Drop The Lime interview

posted by snackmaster on March 3, 2010

We caught up with Luca Venezia aka Drop The Lime on the occasion of his massive new release on T&B to see what’s up with the reigning heavy bass champ. He also did a digital chart of his lab favorites you can check here

What’s the origin of the name “dropthelime”?

Its an old sicilian tale of the lemon that turned green to the sun’s fortune.. you drop it into the mediteranean for good luck

We don’t normally ask questions about personal style, but yours definitely sticks out amongst other DJs. What influences that?

photo – ysa perez

I grew up inbetween nyc and italy so I was influenced by a mixture of cultures – the rockabilly and doo wop music my parents played at home as a kid and the hip hop street sounds of new york all played a big role in shaping the way i am today.

You’ve also been known to throw down Rockabilly / R&B sets. Where do you get the records for that? Where are good places to hear that type of DJing?

Me and the Captain used to throw a monday night bash of only that. playing 45′s etc.. but recently Ive been doing mini rockabilly/motown/doowop sets in my club gigs – believe it or not, theres some amazing blogs out there of people ripping super rare rockabilly 45′s and thats come in handy since im using serato these days.

More so than other DJs, Trouble & Bass seems to be very connected to each other, how did the crew come together?

We are a gang, a family, a force like voltron. party monsters party crashers bass bashers united. I had started a party, bangers & mash with team shadetek at rothko and subtonic, and we were bringing grime and sublow/ 4×4 acts over – Dave Q and Joe Nice and us teamed up a lot in 2003/4 and as they eventually branched off and did dubwar, I teamed up with star eyes and math head to do T&B as a monthly party where we could play whatever we thought was new and exciting in mainly UK based club music… and we quickly evolved into a label and dj crew rather than only a party soon bringing on The Captain and AC Slater..

Trouble & Bass parties were the first time I heard about dubstep being played out nyc. What was the early reaction to the sound?

around 2003/4 I was hearing this sound that eventually became the “dubstep” sound we know today, but didnt know what to call it. we’d play grime instrumentals form acts like ALIAS and Wonder, and people would flip out because the bass was like D&B but the tempo was house tempo. we brought over plastician and he wasnt even calling it dubstep – it was a really exciting time in ny, because the sound was SO foreign and new, that people were excited about it.. treating it like punk.. dance music with an attitude. Now that shits blown up man…. Its amazing how big dubstep is in America.. especially LA.

Where are your favorite places to DJ? your favorite DJs?

not to be biased, but our party is always my favorite, because its always laughs and a good time. since im touring so much its always a treat to be home and djng with the whole crew

razmataz barcelona is incredible. The Loft room. fabric in london is always an amazing time. massive sound, great crowds. los angeles is also very top on the list at the moment. kids are so hyped on bass music there right now. I think some of the best Dj’s I’ve seen this past year were Boysnoize, Plastician, and Craze. all very different, but all unique adventurous and technically on point.

What were you like in high school?

I was a Junglist with parachute pants playing guitar in NYHC bands and going to Konkrete Jungle on monday nights at coney island high.

Your 5 favorite DJ records

Halcyon – On and On

Ed Rush & Optical – Wormhole (whole album)

DMZ – Antiwar dub

Lime- Babe Were Gonna Love Tonight