Interview: BASSFoundation

BASSFoundation has carved a vital niche in Delhi for drum & bass. Fused with the related genres of reggae and dubstep, they have been taking Delhi on a wild ride of left-of-center nightlife that is worthy of a spot on the global clubbing circuit. Every BASSFoundation event since their launch in February has hosted an overexcited, overcapacity crowd of Delhi clubbers, college kids, expats and tourists as well. Taru Dalmia (aka Delhi Sultanate), Maarten Klein (aka Viking Warrior) and Ed Anderson (aka Praxis) sat down with Indiecision after their manic launch party at Café Morrison’s 2nd level to spread the good vibrations.

What led you to start BASSFoundation? Not enough bass in India for you?
Maarten: I’ve wanted to start a drum & bass night since I arrived in Delhi almost two years ago. I guess we’ve been very lucky to have met each other. There are a lot of nights happening in Delhi but there is no regular or consistent night specific for drum & bass and dubstep. The idea is to have a regular, monthly drum & bass/dubstep night with no fuss; just focus on good music.

Taru: There are many kinds of ‘bass’ and while there is a lot of trance in India and it has to a degree been indigenized, I don’t think other genres have really been widely embraced here. Trance and drum & bass are both bass heavy but still the musical and cultural orientation of these genres is markedly different. Without going into the why, you just have to look at the origins – trance is big in Europe and Israel; drum & bass and bubstep have their origins in the hip hop and reggae soundsystem culture of former colonies in the West Indies and the ghettos in America. They have given a mode of expression to minority communities in many parts of the world. This social experience and a sense of shared history are integral to the music. For instance a lot of the early Asian Underground music produced by Indian diaspora kids in the UK is a very vibrant mix of Indian and Caribbean influences while at the same time being something that is uniquely their own, addressing the things those kids were going through at the time. Regarding dubstep, I think the genre is very relevant to our generation (even though) it is also more difficult to get into than drum & bass. To me it reflects some of the despair and anger that a lot of people are feeling these days. There is often a slightly dark and at times menacing subtext through those hard and deep bass lines.

How did you first get into listening to underground music and putting on dance parties?
Taru: Well, I got into music when I was about ten. As a kid growing up in Germany, my older sister exposed me to NWA, Public Enemy, Ice-T and KRS-1. Then when I was about 15, I started my own reggae sound system called Tallawah Vibes. Back in those days, we used to organize and promote our own parties for the youths in the area and tried to make the whole thing into a conscious movement. In a way things are coming full circle for me now and I can’t tell you how glad I am to get a chance to be doing this in India.

Ed: I first got into drum & bass way back in the 1990s. My older brother was a DJ and whenever he left the house I used to sneak into his room and play his records and try to mix! As a young kid I guess I was drawn to this mysterious world of dark nightclubs and fairly antisocial dance music!

Maarten: I started getting into electronic music in the early 1990s too. I still have one of the first Acid House/New Beat cassettes that I got from my older cousins, recorded from a Belgium pirate radio station. From the mid-nineties I started getting into drum & bass as some of my best friends started playing it around. I’ve always been involved with promoting DJ Dre’s drum & bass nights in Rotterdam. I started with flyering in Rotterdam, talking to people, all-nighters putting posters up etc . Then I learned the basics of DJing. At first I only played at house parties but when I came to India I decided it was time to take it a step further.

Considering the significant challenges promoters in Delhi face in drawing a crowd, how were you able to draw such a phenomenal crowd on the first event itself?
Taru: Well, we resorted to a lot of old school style promotion like mixtapes, flyers, posters, stickers etc. We also recorded the BASSFoundation Anthem tune as promo for the night. We just really wanted to connect people who are into the music and give them a sense that all of us work very hard for this because we are passionate about it.

Maarten: I’d like to think it’s because loads of people are bored with a lot of stuff that’s been going on and want something different and exciting. About the promotion part, a lot of promoters only use Facebook to promote. I think Facebook is a good tool but at the end of the day it’s very easy to invite a few thousand people and get a good response (online but not offline). It’s a shame a lot of people here have missed out on the flyer and sticker culture. I’ve just come back from a trip to London and Rotterdam and it’s still big there. People use the internet nowadays but it’s still mainly posters/flyers/stickers. Facebook hardly exists in Holland, there are other social network sites but I think it’s still mainly about creating a buzz by doing it the hard way. BASSFoundation is following those traditional old school methods of promoting events like we are used to from the older days. We’ve been out on the street ourselves putting up posters, bomb the place with stickers, give people flyers and have a chat with them. We’ve had posters up from Khan Market to Pahar Ganj!

As expats, how do you like the scene out here?
Ed: This might sound pretty controversial, but in my opinion India has never had, and arguably will never have, an underground music scene in the same way as in other parts of the world. Although the sounds you hear out in most places are pretty narrow, things do seem to be changing and horizons are broadening. There are Indian artists playing good underground dance music, including dubstep and drum & bass – I’ve heard some wicked sets at Sunburn Festival in Goa and at DESU here in Delhi, and from what I’ve heard there are some great nights in other Indian cities like Mumbai. Indian audiences seem to respond really well to our sound, whether they’re familiar with the genres or not. Our sort of style – especially the soulful, jazzy and reggae-infused beats that we play – seem to go down better than the darker, heavier tunes that a lot of people pigeon-hole drum & bass to be.

Taru: I was born in Delhi and consider myself a Delhiite. I spent some crucial years of my life outside and I experienced the reggae and the hip hop movements that I was exposed to as a youth as something very empowering. That is what I want to represent here and when I’m abroad I represent Delhi and India because there aren’t too many MCs from our part of the planet who represent in the foreign.

BASSFoundation has more bass for your face on their Facebook group and on MySpace.