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It's no small feat to be called a veteran of
the breakbeat scene. And even more impressive
when you're called that and you're from America.
San Diego (California) based Ben Hebel aka DJ
B-Side is just such a veteran, having been flying
the breaks flag high for years. His monthly breaks
and drum 'n' bass party, Dragon Lounge, recently
celebrated its four-year anniversary, which is
incredible considering most breaks parties in
the US have trouble making it past six months.
DJ B-Side is also a strong producer, having built
up a discography with releases and remixes on
such heavyweights as Backroom Records, Functional
Breaks, and Simply Jeff's Phonomental. I caught
up with B-Side on the eve of his planning a tour
of the UK and preparing a few new releases.
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Q: How have you been?
A: Pretty good. I've been working and I just finished
up a remix for Hedrock Valley Beats. HVB is shopping
the release around and it will hopefully be out
in the near future, I don't know when.
Q: Do you have a 9 to
5 job?
A: Yeah. Do you know the software company Peoplesoft?
I'm an analyst/DBA guy. [laughs]
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Sounds
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B-Side
- "Light Saber"
[Backroom Records
UK]
 Listen
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Q: Do you ever have to come
in tired from DJing late the night before?
A: I try not to go out during the week. I've got two
kids as well, so I can't really do that any more. I
narrow it down to the weekends. It kind of sucks though,
because I'm so used to getting up at six in the morning
now that even if I go out and stay up until five a.m.,
I still wake up early on the weekends. Your body just
gets programmed to waking up at a certain time.
Q: How did you first get involved
with breaks?
A: I've been DJing now for 12 years in the underground
scene. I've been through just about every kind of music
you can think of. I started picking up a few breaks
records here and there but I've been seriously spinning
mostly breaks since '96, '97.
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Q: Was there a certain
record that made you say, this is it?
A: There were a few big tracks I thought were
really dope, like DJ Dan's Electroliners and that
Ultraviolet Catastrophe, do you remember that?
Q: "The Trip,"
yeah.
A: For a while I just played whatever, I didn't
narrow myself down to a certain kind of music.
Even now, it depends on where I get booked for
what I'll play. I'll pick up some pumping house
stuff for more club-oriented nights. If it's the
Dragon Lounge or raves, then I do whatever I like.
Q: It seems like there's
a lot of room within the genre of breaks to move
around as well.
A: Yeah. I'm really liking that. The upcoming
remix I did for Hedrock Valley Beats is housey
breaks - like Meat Katie. I was trying to make
a track that I thought could cross over, like
maybe some house jocks will play it too. It helps
to get some of the other people exposed to the
music too.
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B-Side on the decks at the Dragon Lounge
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Q: How long have you been doing
your monthly, Dragon Lounge?
A: Four years now. The anniversary was in January.
Q: Why do you think the club
has been so successful?
A: It's one thing to just do a club but you have to
have a plan. Just to throw a breakbeat/drum 'n' bass
club is one thing but you need to set an atmosphere
and make it cool so people want to come back. First,
we wanted to come up with a catchy name and then along
with the name we wanted a theme. So with Dragon Lounge
we could decorate it all Asian and put some effort into
it. When we started, we decided to build it up around
a core of San Diego residents. We didn't start bringing
the breaks guys out from the UK until a year and a half
ago. Then we brought out Haze from Cryonix and Darren
Chapman and Biff from Functional Breaks. They found
out about the club and wanted to come out on tour. Then
word spread in the UK and pretty soon people started
emailing me, saying they wanted to come out. That's
still how it is.
Q: Are you from San Diego originally?
A: Pretty much. I've been here since I was one year
old.
Q: Do you ever think you'll
leave and go somewhere like London, where there's a
bigger scene?
A: No, I can't. I'm married with a family. But I'm trying
to plan a trip out there in late April. I tried to get
out there last year but I couldn't make the time to
go. I'll try to go out for a week, play a bunch of gigs,
and hang out with everybody. Maybe go in the studio
with a few of those guys too.
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