Deep End founder, Ricky Wells, has a very clear vision for the sound at his Deep End shows: “This night will have nothing to do with that chainsaw-sorostitute-screamer-shitstep you may hear lil’ teeny boppers bumpin in their ‘Beats’ headphones AND EVERYTHING to do with some eyes-down-chest-rattling-mega-dark-deep-as-five-fucking-miles-under-the-earth type awesomeness.”
This Saturday night at Cowboy Monkey Ricky Wells (Jared Miller), local opener DJ Otacon (Caleb Taylor), and Chicago headliner/Bassweight founder DJ The Toronado (Steve Adler) will deliver a night of “down-heavy-as-fuck hypnotizing dungeon music with rollers that put pressure in your chest and take you back to the true roots of what dubstep was meant to be: dark, spacious and BIG.”
Ricky Wells first found dubstep years ago. He knew about dub music and thought dubstep might be a kind of reggae music so he downloaded it on a whim and listened to something that completely changed how he thought about music. He had loved music all his life (and played music), but his first dubstep show left a lasting impression. When he heard dubstep on a large sound system for the first time, he heard a style of music that connected with him in a way no other music had before. Raw and impactful, the music moved him on a deep level.
The first time I went to a dubstep show and watched DJs play it on a sound system, it was at a place called the Day Old Basement (in Macomb). It’s just this kid’s house in Macomb where they would throw shows — mostly bands and punk rock. But every now and again, they’d do an electronic show — a dubstep show — and that’s where I first heard dubstep: in a dark basement where people were going nuts cuz nobody knew what this stuff was.
So I go to the show and had so much fun that I had this realization while I was watching and listening to the DJ and I thought I could do that! And I could do that. I bought some equipment a year earlier and I hadn’t fucked with it yet. So I come back home … and I ended up mixing for three hours with my headphones on and ever since then I’ve never heard someone play what I like as much as I do. I have a very specific thing I want to hear. I’ve heard stuff similar to what I want, but it wasn’t representing the part of the music that I really love. That’s what this night is about. Giving people an opportunity to hear this kind of music because it’s not popular. It doesn’t get played as much as the other stuff does. The kids don’t wanna rage face to something that is melodic and makes you think about the music. It’s not as much party music as what you might hear at another dubstep show. In an ideal world, I could envision this music having the same impact on others as it did on me. Unfortunately, it is very hard to have things represented in the way that I envision them — sound systems and venues have limits.
To complement the sound, Ricky Wells tries to transform the space as well. He built an all-blue lighting rig that bathes the dance floor in deep blue light. His hope is that the blue light will help people resonate with the music because it isn’t as aggressive: “I do the blue lights and turn off the house reds to reflect the dark, cold nature of the music. I personally get wild to it because I relate to this music, but it’s not like jump-out-of-your-chair-and-dance-to-it music,” says Wells. For this third Deep End show, HarshPro will be adding some video elements to Cowboy Monkey as well.
With a background in hip-hop, Ricky Wells developed into a split DJ personality. Here in C-U, he plays “dark, creepy dubstep,” but in Macomb (where he plays under his former DJ name, Eyetoaduhso), he is known for party-style funk, Spanish music, and cumbia. And as if that isn’t enough, he also has a good reggae collection and has played in rotation for the Tuesday night Reggae Nights at Mike ’N Molly’s. But deep dubstep is what moves him at his core:
In the end, I want to provide a space [in which] people can experience music in a transformative, life-changing way. Music has a lot to offer. My dream would be to own a place where music sounds so good it would make you feel better. Your experience would be so good that afterwards you feel good about the world.
Of all the DJs that represent this sound, DJ The Tornado is the one act Ricky Wells has always wanted to book for The Deep End. DJ The Tornado, along with Brüt Force, promotes a monthly deep dubstep/grime/UK Garage night at Smart Bar called Bassweight. The highly-skilled Chicago native regularly plays three decks, and Saturday is no exception. He recently described how Bassweight began and continues to evolve:
It actually started as two shows at a bar near UIC. I had to bring in my own turntables and everything, but it gave me good experience promoting. These first two nights were just local DJs. Two of the people I brought out, Whoa-B and Sushi, were part of a crew called Brut Force and they asked me to be a part of it. Through luck, as a crew decided to stop doing their Thursday night at Smart Bar, I stepped up and talked with Nate Seider — the music director at Smart Bar — if he’d be interested in doing Bassweight, and he was down enough to give us a three month trial.
The first two months were locals, and in June we brought out Joe Nice and did pretty well. So, through hard work and a bit of luck, we landed a few big headliners in the dubstep scene: Seven, Truth, and DJG in December.
The anticipation for Youngsta on February 7 is high — that is going to be a treat. This guy hasn’t played in the States since 2004, and has never played in Chicago, yet his weekly Rinse FM show is one of the most popular radio shows in the world!
Photo credit: Alexander Riglow Thomas of SkankTheFuckOut.com
Known for consistently bringing fresh new music to his sets, Adler hasn’t played in C-U since 2010, and with Bassweight picking up steam at Smart Bar and booking bigger and bigger acts, this show at Cowboy Monkey is not to be missed.
Rounding out the bill is C-U local DJ Otacon (formerly Cal Emmerich and one-half of Ninjas in Heat), who opens up the night with some serious deep bass. Most recently, DJ Otacon finished a Friday night residency at Boltini, but he has also been billed on Dubstep Massacre and Masquarade line-ups over the years. While his style at Boltini and dubstep shows is different from a Deep End show, the bass is constant in his mixes and sets.
Doors open 10 p.m. Saturday. No cover before midnight.
Photo Credit: Spomer Photography, unless otherwise stated.