When it comes to drum & bass in America, DJ Dara's name is one you should definitely be up on. The Ireland-born DJ has been a vital part of the New York scene, founding the legendary Breakbeat Science with DJ DB, which was the first drum & bass-specific music store in North America. He's a producer in his own right, and has been a staple of the North American drum & bass DJ circuit, be it his impressive mix CDs or just hitting the road, both solo and alongside Dieselboy and AK1200 as the mighty Planet of the Drums tandem.
He's also realized that the recognized "year zero" for drum & bass was 1994, which makes this scene 20 years old... which is the same amount of time he's been DJing in the United States. What's he plan on doing? Knocking out a special "Evolution of DnB" tour, where his set will contain tracks from every year:
Dara says that "although I have played classics sets before, this one is a bit different in that I play my set chronologically, starting in 1994 and ending in 2014." What will also make this difficult is that he won't be anthem-bashing ("sorry, fans of 'The Nine'"), and that he'll be looking to show the scene's proper progression via selection tunes from the many different sub-genres underneath drum & bass' umbrella, all within a two-hour (or more) set. "Although I know a large proportion of the audience for the tour will be people reliving their youth through the music they grew up with, I’m also hoping that it can attract some younger fans who may be interested in where the DnB they hear now actually came from."
Dara's looking to take on "Evolution of DnB" tour bookings throughout the end of the year (hit up Rob at Circle if you're interested in bringing this experience to your town). If you need a little bit of coaxing, check out these sets down below. Many of them are Dara throwing down classic sounds, others are classic sets taken from those eras (including his set from Sutpen's Jungle, which I actually got to witness live, and owned on cassette for a while). And if you see the "Evolution of DnB" coming to your town, run (don't walk) to secure tickets. And for those wondering where Dara's playing, hit up his Facebook events page.
