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Black Sun Empire

Many drum & bass producers promote their own nights to test out their newest productions and showcase their own labels to the general public. For close to seven years Black Sun Empire have been promoting their own event, Blackout. With its seventh birthday coming up in early 2010, we thought it time for a short interview with Black Sun Empire.

Tell us about your event Blackout...
We started it seven years ago, around the same time we started doing music professionally. Our home town of Utrecht didn't have a regular drum & bass night. We thought that was a pity, especially as it's a student city, so we came up with the idea to start a bimonthly event. An event where we could showcase all the names we think are, and will be, important in this scene. It's a great medium to keep a scene alive. To show people what's going on in the world of drum & bass. Besides that, it also enables us to show them what we've been up to!

What has been the most memorable edition of Blackout for you?
I think we all have to agree that the first edition was the most memorable. It was the first time we pretended to be promoters. The first time we were haunted by the idea that we could lose a lot of money because the line-up and the club were quite big (1000 people). But as it turned out we sold out real fast and 300 people couldn't get in. The best part however, was that everybody seemed to have such a good time. It caused a buzz and it was the ideal starting point for a party that is still running.

What strange things have happened at Blackout that you can speak about?
One of the strangest things happened on the night we had Andy C and State Of Mind over. During State of Mind's set a big air-bubble-decoration-aquarium containing 500 liters of chloride water broke which instantly turned the dance floor into a swimming pool... Even outside of the club it smelled like you were going for a swim.

Who do you want to have at Blackout in the future?
Lately we've been combining dubstep and drum & bass on the same party. It was refreshing so we want to keep experimenting with this idea. However the main concept stays the same. We'll just keep inviting all the names that keep us inspired or that have inspired us in the past.

You've recently started a new label amongst the Black Sun Empire family of labels; Shadows of the Empire. What is the idea behind the label?
The last few years we've started producing music that isn't drum & bass. It wasn't really on purpose, it was more a feeling that it had to be done and it was inspiring. It gave us a lot of new ideas, also for drum & bass. From there it was just a logical step for us to set up a new label that would be the outlet for all the non drum & bass music we make. For now it's just dubstep, but that can change! Because you never know what the future will bring...

And the other labels? New artist signings?
We just signed two tracks from Mindscape, 'Maniac' and 'Zombienation', for the 13th 12" on Obsessions and Telemetrik did a collaboration with Bulletproof called 'One', which will be the next 12" on BSE recordings when he finishes the flip!

And lastly, what's coming up from the mighty Black Sun Empire itself?
We're working on an album at the moment; dubstep and drum & bass! So keep your eyes open.

Interview by Jakuza