Max Scott (Mascot) is the young label head over at Cardiff Drum ‘n ‘Bass brand Riddim, which sprung up suddenly in the Summer of 2017 and has since stretched tendrils out everywhere across the UK and even into Europe. Here though, Max talks roots and his hometown; the D ‘n’ B scene before Riddim and the D ‘n’ B scene after it has gone. Check out their latest releases below:
Jason Machlab had the chance to ask Max Scott some questions on our behalf. Here's how it went:
What is Riddim Records?
Riddim is a forward-thinking Drum ‘n’ Bass label that started out life as an event company in 2017. We focus heavily on the soulful sounds of D ‘n’ B, but we have a key focus on working with young and aspiring artists and providing them with the opportunities that we didn’t get when we first started our careers. Cardiff especially is dominated by a much older demographic who are reluctant to work with younger artists and keep to themselves. We came in, started running our own shows and booking those artists just taking their first steps.
I have noticed that, a lot of Cardiff’s established heads are less than willing to work with people trying to get in.
Yeah, it was really annoying! That’s actually probably a huge reason why Riddim came about, the frustration of; while Cardiff had a really thriving Drum ‘n’ Bass scene, anyone who wanted to play had to be someone either really in the know and with the promoter as their best mate, or be forty-five years old. Obviously a lot us weren’t either, so that’s where Riddim came from. We hosted our first event in June 2017 in the back room of Kong’s, worked with a really up-and-coming underground line-up and headliner, and it went off. I think people really appreciated that we were a Drum ‘n’ Bass brand run by young people looking to work with young people. I think it set a standard across Cardiff. When I first started I was eighteen, and there weren’t any D ‘n’ B promoters my age. I did a few events, and then did a few more, and then other brands started getting created by young people. Not that I would say that we kickstarted a collective or anything, but I think we gave people the confidence to know that if we could do it, they could as well.
So with these other young brands, do you work with them? The older heads have drilled it into us that we all need to be competitive, keep ourselves to ourselves. That’s a generational thing, but we’ve all tried to be more communicative: I set up a Facebook page, the Cardiff D’n’B Promoter Forum, where we all share our event dates to avoid clashes. It’s not to pry. It’s so that everybody, even the big leagues like Bedlam, work together and give everyone a chance. It went down really well, it’s set a precedent where people are way more communicative with each other, certainly more than they did three-four years ago. So I think we’re a lot more inclusive. Which artists do Riddim work with, or have you worked with? The main people we work with include Thread, who’s doing really well for himself, he’s doing some releases with a new Bristol-based collective called Subconscious Audio; he’s working with SkankandBass, he’s had a release on Four Corners Music. He was originally our label manger when we started and now he’s doing great as an individual artist. His brother is Subdue, and they both have a very distinct sound that people like, very Tech-y Liquid. We had a guy called Debrief; a lot of underground artists who are taking their first steps and getting success. We work heavily with headliners to create a headline and local artist focus. We worked with Bou on his first ever headline show in Cardiff, we’ve worked with Levela twice now, with Voltage- a fourth of Kings of the Rollers. We’ve made some really good friends with guys at Hybrid Minds as well- we grabbed them before they got picked up by Worried About Henry and their agents pushed them to do the Outline tour which was sold-out across Europe. We worked with them in Cardiff, Leeds and I think York. We’ve worked with loads of people across the board! Liquid, Jump-up, Jungle. There’s a whole plethora of artists that I’m sure I’m missing. We worked with Jungle Jam to bring that to Cardiff, that was really cool. We had the UK exclusive of Serum b2b Randall, the first time it had happened in the UK since the nineties. That was a real privilege, a real highlight of my career. You’re obviously really passionate about Drum ‘n’ Bass- *Laughs* I LOVE Drum ‘n Bass. So what is it about it that gets you going? Kind of hard to describe, it just fits really well into my life. Most people have a genre of music that they always go back to, and there’s just so many parts of it that offer so many different things. Liquid D ’n’ B allows me space to think, keeps me energised when I’m working, is quite thought-provoking, especially when I’m on long-journeys to a gig. The heavier stuff like Neurofunk and Jump-up gives me goosebumps and makes me feel like I’m there, that I’m in the dance. Jungle gives me a summery/festival vibe. Every subgenre just clicks for me, makes me feel different emotions. I’m currently writing a blog article for Unorthodox, which is an LGBTQ+ Drum ‘n’ Bass brand, and the blog I’m writing kind of touches on this and how it’s so interesting how all-encompassing a music genre can be on people. If you look at Heavy Metal, people who are engrossed in the music scene dictate their fashion around it, and it’s exactly the same for Drum ‘n’ Bass. It’s like a micro-community within regular society. Drum ‘n’ Bass, although it sounds ridiculous, has dictated the friendships I’ve made, the relationships I’ve had, the way that I dress, speak, hold myself. My main friendship circle all love Drum ‘n’ Bass and we all go to festivals together and go raving together. They’re all great people anyway, but it’s all down to the music. It’s such a massive part of their life and we got to know each other and bond over that. There’s a lot of reasons why I love it- but it makes me feel good, Jason. It makes me feel really good. I absolutely love Drum ‘n Bass.
How would you describe D ‘n’ B in Cardiff? What separates it from the rest? Dave Columbo Jenkins, a really talented freelance journalist, described Cardiff in a blog recently as the “bastard son” of Bristol. We’re closely-related: only a stone’s throw away from each other, both have thriving Drum ‘n’ Bass scenes- but we couldn’t be more different. Both very good, both very welcoming and warm, but raving in Cardiff feel very different to raving in Bristol, and arguably different from anywhere else. I get a very ‘London’ vibe when I’m raving in Manchester or Bristol, but when I’m Cardiff, maybe because I grew up here, it just feels very different, very raw and unique. It just feels really special. Cardiff has a thriving Drum ‘n’ Bass scene and has for years, and I feel like it’s completely under-represented, or underestimated by people in the UK. I say I’m from Cardiff, I say I run my events there, and people go “Oh, is there even a Drum ‘n’ Bass scene in Cardiff?” They couldn’t be less-informed really. Back in the day, before I started to do my shows, we probably had eleven or twelve different venues for D ‘n’ B. Human Traffic was filmed here. We had world-famous clubs, we saw every famous brand come through here labels-wise, from Hospital Records to Metalheadz to Exit and Critical, every headline artist you can think of, they’ve all been here. We’ve got such a rich history, and I feel privileged to be part of that history. Raving has changed a lot recently due to the lack of venues, we’re stuck to hosting events in four different venues. We recently lost Undertone, and people were heartbroken, but if we had a plethora of really cool venues, Undertone wouldn’t have got a second look. I don’t think people would have paid that much attention, but because we’ve had so many venue closures and because Cardiff nightlife is so underfunded or unsupported, we are reliant on these places and we have no other options. We’ve got Titan Warehouse which is run by a really strict team and can only do four events a year because of noise restrictions. Then in the Centre we’ve got the Student Union, which is exclusive to Bedlam, so doesn’t give scope to us young promoters. Tramshed, Kong’s, and Clwb Ifor Bach, that’s it. We’re thriving in that we’ve got an abundance of young artists and are spoiled for choice to book local DJs, really talented people, but if you want to find a space to host the event in then good luck to you, it’s just impossible. What’s business been like for Riddim in the pandemic era? I’ve put it on pause while I focus on some new projects. I was never meant to be a label manager, but I felt like I had to do it to keep the brand alive. I think maybe at the time when I was a bit younger I thought having a label brought you a bit of legitimacy, being taken seriously year-round instead of just every two months when you had an event. But this isn’t the case, I just believed that to be true. So I got sucked into running a label, and I’m really not up for it. People like Peter Piper who runs Overview and TJ Campbell who runs Pick ‘n’ Mix are literal machines. I put Riddim on pause in November and I’m really happy! I just don’t have that energy in me while I’m battling to keep my mental health, move house, keep up with friends and family and maintain a relationship, it just got a bit too much. Prior to that things were going well, so it wasn’t a case of stopping because things weren’t going good anymore. We were getting loads of new artists on, really good sales from music releases, making some really cool plans for some events in Cardiff and various different places. The pandemic offered me a chance to catch up with things I’ve been meaning to do for months and months…but that was lockdown one. Or lockdown two. When it got to lockdown three I was like ugh, can’t do this anymore. So will you go back to Riddim after the pandemic or are you thinking about packing it in? I’m not really sure. I definitely don’t wanna go back to running a label. I don’t want Riddim Records as a label to exist anymore…at least not in the same way that it operated previously. Me and Luke Ebbens [co-founder] had an idea to turn Riddim into more of a media platform, having a focus on through-the-glass journalism. We’ve got enough connections and contacts to do it and I think we could approach it in a really interesting way because the music journalism scene for Drum ‘n’ Bass is just really stagnant at the moment. That would then give scope to the label to be part of the project, if we were do an interview with an artist and follow their career in a piece, then they could release mixes through the label, release a track through us. But no, I don’t think the label will ever be the same as it was, thank God! I’m really glad that that’s the case. But we’ll come back stronger, whether it be in the next couple of months, a year’s time, three years’ time. So what is the future of D ‘n’ B in Cardiff? Even before the pandemic, things were starting to feel stale. There wasn’t anything fresh happening, we weren’t able to host shows in new arenas and areas- and the Council are just awful. They’re so anti-nightlife, they have not fought for us or for the venues for the entire time that I’ve been running events. They just don’t care. It’s ridiculous that Cardiff still has all this potential to be like how it was ten years ago, when there were so many different venues and people were spoiled for choice, whereas now we’re stuck with looking to when the next night at Undertone is. Who should care about Undertone? No-one. But we had nowhere else to go. After the pandemic, people will still be going out, but the lack of support from the Council with nightlife is terrifying. Interview by Jason Machlab
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