Hatcha is one of the founding fathers of dubstep. As owner of the Big Apple records store in Croydon, which acted as a headquarters for the scene in its embryonic days, he watched the genre's inception as it emerged from the dark garage scene at the end of the 90s.

He has remained at the centre of the scene as it has grown from a small like-minded collection of people in a London suburb to an international movement that is making inroads into the charts and has major labels sniffing around many of the artists involved.  

"It's wicked to know you were there from day one and to have seen the scene grow," he explains, "especially when some of the producers have grown to massive status and the parties have grown from 10-20 people to 500-5000 or even more at some events! The feedback from all the ravers is wicked too!"

However, Hatcha is confident that this is still only the beginning and that the genre is developing well alongside its growth and is going to continue to do so:

"The scene is going from strength to strength day by day. It is mutating well with major labels involved and major artists from all over the globe having a sniff of the dubstep pie! It is definitely the freshest sound to come out of London for a long time, and there is plenty of life left in it. This is just the start!

"I always had a picture in my mind of how it would be nice for the sound to grow into a new international genre like drum & bass did and I knew it could be done. It's just wicked how much it has grown and how well it is doing."

Hatcha is quick to credit the scene's health to the DJs and producers putting in the hard work and making the music ("It's the brilliant production & DJing skills which attracts the ravers"), but also recognises the part that technological advances have played. "I think the internet has played a huge roll by giving people easy access to the sound across the globe. Dubstep has really embraced the digital side of things to promote itself."

However, he is aware of the inevitable problems that come with such rapid growth and wants to make sure that dubstep sidesteps the fragmentation and division that drum and bass has suffered from. "I think keeping all the genres of dubstep under one term is important because if we start to break it up it will affect the scene just like in drum and bass. You find that you separate the ravers, and it is good to have a line-up of DJs and producers all playing their own style of the sound; it makes the scene stronger and keeps everyone as one big family."

So strong is the scene, and so vast is the wealth of talent around at the moment, that Hatcha has recently set up the Sin City record label with N Type. As he explains, it was a pretty straightforward decision for him:

"We were both getting sent so much music that it just makes sense to try and push more music out there for the public to buy. There is so much good stuff out there that it had to be done, and if we make a pound note out of it then what a bonus!"

Expect a lot more to come from the label in the coming months too. "We are always signing new stuff and we have just tied up the next double pack and single, and the tape packs of the Sin City nights are being printed now which is cool."

They will also be running Sin City nights in conjunction with the label. They have booked the line-up for Sin City at Plan B in Brixton for February 12th 2010 and they will be running it each month after that to promote the label.

Hatcha is also stepping up his own game on the production front. He has always produced, but he has made his name predominantly as a DJ up until now, releasing a few things intermittently. As he says, "I have always produced and now I think it's time for me to really make my mark there as well as through DJing. I'll be firing out some beats and remixes in 2010. I will hopefully get a few out before the end of this year, but with the DJing work being so busy it's hard to find the time to knuckle down properly."

Future:Dubstep:03 mixed By MRK1 & Hatcha is out in January on Eight:FX.

 

• Hatcha

Related Links:

• Audio: Free DJ Hatcha Mix From 2002
• New Hatcha & Lost Dubstep Release
• MC DRS Reveals His Latest Studio Projects
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• Annie Mac Interview

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