Cru Faith: How the CruCast collective injected new life into bassline

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Printworks has been on the receiving end of many monster raves since it opened three years ago, but CruCast’s debut standalone party last November is particularly noteworthy. Just two years before, in November 2017 (almost exactly to the day), the Oxford-based brand held its first party in the city. Just like Printworks, it was sold out. Unlike Printworks, it was at XOYO, a venue a fraction of the size.

“And it was a Wednesday, too,” notes CruCast founder Joe Perry, or Lazcru as he’s often billed. Perry’s spent the last four years building a collective of exciting new-generation bassmiths, who are already much more than potential future headliners, as many of them have been selling out their own headline tours for several years. Skepsis, Bru-C, Darkzy, Kanine and Indika are CruCast’s main acts, but the network and affiliates who regularly play at their events reads like a who’s who across the UK bass spectrum; TS7, Bou, Hedex, Distress Signal and Problem Central are on tonight’s line-up alone. 
“Then the following year, purely coincidentally in November again, we sold out Electric Brixton,” Perry continues. “Where do we go next year?” It turns out to be a rhetorical question; they’ve got even bigger designs on 2020, but it’s the backstory DJ Mag is more interested in. CruCast only launched as a YouTube channel for bassline DJ mixes in summer 2016; it became a label shortly after, but only started hosting events in late 2017. Yet it’s now one of the most prominent and consistent collectives in UK bass, with a growing reputation across the genres it covers.

“It just took its own momentum,” explains Perry who, prior to launching CruCast, was promoting Oxford’s 1500-cap Switch events. “I started getting into organising DJ bookings, I picked up Skepsis when he first started out, then Bru-C got on board because Skepsis recommended him to me, then Darkzy. We’d started to develop a bit of a family.” “Joe was a lifesaver,” Darkzy chips in. “Things just went mental after my first single. I was getting all these bookings and I didn’t have a clue how to manage it all. It was getting bloody massive, and Joe helped me out — then CruCast got massive!” Darkzy wasn’t even 20 when this happened, Skepsis is a similar age and MC Bru-C is only a few years older. Yet during 2016-17, they became household names for anyone following the heavier end of UK bass music, around the dubstep, garage, bassline axis. Alongside other acts that came through at the time, such as Holy Goof, Notion and Bushbaby, they were heralded as the new generation of bassline artists. Their sound felt new and re-energised. It was harder, and more drum & bass influenced than the garage-based bassline incarnation that had enjoyed a certain amount of mainstream crossover success in the 2000s. This time, the movement also seems supportive, open and positive.

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“When I first listened to bassline as a kid there were a lot more MCs and it was all pretty gritty and raw and northern,” recalls Bru-C. “The crowds were different, there was a lot of naughty stuff going on. It’s a different audience now, though.”

He’s right; the crowd at Printworks are young, friendly and happily wavey. There’s no aggro, awkward eyes, obvious cases of knuckleheadism. Joe describes the entire scene — fans and artists alike — as “a community, beef-and-politics free”. Usually this would come across as PR fluff, but attending the events and interviewing many of the artists in the genre for the last three years, you do get that impression. 

Although what Bru-C (real name Josh Bruce) fails to include is his own influence in this new shift of culture and audience behaviour. While bassline and its infamous incubation hub Niche in Sheffield were once tarnished by street murkery, gangs, fights, and stabbings that happened around particular venues and had no direct link to the music (Jamie Duggan spent years negotiating with the authorities to DJ in his own town, to host bass events, and legitimise it as a genre), this new chapter is rife with genuinely positive artists putting out the right messages. “We’re just lads off the ends,” grins Bru-C. “We didn’t come into this to make millions or be superstars, we ain’t got egos, we just do what we love to do. The people who come to party with us vibe off that and respect that.”

If anything, the way bassline was badly stamped on by the authorities during the late 2000s/early 2010s has helped the scene re-characterise itself and recalibrate its attitude. “It had been away for so long that it didn’t have the established fan base like drum & bass has always had,” says Skepsis. “It didn’t have that generation of fans with expectations, so when we all started making this music, it was a blank canvas in a way. And now you’ve got so many styles working together; there’s the deeper housier side, the techy rolling sound, the tear-out sound and more experimental guys. There’s something for everyone.”

Skepsis also explains how the original generation of artists — longstanding bassline OGs such as TS7, Bassboy, DJ Q and Mr Virgo — have welcomed the new generation. “That’s the community spirit, mate,” he explains. “Me and TS7 share tracks together all the time. We help each other level up and better ourselves. It’s good to stay on your toes.”