Heavy metal beats
Taking a trip to the dark side of drum and bass with Industrial Drumz’ Asim Mahmood
It’s strange to arrive in the post-industrial landscape of Digbeth after dark in the middle of Winter. The Victorian viaducts loom over crumbling warehouses and out of town restaurants, built on the graves of Birmingham’s lost industries. We stumbled through the silent streets in the cold, lugging a flight case with the decks in, just minutes before we were due to play thanks to ugly congestion on the road into town.
The venue was the sole building remaining on the block, the graffiti plastered, windows boarded up SUKi10c. After a frantic knock on the door, someone let us in. In amongst the pummelling beats and disorienting lights, Asim welcomed us, seeming unperturbed by our late arrival. The decks were rejected – no time to set them up – and our first sets on the “flying saucers” as we nicknamed the club’s own CDJs were not the most memorable but he didn’t seem to mind. Keeping a cool head in the chaos of adrenaline-fuelled drum and bass sets and working diligently to build a network of support, Asim Mahmoud is not someone to let minor setbacks derail his quest to showcase the best of industrial drum and bass. A bit over a year later, I caught up with him to see how it’s all going.
D: How are you doing? How’s things?
A: Yeah good. Up and downs for the last event but it was packed which was good. I think we had a good 30-40 people there, easy.
D: Oh that’s great. So where did you hold it?
A: We had it at Dead Wax. It’s the first club event that I’ve done. We’ve done nights at Pirate before but this is the first external one.
D: So that’s a club in town?
A: So it’s a live venue but they’ve got a club room as well upstairs, an actual dedicated space and it was good. Honestly, all the sets were really good. We had a pre-party at Pirate as well from 1 till 6 and those sets have been recorded as well.
D: Oh wow. Big event.
A: Yeah so 13 hours-worth of sets.
D: So you’re busy then!
A: I was out for, how long? I left the house at 10 and didn’t get back until 4 in the morning.
D: I can see why you didn’t want to do an interview yesterday.
A: No, I couldn’t. I was in my room all day just in bed and I didn’t even come down for food or anything. I just had the snacks that were left over in my bag, I was just too shattered.
D: Sure. It’s good to hear that things are going well. I’m trying to promote people who are doing good things in electronic music and make links, help people find each other and that kind of thing. For those who don’t know, what’s Industrial Drumz all about? What kind of nights do you put on?
A: Basically, Industrial Drumz was born out of me spotting a gap in the market of drum and bass. I used to go to rock and metal venues with friends back in my university days and I used to go to drum and bass nights but it was all jump up and minimal so there was nothing for the metal crowd that’s literally down the road. I was chatting to people when I went to these venues and they were saying “Oh, we used to go to drum and bass nights but we don’t any more because of the new crowd and the new music. We just feel ostracised and we don’t feel we’re a part of that.” And then, obviously, I’m not a fan of the jump up at all and even though I went to the nights, I’ll be honest, I didn’t really enjoy it. It was mostly the networking aspect I enjoyed. The music, for the most part, just wasn’t for me. I was listening to a lot of the industrial DnB subgenres in my spare time. So you’ve got the really techy, dark jump up, you’ve got modern neuro, you’ve got your metal stuff, you’ve got your crossbreed and industrial hardcore as well and obviously the classics. So I thought, hang on a minute, no one’s done this yet. There’s a gap in the market here and that’s when I came up with the idea. But this was just when lockdown finished in mid 2021 so at that point I didn’t have the contacts and the network to start it so that did take me a couple of years and then at the end of 2023 I was like, I’ve got to start doing something now so that’s when I started it. Initially, it was me and my friend, we were doing some streams in a mutual friend’s flat but then I sort of took a break to take care of my mental and physical health and then I thought, January 2024, let’s start it properly. I got a logo done and put a post out to see who’s interested and, obviously, that’s when people started reaching out. Initially, it was Dave Warren from Titanz, Bodydicers and Hoxton and R2R were the first three people I had and then it just sort of grew from there.
D: Yeah, that’s really interesting. It’s interesting that you felt that drum and bass was changing in the mainstream at that time and there was a sort of niche that was getting missed out.
A: Exactly. I went to drum and bass raves after it got changed. This was after lockdown, that’s when the sort of TikTok and the jump up really took over was after lockdown because before then you had Renegade Hardware, Barcode, you had a mix of everything from the dark to the liquid to the jump up. It was quite varied before lockdown but after that it just got saturated with the jump up side of things so that’s when I thought “Oh, I’ll do something about it.”
D: Yeah, fantastic. So you’ve covered it a bit already but what are the kind of acts that you invite to play at Industrial Drumz?
A: We’ve got a diverse range of people. Just going off the last one we’ve had everyone from Duck DnB, to Sphereix to total Recall playing. I think we’ve got 9 residents now come to think of it. Will shout them at the end of this interview
D: Oh wow, that’s a lot.
A: Yes, although we’ve added two more yesterday after they’ve gone above and beyond. I wanted to take this opportunity to big up the residents that help me run Industrial Drumz though. I have to give a massive thank you to Mat Brennan who is the manager at Pirate Birmingham and has supported us massively for both events and livestreams. We used to do streams at After Dark Studios but after they got shut down I was looking for a new place to do sets and stuff and, on a whim when we were doing a test, met him and that’s how that relationship developed. He’s been super reliable, really supportive. He does techy jump up and a bit of neuro. Secondly, is Skank Man Dan. He will be a familiar face to those in the Birmingham DnB scene and is instantly recognisably by his boundless energy. He's been the backbone for the media and streaming side once After Dark shut down and joined the team at the aforementioned test stream at pirate. The recorded sets, including the one linked above, wouldn't be possible without him. We have Titanz as well, obviously, you know Dave. I’m actually really proud of where he’s going, to be honest. I’m really glad I gave him the platform to start DJing again last year because before that he hadn’t DJed publicly for 10- 15 years. Finally, I wanted to big up Dysfunction. Can't forget Cai! Been really supportive since day one so when I put a post out asking for crossbreed DJs, they were the first people to reach out and now they’re moving up in the world. They did an interview with One More Thing a few months ago. Did a mix for Dave Jenkins and they’ve done Full Spectrum, Bristol and a few other events so they’ve been really helpful and they’ve helped me get in contact with new DJs as well.
D: Oh really? And he travels a long way, as well, doesn’t he?
A: Yeah that stream in January we did last year, that was the first time he’d touched CDJs in, like, 10 years and he did a 2 and a half hour set just like that.
D: Obviously you never lose your knack.
A: That’s it. The set he did at Dead Wax on Sunday just tore the roof off. Like you say, as well, I’m happy to send the footage over so you can do some promotion.
D: Yeah, absolutely.
A: Yeah, that’s him as well. He’s got some great opportunities that i can't discuss right now, but I'm very excited that he got those opportunities through Industrial Drumz, both directly and indirectly.
D: Great, fantastic. Just to, you know. I think, like you said, you spotted this gap in the market and I think a lot of people go out and they thing “Oh, it would be really great to have a night like…” whatever they see as that gap in the market but few people actually 1, have the motivation to go and put on a night and 2, have the skills to do it. I mean, was it a difficult decision and was it an easy thing to do or has it taken a lot of your… have you had to learn a lot of new skills to do that?
A: Oh absolutely.it was a new world for me. I didn’t really have any prior knowledge. All I had was a few contacts from when I used to go raving but I didn’t have the knowledge itself so, everything from organising people to come down to flyering to marketing, everything I had to learn on my own on the fly so it’s taken me a year to get to this point and, obviously, this event as well. Another thing I had to learn on the fly was flyering (excuse the pun). Dead Wax didn’t have a door person for scanning tickets so, literally, within 5, 10 minutes I had to learn how Rapid Scan works and I had to learn how to scan people in, so that was a new thing for me.
D: [laughs] Yeah, right. So, you know, well done for doing it, really. What would you say… Say there’s someone who’s reading this who is thinking “Oh, I might try and set up a night,” what would your advice to them be, one year in?
A: Ooh, one year in my advice would be just start, honestly, just go for it and don’t be disheartened if for the first few events you don’t make profit and you don’t even break even it’s just part of the journey. Same thing with me, up until this point I still lost a bit of money with my first event but it wasn’t as bad because I’d done previous smaller events before so I already had the foundations. The main thing is, honestly, just start. You’ve just got to put your foot down and get going, that’s what I’d say.
D: Fantastic, thank you. And, how did you get into this kind of drum and bass? What was your musical journey when you were growing up?
A: Really interesting. I didn’t really get into music until I was about 10 or 11. Initially, I got into music when EDM was really popular so my background was things like Monstercat, Proximity, No Copyright Sounds so back then I didn’t really know what music genres were. I was just like, oh this blue song is nice or this purple song sounds really good. It was more sort of EDMy stuff. But then during my uni years I kind of strayed away from that and I kind of got into rock and metal a bit, so that was that coming through and then during lockdown i went DnB full time. was on my placement year at the time and one of my colleagues said “Oh, have you heard of drum and bass?” I was like, no, what’s that? So he introduced me to the dancefloor and jump up side of things. So I was into that during lockdown and it wasn’t until early 2021 when I sort of came full circle and I discovered people like Zardonic, Mechanical Vein, who else, Qemists as well, obviously Pendulum. I didn’t know who they were until that time as well. That was when I also discovered this whole world of drum and bass and hardcore crossover where… guys like Thrasher, Sinister Souls, people like that doing that so… It was basically me discovering electronic music at a young age and then discovering rock and metal post-18 and then, once lockdown happened, when I was around 20, 21 that sort of age was when those worlds collided and I discovered this whole breadth of industrial DnB.
D: Yeah, interesting. It’s interesting for me to hear that as someone who was into drum and bass in the ‘90s and just assuming that, well, if you weren’t there at the time you wouldn’t be into those tunes now but obviously people can discover these things at any time. The classic tunes last through the ages, don’t they?
A: That’s another thing as well is me discovering the more industrial side of things and leaving the mainstream popular jump up and dancefloor behind was the fact that I discovered old school stuff from the ‘90s and 2000s and my mind was blown. There’s very few promoters doing it at the moment.
D: That’s interesting.
A: Yeah, there’s DnB Classics is a big one at the moment. They’ve got their E1 events but in Birmingham I think there’s a promoter called Broken Minds in Birmingham? They do some old school nights but they only come round here and there so that’s another thing. I know there’s a market for the older crowd and they say they feel kicked out of the scene, if you will, so that’s when I came up with the idea, hang on, let’s do some History Sessionz, mixes and events and streams as well. Then I thought, you know, if I’m gonna show the new kids about this whole world that’s beyond jump up and the mainstream, why not educate them along the way as well?
D: Yeah, fantastic. And would you say there are any stand out events that you’ve put on?
A: A hundred percent. So this Dead Wax one was a really massive standout for me. So minus the hiccup we talked about it was amazing. We had a breadth of styles, everything from neuro to jump up to crossbreed and it all went off and the people that were there had a really good time and even the staff, even the sound tech and security guards were saying “Mate, we really want you to come back. We had a really good time and because we’re a live music venue and we’re catered towards rock and metal, we’d love for you to come back and do another one.”
D: That’s great, isn’t it? That’s exactly what you want. Are you thinking that’s the way forward for you now is these live events? Because, obviously, before it was all sort of streaming events, wasn’t it?
A: Yeah that was A, building up the audience and B, because I didn’t have enough money at the time but I think there needs to be a balance because what I noticed is, promoters during lockdown were really, really on the whole livestream thing but as soon as lockdown finished, no more livestreams at all so you’re talking everyone from Drum and Bass Arena to some of the record labels like Hospital, Elevate, they all had these livestreams going but as soon as lockdown stopped those stopped so I think there is still a thing. But for me, I just need to put the time and I need a bit of help to organise livestreams because, ideally, I’d like to get one at least once a week going in between all the events so there’s a steady stream of content coming out.
D: Wow, that’s a lot to promote [laughs].
A: Yeah.
D: Well it’s positive, isn’t it? And do you feel that there’s potential there to build a bigger crowd as time goes by?
A: Oh a hundred percent. For me, even though I’ve got a small team together now it’s just making sure that everyone plays their part and everyone knows what they need to do because the problem I had with the events that I’ve done so far is that it’s just me doing the promotion and the fact that I have to chase people up to… I know it sounds ridiculous but chasing people up to an event to promote an event that they’re already playing at but that’s my biggest, what’s the word, thing I need to improve is making sure that, on the promotions side, if I was to do more livestreams and events that the people actually playing actually do the promotion themselves, it’s not just me doing it.
D: Yeah absolutely. Do you feel like the kind of drum and bass that gets played at Industrial Drumz, do you think that that’s kind of a niche within the niche that is drum and bass? Is there any potential for expanding the kinds of drum and bass that get played or is that not something that you want to go for?
A: Actually, that’s a good point because for recent events I’ve actually been incorporating a bit more jump up but the risk with that is I have to be very, very specific about what kinds of jump up because it can easily degenerate into the kind of stuff that’s popular on social media and it just sounds like nails on a chalk board, basically, it’s not music really. I mean, I have been expanding on that side of things and I’ve been more open but I do have to put my foot down and say “This is as far as you can go,” but I have been expanding, yeah.
D: Yeah, great. So what are your plans for the future? Any events coming up?
A: Yeah, plans for the future. So now we’ve got the birthday bash out the way, next plan is for a Summer event, late June to JulyD: Who are your hosts?
A: So, SkankmanDan and also BassPhaze… He’s not an official resident cos he’s sort of doing stuff with BrainRave but he’s sort of de facto, if you will. Every single event we’ve done in the past eight, nine months, he’s been there, he’s hosted all of them. It’s good because we’ve got Dan who’s the more energetic, double time type MC. He works really well on the jump up and dancefloor side. Then you’ve got someone like BassPhaze who works really well on the crossbreed and the neuro and that side of things, so it’s a nice balance. You’ve got two different personalities that work for the whole spectrum of music there
D: Yeah, it’s great to have a whole team of people who are up for the event.
A: That’s the thing because they’re reliable, you know what I mean? I will mention all the residents and where you can find them on instagram before we wrap up!
Skank Man Dan (MC/Host): @skankmandan
Titanz (neuro) :@titanz_neuro_dnb
Mat Brennan (neuro/jump up): @mat.brennan_dj
Mysterium (dnb metal):@iammysterium
Makrobe (skullstep & vinyl DJing): @nyefarleymusic
Filthy Commoner (MC/host): @fi1thycommoner
Latch (neuro/minimal tech): @_.latch
Dysfunction (crossbreed/industrial hardcore): @dysfunction.dnb
D: Fantastic. Well, best of luck for everything going forward.