YES YES! ok, that’s the end of my junglist lingo.
when rave started out a lot of the music featured breakbeats. shortly after when jungle came around it was easy for that style to fit into the rave vibe as well. for whatever reason though, jungle/drum and bass has always kind of been its own scene.
i know it wasn’t the first time i heard jungle, since Chicago was pushing it since day one, but i remember the first time i was like OH MY GOD. it was on one of the many every weekend raveventures me and Tommie Sunshine would take looking for beats and good times. we ended up in Cincinnati in late 92 or early 93 at an underground event in an old department store. a guy from Pittsburgh gets on the decks and the first rolling basslines and frantic snares that came out of the speakers blew me away. it felt so gangster, which was appropriate since a competing party threw bricks through the windows during the set, but that’s another story. anyway, the dj that night was Dieselboy and i’ve been hooked on drum and bass ever since. and our co-promoter Intellephunk might be a Minneapolis techno crew, but Steve is always on the dancefloor during a good dnb set.
Drop Bass Network started doing shows with the Chicago jungle crew Ripe in 93 and booking more of the style for our own events. eventually we even created a tech step dnb sublabel to DBN Records called Ghetto Safari. over the years all of our larger events featured the biggest names in drum and bass from all over the US, Toronto, Netherlands, Germany, and of course the UK. But we were never able to book any of the Dons. until now!
Ray Keith is one of drum and bass’ most well known producer/djs and a living legend. his productions are bass heavy yet soulful. his tracks “Terrorist” and “Chopper” are jungle anthems. he runs the Dread Recordings label which has been at the forefront of jungle since 94 and to this day remains true to the genre’s roots.
when we rebooted Furthur in 16 we wanted to go big on drum and bass and made a short list of ogs to go after. Ray Keith was on that list, but it didn’t work out. last year Ray posted the video below to his facebook page and i was hooked. seriously, i’ve watched this clip way too many times. obviously the tune is a banger, but watching Ray’s reaction you can see the passion he has for jungle. like the caption says, no words needed. plus that beard is perfect. sometimes it doesn’t take a lot for me to make up my mind when it comes to bookings. lol. we HAD to get him to Furthur!
we reached out to Ray’s team again this year and told them how Furthur has been going and what we had in mind. they were down right away, but were hoping to get a couple more gigs if Ray was coming over. the thing about the dnb scene is it’s tight knit and supportive. we sent a few emails and in a matter of days a mini tour was booked! Ray Keith has that kind of status. one of those dates is with Machete in LA, who is also headlining the Psychosis DIYss at Even Furthur.
make sure to check out the Ray Keith (OFFICIAL) facebook page or instagram. his Dreadcast presents Breakcage are always a great listen and there’s a lot of them to check out, along with many other cool videos. drum and bass for days!
oh and guess what? Ray is one of the djs getting an extended set on the main stage at Even Furthur. Saturday night. the wall of bass is gonna flex.