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TRAFFIC - A PROFILE
Club Profile: Traffic (Knowledge Magazine) Words: Ben Willmott With roots stretching back as far as 1997, Future Thinkin truly arrived on the London drum and bass scene when they staged Photek's triumphant first UK show for two years at the Colloseum in Vauxhall in 2002, F.T's flagship night traffic now runs monthly at the Rhythm Factory in East London, hand inhand with hosting rooms at the Telepathy and Best of British and numerous other bookings, traffic was also recently voted the best d&b night of 2003by MixMag, as co-founder Shylo is keen to point out! Can the ultimate accolade of a Knowledge gong really be that far off?! BREAK DOWN YOUR CREW FOR US? "There are basically 3 of us who are the core members of Future Thinkin, DM C.U.T the DJ featured on TV's 'Joy Of Decks' reality show and mentored by Roni Size), me (Shylo MC), and Danny Exile, but there are other people, like D'Zine, Diverse & Funk-Shun, I-One and other, producers and MCs who have grown up around the night as time has gone on. Future Thinkin was started as a way to provide more exposure for up and coming DJs from across the D&B spectrum at a time when the scene felt very locked down - (the first F.T. event was December 12 in 1997) and that philosophy has stayed with us through the years at Turnmills, Subterania, Scala, Colloseum and now the Rhythm Factory - it's still the philosophy now." HOW HAVE THE RESIDENTS MADE THE CLUB SUCH A SUCCESS? "At traffic every F.T. DJ plays exactly what they want to, we like to play the whole spectrum of styles, the evenings have a very carefully put together flow and we can spend hours debating the running orders. We don't like to do the ordinary, standard thing. We booked Andy C to play next to Nookie @ the Collosuem last year, hearing those two very polarised sounds coming one after the other, was something that doesn't happen very often on London scene as people don't like taking risks. As well as our crew members, we hire DJ's we know share our outlook on D&B, people like Fabio, Storm, Doc Scott, Nookie, London Elecktricity, Influx Datum, hopefully giving people something a bit different." MOST MEMORABLE EVENT? "I'd have to give a mention to Photek's comeback gig at the Colloseum. He'd not played in the UK for a couple of years and had a lot of criticism from some people for doing the house stuff he did on the 'Solaris' album. It really felt like the scene gave him a warm wlecome back plus we had Goldie, Doc Scott and Roni (replaced by Die) on the bill. Fantastic night!! It was the first time anyone in London heard a lot of the stuff that's still coming out now, like (new Metalheadz single) 'Satisfy' and the Do Or Die stuff." WHAT'S YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE? "The next event is at the Rhythm Factory (in Whitechapel Road, East Central London), on February 13 with Nookie, Randall and Teebee as well as the Future Thinkin residents Danny Exile and DM C.U.T, and in the early part of this year in terms of guests we're also looking to get Doc Scott, Storm and Bailey in too. There are also plans to do a label soon, as our collective includes 5 producers who are constantly making tunes. It'll probably all come out under the Future Thinkin' banner. We are a collective, after all. Again, it won't be one specific style within drum and bass, it's just going to be quality music.