We talk to legendary DJ Goldie about Metalheadz, and how they will win back their crown as part of the year's Red Bull Music Academy Culture Clash in London.
Tonight battle will commence at the Red Bull Music Academy Culture Clash between four of the mightiest sound systems in the UK. Fighting tooth and nail with dubplate ammunition Channel One, Soul Jazz, Skream & Benga and last year's winners Metalheadz will broach the decks once more for a five-round beatdown.
Goldie's team, Metalheadz, include drum and bass legends Andy C, Shy FX, Storm (First Lady), MC Justyce and MC Go. In Goldie’s words, these selectors and MCs are "the distillation of the drum and bass scene. They really symbolise historically what drum and bass is to me."
From the days at the Blue Note in North London's trendy Camden district to the arenas around the world, the one word that Goldie frequently refers to when talking about drum and bass over the years is ‘family’.
"I’m a great believer in family, what the genre believes in and where it comes from," Goldie comments. "It’s really important."
'When people are feeling down and low in life, music is the one thing that picks you up' – Goldie
Finding a family in music is a big thing for Goldie, who is candid about his upbringing and passion for musical creativity, cutting his hand as a graffiti artist and b-boy in his younger years, Goldie partied to the sound of the Skippy and Lippy system in Wolverhapmtopn, in the English Midlands, as well as weighty boys Irration Steppers from Leeds, in the country's north. He also celebrates the evolution of the Valve sound system that has "kinda taken on the whole culture of reggae and utilised it within drum and bass".
In the Timeless album, released in 1995, Goldie pays homage to his beloved sound systems in the tune Jah, saying, "Sound System culture is very amazing. It’s kept our country going when we are in a depression. When people are feeling down and low in life, music is the one thing that picks you up."
Thus, Goldie has handpicked three tunes that sum up the Metalheadz sound:
Goldie, Timeless
“People thought Timeless was something really ridiculous as it was 22 minutes long. We had to take Inner City Life out of Timeless to make it into a single. Timeless was about what was going on in the UK – a feeling of non-time – the underground and the sound of struggle. The pressure of being in the city and going through all this stuff was what this record reflected."
Alex Reece, Pulp Fiction
“It was in this tune that drum and bass switched from being big complicated drum rolls and loops into two-step. If I had to pick one record that innovated the sound – this would be it.”
Adam F, Metropolis
“Adam was doing some really commercial stuff at the time, and I said to him, ‘I want a 12-inch from you and I want it to be the absolute nuts!’ He delivered the goods, and Metropolis was unbelievable as it had the eclecticism and the style that you could not manage!”
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