Photos: Alexander Shevchenko.
Traditionally, the second night of the festival features a party from the cult label Metalheadz, but when the SUNandBASS programme was published, all that was left to do was open our mouths in astonishment. Metalheadz indoors, and special oldskool Metalheadz sets outdoors. “Are you serious?” one wanted to ask the organisers. “This is going to be absolute mayhem!” Especially considering the spectacles that the imprint’s owner, gold-toothed Goldie, puts on every time. Hopefully we would not use up all our energy—and it was a shame that we could not split ourselves between the two dancefloors. This wild madness was to be preceded by the first evening session this year from the most popular drum and bass internet radio station, Bassdrive.com, which had long been a festival partner. Soulful and intelligent rhythms right in the centre of San Teodoro, at the “Ambra Day” venue. However, the discouraging weather forecast that had frightened many of those who came to the festival slightly reshaped the programme for the second day. But let us take things in order.
The first behind the decks at the cosy “Ambra Day” restaurant were Spacefunk and Parallax, representing the Crucial X radio show.
Fans of the radio began to turn up in T-shirts bearing the Bassdrive or exclusive SUNandBASSDRIVE logos, a limited run of which Dvus had specially printed for the festival and brought along in a second suitcase. The T-shirts sold out quickly.
Flowrian and La Meduza were due to perform second. Hearing one of the most interesting jazz-influenced liquid musicians of the new generation, who was preparing a debut album for Fokuz, accompanied by a wonderful vocalist, would have been magnificent—if it had not poured with rain. The equipment was instantly covered with a canopy, but after a while the club owners decided not to continue and began disconnecting the decks, CD players and sound equipment and carrying them to a van for transport to another venue. We never did get to hear one of Bassdrive’s owners, the American Overfiend, or the owner of Blu Saphir, the German Jay Rome, who had just returned from a Brazilian tour with a pile of liquid funk dubs.
Metalheadz oldskool outdoors at “Ambra Night” clearly could no longer take place, and even if everyone had wanted it, the crowd of jungle fans eager to let loose would not have fitted indoors. So the organisers decided to use another existing club in San Teodoro, “Ripping”, which had not been used as a SUNandBASS event venue since 2009. The artists promised to play back-to-back, except that “Papa” Goldie, naturally, was given an hour to himself. Although Goldie’s sets have a tendency to run over, nobody objects.
The party was opened by label resident Jubei and Fracture, who had recently been releasing quite a lot of music solo, without his friend and Astrophonica partner Neptune. Vocal support came from DJ, producer and MC System. The second dancefloor was kept closed.
Bassdrive broadcast all the performances, although it was not certain that the recordings would later be made available as free downloads.
Another part of the Bassdrive team, Stunna and Alegria, took up positions at the front of the stage.
From the very first minutes of Metalheadz night, screwfaces could be seen in the crowd.
Goldie periodically burst in behind the decks and did rewinds—nobody even got in his way; his authority was unquestioned.
Hopes of hearing Lenzman and Riya together again were not to be fulfilled: the “Flying Dutchman” played alongside the head of Soul:R, Marcus Intalex. The result was something unusual for Lenzman’s sets—less soulful and deeper, with the addition of the sharp beats of oldskool classics.
System passed the microphone to LowQui, and he barely let go of it until the end of the night, helping the main MCs during the other sets.
DRS joined in right away—he could hardly have stayed away from Marcus Intalex’s set.
The dancefloor was already packed, and people even began slowly climbing onto the stage. The security guards, who had initially blocked any movement towards the DJs and MCs, became more lenient, making special exceptions for women.
“Papa” Goldie, flashing his gold-toothed smile, appeared behind the decks at 2 o’clock. This time he was given the central slot, probably so that at around 6 a.m. his tenth track would not become “definitely the last one”.
GQ MCed for the first time at SUNandBASS during one of the genre’s founding fathers’ sets. I think that, just like all the other newcomers to the lineup, he caught the SUNandBASS virus and will definitely return to San Teodoro for the next festival.
A real hell was already unfolding on the dancefloor and at the front of the stage, both literally and figuratively, as was entirely predictable. The rain outside did not let up, while inside it was so hot that it seemed condensation would start dripping from the ceiling at any moment.
Filming Goldie doing what he loves is a pleasure; it is only afterwards that choosing the shots for the report from among several dozen becomes difficult. Goldie does not mix methodically, track after track, emotionlessly turning EQ knobs and moving faders. He goes wild just as he did in the ’90s, completely losing himself, sometimes jumping from the stage into the crowd. After all these years, the music has not bored him in the slightest; on the contrary, it continues to inspire him to achieve new things.
The area at the front of the stage had become extremely packed too. The stern security guards had been won over by the atmosphere of revelry and simply watched in silence, with smiles on their faces, making sure nobody did anything that might prevent the rest of the crowd from enjoying themselves peacefully. The words “enjoying themselves peacefully” look contradictory next to “Metalheadz”. This was the wildest party of my life; even the previous two years at SUNandBASS, Metalheadz had been more restrained.
Goldie jumped and shouted along with everyone else, while the crowd could only guess which track he would use next to keep destroying everything around him. Metalheadz’s music has gone through many changes over the course of its history, but it still carries the charge of that primal energy of early-90s jungle, when everything was just beginning. Since then, many of the label’s releases have become benchmarks.
By now, all three MCs were reading in turn with their arms around one another, barely stopping.
Goldie came out personally to thank DRS.
A Sides and Bailey appeared behind the turntables. If anyone is guaranteed to play at SUNandBASS, it’s this pair. This time they delved into the depths of old-school and the most savage jungle, and even Goldie went wild with every successive track.
DRS and Goldie started a mosh pit in the middle of the dancefloor, and afterwards they embraced like brothers for a long time. Apparently, DRS had said so many important things into the microphone that the owner of Metalheadz, who had seen a lot in his lifetime, was deeply moved. But DRS delivered the night’s key phrase a little later.
“F*ck 1 Xtra!!! If they’ve gone as far as kicking Bailey off the radio, then they can get lost! F*ck 1 Xtra!” These words from DRS prompted a storm of approving cheers.
When Bailey and A Sides played Adam F’s great track “Circles,” the crowd buzzed with joy, while Goldie simply went off the chain and had to do a rewind. Six people tried to hold him back and couldn’t. Goldie pretended he had calmed down, and as soon as Fracture, dBridge, Dvus and the others loosened their grip, he broke through to the turntables and rewound it. It’s moments like these that make SUNandBASS so memorable. Things happen here that could not happen at any other party: a unique atmosphere in which everyone gives everything they have on both sides of the turntables.
Bailey, as if nothing had happened, returned to the controls with the broadest smile and began mixing “Circles” into the next track. In three years, I had never seen Bailey so cheerful and happy, especially after the roar that followed “F*ck 1Xtra!” Bailey had only recently lost his slot on 1Xtra; he had worked there for 10 years.
Meanwhile, another pair of genre veterans, Storm and Randall, took over the turntables. Storm began dropping old, battered Photek records. It was a pleasure to hear old-school old-school played specifically from vinyl.
Randall later moved into liquid funk for a while. Calibre’s remix of “Put That Woman First”—oh my, the first chords of that little song stirred up so many emotions.
By then Goldie was already completely wild, as they say, almost “all-out” jumping at the front of the stage with LowQui and DRS in his arms and rewinding, rewinding, rewinding.
Even the label manager Chris, who usually sipped cocktails off to the side, came out to the front of the stage to jump around with everyone else.
By the end of the party, Goldie had gone completely feral, had managed to swap T-shirts with someone, had started on a bottle of vodka, and was dancing in the middle of the crowd, which carefully parted around him. Looking at Goldie, you can only think: surely, when I’m over 40, I’ll still go to parties like this and get incomparable pleasure from broken rhythms and fat bass. For this man, music is life. And without music, his life would be completely different.
Naturally, nobody wanted to leave, especially since it was chilly outside after the rain. As usual, the last track wasn’t the last one. There is always a “very last” one, and a “last of the very last.”
At the very end, DRS was already carrying Goldie—who had really let himself go and gone wild—off the dancefloor. The following night was dedicated to the release of albums by Nymfo on Commercial Suicide and S.P.Y on Hospital, and because of the continuing rain, the action once again unfolded at “Ripping,” but across two dancefloors. Keep it locked!
