The B Side | Ep 5 - Nature Rage | Drum and Bass DJ Mix

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When you're passionate, have made the audio world your career, and extremely talented and you know it, it's easy to move silently and humbly. The B Side welcomes its next guest DJ and the words above don't give Ian Brundage aka Nature Rage the respect and honor he deserves and his 20+ years on the DC Drum & Bass circuit command.
Technically flawless, he's another example of how the combination of experience and natural talent when combined with humility, can still shine through. The club scene landscape can be crowded with egos and I've always appreciated the people who simply let their sets speak for themselves. Unfortunately, PR and networking often outshine what should be, obviously, the intended focus. With his skills on the wheels of steel and impeccable track selection, he's stood the test of time and his mixes, moving effortlessly from heavy tune to heavy tune, not only give any digital (esp Sync) DJ a run for their money, but are a master class in mixing chops.
I've had the pleasure of being friends with Ian for most of his time on the DC Circuit. Rewind to 1998 - 2006ish, and DC's party circuit was being dominated by Drum & Bass, each year more pre-dominantly so. The Sounds were fresh and DC was hungry for tech step, neuro-funk, liquid, and classic jungle sounds with parties happening all over the city, most notably Buzz @ Nation on Fridays with the front room rotating top head liners from around the world weekly. 2Tuff were leading the pack and programming lineups at events across the city. John Tab's Thursday night Alchemy events @ Nation on the upper floor were breakbeat focused and this included Drum & Bass, while promoters filled the club with Industrial on the main floor. The Edge was rotating in top Drum & Bass talent as well, and Kaffa House with Sunday Night Sessions was the spot to be for everyone's fix of the best local talent.
The mid 00's ushered in the opening of Club Five, the Staple Club in DC for Dance Music and promoter, Up Front, was carrying the torch with Five Drum and Bass Sessions on Thursday Nights with a focus on Liquid sounds but still mixing up all styles at a time when Drum & Bass was really pushing boundaries in Dance Music. This era lead to the OG Dub Step revolution and local Baltimore Hero Joe Nice was putting the Mid Atlantic on the World Map and Dub Step seemed poised to keep pushing the UK's twist on breakbeats in a forward thinking, mature direction. Martyn was making a name for himself within Dub Step but it seemed it was only a short matter of time before the genre took a turn for the worst, and could no longer be associated with the Dub Roots so closely associated with its aesthetic. Mainstream DJs, not understanding what Dub Step was at its core, took the sounds into a commercialized arena and brought a younger, male dominant drinking vibe into that scene which seemed to spell the end for audiences really catching on and pushing the culture and the vibe's ethos. Sub Genres like Grime and 2 Step, quickly saw the best of their yrs come and go, and then splinter into what would eventually come into its own as Bass Music.
The purpose of the quick history lesson for DC's love affair for Drum and Bass is, throughout all of those ups & downs, a small cast of DJs persevered, and carried the torch up until today, and Nature Rage never wavered. Quietly, confidently, he stood the test of time, and it's a testament to the passion he has for the music and his natural talent behind the decks as he continued to champion his love for vinyl, no easy feat considering the cost of wax and low production until vinyl's resurgence post 2012. Stars will rise, come and go, and burn out, but there are a number of DJs who still play, and they may never be the latest and greatest, but you'll still find them on lineups across the city. Count Nature Rage among those. Currently, beyond his job in pro-audio and gigs across the city, you can catch Ian, aka Nature Rage, at the links below and keep up with his current online sets and the new Show Broadcast via Eaton's Mixcloud - OuterSphere Radio.
outersphereradio www.mixcloud.com/outersphereradio
www.soundcloud.com/naturerage