Monday, 19 April 2010

KRISIS DnB-Skepsis-Prestine Method

Friday, 16 April 2010

KRISISDnB interviewed on HotDJGear.com

KRISISDnB.COM started in early 2007. Launched as a 24/7 Drum and Bass radio station, we wanted to do things differently and give people something fresh to listen to, and to be involved in as well. Having successfully recruited some hugely talented DJs and MCs from around the world it has extended the range from just being a small UK based station, to an international one with artists and listeners from places like Canada, USA, Brazil, Australia, Germany, Belarus, Malaysia, Ukraine, Georgia and so many more.

Since we launched the station, we started organising our own events on the South Coast of the UK. There was a demand from our listeners to see our artists performing live, so we responded by doing just that, as well as bringing headliners like Twisted Individual, Simon Bassline Smith, DJ Sly,
DJ Pleasure, MC Rhymes and many more who have all taken an interest in helping the progress of the brand.

The next natural step was to launch our own label KRISISDnB RECORDINGS which we achieved in the last part of 2009. As the station and events have evolved we became aware that we had some very talented producers on board, so we wanted to give the world the opportunity to hear their work. With over 30
releases on the label so far, we have managed to build up a wide range of sub-genres in the releases we have put out. With most vinyl labels struggling to make ends meet due to the current financial climate, we followed the trend of the digital label. Most people now have I-Pods or use other mobile devices to listen to music, and with a lot of DJs tuning their skills to the digital age then it made sense.

With a million and one other internet radio stations, we needed to be better than the rest. We believe we have achieved that by having artists playing everything from Jungle, Techstep, and Neurofunk, to Jump up, Liquid and Breaks. With input from our artists and listeners, we added the features they wanted to see, from live webcams from our artists studios, to helping them listen and get in the chatroom from their mobile phones. The website has had 3 versions since day 1 now culminating in the V3 site which has brought everything together. With a new design and logo alongside a solid foundation for additional features, and with the station now being managed from both the UK and Belarus, there will be future additions built in to further increase the accessibility of the site to other countries.

So come along and see what you think! You can find us on :

Main website : http://www.krisisdnb.com

We also have communities on :

Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8023026927&ref=ts
Myspace : http://www.myspace.com/krisisdnb07

Wednesday, 14 April 2010

SKAR(RED) to Rave

SKAR(RED) to Rave
What a lovely morning ive woke up to !! Sun is shining, its nice and warm, and my work visa is getting sorted!

First laugh I had today was seeing what is supposed to be MC SKAR's birthday event on facebook. After Skar asked me to help him with it a few weeks ago, I was only too willing to help. He has been on the mic at a few KRISISDnB.COM events and I wanted to help him improve and get more exposure.
However it seems that he is now paying the DJ bill for the lineup and playing a cameo role, for what looks a Rollin Rave event. Flyer designer Ripraw has taken full opportunity to make it effectively look like his event even though its not costing him a penny, and presumably the 'put me on your lineup and you get flyer for free' has got past Skar easily.

That would have been criminal enough on its own, but not only has he managed to get himself on the lineup, but also the entire Rollin Rave crew from Mouldwick, DoubleMC (wannabe gangster, what a joke !), Kendall (who im sure will be all cool with his best friend DoubleMC on the night), and Hannibal who was recruited by Rollin Rave who saw another person who could be used to promote Ripraw and Mouldwicks brand because he beat Ripraw and someone else (cant remember his name) at a small DJ competition a few months ago.

Anyway the standard Rollin Rave flyer layout (slightly tilted with a rollin rave logo that takes up half the page) has been done (in probably 5mins as its the same as the last 4 or 5 flyers, not too bad to get on a lineup!!). I do feel sorry for Kendall though. Another puppet of Rollin Rave. He really does try his best to help and be part of it, but its very obvious that its Ripraw and Mouldwick who run things as they are so much higher up the pecking order than anyone else, if only Kendall could see that. Kendall is a good friend and he knows I helped him gain some experience and gave him the backing he always deserved.

So anyway, Skar did take my advice in using Empire Club in Bournemouth. Even though its not the best venue in the world by a long way, its not too bad. And considering the amount he has spent on a lineup then a cheap venue was always going to be the way to go. Skar wanted to be part of the KRISISDnB crew, but presumably as Ripraw made the flyer, there isnt even a small krisisdnb logo on it.

Im sounding all very bitter I know, but thats far from the truth. In the last few years Ive learned that there are so many people only in Drum and Bass to help themselves. I have never been like that, and have really tried to help everyone as much as I can. By doing that it has allowed me to give people an opportunity to get in the scene, but what it also does, is to show me when they get a little bit of fame then there true colours show through whether they are genuine friends, or just someone in it for themselves. Classic examples of people in it for themselves are DoubleMC, DJ Foxy (not the known MC.. a bedroom DJ i helped and gave an event to), Krogenik and Shakey, but the list is much longer than that. Its made me laugh at it all now, being over here in Belarus, I can watch them all arguing between themselves and licking each others arses to get a set here and there. I do hope Skar doesnt fall into that group as well as he is a cool bloke who can improve on his own without getting involved with the rest of them.

On a different note, the pirate radio thing in Southampton seems to have taken in the rollin rave crew as well as Kendall and Stamma (who will be off his tag soon I think) and probably more as well. I wonder how long it will take before it gets shut down again, and also before they realise that the handful of listeners on FM and the pitiful site that ukdnb.net has disappears. Personally I dont see the buzz with pirate radio on the scale they are doing it. Not only is it illegal, but everyone involved with it can be prosecuted if they are caught. Worth it for 5-10 listeners? Hmm.. let me think about that one hahahaha. With every FM station in the country now on the internet as well, they know its just a matter of time before FM disappears completely. Cars in the UK and abroad are slowly installing Internet Radios and as soon as that becomes more widespread then the drop off from FM will really happen.

So how are things in Belarus... well im loving it still !! I hit a small problem a few days ago in that my Vkontakte page got hacked so I lost all my friends and contacts I had, but im slowly building that back up now. My real problem is remembering everyones names ! Its still hard reading the language even peoples names, but im slowly getting there. Last weekends events werent as busy as I had hoped, but in the 10 weeks or so ive been here, ive played at some amazing events especially in Bobruisk and Gomel. Ive made some real friends here and the communication barrier isnt stopping me too much. Our weekly events at Reaktor Club had a quiet weekend last week probably because of the extended weekend break, but hopefully they will pick up again this weekend. I think I am also about to be booked to play in a town called Novopolotsk (think thats how its spelled) sometime in late April or May, as well as a return set to The Pocket Music Box event in Minsk in early May as well. Ukraine is looking likely for May, and it would be good to work with Tyke to organise my birthday event too.

Im gutted about the Czech Republic event. I had to extend my visa as you all know a few weeks ago but there was no way I could make it multiple entries to Belarus as I needed an invitation letter which I didnt know about. Therefore on a single entry there was no chance to get to Prague. Tony the promoter, did leave it till the last minute to even get the flyer out though which didnt give us much time to organise. At least AskArT is going to represent the station and after speaking to Tony, Red Catz, Yellow Int and myself will go to Czech Republic in the summer.

We have a load of new shows starting on KRISISDnB.COM in the next week. Some hugely talented DJs have shown a big interest in joining so im looking forward to hearing there first shows on the station. Shawshank did a 4 hour 'test stream' a few days ago which went well, Didz, Refix, Termz are all set up and will blast some Drum and Bass to the world, and or first dedicated Dubstep DJ Docta Blunt is ready to go as well. You can find there show times on the schedule page on the site.

My mini-website has had a little bit of a revamp with some new promo pics taken from my set in Bobruisk a week or so ago. Some fantastic pics I think you will agree. You can check them out on http://www.djmx.krisisdnb.com/

Following from past experiences, weve had more personal threats from Shedbass Radio who have continued in there quest to cause problems to the station and site. It appears now to be directed towards NeO, as its obvious that cant do anything to me being over here. I made an attempt to speak to them to clear things but got the usual form of response. Its been over 3 years now since we left and started KRISISDnB, so maybe its about time they just sorted there own station instead of harassing someone elses. Im the past I would never give them the promotion by even mentioning there name in a post, but now iv grown weary of hiding the fact. People can make up there own minds about what they are like and there station, it doesnt bother me in the slightest.
And lastly, after whats been around 2 months, NeO will finally have his internet connected back up in his new place next week !!! Then Phase 2 of the website really starts coming together. I think over the last few months the V3 website has gained us a lot of additional support from listeners around the world, so as we build on what is currently just a base of the potential the site has, then we should see that support grow substantially. You can check what is there already on the usual address : http://www.krisisdnb.com/. Please help spread the word by posting the KRISISDnB.COM link on your forum posts, blogs, websites, facebook, myspace or anywhere else you can think of. Let us know where you post our link and we will link to your page as well which helps you as well !!!

Tuesday, 23 March 2010

What now.....

Well, as we agreed with the local registration office when I made the trip to Kiev in Ukraine last month to renew my visa, we went back to the office in order to extend my visa in Belarus.

Alex and myself were both expecting some sort of fee to extend it and that would be it.... things are never that simple here. Yes I am now on the right visa type, but they have a limit of 90 days total a foreigner is allowed in Belarus per year. There is a way to extend it, and its a good job we went there today so I have 7 days in order to try to solve this. I now need a work visa, which requires me to have a work contract from a company that is permitted to employ foreigners. My whole plan from the start of this trip was that Streamline were going to employ me therefore giving me the required documents I needed to have done this from day 1.

Well that hasnt happened, and the demand for native english speakers at Streamline is covered by Ian and Cole. Cole has helped me out a lot to try to give me as many ideas for more work here, and I have an interview at a different language school tomorrow. Its a long shot, but will see what happens.

I will be so upset if I have to leave here. The people here have been fantastic, and its been so good to have had the chance to start to integrate with a whole different culture. Yes the language has been a bit of a barrier, but ive had such a good time, and I dont want it to end yet.

If I can just get a job sorted that pays enough to pay the rent and give me enough to live on alongside DJing here as well then im fine.

Well ive sent about 20 emails and made as many calls as I can to schools and even IT companies (which I dont really want to get back into if im perfectly honest) to try and make a last ditch effort to keep me here. If that doesnt happen, then I still have a few options...

I can go to Ukraine and teach down there for a while until I find something permanent in Belarus. I dont need a visa to be there so its a real possibility, and does give me the opportunity to see a bit more of Ukraine as well. I could go to Czech Republic as Im playing there in April anyway, so it sort of makes sense at least for the short term.

Hmm how about Georgia... I dont know the visa situation for there yet, but it really would be good to meet up with Alex Rayden especially as I intended to go there last year but couldnt afford it.

So many 'Ifs and Buts' its unreal !! I JUST WANT TO STAY HERE !!!! The only real way is to hope that the interview tomorrow goes well or one of the other emails ive sent out comes up with some light at the end of the tunnel.

I guess there will be another update on here in the next few days, I just hope its a good update !


MX (Malcs)
KRISISDnB.COM

Wicked Beats - 10/04/2010 - Da Club, Minsk, Belarus

Wicked Beats - 10/04/2010 - Da Club, Minsk, Belarus

Monday, 8 March 2010

MX IN BELARUS - STEP IN THE UNDERWORLD

Well its been a month since I moved to Belarus now and its been fantastic ! Ive met so many people over here, and even though I can hardly speak a word of russian, im getting on fine.


I had to start again here, having to learn the basics like how to get credit on my mobile phone, to working out what food was what in a shop. Learning the different currency hasnt been too bad really, and they have solved the problem of having too many coins in your pocket and making holes in them !!! Belarus Roubles dont have coins. Problem solved !

Ive performed at 4 events so far, not to my best yet by a long way, but my second set last saturday at Reaktor Club was getting a bit more like how I know I can play. The DJs here tend to play on sideways decks as the DJ booths are fairly small, but im getting used to it slowly.

With 3 events this week (2 in Minsk and 1 in Gomel) im ready to smash out a few big sets and get to the top of my game.

One thing that has really taken me by surprise is the huge enthusiasm people over here have for enjoying themselves. At every event ive either played at or been to, its clear to see people out to have fun. It makes a refreshing change in comparison to some of the local politics in the UK DnB scene. I still watch facebook to see what is going on in the uk, and see the same bitching between internet stations, djs and mcs. It makes me laugh now at the childish behaviour that goes on. It is nice however to see that some of the smaller internet radio stations have learned from us that the more organised look of the V3 KRISISDnB website is the way to go and have followed our lead. We still have a lot more features on the V3 site and with more to come soon as well keeps KRISISDnB Number 1 !!!

The next month see me travelling once again off to Czech Republic in the middle of April with Red Catz and Yellow Int for an event with Tony, Dino and more. Things are also looking possible in the near future for a trip to Moscow in Russia. I really cant wait for that if it happens !

Then its back to London and the South Coast of the UK in July for a few weeks for a big event im in the process of planning.

Busy, but exciting times ahead!

 
MX (Malcs)
http://www.krisisdnb.com/
http://www.djmx.krisisdnb.com/

Friday, 29 January 2010

ITS ALMOST TIME.....

The final stages of my planning are done. Flight tickets to Minsk are booked, decks are ready to be posted over, train to airport sorted, and Damienn and Wren (my dogs) are looking like they have a good home to go to.

Time for me to take KRISISDnB.COM truly international. There isnt many stations that are run from 2 different countries so this holds so much in store for the coming months and years.

Now just got to work out what I can fit in my luggage, what else needs to be posted and to sell off the few bits I have still got here.

IF ANYONE NEEDS AN 8K SOUNDSYSTEM THEN ITS HERE !!! ITS WORTH £1800 AND UP FOR SALE FOR ONLY £1000 OR NEAREST OFFER !!! Grab a bargain !

Full spec can be found here : http://forum.breakbeat.co.uk/tm.aspx?m=1971837425

Send an email to mx@krisisdnb.com for more info