Bassweek – Interview with Jesse Brown of Destiny

WTF is Bassweek?

Its the question people keep asking in the days leading up to the week long event that has brought together a who’s who of Toronto promotion crews and artists both International and Homegrown. While Bassweek is the brainchild of Destiny and Torontojungle, also involved are Embrace, Soul In Motion and Channel One. To get a bit more insight into what this means for Bass Music fans in Toronto, I thought I’d go right to the centre of it and talk to Jesse Brown of Destiny. Lets get the discussion going …

Spinz: How did the idea for Bassweek come about?

Jesse Brown (Destiny): The general idea is something we have wanted to do for a while but for various reasons never materialized. The end of March has always been big for EDM (Electronic Dance Music) in Toronto. Behind the scenes, it’s mostly due to artists scheduling tours around the Miami Winter Music Conference/Ultra Music Festival. For instance, for the past six years, Destiny has been able to pick up one of the ViRAM tour dates as it makes its way to and from Miami. We have also done other massive shows that are around the same time like The World of Drum & Bass which traditionally was always one to two weeks after ViRAM. Bottom line, we get all this great music at the end of March but the market gets saturated and as people pick and choose, some events may have been not as successful as they should be. Something was needed to unite all these shows together including many different shows by other promoters and BASS WEEK will do just that.

S: What do you hope to accomplish with Bassweek? Will this become a yearly thing?

JB: Yes – this is just year one and there is so much potential with what we can do as team. Toronto has always been one of the leading cities for drum & bass and breaks. I’m proud to say that the same is proving to hold true for dubstep, so the whole things is a perfect fit. I hope we can grow BASS WEEK to feature more then just a week of amazing club events and parties and continue to show the world what Toronto has done with the music and culture. At the same time, this music is more or less still an underground sound. In the end, my ultimate goal is to showcase the music we love to as many people as possible so that it continues to thrive, especially in this city.

S: You seem to be working a lot with the folks from Embrace recently. From the outside looking in, it seems like an unlikely pairing of two huge promoters that might normally be in competition. How did the idea to work together come about?

JB: Each company brings different things to the table that benefit us as a collective. In the past we have worked with many other promoters on various events from WEMF to Halloween. Collaboration efforts always stay true to the Destiny brand in that we always put the overall party experience first and focus on things like unique venues, top-quality sound and lighting effects.

S: Of all the artists performing this week, both internationally and from home, who is your own personal favourite? Is there anyone of our home town artists that you think people need to see?

JB: I’m excited to hear High Contrast again as it’s been so long but whenever asked who my favourite is, I always answer Andy C. He always plays a unique set with different tracks then the last time you heard him play and it never disappoints. There is a reason he is the world’s best drum & bass DJ and all the tops guys in the scene are not afraid to admit it. As for home-grown, Mystical Influence has the skills to move any crowd in any situation. There is so much talent spread through the week that it is hard to focus on just one.

S: People always have their opinions of what should and shouldn’t be represented at a big event such as this. What do you think you could use more of next time around? Is there an element of the music you think isn’t as represented as you’d like?

JB: I suppose there is not much in terms of breaks but it is still showcased at events like the Channel One party. People will always have opinions on what we should or shouldn’t be doing and I respect that but sometimes it seems like the most opinionated people are the ones that would never buy a ticket anyway. Ultimately we cater our events to our loyal fans. We will always push the envelope as much as we can and stay on the lookout for fresh talent. Whatever it takes to make a good party and send people away smiling.

S: Awesome, thanks Jesse for taking a minute in a busy week to give us some bassweek insight. Folks, feel free to comment or let us know what shows you’re looking forward to. See y’all through out the week!

For those looking to grab your wristbands for the week or individual event info, here it is: