Clubs PROFILE
TRUS’ME Also known as David Wolstencroft
Occupation Mancunian DJ and producer memorably described as ‘Moodyman with a smile’. Also boss of the increasingly respected Prime Numbers label and ‘global clubbing brand’ Disco 3000 (D3K). Where did he come from? Straight outta Manchester, of course, where he was born and grew up. His educational background tells us all we need to know about his subsequent career: earning a BA and then an MA in business-related subjects while studying recording techniques at night school, he’s a first class DJ who knows the benefits of building a brand around himself. In a purely musical sense, his influences are drawn from all over, with hip hop, disco, nu-jazz and Chicago house all figuring in there.
Who’s behind him? Local boy (kind of) Mr Scruff, 1Xtra’s Benji B and Radio 1’s Gilles Peterson and Rob Da Bank were all over his excellent 2007 debut album Working Nights, which was released on Manchester’s Fat City label. His follow-up is in production, while he’s made further recordings for Defected, Tru Thoughts, Eskimo and his own Prime Numbers.
So what about those other interests? D3K is an overarching brand which covers several of Trus’me’s international residencies (including Manchester, New York and Guadalajara, Mexico), tour dates (he’ll be coming to Glasgow straight from Japan) and the three-day festival he staged in Croatia in September. Prime Numbers is geared towards showcasing some of the best UK artists to share Trus’me’s disco- house aesthetic, and has turned out releases from Edinburgh’s Linkwood and Fudge Fingas, as well as artists like Discreet Unit and Actress. Any other business? This is the first night of Wedge, a new monthly party at the Hetherington Research Club. Their next event is on Saturday 12 December, with special guests Mount Kimbie. (David Pollock) ■ Trus’me plays Wedge at the Hetherington Research Club, Glasgow, Sat 14 Nov.
36 THE LIST 5–19 Nov 2009
www.list.co.uk/clubs
DUBSTEP STENCHMAN Volume! at the Bongo Club, Edinburgh, Fri 6 Nov
Masked dubstep DJ and producer Stenchman has just finished a nationwide UK tour supporting Enter Shikari the night before The List speaks to him, and he’s pleasantly surprised with the way their fans took to him. ‘I got a great reaction,’ he says, ‘and I even managed to cause a few moshpits. But then dubstep is something that Enter Shikari have experimented with themselves, it’s a style that’s becoming a lot more mainstream.’ Stenchman himself isn’t exactly hurting the cause of
bringing dubstep to a wider audience. As Jack Carter, a Londoner who’s now based in Dover, he started out playing drum & bass, breaks and electro in his mid teens. It was his D&B productions as Henchman which
first got him noticed, and picked up by rave legend Micky Finn’s Finn People label, but a relatively recent conversion to the dubstep style has seen his credibility explode. Last year’s track ‘What the Future Holds’ was picked up by DJs like Skream, Enzyme and Chef, among others. He isn’t finished yet, though. The Stenchman stage
show is distinguished by the creepy, stitched-up hangman’s mask he wears. It started out as a bit of fun, but has become such a trademark that he actually travelled to America to get a new version from the guy who made Slipknot’s masks, and won’t willingly be photographed without it. Could this be the first move in a campaign of taking dubstep to arena stages, like The Prodigy with rave or Pendulum with drum & bass? ‘I’m trying to get a live act together right now,’ says Carter. Remember this scary face. (David Pollock)
PSYCHEDELIA/ECLECTIC/DOWNTEMPO DECKLECTIC The Speakeasy at Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Sat 14 Nov ‘I first came across Pork at the Vibe Bar on Brick Lane in London when I was there with friends,’ says Dee, promoter and DJ of Cabaret Voltaire’s youthful Decklectic night. The Hull-based producer and label boss of Pork Recordings, real name David Brennand, made quite an impression on her. ‘It was one of his earliest Larkin Out nights and it was just quite inspirational, the way it was put together. The genres he played were a bit experimental, they chopped and changed, but it worked. When I first decided to put a club night on, I thought back to that night and knew I wanted him to play.’
Now Dee is onto her second instalment of Decklectic at
Cab Vol’s Speakeasy, the first of which came during the Edinburgh Festival and featured live folk-rock group Saor Patrol. As the name of the club suggests, Dee doesn’t want to become known for doing just one thing. She was schooled in fashion design and is an artist herself, so visual interventions also form part of the Decklectic experience. ‘I like to keep an open mind about the music I listen to’, she says, ‘so the last thing I want is for my own night to become pigeon-holed. The formula is that there is no formula, if that makes any sense.’ From traditional live roots music to a DJ who plays downtempo electronica and is responsible for releasing music by Fila Brazilia and Baby Mammoth, amongs others; we think we know where she’s coming from. (David Pollock)