The club doors open, and the immediate presence of the disc jockey is felt — the bone-rattling effects of the sub woofer penetrating every nuance, every movement, every breath within the tightly packed surroundings.
Without a pause or even the slightest hesitation, he spins his siren’s songs for the teeming masses, blending each melody into one pulsating rhythm that will continue into the wee hours of the morning.
Only the stroke of 2 a.m. will stop him, and when that death knell comes, the congregation of fervent worshipers will exhale an audible groan as their priest bids them adieu.
For almost a year, the underground craze known as dubstep has conquered Thursday nights in Gainesville, thanks to the influence of local DJs Eric Olsen and Travis Johnson, also known as Pillager and Illustrain, respectively.
Their weekly event, Basscamp, is set to encompass an even broader audience Friday, when it begins performing in its new night slot, from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., at The Vault, 238 W. University Ave.
“There’s just not a whole lot of dubstep going on right now in Gainesville,” Olsen said. “We’re hoping to change that.”
The music itself is instantly recognizable by the throbbing, wobbling bass that lasts far longer than most conventional music. It is an evolution of the drum-and-bass, remix and techno sound.
Beginning in South London more than 10 years ago, the music now enjoys an almost nightly broadcast on BBC’s Radio 1 and, more accessibly, on DJs’ live music on The Perimeter on 105.3. Olsen, 30, who has been DJing for about nine years, said he started playing dubstep in 2009.
“I was DJing at this party on Halloween about a year and a half ago, and I knew what dubstep was and just felt like playing it,” he said.
Johnson, who founded Basscamp with Olsen, was receptive to the idea of playing the genre more often and said he and Olsen thought there was a void in the Gainesville experimental music scene.
“I’d been playing clubs weekly for almost a year, and when I approached the owner of Club Seven and described my vision to him, he thought it was worth a shot.”
Since kicking off in summer 2010, Basscamp has grown to encompass a new breed of Gainesville clubbers.
Long-time Basscamp frequenter Nick Donald, a second-year networking services and Internet services technologies student at Santa Fe, said: “The scene’s unlike anything else going on in Gainesville right now. It’s a completely unique experience.”
Olsen said the primary music used by DJs at local clubs falls within the genres of techno, dirty house and trance.
But the first spot where locals could hear dubstep, he said, was at the event Rx at The Laboratory, 818 W. University Ave.
“They used to play a lot of it,” Olsen said, “but not so much anymore.”
As of earlier this week, the Basscamp Facebook group had about 1,000 members, and with the event’s imminent arrival in The Vault’s student-oriented atmosphere, that number may increase.
However, success and accolades seem almost a side note for Olsen in his vision for Basscamp.
Olsen said, “To be honest, I’m just trying to get as much music out there as I can and use as many beats as I can. I just want to play the kind of music I love.”
