A pioneer of UK dubstep and a resident of Berlin for the last couple of years, London’s Paul Rose a.k.a. Scuba continues to run the influential Hotflush label, while his SUB:STANCE parties at Berghain (booked with Paul Spymania) have become ground zero for his genre’s more forward-thinking proponents.
Dubstep seems so English.
Moving away gave me some distance from the dubstep thing, which is still very London-based. That’s had a positive impact, I think, in the sense of the extra freedom you have without the subconscious effect of hearing so much of it, and seeing the people and everything else. The SUB:STANCE night has given the music a platform in this city that wasn’t really there before – I think the vibe there is more similar to the original UK dubstep vibe than it is in clubs in the UK at the moment. We tend to avoid the rave sound that has become quite popular.
How has Techno Berlin taken it?
Obviously, the electronic scene in this city is very centred on house and techno, but the guys who run Berghain didn’t need much persuading to let us do the night there, and everyone who works at Hardwax has been pushing the music for years now. So people are pretty open-minded about the whole thing, which is great for us, but also shows how healthy the scene is here.
The term “dubstep” is still a slippery one – not quite codified yet.
A lot of people think they know what it is, which is part of the reason why a significant part of scene has stalled creatively. You have this aggressive, jump-up-influenced, male-dominated rave sound that never really challenges itself, and ends up being the opposite of what dubstep was originally supposed to be about – which is a platform of tempo and sub bass on which you can experiment and do whatever you want. But there’s a growing part of the sound that has really established itself over the last 18 months, that has kept experimenting and kept pushing things forward: labels like Hessle Audio, Apple Pips, Hemlock, Ramp and others (including Hotflush, I hope).
What are your pre-dubstep influences?
The main things initially were the Artificial Intelligence albums on Warp, mid-1990s jungle, techno and UK garage. Actually, those are still my main reference points now. The genre looks ready to finally break out. There have been some dubstep acts signed to major labels recently, although nothing has been released yet. I find the whole preoccupation with getting on a major a bit strange, to be honest: it was them getting involved that ultimately killed garage, and there are probably more horror stories than successful ones when it comes to underground artists who signed big deals. Personally, I won’t be paying much attention to that whole side of things.
The genre looks ready to finally break out.
There have been some dubstep acts signed to major labels recently, although nothing has been released yet. I find the whole preoccupation with getting on a major a bit strange, to be honest: it was them getting involved that ultimately killed garage, and there are probably more horror stories than successful ones when it comes to underground artists who signed big deals. Personally, I won’t be paying much attention to that whole side of things.
