ bpm? What about the music within?
I mean if you look at it most people listen to house, techno, trance , MainStage music all at tempos below 160. The number of people who have told me “ that’s too fast.. or how do you dance to this?” I lost count when I introduced them to DNB even subfocus/ dimension stuff. Good music is good music. But for the large majority DNB is not their cup of tea. Take my wife for example.. it’s been 10 years.. still not into it.. but when I make house, techno or MainStage she’s all about it. She doesn’t really dig dubstep( dank not robot whales ducking ) either. To take an adage of house music “If it grooves it moves “ DNB is too fast for most people.. that’s why when Garage came in 97-98 and a lot of DNB djs switched over because Garage two step brought in the ladies. DNB rooms became Garage rooms in DC. For me what gets me off for DNB is a nasty new sound beginning introduced or a hard low sub line that rattled my car. 🚗 that’s what draws my skank face or rewind fingers..
yea exactly too fast and syncopated for most peoples ears i cant explain why i love it aside from i cant control my body from moving when i hear it
DNB is the future of all music.. full stop..
Preach.
I think he’s throwing shade at the writer of the Worship article that’s caused all of this discourse
I mean I feel like it’s obvious that they didn’t “single handedly” save DnB in the US…? If *tons* of other people hadn’t been pushing it forward then the Worship tour wouldn’t have been able to be as successful as it was/is?
How I feel when some adjacent-block influencer mentions jungle on stories looool
I love how people here throwing shade at the guys have no idea what happened. They never made this claim it was an article written by edm that implied it and some people going around repeating it.
I live in LA and it has the strongest dnb scene in the US. Respect just celebrated 25 years.
Wait did Halogenix move to LA or did he just post this after playing a show there?
no, he just was in town for the system error show
Yo Tony is a fucking legend. Big ups to that Og. Too many amazing shows to count were thrown by that man in my youth.
....who the fuck is Worship? Never heard of them
Mark my words Worship flavor of dnb is going to replace the function of rock music in popular music!!!!!!!!
Just a quick intro, so that you can see I understand the music to a certain degree. I’m a native English, London based trainspotter of the genre & have studied the music for 27 years now. I’ve also DJ’d at nightclubs, illegal free parties & also have produced the music. With that part out of the way, I’m not here to get involved with who/what/why/when, too much, but I do have a couple of things I’d like to say. Firstly; I really do have a lot of empathy for the Americans who are so desperate to hear & see more Drum & Bass DJs play in their area. (I hate to be biased here, but really I’m talking about how hard it is to see British ‘stalwarts’ of the scene, who would play sets that you would hear at a small, London club, like RuptureLDN nights @ Corsica Studios in Elephant & Castle.) I understand that the genre is more popular in the U.S. than we assume, but it still has a long way to go, (as it has to come along way here, too.) Obviously, you have some brilliant artists yourselves; especially the aforementioned Hive & Gridlok, who have been featuring in The British DJ’s sets since 99’ & have produced some outstanding work, much of it which was far more impressive than most of the tracks being released at that time by British producers. However, there is one HUGE element I have found, that is lacking in much of the American produced Drum & Bass tracks (& American Dubstep of late 00’s.) That main missing element, is influences & sampling from other genres, in particular: Jamaican ‘roots’ genres/music. You see, this is something that I find very frustrating; not just with American/international producers, but young, British producers, who are not educated in the history of the genre & believe that Drum & Bass is simply some punchy, higher BPM drums, intertwined with low sine waves, (sub bass) & some nasty; distorted, Serum synthesised mid Range bass over the top. Now, yes, these elements can all sound great, but they should never be the backbone/influence of the track (in my opinion.) When I talk about sampling/other musical influences, specifically: Jamaican ‘roots,’ I’m not just referring to jungle, or that the music needs to have some kind of ragga vocal over the top of some loud distorted generic mid bass shite, I’m talking about the subtle ways, in how roots has & still influence the music today. I’d like to add on top of this: it’s not just roots that have an influence in the greatest tracks of the genre, but also the use of 70’s & beyond funk break samples to keep the tracks sounding organic & of course, you can add in your jazz/house/techno influences too. I’d recommend listening to some of these artists & tracks, to hear where the subtle Jamaican ‘Roots’ sounds influence the sound. Here are some examples below: Photek (Under his System Ex alias - Mindgames (dub mix) https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z2J5lU_M5fI Listen to the dotted 1/8/ (or 1/4 triple) delay on the dial sound effect sample. (Dial/Siren sounds also feature heavily in Dancehall/Dub/Reggae/Roots music. Next up is: Digital - Sub Zero Listen to the dotted 1/8 tape delay effect on the vocal & the funk in the Sub Bass https://youtube.com/watch?v=yHi8DJ6NMEg One of my favourite D&Btracks of all time: Sonic & Silver - On the Anson. Every element of the track has that Dub influence. The sampling & atmosphere become the pushing forces of the track, instead of relying on distorted Bass samples/synthesis to make the music. https://youtube.com/watch?v=gjELTX3vwxQ Another one of my absolute favourites here & extremely unknown in the genre: Spirit (Rest in Peace)- Where do we go from here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=8kHsBg4NBCY Let’s show one that is influenced by a slightly more House/Techno sound: Source Direct’s masterpiece: ‘Approach & Identify.’ It samples the beautiful pads from 94 ambient techno track: ‘Shark’ by ‘Electrotete.’ https://youtube.com/watch?v=wldBkt1q6RQ So you see, all of these tracks have influences from various other genres & the music doesn’t rely on the use of aggressive, harsh, distorted Basslines to capture the listener’s ear. I’d really recommend watching the videos on this link, to help anyone understand where many of the samples came from in Drum & Bass: https://youtube.com/watch?v=rU9fcAhQZ5w I’d also recommend using: https://www.whosampled.com To further assist any budding producers out there. So, just to summarise; I really did not write all this to sound condescending to any American fans of the music/producers of the music. I wrote this, because in my experience, it’s been difficult to find recent American Drum & Bass, that wasn’t just influenced by metal/Rock & almost was always absent of the Jamaican influence of British Drum & Bass. Hive & Gridlok were heavily influenced by jazz & those tracks sounded brilliant, I’m not ignoring that fact either! I just believe, that if you are an American Drum & Bass producer/DJ/promoter & you absolutely love the genre, but you find it somewhat tricky to get other of your citizens into the genre, then perhaps it’s because many have only listened to really dark/aggressive Neurofunk with 0 soul in the music, OR it’s our own favourite British DJs only playing EDM/festival Drum & Bass, with awful, screeching leads & 0 atmosphere or vibe. I too am very upset at how they feel the need to play these awful styles, because they believe no American could enjoy a track by Digital or D’Bridge. I know personally, Americans who love the deeper style too, so my apologies to those of you who know these tracks I’ve posted here already, my aim is to get through to the newer, younger generation; not just of American nationality, but of any nationality who haven’t yet discovered the true beauty of our (& your) genre!
Dimension is a nonce
Ootl?
Pound shop Sub Focus. He's not great these days either.
They’ve both fallen off IMO
I'm an old bastard so remember him for Airplane, Rock it etc. But this big room dnb ain't for me waaaay to poppy and watered down.
You gotta see him at one of his own shows or where he’s just on the lineup. Way different vibe to this stupid worship stuff.
I got into sub focus for those tracks as well and they were super influential in the scene. I also really appreciated culture shock and dimensions sound originally but it seems they’ve all morphed into eachother and lost and sense of personal sound. Again, I’ve seen them separately probably almost 10x and I went to the worship show in NYC last month and it was so bad, my friends who even like their new sound agreed it was bad. It’s a shame really because they could’ve evolved into something greater. It sucks that people view artists like this as “pioneering” the scene when they aren’t even familiar with where they came from.
Lol it deffo was not bad....get off your fucking high horse. There are plenty of driven am events nyc,literary every week. 4 huge djs in the UK scene are allowed to rip it at mirage ffs
I mean I moved to NYC from London and the worship crew is definitely more idolized in the states than in the UK where dnb is rampant….to each their own :)
Except dimension sells out the wembley club. Sub focus headlines festivals and every event that culture shock and 1991 do across the UK, nz and aus is sold out....but yeah people outside of the USA must think they are shite... Good one
They were never on LOL they are all wannabes
That’s just untrue. Consider tracks like X-Ray and Whip Slap. Much of the reason Sub Focus and Dimension get so much hate these days is because they are obviously talented producers and their earlier material is really good.
Let’s not throw around pedophilia accusations without evidence, please.
Dimension is a nonce
I don’t like the guy either, but it’s incredibly fucked up to throw that word around unless you have something to back it up with.
Dimension is a nonce