DJ Zinc has retained a unique take, his releases defining the standard in club orientated beats for close to a decade. He first got involved in drum & bass in the early nineties as a DJ, holding down the residency at the now legendary Desire for over two years before making the step into the studio.

He started making his own music in 1992 with DJ Swift who he met through Pirate Impact FM. Their collaborations developed into the eight volume ‘Swift and Zinc’ series on Bizzy B’s Progression label. In 1994, Zinc went solo with ‘Super Sharp Shooter’, a tune which has been largely regarded as a cornerstone of the Jungle scene. ‘6 Million Ways’ soon followed as did his DJing, playing out every weekend at pioneering Jungle/ Drum n Bass club nights; Elevation, Desire, One Nation, World Dance, United Dance and Slammin’ Vinyl. His sets took him across the world too taking in the sights of Japan, America, Canada, Brazil, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand as well as every country in Europe.

It was around this time that he came to form the legendary label “True Playaz” as he explains. ‘Hype had been encouraging me to put a label together for some time, for me to have more control over my releases. I remember thinking at the time that I didn’t really have everything a person needed to run a label though there were certain things that Hype and Pascal could do that I wasn’t able to and vice versa, so we decided to start a label between the three of us.’

One of the strengths behind Playaz is that all three people are involved on every level, writing the material as well as working on the releases and promoting the label. Zinc explains their roles: ‘Hype is concerned with maintaining a certain level of quality and as such acts as the A&R, deciding what we release and on what format. That’s good for me, because it keeps any pressure off and I don’t have to worry too much – if write a track which meets the standard then it gets released and if it doesn’t, it gets scrapped. Aside from that side of things, we’re all equal partners though Hype will take responsibility if anything goes wrong – which is cool.’

This was the first event at Heat Nightclub that I was attending since the debacle that occurred a few months ago when Tech Itch, Teebee and Black Sun Empire came down to Perth. To many drum’n’bass punters, it was probably one of the most disappointing nights as it seemed the club had no more place for everything it once stood for – an amazing party for all to enjoy.

With the event under promotion from Loaded Dice, they made sure all the necessary changes were made. A new upgrade to the sound system – providing “Quadraphonic Sound” was installed for the night, enabling the same volume of music all around the club to be heard, rather from just the front. I was a bit sceptical at first, but when we got there at about 10:30pm, the sound was really pumping, and I could really tell that there was a huge difference since the last time I was there.

Diamond D was on the decks playing once again his style of a solid selection and tight mixing, until about 12 midnight where after much anticipation, the Dub Alley boys – Josh Hyde (RawHyde) and Mark “Willo” Wilson (Kantankruz) stepped up to the decks. They were greeted with a huge roar from the crowd and provided Heat with probably one of the most wobbly sets ever heard in the history of the club. Their own unique style and vast array of tunes they’ve produced themselves have lately made them become the crème of the crop of the Perth drum’n’bass scene. These boys have been working hard in and out of the studio and I see nothing but bigger and better things to come for them. You can support them weekly at the Hyde Park Hotel on Wednesday nights for their weekly night of broken beats – “Ebbnflow.” Dub Alley played a nice selection of DJ Hazard tunes, and their own tracks “Spiderman RMX” and closing with a slammer – “Six Four”, a tribute to the late rapper Eazy-E.

It was then Zinc’s turn to approach the decks, and he put on a show. Relentless mixing, flawless beat matching and proving that he is unquestionably a superb technician and showed us why he’s been floating around the top of the Drum’n’bass/Jungle DJ polls for over a decade. His mixture of tunes old and new is probably also one of the reasons why he has stayed on top – and Perth was presented with an all class show from him this night. MC’s Assassin and Xsessiv provided the crowd with the vocalised hype – proving once again why they are Perth’s best MC’s. Hype closed with the legendary track “Ready or Not” which got everyone who had been in the scene for some time a feeling of nostalgia.

With the crowd gunning for it and enjoying most of the night, I’d say that Heat Nightclub has redeemed itself – and I’m sure punters will flock there again for events. The sub bass could have been a little louder, but in my opinion the sound technicians did a wonderful job for what they had. My only little complaint would be the ventilation in the club, and being a very warm night – it got extremely stuffy in the club.

I was a little too tired to stay till the end and left after Zinc’s set, but all I can say is thank you Loaded Dice for probably one of the parties of the year. Thanks also to Heat Nightclub for putting back faith in all the punters after what lot was lost a few months ago.