Off the back of three mid-week sell out shows at Wire Club, Arcane Events invites Shogun Audio back to Mint Warehouse for a long-awaited return show in Leeds. With special guest S.P.Y headlining, and a star-studded line up with artists likely to pick up accolades at this year’s Drum&Bass Arena Awards, this is definitely not one to be missed!
Having started with their monthly events at Wire, Arcane have managed to provide a breath of fresh air into Leeds’ already saturated drum and bass scene. Securing sets at Leeds’ biggest nights – including Jungle Jam, Detonate and Highrise – The DJ duo behind Arcane, Deadline, are only just getting started and we cannot wait to see what they have planned for 2018.
We spoke to Arcane founders Deadline to talk all things drum and bass, and about their rise to the top as one of drum and bass’s freshest prospects in 2017!
After starting DJ’ing just two years ago, Arcane founders Deadline have been playing shows up and down the country and abroad, playing at some of the largest underground music festivals in Europe. When we asked how it all started, Ollie revealed he met Pete at Outlook Festival 2014, both “gazing in awe at Andy C no less!” This shared absorption with the scene, combined with a weekend of exposure to pioneers of drum and bass, cemented the urge to “give mixing a go.” The two teamed up to form a duo and the Deadline project began.
Deadline recently celebrated the first birthday of their Leeds event Arcane, but began their ‘entry into the world of events’ in London. Ollie says that their entry into the world of events was a product of “frustration” as DJs, as finding promoters to book them was proving difficult, and the events industry seemed a good solution as a means to “break out”and get the gigs going. Although their first show together was in London, Ollie as a student in Leeds, “knew the scene was as strong as ever, and in my opinion stronger than the one in London!” They took Arcane up north and haven’t looked back since.
With such a saturated drum n bass scene in Leeds, it can be difficult to make events unique. We asked how they overcame this issue. Pete says it was the combination of “midweek shows and the quality of music on offer” that helped them stand out as different. “We noticed that most of the drum and bass shows in Leeds were relatively expensive and on the weekend. However, there was still this market, predominately made up of students, that wanted to go out and rave in the week – there was no other drum and bass night that offered that at the time.” These midweek nights at Wire over the past year and a half have been hugely successful, with the boys taking care in the curation of their line-ups to “guarantee that coming to one of our nights meant hearing quality drum & bass music.” As Ollie says, they haven’t had any complaints so far! Having such a diverse spectrum of drum and bass acts performing on each night at an inexpensive cost to their customers has seemed to differentiate them from the vast majority of other drum and bass shows here.
When asked to talk about their favourite moments from 2017, Pete said that playing Fabric and Ministry of Sound, where they first went clubbing, as well as playing Outlook, where they first met, was a particular highlight. At Outlook, the boys had the opening set, but “it filled up extremely quickly and the size and power of the Garden Stage was an incredible experience from a DJ perspective!” The Arcane birthday was also particularly special, as the duo did a 3-hour extended set and went through all the different styles of drum and bass they liked: “it was a great way to celebrate.” Deadline are also looking forward to the end of the year, with London shows coming up, a show in Brighton and their very own Leeds show with Shogun audio. Ollie adds that the Arcane shows at Wire have been a real high point also, he said “there’s a real family vibe to them and seeing so many people supporting and having a good time at the shows – there’s few better feelings!”
With regards to what to expect from Deadline’s set at Shogun at Mint Warehouse, Ollie says their set will be “a real celebration.” The show is definitely a milestone for them so they are making sure that we’re going IN to celebrate. They’ve got a lot of unreleased music stockpiled specifically for the show which they look forward to playing. They say as per usual to “expect them to play select cuts from all corners of drum & bass!”
The duo can’t seem to pick who they are most looking forward to hearing on the night, all of them are impressive! They say it’s impossible to pick a favourite, and that they are very fortunate that all the artists on the line-up were available to play. Pete says they are all “key influences and artists we respect greatly,” but he’s personally looking forward to Serum’s set: “he kills it every time.”
With the drum and bass arena awards soon to be released, we asked the boys who they predicted to pick up awards. Pete says, “Alix Perez, S.P.Y and Serum are all up for best producer, I’d be happy with any of them.” He voted for Alix in the end! Aside from that he voted for Friction best DJ, Benny L best newcomer, Andy C XOYO best club night and obviously Shogun Audio for best label!
In terms of what to expect from Deadline in 2018, Ollie says we are going to see, “in short, a lot more! More shows, more music and more Arcane Events.” They have already got a lot booked in for 2018, more than they’ve ever done before on the events side. The duo even have their debut release is coming out at the start of the year on Skankandbass, a liquid tune featuring the crazy talented Sydney Chapman and a much darker tune that we’ve been ending our sets on.
Deadline have got a lot of big plans for 2018, that’s both our mid-weekers at Wire but also a few other bigger parties in the works – all they can say for now is keep your eyes peeled!
Catch Deadline on 8th December at Mint Warehouse alongside S.P.Y, Alix Perez, Technimatic and many more. End 2017 with one of the biggest drum and bass line ups of the year in Leeds!
Ummar Kas
Image: Deadline