Street Sounds UK Fresh 2011 Review - How It Went Down

I was lucky enough to be at the event and regardless of what happened and who performed (and who didn't) just being there was enough.

L-R Inch, Metronik, Waxer, Dee Jay, Fluent

I rolled into London with the First B-girl of hip hop, Inch High, bumping beats in the jeep.
We were in time to meet some of the Disco Scratch crew in the Big Chill House pub which was literally just round the corner from the Scala venue.

The UK old school had literally taken over the place and everywhere you looked was an ageing b-boy all dressed to impress with original Tacchini or Adidas threads, fresh out-the-box kicks and of course, those oh-so important fat laces.

Just one look at the queue outside the Scala made you realise just how many people still love Street Sounds and the old school.

Myself, Inch and Fluent had all brought our blackbooks and annoyingly, had our pens taken off us by the lovely doormen as we entered the building. No worries though as an extremely helpful and pleasant bloke behind the Grafworx stand gave Fluent some pens.
This meant we were free to carry on getting signatures and tags throughout the night. Fight the power!

Credit-One was on the decks when we touched down in the foyer and I saw original copies of Ultimate Breaks & Beats on vinyl which made me glad. There was a projected screen up above showing Beat Street, various Street Sounds memorabilia dotted around the walls - every edition of the Electro series was up (allegedly from Morgan's personal collection).

Moving into the main room we saw one of the Nu-Electro acts who I'm not sure which (there was a girl vocalist). Soon a cypher appeared on the dancefloor and there were some blokes throwing down nicely in the circle.

Dave Pearce, Morgan Khan

This was wound-up as the music stopped and ex-Radio London 'A Fresh Start To The Week' dj Dave Pearce walked onto the stage. He was met by cheers and some boos - he was an odd choice considering he has been well out of the hip hop scene for a number of years now. Although I can understand that Dave was a big part of the burdgeoning UK hip hop underground in the late 80's.
He brought on Morgan Khan to a truly rapturous and appreciative crowd and it was not difficult to be swept along by the whole feeling of love that was emanating throughout the room.

Wax - "MIKE....ALLEN!!"

Dave talked of UK Fresh and mentioned the legendary avuncular Capital Radio jock Mike Allen. It was at this point when my man, Waxer surged through the crowd like a hot knife through butter, pumping his fist and yelling our Uncle's name. Respect.

On next came DJ Chuck Chillout and The B-Boys (Brother B and Donald D) who performed well but seemed to want to try new tracks which never actually materialised. This could've been down to a mixture of running times and technical difficulties - Chuck on the decks looked utterly lost and bemused and kept staring at his laptop as if expecting it do the work for him.
I should just point out that I did not see a laptop near the decks with the lads near the front of the building (Credit-One...etc).
The 'Boys were soon out of time and yet Brother B rocked on with an acapella of Girls Part 2 just before the final curtain.

Up next was another legend - Arthur Baker. Unfortunately Arthur is a studio wizard which is where the magic lies and in my opinion doesn't really transfer to live performance. This is nothing to do with Baker himself as he knew his limits and made the best of what he could do by over-emphasizing the turns of knobs.
However he did some live remixing of all his own hits and it was Planet Rock which got the loudest response rather than Breaker's Revenge. But I suppose that wasn't surprising being that he was responsible for the record that KICKED THE WHOLE ELECTRO-FUNK SCENE OFF IN THE FIRST PLACE!

Dave Pearce, The Captain, Rob

I was mooching around the different rooms flitting in and out of the Main room when I bumped into Rob Evans. Rob was the sole instigator responsible for bringing Captain Rock over. Apparently he had been looking for him for the best part of 6 years in the hope of getting him to perform.
He was also looking for him again at the Scala as he had gone walkabout and was due onstage thus my meeting with Rob was curtailed.

What can I say about The Captain? Here was someone who was so incredibly humble. Someone that thought his best years had passed him by; someone that thought he would never get a second chance.
Captain Ron Green Rock had battled some personal demons and had even been homeless during his time in the wilderness and the fire in his belly had never been extinguished. In actual fact he had most probably been eating nothing but charcoal and petroleum as when he hit the stage he was ON FIRE.
The Dip Ship had touched down and he was in control. The Captain was making a real effort to entertain and looked like he had been practising his moves for quite a while. You could tell how hungry he was for this; almost as if his life was depending on this one performance as he proceeded to throw his hat into the fist-pumping crowd.
Sadly it was all over much too quickly and he was off to cruise at hyper-speed. But what a performance.

The last act of the night was Newcleus who while not being truly devastating - mainly due to wack sound problems - still managed to rock the house. I give them extra props for bringing the use of a vocoder on stage to really give that Electro feel.
As the performance came to a close they were joined on stage by all the other acts and you could see the love they all had for each other and non-existence of egos.


Morgan and Dave came on and rounded-up the evening and all the acts were presented with specially-made graffiti canvases.

And that was it.

There was an attempt for more music to be spun (by Geoff Allen?) but he was abruptly stopped after 10 minutes which was odd as there was still over an hour left until the official finish.

Although billed, Grand Mixer D.St was a no-show down to visa problems. This might have explained Chuck Chillout's lacklustre efforts on the decks. Actually that's not fair as Chuck DID look like he was having fun but maybe he just hadn't had enough time to practice.


Epilogue.

Yes, at the end of the day Morgan Khan is a businessman BUT to do something like this 25 years later when the scene has quite obviously peaked a number of years ago is a task that could only be done with a huge amount of love and respect.
And talking of which that is exactly what I have for the man for his work not just on Saturday but for shaping the kind of person I - and a generation of others - have become today.


So here we are. There were problems here and there but that's the nature of a live event. Is £40 a bit pricey for the event? Especially as not all the acts billed were there?
Maybe. But as a one-off I was pleased to have attended as I got the chance to speak to many people - a lot I still don't remember who you were, sorry! - I got some photos and I got some great signatures in my blackbook.
But most of all I've got the memories of seeing some of my childhood heroes performing their hits just as I wanted them to when I was a lad of 14.

Captain Rock & Metronik

The most enduring memory for me will be the fact that Captain Rock came out to the waiting line of people outside the building and personally shook everyone's hand and told us how much it meant to him.

A special mention needs to be said for the aforementioned Inch who not only provided the transport for me but kindly took in myself, Waxer and Dan Fluent back to her crib so that we could party-hardy to the breaka dawn. Well, tea, toast and a sit-down. Thank you!

Lastly, there are whispers of a Street Sounds event being held every year.
And there are rumours of acts such as DJ Cheese, MC Chill, T LA Rock, The Aleems, Knights Of The Turntables, MC Spyder D,  MC Shan and Davy DMX who are ready and willing to come and perform in London.


Hmmmmm, watch this space.

Photos courtesy of Joe Atari and Inch High, 2011 All Rights Reserved