Drum and bass in Bristol needs no bigger homes than Lakota and Blue Mountain. Both on the same street in Stokes Croft - they’ve continued Bristol’s drum n bass lineage from DJ Krust and Roni Size through to Intrigue Music and the more experimental UVB76 crew. Bristol’s place in the history of drum n bass is assured. Figureheads like DJ Die draw the line between the jungle and drum n bass scenes, jungle is key in Bristol - a city with so much Caribbean heritage, roots reggae’s influence on drum n bass comes through the language of jungle. But with both Lakota and Blue Mountain closing their doors soon to developers, is Bristol in a drum n bass crisis?
Drum and bass in Bristol encapsulates the genre in the wider world. Big venues play host to big acts with nights such as Bedlam, One Nation and Shit the Bed offering International stars including Pendulum, Chase and Status, Andy C and Noisia on a regular basis. In addition to this, alternative venues like the Dojo Lounge, Basement 45 and the Black Swan foster the rarefied sounds of dnb's many sub genres offering the city a unique depth to its plethora of drum and bass music. New years eve in Bristol clubs sees the city's venues rammed to the brim with all of the drum and bass's big players djing somewhere in Bristol.
Agro, Dissident and Mongrel offer dnb of a techy, dark variety while the bastion of the deeper sound, Intrigue, continues to push artists such as Marcus Intalex, Calibre and Fabio. Torque, straddling the line between dark and deep is a drum and bass monthly of significant recognition, hosting label nights and affiliated artists from Club Autonomic to Critical and Shogun Audio.
With drum and bass such a popular genre in Bristol, most clubs present dnb of some description at least once per month. Basement 45 has emerged as a consistent venue, with Torque, Abstraction and Nine Tree all on regular rotation at the club. Dojos plays host to the aforementioned Intrigue while Lab is home to Signal which runs as a bi-monthly event.
Of the larger venues Motion has a throng of events that are less frequent but larger in scale. Although many of these nights are multi-genre affairs, Run and Shit The Bed routinely promote dnb artists as their headline acts.
Lakota is another important dnb venue, housing Concrete Beat, Agro and since September 2010, Bedlam. Hospitality's residency at the Thekla ensures dnb is consistent fixture on the ship, while the rave-ready Black Swan is the spearhead for the harder jungle-tek sounds of the dnb genre.
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Our recent drum and bass recommendations
Sell out warning! Tokio Station strike gold again with a mahoooosive three-stage jazz junglism frenzy at the Boxing Gym. Calling on the immortal Valve / Reinforced breakbeat prowess of Lemon D, alongside Kool FM’s Chinese Daughter, they serve out a platter of pure ruffage, totally blurring the lines between live jazz and vinyl DJs inna total renaissance moment FFO: Krust, Bukem, Photek, Roni Size etc.
Tokio Station: Jungle Jazz Mini-Festival at The Boxing Gym.
Thee industrial techno steppas titans cometh! Gonz and Pack’s SELN mini-verse finally aligns with the cosmically-predestined Bristol nexus. The collision will be seismic, with live sets and DJs joining dots between doomcore dub and brutalist tekno propulsion in a totally unfuckwithable offering FFO: John T Gast, TNT Roots, T++, Chain Reaction.
SELN Presents: Celebrating New Industrial at Strange Brew.
Sierpinski turns to the dark side for the latest Beaten Track emission: paranoid darkcore stylings with lashings of bad acid sampledelia and god-level amens. Celebrate with the best crew around, keeping arms a-flailing with their usual top-shelf old skool energy from jungle techno to pumping tribe to breakbeat hardcore.
Join us to celebrate our latest release on Beaten Tracks!!
Free entry! Definitely squeeze this lil live radio session into your Saturday night warmup plans – Arc are hosting the Alexander Nut/Floating Points-championed broken future beat stylings of Sentinel 793 for a 3 hour spesh. Unsung local hero, 20 years in the making FFO: Donsurf, Bugz In The Attic, Funkineven, Kyle Hall.
3 hr set from Sentinel 793
More Photos of Bristol's Drum & Bass Events
What our editors say
“We’re back at Clock Factory Bristol for our FREE RAVE Summer Series. All summer long we’re dedicating Friday nights showcasing some of the finest bass music talent around - completely FREE. Stressing over festival and day-party prices? Don’t fear - we’ve got you covered. Friday 7th August, we bring together a mixed drum & bass curation taking you through the raw sounds of jungle, minimal and dancefloor, featuring Bladerunner + MC Felon, VISLA & Siren.”
From: Rave • Bladerunner + MC Felon, VISLA & Siren
“We’re back at Clock Factory Bristol for our FREE RAVE Summer Series. All summer long we’re dedicating Friday nights showcasing some of the finest bass music talent around - completely FREE. Stressing over festival and day-party prices? Don’t fear - we’ve got you covered. Friday 31st July, we welcome the legendary Congo Natty back to the club for a live show. Renowned for blending Rastafarian culture, reggae vocals, and heavy basslines, he is a foundational figure in ragga-jungle.”
From: Rave
“30 Years of Fatman D comes to Bristol. The first two events have blown up massively and now it’s time for Lakota gardens. We’ve got a full stack of headliners giving you the full range of jump up, Old school and heavy hitters.”
From: Blurred: 30 Yrs Fatman D | Lakota XL Day Rave
“We’re back at Clock Factory Bristol for our FREE RAVE Summer Series. All summer long we’re dedicating Friday nights showcasing some of the finest bass music talent around - completely FREE. Stressing over festival and day-party prices? Don’t fear - we’ve got you covered. Friday 3rd July, we welcome pioneers Ray Keith & Nicky Blackmarket for a 90 minute B2B with Trafic MC, a deep dive into jungle foundations. Expect break-led pressure, heavy basslines, and that timeless energy that keeps the dance moving from start to finish.”
From: Rave • Ray Keith B2B Nicky Blackmarket + Traffic
“Fez the Kid and Duality are taking over the inn for a journey across the musical spectrum. Starting off with house, moving into electro, transitioning into dubstep and ending with a jungle finale. Intaception style. Tune for Tune all night long. 2200-0300 £5-10 / otd”
From: Intaception w/ Duality B2B Fez The Kid