A fabulous night was had by all at the first Storejam tour night last month at Perception in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who came to the night.  The crowd are always really into the music as well as being very friendly.  They also know how to have a great time!

Big shouts to Phatplayaz, Baz, Conspire, J-Dubz and Mike PFM.  It was a pleasure to play alongside all the DJ’s – the music was excellent all night.

Finally, it was great to meet the legend that is Mike PFM who had everyone dancing until the early hours.  Big thanks to Phatplayaz for organising the night and to Baz and Conspire for having us all up there again.

Watch out for the next Storejam tour night.

Below is a review posted by Baz, which I feel sums it up expertly:

“Saturday 27th July 2013. A busy day in the clubbing calender with Global Gathering, Random Concept Summer Gathering and Roni Size in Birmingham offering extensive options for the midlands raving fraternity. You might think this is not the best date to promote a small drum and bass night, but when you forge together the freshest and coolest drum and bass digital download store with one of the midlands most unique dnb promotions and add an all star cast of the scenes finest dj’s and producers, you just know something good is going to happen.
Its no coincidence that Storejam chose Shrewsbury based promoters Perception to hold their first tour night. These two organisations were destined to work together as they share a very similar general ethos which is to provide “good vibe music” to its patrons at a fair price whilst making sure everyone is well looked after. An affinity was quickly made between Graham Barber (head of Storejam who you might know better as Phat Playaz) and Jamie Rowe (Perception’s DJ Conspire) after speaking only a few times and Conspire soon became a member of the A & R team. Now both parties work together where possible which brings us to the point where we can present a review of the the first Storejam.com Tour Night, hosted by Perception at their home, The Vaults in Shrewsbury.

Its around 8pm on a reasonably miserable Saturday night with Shrewsbury being predictably rained on. No miserable faces inside the vaults though as the perception team are happy in the knowledge that all three headliners have travelled up safely from down south so good times were already guaranteed. Jay Dubz was plugging in ready for the first set of the night with Conspire putting the final touches to the booth setup and Baz doing the final check on the soundsystem, which perception own and bring into the venue for these nights to ensure the music is correctly portrayed. Eager to crack on the lights are dimmed, the venues background music is cut and ahead of schedule the beats start rolling with a few early nodders already present. Whilst standing in the sweetspot checking the soundwaves Baz speaks to some new faces, which he finds out have travelled from Tamworth for the night. Its not a million miles away but is testament to the good reputation perception has built up that people are willing to travel from near bigger areas like Birmingham to sleepy Shropshire to experience the intimate vibe!

Jay Dubz is beavering away behind the decks and keeping it nice and funky for his warmup as the regulars start to arrive taking advantage of the generous free entry. Time flies and its soon time for Conspire to get in the hotseat. Hes even more excited than usual to get on the decks as his laptop is armed with his first productions that have now come to playable fruition. The soundsystem cranks up a notch as the dancefloor begins to absorb the bass just in time for Conspire to drop his own “burnout” tune to a raft of approving nods. The rest of the lineup is now complete and enjoying drinks and laughs at the bar. There’s no pretentiousness or ego here as artists and ravers are as one and conversing happily with the added bonus of some free Storejam merchandise finding its way into the hands of some very appreciative dnb lovers. Theres a surge on the door and more people stream in, with a group from neighbouring town Telford arriving to show their support. Theres storejam t-shirts everywhere now and its time for one of the original storejam affiliates and Phat Playaz DJ partner to enter proceedings. The turntables quickly become redundant as the man like Jrumhand engages the Pioneer CDJ’s and starts his run of bomb dropping. Utter freshness now oozes through the speakers as one of Bukems go to producers unleashes his most recent unreleased creations.

The plot is thickening, as is the crowd and Mr Storejam himself, aka Phat Playaz inserts his first disc of destruction. More and more exclusive dubs, one after the other, the trainspotters are clueless as he mixs his own fresh cutz into those recently gathered of his lengthy AIM list. The tiny booth is now a storejam reunion and the dj that even the dj’s are looking forward to hearing most has stepped up. A rarity these days to catch a set from one of the scenes defining and pioneering producers, and the jewel in tonights storejam crown is the legendary Mike Bolton who good friend Graham managed to persuade to join in the tour nights proceedings. The crowd and system are at full tilt as one of the masters justifies the P F M anticipation by sublimely crafting his way through some luscious soundscapes and dropping some outright naughty bangers to the swaying perception faithfulwho know they are getting a music lesson off drum and bass royalty. As always the end comes to soon, but the venue is still full of happiness as people take stock of the incredible 6 hour journey….