A Smalltown Dubstep Success Story

brandon h · Post by **brandon h** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 3:23 am

So - I don't post much on this board- or any board, and my apologies if this doesn't quite fit here- But I do love to keep updated as much as possible about the music like everyone else and love to constantly read whats going on, and also like many others I would assume, I get inspired and look up to the people who've put together such awesome scenes and have been able to grow and expand this music in cities around the world-

When I see insane lineups happening in the UK and even in bigger cities in the US, it can be really frusturating being in a smaller, still growing town in the midwest- For example, Kode 9 came nearby here about a year ago and literally less than a dozen people showed!!!

But anywho- this post is just to hopefully inspire some folks who are maybe in an area struggling for a scene and are just trying to put something together for the music and not much more - I live in town like I know others do where the opprotunity to play dubstep anywhere outside your bedroom is a dream pretty much near impossible let alone even get away with commercial dance music anywhere in town. Just Lil Weezy and Lady he-she Ga Ga

In short- a 20 year old friend of mine has been putting together 'events' around my city of Grand Rapids, MI for about a year now, and pulling numbers into the thousands- just from facebooking and grabbing volunteers and working to obtain pretty much free and available resources. Most have been rather goofy- He's done things like a giant Zombie walk where an est. 5000 people walked the streets of our city on Halloween dressed up as zombies and whatnot. But the numbers have swelled and its all from basically adding friends and setting up an event.

However most recently- he and I with a few others decided to put together an electronic music concert consisting of 5 dj's playing everything from electro, dnb, techouse and dubstep. Each DJ had an hour and we got a great deal on a decent soundsystem and lighting and just went for an all out all ages free event in the heart of our normally pretty quiet city.

This was the result -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5JgIiVxlBY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eH0EB5O ... re=related

Despite rain and several other factors- nearly 3000 people came out and there were plenty of super successful afterparties following all at local bars and venues- There was local and statewide press coverage, radio spots and all sorts of stuff in the week that has followed.

Maybe this is pretty stupid to everyone else- but mainly I just thought it was awesome that some great music that would NEVER reach most people got out there and it was all done damn near free and just from a little work- Hopefully more things like this can happen in other towns-

Cheers- thanks for the long read.

defekt · Post by **defekt** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 3:30 am

haha they love it
awesome story

collective · Post by **collective** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 4:03 am

i lived/grew up in detroit and

...hahah i can't believe you got that many people in fucking grand rapids. not my style in but... .well played.

wrecked · Post by **wrecked** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 4:21 am

I feel like sometimes things go over better in smaller cities because there's nothing to do most of the time, so when there is something, people are insanely excited and hungry.

Keep it up!

wheez-ie · Post by **wheez-ie** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 4:32 am

This is a amazing feat

high · Post by **high** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 4:43 am

That looks massive! Great work spreading the dubstep sound!

shaan · Post by **shaan** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 5:04 am

Massive - good shit - wish we could get crowds like that here!

brandon h · Post by **brandon h** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 5:20 am

Shaan wrote:Massive - good shit - wish we could get crowds like that here!

Except you got a consistent and wonderful club! The Others, Optimus Gryme, Kode 9- mad names coming through! Went to Bath St. a few times on my visit there and had an absolute blast every time- keep that up ! Will be stomping through there next time I'm in NZ for sure

The point of posting this was to show that through a little work and some determination, a bunch of college kids pulled this off - so it's totally possible for anyone to do it!!!

Here's also a link to the liveset I played-

http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=100329

Think it's in my sig too but there's a tracklisting and whatnot-
The other sets will actually be posted on a specific site too so I'll probably slap that up as well- some dark D&B was played!
Thanks for the look!
Cheers!

shaan · Post by **shaan** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 5:42 am

give me a yell when you come through again

armada · Post by **armada** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 5:48 am

good looks. awesome having that outside in the middle of town.

spire · Post by **spire** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 7:01 am

armada wrote:good looks. awesome having that outside in the middle of town.

yeah, i dream to throw an event like this. clubs are great, but outdoors can just be awesome, fresh air to breathe.

boomstix · Post by **boomstix** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 7:08 am

i am consistently amazed at the quality of microphones on video cameras these days. sounds pretty clear.

also

congrats looks BIG

shambandito · Post by **shambandito** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 12:15 pm

looks wicked mate! big up for putting something like this together and the crowd really seem to be having it large

turfa · Post by **turfa** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 2:27 pm

good to hear! hopefully ill have a similar story to tell soon haha...

dq · Post by dq » Sat Aug 08, 2009 2:48 pm

WOW. This is what it's all about!
Congrats!

drokkr · Post by **drokkr** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 3:43 pm

thats is brilliant, well done to all involved

Alty · Post by **Alty** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 4:47 pm

boomstix wrote:i am consistently amazed at the quality of microphones on video cameras these days. sounds pretty clear.

also

congrats looks BIG

Agreed it was pretty good on this! Never usually hear that much bass.

A Smalltown Dubstep Success Story

A Smalltown Dubstep Success Story

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