Kombination Funk

Daring to bring down the artists that others may shy away from, such as Clipz, Tech Itch and most recently Evol Intent, they are sure to be rocking the floor once again for one of Blueprint's birthday events this week. I caught up with Lowkey, (well through the inter-mingle-net) to find out where Kombination funk has come from and what's going on...

With possibly the darkest, duttiest, and downright, grimey DnB that Nottingham has to offer, Kombination Funk has been destroying Blueprint's dancefloor once a month for a couple of years now.

How long has Kombination Funk been running? 
"We started out in May 2002 so, it's two and a half years now."

What inspired you to set it up? 
"Well, Macp set it up on his own and I only joined him on the second one.  But the general reason behind it was a lack of nights playing the sort of music that we wanted to hear. Instead of moaning about existing nights (like a lot of people do!) we set up our own night playing our sort of music."

How would you describe the music policy?
"I suppose we play the darker side of drum and bass, but I don't like to get too pigeon-holed. We try to keep the music policy as 'underground DnB because we don't really want to hear the commercial 'Slamming Vinyl' sort of drum and bass at our night; but anything else goes really.
"We always tell the DJ's to play whatever they want so long as isn't the mainstream. If they play slightly lighter stuff then I'll play the harder stuff and if they play the hard stuff then vice versa. I think the main crux of the music policy is that people can come down to the club and hear tunes they won't have heard before all night. It's an education!"

What would you say has been your best night so far? 
"That's a really hard one; over two and a half years there's been a lot of wicked nights that are up there for different reasons. November last year with Dylan and Tech Itch has got to get a mention. I'd wanted to book Tech Itch since I first heard one of his old tunes called 'The Ruckus', and that was before we even started Kombination Funk!" 
"We spent a lot of money on the line-up but the club was rammed out and everyone was going crazy right through till late. We had to keep the club open for an extra 45 minutes because nobody wanted to leave! I thought we'd struggle to hit those kind of heights again after that night, but the last 6 months have all been amazing."
"We've started to get a lot of local recognition and we've been getting a really good crowd of music lovers down. I could go on about my favourite nights all day, but at the moment I really think that each one is getting better than the last at the moment. The Evol Intent night was off the hook last month!"

What is the most fun bit about running the night? 
"It's probably at the end of the night when you've turned the music off and everyone is still milling about the club and chatting about what a good night they've had. That's really satisfying and makes it all worthwhile for me."

What is the worst bit of running the night? 
"It's the bit at the start of the night waiting for people to start turning up.  You've done all the promotion you can, you've sorted out all the music; all you can do is wait now and hope people turn up! 
"The tension get gradually less and less as you approach your break-even point, then you start relaxing.  Some nights you know you're not gonna reach it and you just have to think 'f**k it, everyone else is having a good night, I'm gonna chill and worry about the money tomorrow'."

If you could get any musician or DJ in the world down for a set who would it be?
"Aphex Twin, no hesitation. The man is pure innovator, he doesn't make music within the normal boundaries that constrain a lot of musicians. He's not afraid of doing something different and crazy, but there's something very deep and emotional in his music."

What other nights do you enjoy in Nottingham?
"Well, I always go down to the Detonate nights; the music isn't always to my taste but I've been going there for years so I go down to catch up with mates. I help out running Movement at The Bomb (1st Friday every month) so I've got to say that too really!
"But seriously, Movement is a good night and I think its offering something different from us and Detonate in terms of music policy and crowd, which can only be a good thing. I check out Repercussion at Snug too (1st Wednesday of the month). I'm really into what those guys are doing on a musical level and their nights are wicked."
"On a non-DnB front, I go to a lot of other nights at Blueprint mostly. Pure Filth is one of the countries leading Techno nights and the vibe is great, (good DnB in room 2 also!) you'll catch me lurking about down there most months.  I also hit Elation and Pscyle and Blueprint when I've not got gigs on." 
"There's a lot going on in the Notts scene at the moment, which can make it difficult as a promoter. As a clubber and a DJ I think it's great. There's so much variety with all the different nights catering for all styles of DnB.
"You've got Detonate running things along the more mainstream side of the music; Dogma and Movement doing the lighter stuff; Repercussion with deeper, dubbier stuff; and of course we're playing the hard-hitting, heavy stuff. There's lots of smaller nights too doing bits and pieces here and there on week nights and some weekend stuff.
"Then there's the occasional massive night like the Detonate events at Rock City; we're pretty lucky to have stuff like that going on a few times a year. I think the scene in notts is very healthy and there really is something for everyone. I do sometimes wonder if there's enough DnB heads in the city to support all these nights though."


What are your top five floor filler records?
Hit n Run - Stakka and Gridlock
Seven Angels with Seven Plagues - Evol Intent
Landslide - Greg Packer and MC Assassin
Mr Majestik - High Contrast and Calibre
The World That You Know - Lowkey & Vaccine ( I had to put one of mine in!)

What's your idea of a perfect night out in Nottingham?
"Well in a perfect world I'd have no organising to do at Kombination Funk and I could go to pub (maybe the Grosvenor cos it's near my house!) with a couple of mates before heading down to KF for a night of heavyweight drum and bass. Well, I would say that really, but I genuinely like the vibe and atmosphere we get. It's the night that I enjoy the most in Notts."

What's your idea of the worst night out in Nottingham? 
"Haha! Probably a night at Ocean or the Works!  I've never actually been to either of these places so it's a bit harsh to say, but I did go to Ocean when it was MGM and I've been to a Works in London years ago. It's safe to say they weren't really my ideal night out. That said, they're offering something different that a lot of people must be into cos they're rammed every weekend, so fair play to them. Different strokes for different folks."

www.kombinationfunk.co.uk

What do you think to the Nottingham DnB scene?