Collateral Damage pres. Spor & Ewun @ The Palace, Melbourne (13/09/08)

Melbourne knows a good drum n’ bass party when they see one. Spor & Ewun, two relatively unknown names in my music vocabulary but to a whole host of drum n’ bass punters out there, they’re already heroes. Spor hails from the UK and Ewun from the US. Both on the Lifted label, they are no strangers to the international drum n’ bass circuit and incredibly, Spor is just a spring chicken at only 22 years old.

The Palace (former Metro) was an unlikely location for a small drum n’ bass party but it was actually just in one upstairs room, making for an interesting venue. As drum n’ bass fans know, the smaller the room then the lower the ceiling, and the better the venue! Following this rule, the ‘upstairs’ space was perfect – actually giving you the feeling of being in a friend’s living room instead of in a club. Peering down onto the empty main room of The Palace was a strange thing – I was relieved to be upstairs in this cosy room.

Unlike so many gigs in Melbourne lately, the punters were there to see Spor & Ewun. Sure, they were there to have a good time and hang out with friends too, but all were fans of these guys as far as I could see which made for a brilliant atmosphere. No sleaziness, no wankers – but instead, a small crowd with something in common.

The guys did individual sets first up, befroe hitting the decks together. For Anyone who thinks all drum n’ bass sounds the same, check these guys out. They play everything from dark and dirty bassy sounds, to much more electro sounding drum n’ bass as well as progressive. The same rule always applies though – it’s all pretty fast and high energy stuff. Lots of sweaty bodies rammed together in a small room with these sounds amounts to one hell of a party. The visuals were great too – lots of industrial, chunky images to complement the music well. Thanks to the Collateral team for putting on such a successful night.