Driller D & Full Crew, @Faces, 27 December 2000

Driller D and Full Crew were the special guests at the monthly 'Lick' held at Faces Nightclub in Gants Hill, Ilford, England. Local DJ Driller D was formerly a resident at RM1 Club in Romford and East London garage radio station, Passion FM. It was the Xmas special on 27 December. The popular night is held on the last Wednesday of each month.

It comprises of a mainly mature clientelle over 25 years of age. Full of locals from East London and Essex as well as clubbers from surrounding areas of London. Faces is a modern and sophisticated venue very lavish inside with freindly staff and doormen. On this Xmas special there was a buffet laid on earlier on.

Around 11:30ish-pm time, the shutters seperating the spacious dancefloor slowly rose as the club Dj began to spin RnB and club tunes. These nights are usually well attended and the foor began to fill. The glamour set were there in full and the sexy Essex Girls, posers, hardcore clubbers, beer drinkers were all in attendance.

Around midnight the live p.a.by Driller D crew was announced. The stage was cleared lights dimmed and spotlights focussed on Charlene Griffiths the vocalist who livened up the audience with the 'Driller D Crew' test press. She went down a storm. The Drilla Crew created, produced, arranged, wrote and mixed the track one of their many exclusives.The Full crew received their training in Music Production at the Digital Arts Centre, in North London, England. The TP may soon be released in future after the pa's on the road.

Driller D took the decks after 1 am following a commercial set by the club jock. He kept the crowd on its feet one they heard the opening bars of the sounds of the underground garage he was dropping. He know how to mix and blend well. The club jock took up the final set dropping a mixture of rare groove, revival ragga. So it was a great night had by all. In the words of Bobby and steve: "It's all good!"

After the said Faces' bash, Driller D's Crew next date will be in Scotland for a New Year's Eve special.

Driller D and his crew consists of:

G-Spot
Hard house, Ibiza style dj.
Leslie Phillips
Producer, Engineer, Programmer
Charlene Griffiths
Vocalist on 'Driller D Crew' test press.

Driller D has Dj'd right across the UK and Europe. One of his biggest dates was in Leipzig in Germany 5 years ago. It was part of a music festival at a bassball stadium filled to capacity with 40,000. Drilla performed a garage set and rocked it. He played at another massive rave in Frankfurt, Germany sponsored by Manga Rum.

Driller is serious about his music and has been in the music scene from day one. He was involved in the security side and ran the doors at the early Jungle Raves. He saw the music evolve from Acid house/Rave, Hardcore,Jungle, Drum and Bass to Garage. And got to know the major djs and promoters, and radio stations in the scene. Before quitting the security side he noticed something about Underground Garage. "I remembered" when "Jungle" was the main thing at the time and the atmosphere in the main room with the Jungle crowd was more intense. However, I always noticed how in the smaller Garage music rooms the crowd was more reserved and into the music. They were the serious clubbers. That made me want to check it out and find out more about it."

Driller continues, "My main mentor was Lenny D'Ice, who did the anthem 'We are E'. The music is changing and different people are coming into Garage now that it has crossed over into the mainstream. They weren't there 3 years ago. So as a Dj you have to be able to adapt and cater for everyone. As their are many different formats of garage. In my set I play everything: the 2 Step Garage, Breakbeat, 4 to the floor, dark etc".

Driller D is aware about the rise of Breakbeat Garage after the succes of the 2 step Garage in England. As a DJ, he explained you can either make the crowd follow you or you follow them.

"I try to educate not dictate by playing all styles the commerical and the underground. Look at DJ EZ, (major dj on the scene with Kiss FM -London, England, who is behind the Pure Garage CDs in the National charts - England), he can play his style and the youth's style on his set. EZ has a distinctive fast mixing style he uses in his set which made him one of the leading jocks on the scene."

Driller D goes on, "The underground has the power, the DJ knows the scene and what is in and popular. Some people don't like the dark element of some of the Breakbeat Garage. A DJ can either play those records or he can mix it up and introduce the more uplifting stuff as well in his set, so the crowd is aware of what else is going on."

That is one reason why he believes Driller D and the Full crew get the dates in far off places. "When we send of mix tapes to promoters they hear all formats of house and garage mixed and blended which will go down with any crowd. That is the key" That is why the dates keep coming in from near and far. Driller D and the crew have a monthly residency at the Casa Bar in Milton Keynes, England. They have played at the Mirage in Windsor, Exchange in Staines, Pink Coconut in Derby - England, as well as clubs in Sheffield and Manchester - England.

This is copyrighted. If you would like to use this or any of the images or text please contact Carl Brown(Ipswich, England), or Solomon Malcolm (London, England) to do so.