Strictly Fortified - Glasgow Dubstep

2006 has seen a massive upsurge of interest in dubstep; largely the result of the Mary Anne Hobbs' Dub Warz Breezeblock broadcast at the turn of the year. Gathering the scene's major players for a two-hour showcase, it gave the sound an unprecedented audience, thanks to her estimated six million listeners.

Dubstep's roots can be traced back to the late nineties and a darker, south London offshoot of 2-step garage, particularly productions by El-B, Zed Bias and Steve Gurley. The skipping beats remained, though the characteristic R&B influences were replaced by the key elements of Jamaican music: cavernous bass and echo. The term 'dubstep' was first coined by Ammunition promotions, and the release of Dubstep Allstars Volume 1 on their own Tempa label saw it become an established musical genre. Described by many as the freshest, most innovative strand of dance music today, it's now making an impression in Glasgow thanks to the launch of the city's first dedicated dubstep night, Electric Eliminators, last summer.

Eliminators promoter and DJ, Gordon Stewart (aka Gost Wan) explains that the "the heavy bass" originally attracted him to the sound. "I'd got into 2-step through listening to So Solid Crew, but knew there must be more credible stuff out there. I came across Horsepower Productions on dubplate.net and started buying lots of stuff from it."

As his passion for the music grew, so did a desire to hear the records played out live, prompting him to organise the first Electric Eliminators 'Echo-ik' date last June: "No one else was playing the music on a proper soundsystem. It makes all the difference – you can actually feel the music as well as hear it." Production duo Digital Mystikz played at the event alongside MC Sgt Pokes, the trio making their Scottish debut. The follow-up 'Echo-ik' night in July featured another major player from the scene, Skream.

"He played loads of killer tunes – mostly his own unreleased stuff on dubplate. There was a lot bigger turn out, a real mix of people – we used the Mungo's Hi-Fi soundsystem so we got some of their crowd, some hip-hop and drum n' bass heads."

There have been two further Eliminators nights with the focus more on local producers and DJs: Monochrome, Craig Mungo's Hi-Fi and Rave Cave's Flash Harry.

Monochrome, better known as Tom Churchill, played live in August. Responsible for the techno and electronica labels Headspace and Emoticon, he's released tracks on the former, but more recently turned his hand to dubstep.

"The sound attracted me because it combined elements of a lot of styles I was interested in and did it in a fresh way", he explains. "I just started playing around because I was into the music and wanted to attempt my own take on it."

Tom met Gordon through a mutual friend and has also supported Eliminators nights in his Sun clubbing column. Eliminators' wasn't his first live Monochrome outing, having previously played Kinky Afro in June.

"The music seemed to go down well at both parties and I was definitely pleased with the results. I'm more interested in playing live than DJing dubstep, since its DJ culture is so dubplate-driven and I'm not 'connected' enough to get lots of fresh material…I'd rather play a set of my own of exclusive material, than the same tunes everyone else is playing".

Currently unreleased, he describes his productions as "moody and atmospheric with a techno edge."

Ali Jackson, aka Gravious met Gordon at the first Eliminators night and joined him behind the decks in September. Making dubstep for 3 years, he's just released 'Wormsign/Monolith' on Scuba, a sub-label of one of the scene's most established labels, Hot Flush.

"I've been mucking around making tunes for years. I'm influenced by the sort of stuff I listen to. Initially this was drum & bass and random electronic stuff, but then I started listening to J Da Flex's 1 Xtra show and loved the bassy, 2-step stuff he was playing, so I decided to have a stab at that."

When this sound later morphed into dubstep, he concentrated on producing his individual twist on it.

"A lot of the stuff I heard was mostly bassline orientated, but I wanted to try to making something a bit more musical…melody is quite big in my music. I sent off some tunes to guys I met through internet forums and they were really enthusiastic about them."

This inspired him to enter a competition for new producers on dubstepforum.com, judged by established names on the scene, including Hot Flush's Paul Rose. A mix was compiled from winning entries, including some of his Gravious tracks. Rose approached him to see if he'd be interested in having them released and this led to 'Wormsign,' with more on Hot Flush planned.

Other Glasgow DJs have also shown an interest in the sound. Reggae soundsystem Mungo's Hi-Fi are making forays into producing and playing dubstep, while residents at Kinky Afro and Doublespeak have dropped it in their sets, both recently featuring guests from the scene, Youngsta and Vex'D.

All this seems to point to dubstep having a rosy future in Glasgow. A regular, well-supported night looks possible, as does more clubs' embracing of this versatile and exciting sound. In a city where techno and house are the dominant force this can be only be a good thing.