Dream FM & Slammin Vinyl
After an hour of arguing who was going to be the
iron, and who was going to be the dog, we pulled out a rather aged
and damaged box. It was raining outside so what better to do on a
Saturday night than partake in a session of that age old classic
dance-opoly. A glass of squash and digestives all round, we then
decided that I would be given responsibility as ‘banker’. This was
great as I am highly skilled at slipping 500’s under the board, only
to produce them again when having to pay rent on Mayfair! First roll
of the dice and it’s ‘Community Chest’ ‘Go to Kings Cross, do not
pass go, do not collect £200’.
Since I’m in the area, and it’s the 17th of May. I thought I might
as well visit Bagleys and see what Slammin Vinyl have to say for
themselves. For those that haven’t been to Bagleys, I’d have to say
that it is a very attractive venue, loads of space for practising
your moves and a large balcony for shandy-lightweights. The House
room was a bit disappointing, House bar would have been more
appropriate. The beer was fairly cheap, which is quite strange for
London. There were three bars in total (one in each arena). The two
main rooms were large and had side mounted, suspended DJ booths (if
that makes sense?). It was around midnight by the time I negotiated
London’s back streets and found the place. All the regulars were
already there and were getting into the swing of things. I was
informed that it was Tom Thumb playing, but he was just about to
finish, it sounded like it was OK any how. Next to take control of
the crowd was the Jungle master Andy C, this boy played them ruff,
really ruff, he made brillo pads look like silk he was that ruff.
When playing to a London crowd you know they want to hear new
material and that was how he played. I also saw Andy C the following
night at Ruffneck ‘Ting in Bristol, to my dismay he went more
Hardstep.
London is where to go for the next music (as if you didn’t already
know!!). MC GQ turned up and made a guest appearance on the mic,
everyone knows that when it comes to words this guy is class. I
thought the placed looked pretty busy, but people informed me that
the last event was so rammed that you couldn’t move. The atmosphere
at this event was pleasant, but less in yer face that a Helter
Skelter, for example, there were a lot more music specialists there
than your average club. Randall was just about to kick off in arena
two which wasn’t completely full, busy none the less. His first tune
was a blunder with samples from House of Pain’s ‘Jump Around’. There
was some good Hardcore being supplied in this room from the likes of
Slam and Energy, perhaps other large promoters should look into
booking these guys. Dream FM have certainly gained a regular
following as I could tell a lot of people where very familiar with
the on-goings. With ten MC’s on the flyer I guess it helps to be
familiar as I was having great difficulty trying to remember who was
who.
One who did stand out though was a guy called MC Ruff, who works a
lot with DJ Spinback. This guy obviously knows his crowd as he got
great response every time he graced the mic. There was an
interesting light set up with a rig that ran the whole length of the
room, which I did enjoy staring at, just to remind myself what a
good time I was having. It was at this point that Vibes took up his
position in the DJ booth, put his headphones on and moved his hands
back and forth on two bits of circular plastic – nice one!
Another fave MC of mine, Charlie B, also made a guest appearance and
shouted a lot getting everyone to dance that little bit harder. This
place is definitely a good venue somewhere that I’d visit again.
It’s big enough to feel like a special one-off event, but smaller
than the likes of The Sanctuary. It fits in well as a mid-month
party to keep you interested before the next big one. Slipmatt had
now arrived and took over the last hour to remind us all why he has
been crowned the king of Hardcore blinder. Definitely one to put in
your diary for next time, but be prepared to put the hours in,
‘cause they’ll keep you going ‘till 6am. It might be wise to take
some ID, I’m 74 and I nearly didn’t get let in!!
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