Dubstep in Fort Collins: A Sensation in the Making
Imagine yourself here: a jam-packed, dimly-lit club where everyone is dancing to their hearts’ content. The DJ is appealing to the lively crowd’s every sensory reaction. Lights flash along to the heavy, bass-filled beats. It’s hard to breathe, but the music is so hypnotic that you can’t bring yourself to get some fresh air. This is a typical setting for the music and dance sensation that has come to be known as dubstep.
Dubstep is fairly new to Fort Collins, Colo., where it has quickly become the go-to party music for high school and college students. “Dubstep went from a couple of fans less than two years ago, to now, where everyone and their mom is bumping it everywhere they go,” Miguel Garcia, 21, said, who helps promote the “House of Dub” shows at the Aggie Theater through I Party FoCo.
But dubstep is not a new trend in other parts of the world. In fact, it draws influence from other types of music to form the electronic, bass-heavy experience that is.
Dubstep originated in the early 2000s in southeast London, England, in a town called Croydon. This new genre of dance music formed a combination of the garage and grime scenes that were occurring around that time, according to an article posted online by Suite101. Ammunition Productions is responsible for penning the term “dubstep,” who created the name by trying to describe the beats that they heard, Suite101 continues.
Not to be confused with its instrumentally reggae-inspired brother, dub, many pen Radio 1 DJ Mary Anne Hobbs as the creator of dubstep and responsible for pushing it into popularity, according to an article by Gervase de Wilde in the Telegraph. What started as “white-man’s reggae,” de Wilde continues, dubstep quickly became a more creative experience for the DJs mixing the songs, and electronic and techno inspirations started to shine through.
Its sound is at once original and inspired. Focusing on bass-heavy beats with an emphasis on drum sounds, this genre oftentimes samples popular music or clips of familiar sound to make an original song. The addition of original vocals is rare. This music is meant to be heard at loud volumes.
Although it started out as an underground scene in London, dubstep has quickly made its way across the pond. It arrived in America around 2006, thanks in large part to its widespread Internet buzz, according to Canadian news source CBC.
Fort Collins has seen a recent rise in dubstep fans. Local student Ryan Good, 22, is a frequent listener of dubstep, and recently started a blog devoted completely to the genre, especially in Colorado.
“I’d say that it really took off in the summer of 2009 in Fort Collins, and it has grown directly aiming toward high school and college students in the area,” Good said.
Fort Collins-based DJ Robert “Rob Bass” Brehm, 22, has noticed an “exponential” growth since the Aggie Theater first hosted their “Got Bass” and “House of Dub” shows in August of 2010.
“At first I had problems playing it at parties, as people would complain that they couldn’t dance to it,” Brehm said. “In Summer 2010, I would go to bars and never hear dubstep being played by the DJs. Now you see whole nights dedicated to dubstep by the bars, not to mention the bi-monthly sold out shows from ‘Got Bass’ and ‘House of Dub.’”
Many have criticized dubstep for being uncreative and just focused on covering other popular songs. Since it focuses on electronically mixing other songs into a new song, it seems like a genre that would be open to scrutiny. Good disagrees, and believes dubstep has changed the way he listens to music.
“The concept of ‘writing your own songs’ is completely altered because so many dubstep artists remix others’ beats and even just DJ their songs, giving a new meaning to cover music. It’s definitely an extension of electronic music,” he said.
Brehm was immediately drawn to dubstep when he first became a DJ at the start of 2010.
“I fell in love with it instantly. I like to play it because of its diversity,” he said. “I feel that, unlike other genres, like house, it has way more potential of telling a story or being a sonic recreation of something.”
Dubstep is universally appealing, no matter where you are. From London to Fort Collins, the inspirations in each dubstep song cross a vast spectrum of music genres that attract the ears of almost anyone. It has almost become a culture in itself, catering to people who want to listen to experiential music and be creative while dancing to it.
“Dubstep shows are usually a lot of fun because they have the most fun dancing anywhere,” Good explained. “The shows are usually a great way to meet new people and have fun with friends. Networking is a big part of the scene, too.”
Brehm has noticed the Fort Collins dubstep crowd as one that is diverse and loyal to the genre. “I see kids who are as young as 14 and people who must be in their 50s,” he said.
Brehm attributes this growth in popularity to dubstep’s attention to a variety of music. “People who are fans of many other genres (like metal or hip-hop) can find something in dubstep that they recognize,” he said. “Just like the genre itself, fans of dubstep are very diverse.”
The future of dubstep looks bright. Its popularity grows every day, and each DJ who produces dubstep creations are inspired by everything – from Katy Perry to Ludacris.
With our ever-growing technological age, it seems that dubstep will find a way of advancing itself along its path to continue creating a ground-breaking musical experience, and garner an even bigger following than it already has. Resistance to it will be ineffective, since it is already such a large scene.
“Part of the beauty of dubstep is that there’s no snobbery whatsoever in terms of where you draw your influences from,” DJ Mary Anne Hobbs said in an article for Time Out London by Sharon O’Connell. “It’s also completely egoless and, in an industry where most people would trample over the next man to get a nose ahead, that’s rare. Dubstep is a sound that will literally stop you in your tracks; it’s so powerful and elemental.”
Make sure to visit www.dubstepcolorado.com to read all the latest local updates on dubstep in Fort Collins and beyond.
Visit http://gotbassmusic.com/blog/category/genres/dub-step/ to read about the Got Bass/House of Dub shows at the Aggie Theater, and the artists who perform their sets there.
Also take a listen to a recent set by local DJ Rob Bass:
Live Mix on Glitch.fm Sunday Smoke Sessions by Rob Bass DJ
A Bass All His Own
Since dubstep’s inception in America, many DJs have adopted the trend and have even been defined by creating solely bass-heavy sounds. One such DJ hails from Fort Collins, Colo. His name is Robert Brehm, but he goes by DJ Rob Bass. At only 22 years of age, Brehm has quickly made a name for himself in the Colorado dubstep and club scene.
Originally from Boulder, Colo., Brehm’s career as a musician has been written in the stars. “I have been playing music as far back as I can remember,” he reminisces. "My mom and my little sister both have albums on iTunes, and live music has always been a part of everyday life for me.”
Being a learned DJ isn’t his only qualification as a musician, either. Having been a part of several different bands, such as acoustic rock and metal, his music resume is very impressive. “I play guitar, bass, a little bit of keys, drums and trumpet, and I sing,” he says.
But being a DJ is his calling, with dubstep as his true love. He currently attends Colorado State University, but when he graduates, he plans to move to Denver to increase the number of his gigs. He also wishes to form his own independent record label.
Until then, however, Rob Bass will still be entertaining crowds with his unique sets at the “Got Bass” and “House of Dub” shows at the Aggie Theater.
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