News & Reviews

DJ Fresh and Dieselboy tear up 1015 on Bass Invaderz tour; club plans more DNB

By Sam "Supa" Arroyo

DJ Fresh and Dieselboy hit San Francisco club 1015 Folsom last week during their west coast stop of the Bass Invaderz tour, signaling the re-emergence of Drum & Bass at this big party venue.

The Show: Opening up Thursday's party, local DJ Method One and MC Duh performed a sick early set of heavy basslines, shaking the crowd from their collective stomaches to the hair on their heads. Everyone loved the mixes and MC, and the whole scene was a Jungle head’s dream.

The crowd greeted every drop with cheers, more dancing and the occasional lighter. Method One sounded great on 1015’s top-notch sound system.

Fresh then used a wicked intro of the Bass Invaderz theme, alluding to his recently-released album. Great opening, fluid rewinds on the intro, and he got the floor freaking out within the first two minutes. He then rapidly tore through records and made the whole place shake even more.

Fresh bounced and sang along to all of his tracks. MC J Messinian flew along to keep a close pace with the beats. Fresh dropped his signature track Tomb Raider, an exclamation point to a fantastic set.

When Dieselboy came on, the crowd found more energy to give. He kicked a solid opening to light the crowd up, although some said that Dieselboy’s normal surgeon-like mixing was a bit off.

Overall, the Bass Invaderz show in San Francisco was a truly amazing party. If this event is a taste of what’s to come for DNB at 1015 Folsom, it could be time start wearing ear plugs.

The Club: Many DNB heads have avoided 1015 after it swung away from the scene in favor of a standard house, hip hop and R&B platform that’s typified mainstream clubs. However, 1015 has recently embraced the DNB scene, reminding some of the ’99 heyday when DNB was probably the hottest electronica genre in San Francisco.

In a sign of continued commitment, 1015 hired a new marketing executive to tap into San Francisco’s vibrant DNB party scene. In addition, the venue has been slickly remodeled to include elevated bar-side speakers, and club-goers can now hear the main room crystal clear from the bar up front. As long as 1015 continues hosting DNB parties it can easily transcend its reputation of the past few years.

Sam "Supa" Arroyo is a longtime San Francisco/Oakland area drum ‘n’ bass head. Read his blog at: http://str8dope.blogspot.com/

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