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Issue 111

Monthly newspaper and online publication targeting 18 to 35 year olds. The ultimate guide to the hottest parties, going out and having fun. Music, fashion, film, travel, festivals, technology, comedy, and parties! London, Barcelona, Miami and Ibiza.

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It's 25 years now Yeah 25 years with the label. V Recordings We were going to celebrate when it was 20 years but we just couldn't get things together at the time. It didn't feel right. Last year I thought, you know we're 25, the label is on a roll right now, we've got some good artists coming through, for us it's all about the feeling. We don't stick to we've got to do this or that. We've just done our own thing. Not followed any trends, but just musically put out what feels right. We just do our thing and it just felt right to celebrate the 25 years. It's a quarter of a century! Yeah, the love that we've been getting all around the world. We started this at the beginning of the year, all the artists have been all round the world. The feedback and people telling us what the label has meant to them, it's been a really good year. I've loved it, I'm loving it. There's been celebrations all around the world, tell me about some of those. We ain't stopping for no-one. We've just done Outlook that was sick. We've done Boomtown, Canada. Frost went to tour the States. Alibi, Command Strange and Atlantic have just come back from Colombia, We've got Belgium, Australia then Asia. All over, man. It's great because we can bring it to everyone. I think we're going to keep it going for next year to get to all the places, you know! Then Hopefully you'll see us in 50 years time. Sun and Bass, how was that one? Ahhh that's spiritual you know. I've been going to Sun and Bass for a good while now and every year it gets better. It's like the drum and bass church. I do a lot of festivals and everyone's there. We did Outlook for the first time and that was emotional. The sound systems were sick, the venues were sick. We did a beach party, a boat party, we did the stage... Everything crazy and beautiful and I thought it couldn't get any better and then I got to Sun and Bass and when you get to Sun and Bass you realise why it's just special. It's all about drum and bass and you know everyone there is there for the same reason. DNB. The first year I used to see A Sides come with their dads and Calibre once with his parents... I don't know any festival that you'd feel safe to bring your family and your nipper. This year, the amount of DJs who brought their little ones. Inja brought his dad last year, Calibre brought his mum and dad and that's what it is. A really cool festival where you can bring your family and kick back and mingle with everyone. There's no VIP area, everyone just in one place and you'll see everyone there and everyone just chilled. It's pure love out there, man. A lot of people won't know how many people you've been instrumental bringing through... These are the ones rocking it right now, Command Strange, Alibi, L Side. But then you've got Krust, Roni Size, Dj Die, Dillinja... All these guys came through on V back in the day. Did you hear that? Artificial Intelligence, DJ Marky, Patife. You know it's weird cause when I was at Outlook, I saw Mark ital, He runs reggae soundsystem, Iration Steppas and he was one of the first artists I signed and I completely forgot. We signed him when I was working at Rhythm King and this was the time when LFO, Night- mares on Wax was doing all that. You had jungle and jungle music was developing at this time, you're talking 91, 92 and in London jungle was more with the MCs but up north, Leeds, manchester, there were doing it with more bassline. It wasn't about the lyrics it was about the subbass. Mark was from Leeds and he was a proper soundbwoy. I remember when jungle first came around everyone un- derstood it, it had flavour that people could connect with especially if you were in Lon- don with the reggae artists getting sampled. Mark he liked jungle but he was really into the dub side of it and he started making a few tracks called Ital Rockers and we signed him to do some early jungle. All this time I've been talking about my stories, I completely forgot about Mark Ital, Iration Steppas Touching down with a man who has made dnb, changed drum and bass and been there since the very beginning. DnB has been on a long journey and this man has been a pioneer since the the start. 46 ISSUE 111 / 2018 DRUM & BASS Oshi | Guestlist INTERVIEW: BRYAN GEE

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