Canada's Flatliners on their Local DnB Scene

The great thing about the Internet is that it is a global medium, so a website such as Tranzfusion.net can reach a vast audience. Even so, I was a little surprised to hear from a Canadian drum and bass crew by the name of Flatline Records Inc who're seeking a to get their sounds out as far away as the wrong side of the world. We thought we'd use this opportunity to get a bit of an insight into the Canadian dnb scene and some up and comers on the other side of the world. Tranzfusion, via the joys of the net and email, conversated with DJ Drumaddic and DJ Rom…

Could you tell us a little about the development of drum and bass in Canada-
It's been a long development with a few key players who remain strong in the scene today - such as DJ Marcus. Jungle parties used to be small in the early - mid 90s, but began to get larger as production companies like Syrous and Delirium started to bring in UK headliners.


The first such occasion was Kenny ken's trip to Syrous - first international jungle DJ to touchdown in Toronto - to my knowledge anyways. Since than the scene has changed, it got big - went large, huge and really strong for a while, but it's kinda died off again now. That's a brief history of the jungle scene. The music always gets stronger and more people listening to it, that's for sure, but because of laws, limitations on venues and that sort of bullshit, it's simmered down a little.

What are the main centres of drum and bass in Canada-
I'm not really sure what you mean. If you mean venues - and I can only really speak of Toronto - the docks is the main jungle rave spot now a days whenever there is a international guest - for the most part anyways. Turbo Nightclub has its night, System Soundbar has their night and there are always small parties going down in clubs and bars in Toronto and the greater Toronto area. Nothing like it used to be, they started off in warehouses and illegal venues - like everywhere else. Then they moved to legal spots, it eventually got so big that promoters were booking spots and the C.N.E. and parties were being thrown in government owned buildings like the Automotive Centre and International Centre. It was cool. Syrous had a huge one with DJ Hype and the Chemical Brothers for their 6th year anniversary
- filled up to around 15,000 people that night. Now it's all clubs and bars.

Who are the major players in the scene-
There's the Vinyl Syndicate crew; Mystical, Sniper, Illfingas, Slip n Slide, Medicine Muffin, Rukkus - more I know I am forgetting, but those are the main crew from the Syndicate. DJ Marcus - the man...wicked dj, Toronto's main jungle man - known as visionary when producing. Let's see, there's Freaky Flow, Capital J, Spinz, Ruckus, Lush - MCs Caddy Cad, Bandit, Trajady, Lal, JD. There are up n comers starting to make their names right now. And than there is us, who are starting to make our names right now too - but as well as Toronto, we wanna do the international thing too, kinda like Freaky Flow. You'll read more about that below.

Have many Canadians broken into the world (UK) scene-
Kinda answered that above. Freaky Flow is the only internationally famous dj/producer from Toronto. The Vinyl Syndicate crew have kinda made a name for themselves in the UK as producers with some phat tracks, and Marcus has done some UK projects producing for Flex, so has up n comer Stranjah - just released his first double pack.
Catchin Wreck, Ruckus and Hustlin beats have started making their name in the UK. Now that I think about it, Toronto is more international than I thought - but definitely not as large as we should, and could be. We once were (and probably still are) rated the best place to jungle rave/party in the world. The UK headliners love it here.

Is dnb very big-
Yeah, it's pretty big. Has definitely gotten a lot larger since it first came here. It's getting big, and is always getting bigger.

If so, how

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• canada
• flatliners