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PROFILE Name: Drums of Death Occupation: Skull-faced, make-up caked master of spooky synths, gritty grime and acid techno. Born in Oban but now residing in London (via Glasgow) Drums of Death, has created a villainous alter ego for his electronic output, a mix of dubstep squelches, techno voodoo and squealing electro with an extremely fierce dance beat, often overlaid by his own MCing at live shows. So what’s with the fright mask? Growing up with a deep love of superhero comics and heavy metal (The Punisher and Black Sabbath in particular), Colin Bailey, the man behind the make- up, melded all of his influences into his own secret identity daubed in black and white grease paint. This visually-arresting image caught the public’s imagination and has now become his calling card. What might I have heard? Signed to Greco-Roman records, he’s toured with Hot Chip and Peaches, going on to produce and co-write the title track on the latter’s I Feel Cream album in 2009. He’s remixed everyone from Tricky and Roots Manuva to Franz Ferdinand and Steve Mason (Beta Band). He quickly followed this up with his own début long player Generation Hexed in 2010, which he described as being made up of ‘love songs and rave horns.’ Recently he’s been working on his Waves EP series on Civil Music. Where can I catch him? DoD cut his teeth on the Glasgow club scene but you’re in luck this June as he'll be unleashing his demented brand of dancefloor funk on both coasts. Being Scottish, he couldn’t resist visiting both Edinburgh and Glasgow on his current tour, so head down to Juice and Flash Mob Presents respectively. (Henry Northmore) ■ Drums of Death plays Juice, Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Thu 27 Jun; Flash Mob Presents, Saint Judes, Glasgow, Fri 28 Jun.
52 THE LIST 13 Jun–11 Jul 2013
HOUSE THE SHIMMY Saint Judes, Glasgow, Fri 14 Jun
Anyone reading the papers lately might have noticed a furore build up over a Glasgow club with two-way mirrors installed in the ladies’ toilets, a story which went viral, then national, causing a spot of bad publicity for the club involved. Unfortunately for Sandy Morland, who works at Saint Judes elsewhere in the city and also promotes his own night there, the crossfire has come his way. Both his night and the club in question are called The Shimmy, but his has nothing to do with mirrors. In fact, the original Shimmy has a worthy history of its
own. Started in 1994 when Morland was just 16 years old, the Shimmy was an affectionate name for an afterparty held after raves at the Metro nightclub in Saltcoats, an ad hoc venue in a shop with a beer fridge and a dancefloor. Since that closed down, Morland’s taken the name with him to Glasgow, running parties in the Art School, the Sub Club, the Courtyard and now Saint Judes. ‘The dirty word for what we play is deep house,’ he says. ‘For us, it’s just party music – big piano riffs, lots of vocals,
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fun stuff that goes somewhere. It’s not just a beat.’ The appearance of Brazilian duo Digitaria (pictured) here is all down to the Shimmy’s close relationship with Hot Creations bosses Jamie Jones and Lee Foss, who they’ve promoted in the city before. ‘They play summery, party music with big breaks in it,’ says Morland, ‘and we don’t do a club night, we do a party.’ (David Pollock)
HOUSE EATS EVERYTHING Sub Club, Glasgow, Fri 21 Jun
The Bristolian renaissance in dance music perhaps hasn’t had a lot of overground attention because of the disparity of all the producers to have emerged from the city in recent years (would you put Julio Bashmore, Peverelist, Joker and Appleblim on the same mix?), but the individuals involved are going on to greater and greater success. Take Daniel Pearce, also known as Eats Everything, who's been one of the biggest overnight successes the city has turned out – not that Pearce himself would describe his rise in such a fashion. In every interview available, Pearce restates that all he ever wanted to do was be a DJ, and that he started
out on that path when he was 12 in 1993. Apparently a wrestling fanatic at the time, he would use Felix’s rave classic ‘Don’t You Want Me’ as his own entrance music. Since then he’s been a builder, an electrician and a recruitment consultant while keeping the DJing as a part-time, small-time concern, until the realisation in 2010 that it’s only producers who have the profile to go on to huge success. A year later, not long after coming off the dole, Pearce would release ‘Entrance Song’ on Catz‘n’Dogz’ Pets label, a rich, warm, old-school house track that would go on to give him his first substantial success. Since then, there have been releases on Dirtybird and Southern Fried, while collaborations with Justin Martin
(an album), Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and Catz‘n’Dogz themselves are due this year. After that, his own album looms, although there’s no hurry – patience seems to have worked for him so far. (David Pollock) ■ Eats Everything also plays T in the Park, Balado, Fife, Fri 12 Jul.