Words & pictures by

Drum n Breaks are bringing the sounds of nu skool breaks and breakbeat garage to New York City's junglist massive. The posse represent the breaks at Konkrete Jungle, Gotham's venerable drum 'n' bass nite at Club Pyramid.

With seven members, five decks and three mixers the Drum n Breaks crew from Long Island is taking breakbeats to a whole new level, and they're doing it all from the basement. Once a month, New Yorkers can wander into the lower half of Club Pyramid on Avenue A between 6th and 7th and hear something new and something fantabulous. The crew scrolls off with seven twentysomething DJs: Krazyglue, Link, Shane, Myk-cee, Bright, Jones and Bish.

Holding true to their slogan, the crew is "unifying the breakbeat culture." With breaks and jungle pouring out of the speakers and a healthy dose of crabbing, scratching, tag-teaming and even art exhibits, Drum n Breaks are doing their part to keep the vibe alive in the city.

"The four main players are myself, Shane, Link and Myk-cee," explains John "Krazyglue" DeSantis, founder of Drum n Breaks. "To be in the crew you have to spin jungle or breaks, you have to be able to mix and you have to be able to scratch. We're so against what's going on in NYC; there's these DJs that can't even mix and they take it to the top. We're trying to break that formula."

Bodyrock is the name of the monthly that the boys throw down every month at Konkrete. They aren't afraid to try out new styles and infact the crowd has come to expect just that. With couches, Christmas lights, and a two-inch high stage for the DJs, the basement is an intimate environment where the crowd can get right up in the DJ's business.

The crew rolls up to the club leisurely all with decks and mixers in hand. Eventually (after much plugging, some drinking, and a search for enough headphones) the crew starts a five-way tag team that will last all night. At their last event the crew had an exhibition of work by a new artist, including dark, techesque paintings and several installation pieces. The art was a fresh idea, but the real deal was coming from the stage. About halfway through the night Krazyglue gave me fair warning to get a good shot of the upcoming action. "You better get your camera or video camera or whatever ready, because we're about to put a DJ on each deck and make a song." Sure enough, several minutes later, after a crew huddle, the boys took to their stations and let the beats roll. Simultaneously scratching, EQing, and cross-fading their way through the classic "Funky Beats", Drum n Breaks creates a new sound that is met by the voices of New York's breakbeat culture screaming and cheering.

With a shortage of breaks nights this young crew could be just what Gotham needs to break it on down. "There's jungle every night of the week, but there's not a lot of breaks stuff in NYC. I think we're going to change that," remarked Krazyglue hopefully. So far the change is coming along nicely.

Hit up the website for live sets and new mixes from the Drum n Breaks crew at Drumnbreaks.com.