DStormEP3 - RIP Sheona Smith
Desert Storm 004 - Kikin Up the dust
CapsCorp 006 - Fuck Sarkovals/RIP BETTY 23
Gangsta Hertz 004 - Big C be Poppin
Desert Storm 006 - Live Extract EP
Kaotek 002 - Anarchy06
I have been involved with Desert Storm since 1994 when we made our way with a food aid convoy to the almost besieged town of Tuzla in war torn Bosnia.
We were meant to make a new year eve party, but after a 9 day trip skirting around the frontline and driving down valley roads at 2am with all our lights off to avoid sniper-fire, we arrived to find our venue had been mortered the day before.
It was New Years eve and we had to do something, so we piled all the speakers onto the back of a lorry and set off around the town Pied Piper style.
At one point the cops came up, we started to turn the music down expecting to be arrested, But in probably the only time in the history of Music, the cops said
"Turn the music up...but please turn off the lights....You will get pinpointed and mortered"...
so i did as he said... drank some of his Slivovich and watched him as he started dancing alongside the soldiers.They were shooting their AK47's in the air and drinking right next to the 3 old grannys doing their knitting with their heads in a bass bin....Unbelievable but true...and the single most crazy night of my life.
Since that trip we did another 3 excursions into the violent and vicious war zone..and we entered Sarajevo just one week after the final cease-fire, the 1st artists to enter the city from outside in 5 years.
We quickly found the musical sub culture that had been one of the most important and also dangerous aspect of living under a siege.
We set up a gig at " The Obola" a club made infamous for the 300 yard sprint you had to make to get in the door and not get shot by the snipers.
Many young people would make their way here during the conflict and stay for days due to the danger outside.
The same could be said for Radio Zid, an underground pirate station that we played on.
It was run by a couple of scared lookin 20 something...although they looked about 40. They let us play for about 5 hours and all the time advertised the upcoming gig at Obola.
We then took our tekno out into the streets, in the same manner as Tuzla a year previously except there were sniper signs on nearly every corner.
I still got a picture somewhere of me Dj'in in the back of the opensided truck cruising up and down Sarajevo main strip with a phat rig and a kevlar helmet.
When we actually did the party in Obola, well i dont believe it is possible to witness people dancing and harder!
They were frantic, to dance, drink, laugh, cry, hug, each other, but most of all to be free.
It was 1 week after the Dayton Peace accord and after 5 years of siege and inhumane suffering, finally they got the 1st glimpse of a future....and fuck me were they happy about it!
We returned 1 more time to Sarajevo with Spiral Tribe 6 months later.What a journey.
I really got to touch the Tekno travelling community and had some of the most enlightening few years, partly to do with what i had seen whilst in Bosnia, but also the combination of music within a nomadic lifestyle.
I was gonna blurb about Reclaim the streets abit...but just watch this instead...Guess who was driving the big black truck!!!!!!
u get the picture!!!! Reclaim the Streets..DStorm Style!!
After all that business with RTS we were getting quite a lot of attention from the boys in blue, So we decided it was time to take DStorm to Europe to see what we could achieve.
So, spurred on by the tales of crazy warehouse partys abroad from our travelling buddys Spiral Tribe. We hit Italy at a run, arriving in Bologna.
We started doing raves which were mobbed from the 1st beat, and it quickly became apparent that our measly 3.5k rig was not gonna surfice.
So with a huge effort we turned ourselves into a 10 k rig within 2 partys, using the cash from the bar etc and building ourselve some chunky bass!! Get in!!
This video is a documentary made by the BBC about us when we were in Italy... I avoided the camera nicely...But you do spot my lil boy Oliver at 1 point...!
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We then spent the next few years getting bigger and louder and doing more and more crazy phat ass partys like you wouldnt believe, always willing to hook up and to co-exist with whatever other system we were travelling with at the time.
Im sure a few of ya will have been to some of our events, so you will know our vibe.......Hope y'all had fun now y'hear.
When my second child was born I moved back to the UK and started to concentrate on my music production...And whilst still being involved in the UK and European free party scene, it has been my music that has become my goal....
I tend to do most of my production with the newest member of DStorm, Scratch Junglist Slag Dr Weevil...and together we form Civil Unrest. We have released numerous vinyls together now as well as the Civil Unrest debut album.
I also collaborate with my very good friend Empatysm of Caps Corp records, ever since we met at the "End of the World Party" and played a Dj vs Live set we have had a special bond. We now play a liveset together with myself mashing heads with twisted synths and fx whilst Empatysm cuts the legs with slamming beats and basses. He has been a constant force in my music career for a long time now and we have a unique understanding of each others vibe. So do the right thing and book us soon...
To all you true ravers out there....and to all the good people i have met and got mash up with, or just slammed out some tunes together...
I love You all>>>>We are ALL STARS......DSTORM 4 EVA!!!!!!!
This is From Nordik Impakt 8...U spot Empatysm and I a few times.
great stuff ,love the tunes ,you gotta send me some traks to play on our radio show .we broadcast live saturday nights from 10 till midnight on 89.7fm in san fransisco and piratecatradio.com ,also check out this you tube channel for a peak t some stuf that goes on around here www.youtube.com/user/2Xintheface ....holla at me
Hey, cheers for the add, can't begin to tell you how much respect I have for Desert Storm without sounding like a total loser... so I'll leave it there! Keep it shambolic and keep the cops partying x
