In the UK, sound system culture has influenced several raves and festivals, but history was made on Easter Thursday as Lock N Load Events brought us the first ever Clash In The Capital to London’s iconic venue Printworks. The sound systems were tested as four crews – Jungle Warriors, Born on Road x Serial Killaz, Dub Shotta and Shadow Demon Coalition rotated in three rounds of back-to-back battles.
Hosts for the night were MC Det and Funsta alongside drum and bass originators Fabio and Grooverider, who presented throughout the night. They also treated us to a Clash In The Capital special on their regular show on Rinse FM leading up to the event.
Before the battle began, special guest Chimpo, known as a pioneer in his field, warmed the room up with an energetic and varied 90-minute set. Chimpo comes from a long line of musical innovators, which was reflected in his song selection, that crossed the boundaries of drum and bass, dancehall, dubstep and everything in between.
The battle consisted of three rounds of four 20-minute performances from each of the crews across two opposing sound systems. Round one was an introduction round as each crew took it in turns to warm up the main room with a fusion of classic jungle and drum and bass, which prepared the ravers for what was in store. The Born on Road and Serial Killaz crew were notable for spinning forthcoming tracks from newcomer artists AC13 and Ben Snow in this round, undercutting the sounds of the old school jungle.
Round two brought a strong selection of dub specials and exclusive tracks from the crews. The competition heightened as the drops got heavier and the exclusive tracks started to come out. The Dub Shotta crew formed by Benny Page, Dope Ammo and Sweetie Irie shone in this round with their more upbeat, reggae-influenced sound. The Shadow Demon Coalition followed through with anthemic rollers from their resident DJ Voltage, led by MCs Trigga and Bassman. The third and final round was an annihilation of the hardest sets that presented high-skill DJing, special remixes and dubs that you would never get to hear at a normal rave. A stand out set from the final round was from the Jungle Warriors trio consisting of Potential Badboy, Kenny Ken and Remarc who opened with an unreleased track from Vital, getting a huge crowd reaction in the process, hosted by the Ragga Twins.
Over the years, sound clash has remained at the forefront of music’s competitive landscape and dates back from traditional Jamaican music that was first introduced around the 1950’s. Clash In The Capital was a representation of this culture but introducing a jungle and drum and bass clash was something different and the choice of using Printworks as a venue took it to a much larger scale.
Each super-group brought the spirit of competition across in their performances, as it was all about who could bring the biggest and loudest set alongside the best MC’s. Although it was a battle against each other and each crew brought something different, all four sounds worked together in unison by merging the original dubplate styles and old school jungle beats with new and unreleased drum and bass tracks.
As tradition, the crowd served as the official judges of the competition and announced their admiration and excitement by screaming their winners. It was a close call but the legendary Jungle Warriors were chosen as the overall champions.
Photos by Sophie Harbinson/ Instagram - sharbinson
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