As a part of our recently launched and ongoing feature series, Looking Local, ITM’s doing our bit to give kudos to those events on the local dance scene that consistently follow the beat of their own drum and run their regular nights for the music and the people who love that music alone.

At the top of our list as a night doing just that sits Sydney’s Index. Spilling out of the successful Void events, Index has set up shop at Oxford Street’s Phoenix Bar and doled out the love to its dedicated following in the form of shows featuring the likes of Kode 9, Appleblim and Gaslamp Killer. The next big Index gig sees old favourite Deadbeat coming through so we spoke with Damien Abicic to get the better acquainted with everything Index.

How do you view the club scene in Sydney at the moment?

DA: “I couldn’t really give a good account of the ‘scene’ as I don’t really go out to clubs. The events I do attend have the same mentality to us but I wouldn’t classify any of those within the scene that I suspect your question is directed. I suppose I make a distinction between specialist club nights with no budget, no venue pull and no hype to the established clubs which exist and operate around a commercial framework.

Clubs in Sydney want to make money so they will play whatever people want to hear, the club bookers and managers don’t need to be into it, know about it or care about it, as long as it gets people in the door. At the moment the in sound is Dubstep and you couldn’t find a club owner or booker in town right now who doesn’t want it played in their club, it’s a bit of joke really. It’s an endless cycle and it won’t change…those who know the score will keep doing their thing and the others will take an interest in it only when they can make money out of it. I suppose for nights like ours we are blown away that we have a solid crowd supporting us (and other nights in the same vein) and we have been going strong for over 3 years. We don’t take that support for granted.”

Index seems to be quite unique for this city in the mix of music it showcases. Was that always the intention?

DA: “I suppose Index has carried on with the intentions Void had when it started, primarily as a multi genre night. With Dubstep being an amalgamation of various genres and diverse influences we thought it only natural to encompass all of that under the one banner. As time went on though and with the Dubstep scene blowing up larger than we could have ever anticipated the Void night evolved to represent mainly the Dubstep sound, in a way it was almost suffocated by it, everyone wanted to hear it and everyone wanted to play it, it got a bit much really. This was cool in some aspects and not so in others and it got to the point where we needed something else to represent the stuff on the fringes, the more cutting edge and forward thinking music that we were really into and that got us into Dubstep in the first place. We also used it as a platform to push whatever else we felt needed to be heard, be it electronica, techno, drum and bass or whatever. So Void continues to represent the more straight up Dubstep and Grime while Index encompasses a far broader framework of music.”

How do you go about creating loyalty to an event? Is it largely down to the acts, or more than that?

DA: “I would say it’s got something to do with regularity and structure to what we do. Constant flow of international artists to our night helps too. In the last two years I think we have had at least one international act a month for that time and in some cases two acts. Also, the crowd that attends our night (and others which are similar) are educated when it comes to music, they know they are going to get something different when they check our night and will attend regardless of being familiar with the artists performing or not. That’s kind of what it’s about for us, exposing people to something new and different and hoping people have some faith in the night. We did the same when we started going out, going to Frigid or Bass Code you know you are going to walk away with something you haven’t heard before. Also, the effort that goes into our sound system has a lot to do with people coming back. The quality of sound systems in Sydney clubs is just atrocious (with one or two exceptions) and for music like ours it needs to be heard properly and with as much bass as possible, it’s a pointless exercise otherwise.”

Index is hosting two events with very special headliners in July. Do you feel winter is a natural time for Index to thrive?

DA: “For me, bass music is winter music. There is nothing like stepping into a warm club on a freezing night and not leaving until the place shuts. But yeah, it is tough at times getting a crowd in winter especially when you have an agenda like ours that will not water down what we do for the sake of getting more people through door. I suppose it comes down to our crowd being serious music heads too. As we sit outside the mainstream clubbing framework we don’t need to worry too much about what the clubbing trends are and when the best time is to do nights or not. We have our schedule and those interested in checking our night out can do so fortnightly down at the Phoenix. Our most successful nights have typically been in winter too, Loefah and Kode 9 come to mind. But yeah July is super big for us with Deadbeat being one of our favourite acts and Instra:mental being an act we have been trying to get out here for some time. People that know the score will be there rain, hail or shine.”

There’s obviously strong consideration of appropriate supports for each headliner you host. Do you feel there’s a healthy pool of talent within Sydney?

DA: “Every support act we booked is booked for a specific set time. We know what people are doing either as DJs or live acts. Perhaps they may not have been booked for one of our gigs yet but we know what’s going on and look to expose as many new acts as possible (providing we like what they are doing…). There is a massive cross over between all styles of bass music in Sydney right now and many producers and DJs are representing many styles of music. That’s unreal as far as we are concerned as it just builds interest in the stuff we are pushing. We have done producer showcases in the past and have one or two planned before the year is out. It’s fundamental to support local artists, we are into their stuff and they are mates of ours most of the time and it’s only through nights like ours that they get a platform to get their stuff out in a club. Its not as if any they would even get a look in at any of the larger club nights or festivals, well unless they could make them money of course.”

Having hosted Deadbeat at Void in 2009, what was it about his performance that compelled you to have him back?

DA: “We have hosted many international artists, some play for us again and others don’t for various reasons. The ones that do we feel are exceptional artists in their particular style or genre. Deadbeat is definitely one of those. Scott, consistently plays all the top festivals around the globe not to mention the best clubs. He has collaborated with all the top producers in techno and his live show is unlike any we have seen. He blew Rusko out of the water when he played for us last and his performance on the tour before that at Club 77 was unreal too. Another aspect is the uniqueness of his music, its techno, its dancehall, its dub and Dubstep and yet none of those things at the same time. Its interesting seeing new genres pop up and looking at what influences them, I think many of the producers dabbling in the Dubstep/techno cross over thing right now look to guys like Deadbeat for fresh view on things. There is no question we are pretty excited about this show.”

DJ Profile: Mark Pritchard

Mark, you’ve always been a very prolific producer, working across a range of projects. Is it important for you creatively to work like that?

MP: “It’s just what comes natural to me really, I don’t really ever think about it. It’s a nightmare to manage though, that’s why my music seems to take ages to come out, well for me at least. Some of the H313 album was over 5 years old when it came out. I’m trying think of ways of avoid that in the future. But I have the feeling that’s just the way it is for me. I think that I can be 10 different acts and finish 10 albums off at the same time, ain’t happening.

The obvious answer on this is that by doing different styles all the time, I try to avoid repeating myself, or losing inspiration for a certain project or style, as I just do what I feel like doing, instead of forcing tracks out.”

What is demanding most of your attention at the moment on the production front?

“The Africa Hitech project that I am doing with Steve Spacek. We just had a EP out called Hitecherous, the first single Blen came out in March, there should be one more single this year, then a album in March 2011. I’m also working on a Harmonic 313 mini album, some tracks for Trim’s next album, another Deep Medi release, I just finished a remix for Gonjasufi and a remix for Ninja Tune’s 20 year boxset of Poirier. Also, I’m doing a remix for Greensleeves records.”

You’re a regular at Void and Index; what do you feel they bring to the Sydney scene?

MP: “Void and Index are the only real regular nights for any forward thinking bass music. Alongside Headroom and Space Is the Place that is it. These are the nights where you can hear interesting new and old underground dance music. The good thing is that it isn’t a fashion/trendy scene, it’s just about the music, people don’t come there for anything else but the music. The most important thing also to note is that Damien also tries to book different varied DJs/producers. He could of just gone for the money and booked big name, obvious DJs from the Dubstep scene but instead has tried to keep it balanced, booking people who are more original in what they do along side having good DJs that can smash it, investing long term really. It’s about balance, if there is a DJ booked that plays more hype then the night is tailored around that.”

Is there a certain freedom with what you can play at these parties?

MP: “Yeah, I always play what I want. Between Void and Index I can play everything that I want to play.”

Obviously Dubstep has blown up in the UK – how healthy do you feel that boom has been for the sound?

MP: “Dubstep has blown up world wide. It’s been good and bad as always when scenes blow up. More people are drawn to a scene but unfortunately some people miss the point of it and are only open to maybe the more obvious side of a sound. We don’t get too many of those people luckily. It is something that really annoys me, when people want just the heavy metal hype rave end of Dubstep or when you’re playing a track by Mala and you get idiots shouting play some “Dubstep” “DUBSTEP”. Of course there are great hype banging tracks but they lose their impact if you play too many of them and if too much of that stuff is played it makes it harder to play good stuff. Also when a scene gets bigger more and more people start making the music, but instead of trying to make something interesting they make tracks inspired by other Dubstep tracks. When the originators were making tracks inspired by a wide range of other music.

Saying that though there are a lot of people making good music at the moment amongst all of the throw-away stuff. The 140/135 bpm Dubstep or what ever you want to call it is quite healthy for fresh music at the moment. You just have to look a bit harder to find it.

Here’s a few that I recommend:

Mala
Untold
Ramadanman
Addison Groove
James Blake
Joe
Dexplicit
Terror Danjah
Falty Dl

Labels

Punch drunk records
Numbers records
Deep Medi
Swamp 81
Hessle
Hemlock

Index featuring Deadbeat is set for Friday July 23rd, so check out all the details on our ITM events page. Meanwhile, check out an Index-centric mix right here on ITM-FM.