For My Dawgz [X002] drops on X01 Music on 25 September. Behind it is Antihero, a DJ and producer from Ostrava moving across the full spectrum of UK bass music: dubstep, UK garage, grime and deep drum and bass. He has releases on Next:Gen Audio and Sinful Maze Recordings, over a hundred gigs across the Czech Republic plus shows in Poland and Slovakia. For My Dawgz is his X01 debut. We talked to him before the release.
It started with a few dnb events I went to, then my mate “Kuny Lee” and I started practising mixing, first on a controller, then on players. Alongside that I slowly got into production, but it took years before it went anywhere 😀 I really enjoy making music. I often sit down “for a minute” in the evening and suddenly it’s 5am. Music has also introduced me to loads of great people and always helped me through bad times.
The music has different rhythms, but I feel like a lot connects it. There could be more events that aren’t focused on one single genre. I’ve always enjoyed sets where you don’t know what to expect. Visages were a big inspiration, I love the concept of playing half the set slower and then switching to drum and bass. It depends on the event though, I also do full dnb or full 140 sets.
On the dnb scene here the deep sound is mostly seen as something you play at 9pm as a warm up for neurofunk, which makes me sad. But we have a great club, Etáž, that gives space to all kinds of genres. A lot of clubs just do neurofunk, dancefloor and techno on repeat. We’re also launching a new project there called Low End Culture, bringing names to Ostrava you won’t hear here otherwise and building a community open to different sounds. First event is 16 October with Bristol producer Klinical as headliner, his first ever show in Ostrava.
What’s it like making this music from Ostrava? How do you see the scene there and what, if anything, is it missing?
On the dnb scene here the deep sound is largely seen as something you play in a club at 9pm as a warm up for neurofunk, which personally makes me sad.
At the same time we have a great club here, Etáž, which tries to give space to all kinds of genres. I’m really glad about that! A lot of clubs just do neurofunk, dancefloor, techno on repeat and that’s more or less it… So thanks to Etáž I see the local scene in a much better light now and I really hope the club does well and that things here grow in the right direction.
On top of that we’re just launching a new project there called “Low End Culture”, where we’ll be trying to bring names to Ostrava that you won’t hear here otherwise, break down the barriers of genre boxes, and build a community of people who are open to different sounds. Our first event takes place on 16 October and Bristol producer Klinical has accepted the invitation as headliner, his first ever performance in Ostrava! I’d like to invite you all 🙂
Let’s get to For My Dawgz. How did the track come about and what does the title mean?
It’s one of my first finished tracks at 140 BPM. It’ll be about 8 years that I’ve been producing, but for a lot of those years I focused mainly on drum and bass, so the switch meant a lot of experimenting and discovering for me. And I have to say I really enjoyed the process.
