Deep bass music event Torque is moving from Bristol to London in May, we caught up with promoter Harry Waye-Barker to find out more about the night...

Please introduce yourself...
Torque was founded in February 2008 with the aim of bringing high quality, more musical aspects of drum & bass in an intimate and friendly environment. It all began in a tiny little venue called the Tube in Bristol, it was a great starting block for us to put on a couple of headliners and create a buzzing atmosphere.

We stayed at the Tube for just over a year before moving to Basement 45 for our second birthday. Torque needed a larger space to develop the line-ups we'd been craving and it felt like the ideal venue. We've enjoyed a couple of years at Basement 45 hosting two New Years Eve events as well as label nights for Shogun Audio, Critical, Club Autonomic and Renegade Hardware.

Corsica Studios is a new adventure for us and we look forward to entertaining bigger and stronger line-ups on a superb sound system. It also gives us the scope to broaden our horizons and invite some different faces down.

Where and when do your events take place?
Torque takes place every three months at Corsica Studios in London.

Who are the residents?
Our residents on rotation include: Distilled, Seamless, Emblem, Furesshu, K-eye, Messy and Mantmast.

What's the night all about?
Torque represents the deeper spectrum of bass music, exhibiting artists that are pushing the genre boundaries in an interesting way. We meld emerging talent with more established artists, keeping the night fresh and exciting. As a result the crowd is generally clued up and responds massively to the new music that is on show.

Torque has always strived to provide the most upfront music we can and we have tried to stand out wherever we've been based. We have always wanted to push the producers we were feeling most and not just the guaranteed floor fillers. Over the years we have given Bristol debuts to Spectrasoul, Instra:mental, Consequence, June Miller, SKC, Sigha, Nymfo, Proxima, FD, DLR, and Chris Octane to name a few.
 
Best memories from a night?
There are too many to list but one stand-out memory would have to be DJ Die on New Years Eve 2009 talking on the mic to the crowd about why he had decided to play a mix of old and new drum & bass (he was booked for an old skool set). His set was unbelievable too! Or having dBridge singing at our opening Club Autonomic event. We had such a responsive audience that night, I've never seen so many people react to a tune like Instra:mental's No Future.

The funniest thing to have happened at one of your events?
I think keeping the booth well stocked with weird spirits and generally having a laugh has been our legacy over the years, just ask K-eye! New Years Eve in the booth at 7am with Alix Perez and Rockwell playing hip hop was fun. In fact, this year Alix ended up getting removed from the club for a few minutes for smoking!

Fierce back at our old house playing guitar and letting people mix out of his bag was a good memory, we used to be a lot more hardcore in the old days! We have always had fun at our nights and this transcends across from the artists to the audience, as soon as that stops, we'll stop!

Tell us all about your next night...
On Friday 6th May we welcome a massive line-up to Corsica Studios including: Marcus Intalex, Boddika, Alix Perez, Ben UFO, Icicle, Ulterior Motive, Hyetal, Jam City, Tasha, Furesshu, William Orca, Pessimist and Vega. We're especially excited about this one as Hyetal, Icicle and Marcus Intalex will all be celebrating the launch of their respective albums. You can buy tickets here.

What are your plans for the future?
Torque will continue to pursue innovative and forward thinking music in a unique atmosphere. We look forward to spreading our wings further afield to incorporate broader sounds from the bass music scene, we are particularly excited about our room two in May! Corsica Studios feels like the ideal place to showcase our sound and we're looking forward to finally getting started.

Anything else you'd like to tell us about?
We'd like to thank everyone who has come down and supported Torque over the years and special thanks go to Owen, Josh, Jack, Luke and Leon for all the background work so far. May 6th is looking to be a landmark night for Torque and we hope you can join us in celebration.

 

 

Related Links:

• Tempo Clash
• Raising Money For A Good Cause
• Subloaded @ Corsica Studios Preview
• Shogun's new London residency
• Promoter Profile: Signal (Bristol)

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