DJ Zinc was initially brought to my attention by a friend, and I was quickly intrigued by Zinc’s dance sub genre, Crack House. Zinc’s history lay in dub step and drum and bass, but he is arguably most known for his reggae infused jungle anthems, like Super Sharp Shooter. Zinc left the drum and bass scene in 2007, so I was keen to hear what tracks he’d play and the vibe he’d create.

I thought the fact that only the Candy Bar was to be opened was slightly odd, expecting a far larger turn out than the little upper Academy Bar could handle. However, considering the gig was initially to be held at Lot 33, perhaps the Candy Bar was more size appropriate. It turns out that the latter was true. I rocked up towards the end of Canberra local Celebrity Sex Tape’s predominantly electro house set, greeted by a pleasantly heavy bass line. A small crew was present, some milling around the bar, but most hovering either near the decks or in the back section of the lounge area. Celebrity’s set had a funky house edge to it, including I’m Bossy by Kelis and Yolanda Be Cool’s We Don’t Speak No Americano nicely blended in.

Steve Lind then took over with a slightly lighter bass line but continued the electro house vibe. Dressed in a slightly oversized tee and black cap fashionably slightly askew, his set was bigger and bouncier than Celebrity’s, adding a little reggae twinge to prepare the crowd for whatever Zinc was to bring. Lind used sirens as an effective tool to bridge songs and drop bass lines in. A frown did shadow my face as Bloody Beatroots’ overplayed (and often relied upon) party pumper Warp came on, but I lightened as it turned into a funky remix. Lind made a genuine attempt at getting the place crankin’, and usually it would have worked. For some reason, the crowd was not expressing their enthusiasm through wild and raucous dance moves. I began to have reservations as to whether this night really would pick up.

Zinc hovered around the decks, unplugging and re-configuring fifteen minutes prior to his set’s start. Can you say organised and prepared? A decent show of Canberra DJ’s and hip hop artists had made an appearance to check out this UK legend, with many not knowing exactly what to expect or even what crack house really was. Zinc let his favourites and best known tracks fly, including Submarine and Killa Sound , mixed alongside Squark by Roska. While there was no explicit dub step or drum and bass, he used a bottom heavy bass line as opposed to the somewhat top heavy bass lines heard earlier in the night. I felt a twinge of Baltimore and dirty house was thrown in for good measure also. He threw in his own Too Many Men towards the end of the set before closing with Wile Out.

While the dance floor waxed and waned over the night the whole place was never really vibing like I hoped it would. Though the night was fun, crowd wise I found it to be an anti climax. Perhaps some punters were disappointed that they paid cover to only have access to the Candy Bar. But, with a pretty poor turn out, the vibe would have been totally lost in the main room. Some were happy with his performance though others thought he could have stayed true to his dnb and dubstep roots.