Bassment in Reading is a drum & bass night that likes to do things differently, promoters Linus and Deviate (pictured) give us the lowdown on what they're about...

Please introduce yourself

I'm Steve (Linus) from Berkshire which is a little bit to the west of London. I started Bassment back in 2004 but I now run the night with Nick (Deviate). We have worked together for a year and we're pleased to say we're coming up to our fifth birthday.


Where and when do your events take place?

They take place at Bar Mango in Reading and our nights are on the last Thursday of the month but plans are afoot to move to a more suitable day of the week so watch this space.


What are the names of the residents?

Linus, Deviate, Taro & Solstice, Deba, Mutlee, Arkaik, Kbasha, D Kode and Centrik with MCs Sye, Flewid, Chalkie, Hot Rocks and AC.


What's the night all about?

The whole night was initially setup because I was tired of what was available in the area and wanted to push the music that I loved and give people the opportunity to have something a little different to what was available in the area. Don't get me wrong there was plenty of DnB in the area but it was the usual line-ups with the usual MCs and I just wanted to do something different and really push the envelope.

We're all about doing things differently and producing the feeling of somebody having an intimate house party but in a big club. We're also about trying new things out like making unusual DJ and MC pairings, for example Stamina MC spitting over Noisia and putting on line-ups where you draw people in with a big name and then educate them with somebody who they may of never heard of before. Subfocus and Break for example.

With booking the bigger DJs we also try and get them to play a slightly different set to the normal dance floor smashers and pretty much go by the rule of playing the music you love rather than the music you think the crowd want to hear.

We also have the advantage of having a pretty decent sound system in the garden which has been taken care of by the guys from Resonance which is a local dubstep night and it's great because you can go for a ciggy without leaving the venue and still be undercover from the elements and get your skank on outside. It's a real feature of the club and makes the night even more interesting.


How would you describe your crowd?

Not your conventional DnB Crowd - no attitude whatsoever and a mix of people who are new to the music to people who are absolute connoisseurs. Not too cool for school and all up for a bloody good night out and appreciate good DnB & dubstep. Those who are regulars all sing its praises and those that are virgins all go away telling their friends.


Best memories from a night?

The one memory that springs to mind is when we had John B and Chase & Status down to play. It was just before their album really became popular and was the night before they swept the board at the drum & bass awards and we were really not expecting what happened.

We were going to open at 9pm and at 8pm were in the process of still setting up the club and I nipped out onto the balcony for a ciggy to be greeted by a queue five deep and going down the road and round the corner. Seeing this I pretty much bricked myself; not because we had guaranteed it was going to be a capacity night but because there was going to be all these people who were not going to get into the night.

I had a mad rush of making phone calls and managed to find another venue where we could at least put some dnb on for the people that were not going to get in and arranged an overflow party for those disappointed. Later on in the night I popped over to the other venue to see all these people going nuts to our residents and all of them thanking me for at least laying something extra on for them.

When I got back to the venue Chase & Status were just starting their set and I had one of those "holy shit" moments where you realise that if you put the work in it will pay off. There was a capacity club that was rocking and it was a proper moment with everybody with their hands in the air going mental. It got a little bit emotional and then seeing the videos the following day I just burst into tears as it all came flooding back that we had finally done it. I still get a bit emotional when I think back to it now because Bassment has been such a large part of my life and people really don't understand what stress there is behind the scenes and that one moment made it all seem worthwhile.

Nick's best memory of bassment was watching Andy C smash the club to bits for well over two hours when he was only booked for an hour. He turned up slightly late and asked me if I had some Beechams, then speaking to him afterwards and him telling me he didn't want to get off the decks because he was enjoying the vibe so much!


What are your plans for the future?

We have our fifth birthday in October and have finally convinced the owner of Bar Mango to give us a shot at a Friday night. I really don't think they know what is going to happen as all the "maybe attending" crew on Facebook who have work in the morning will have no excuse not to come. We also have the first Hospitality Reading night which I think is going to be the start of a beautiful relationship between us and them. We also have some very interesting line-ups coming towards the end of the year including some more tie ins with record labels. As for 2010 WATCH THIS SPACE and keep an eye on www.bassmentdnb.com for info on what we have planned when we are ready to unleash it.


Anything else you'd like to tell us about?

We have a Bassment mannequin named Dave who we rescued from a bin outside Topman. We felt sorry for him that he was gonna be left in the gutter and turned him into a DnB celebrity. For the last two years everybody who has DJed at Bassment has signed him and he takes pride of place in the DJ booth at all our nights and is now covered in signatures and is like a who's who of the dnb scene. He even has his own fan page on Facebook. We were going to auction him off for charity but we have become too attached to him now and he is part of what makes Bassment what it is!

Now onto the thanks.

Steve: I would just like to thank everybody who has been involved over the years and has helped shape the night to what it is now. Jack & Colm who I started it with, Dan B who helped us through our period when we were doing Bassment in Maidenhead and to all the DJs and MCs who have come down and entertained us all.

John B deserves a special mention in here because he has stood by me through thick and thin with the night and always told me to never give up. I also have to give massive props to Nick Deviate who came on board just over a year ago when we moved to Bar Mango as it was simply just getting far too much work for somebody to hold down a day job and run a DnB night.

Nick has been instrumental in getting Bassment to where it is and without him I really don't think I would still be walking the streets as I would of been sectioned by now, Nick is like my continence and is the other half of Bassment. Nick now deals with a lot of the admin side of the night as well as well as being a bloody good DJ and has certainly brought a lot to the table. He is also a lot better at telling people how it is and if they are taking the piss as I am far too nice to say NO most of the time and this has been invaluable in quite a lot of situations.

As for moving forward you'll just have to keep checking the site and seeing what we are up to but one thing is certain, we don't have any plans to disappear yet, we have only just begun.

Nick: Firstly I would like to thank Network and Subterra for getting my DnB career started back in 2007. I would also like to say thanks to Steve for getting me involved with Bassment, funny how having a slot after each other on a local pirate radio station pans out your future.

Big ups to our flyer designer Jack Springbett (DJ Deba), I'd like to thank Amelia for all her promotional help and Matt (DJ Mutlee) for all his efforts since moving to Mango and also like to thank every DJ / MC who has played for us.

A special thanks goes out Brian at Bar Mango for giving us a chance of doing a drum and bass / dubstep night in Reading after all other venues had turned us down, and it's funny how these other venues are now doing what were doing and finally a massive thank-you goes out to my girlfriend Hannah who has stood by me so much since being involved with Bassment.   

www.bassmentdnb.com for more info.

Bassment's 5th Birthday is on 23rd October 2009. It's a Hospitality Reading special with High Contrast, Logistics, Mistabishi, MC Wrec + more. Bar Mango, Hosier Street, Reading, RG1 7JL. Tel 01189 507070

Related Links:

• Nick Thayer - Just Let It Go Preview
• Promoter Profile: Signal (Bristol)
• Nufunk: Basement Freaks
• Promoter Profile: Get Some
• Toronto Drum And Bass Awards

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