Rinse:02 - Skream

“WHAT’S HAPPENING PLANET EARTH?” enquires Skream. Welcome to the beginning of his Rinse radio show, Stella Sessions. And, as regular listeners will know, on most nights that Stella Sessions takes place, what’s happening is that planet earth is locked into what loosely resembles a friendly riot in a Croydon boozer, broadcast live over London to the soundtrack of bass heavy dubstep.  Now that’s entertainment.

The Stella Sessions show made an inauspicious start on Rinse, two years ago: Skream was an hour late for a two hour show. Hold tight the radio silence crew: your time. Skream blames his “driver,” as you do, but fortunately for connoisseurs of beats and south London banter it didn’t prematurely curtail his radio career. “I was terrified to speak,” admits Skream. “You just don’t know who’s listening.” He soon found out that, between 1-3am on a weekday night, the answer is ‘not many people.’ Cue some upfront “Croydon comedy.”

“When we discovered the pitch effect on the mixer, I used to have conversations with myself and my two alter egos, ‘Squeeky’ and my, erm, bad side,” chuckles Skream. “They hijacked the show. You wouldn’t have been able to do it on mental hospital radio: you’d have made the patients worse!”

The response from the outpatients, sorry, listeners at 3am, was to say the least, entertaining. Some weeks, in the dead of the night, he’d receive texts saying things like “you’re the ugliest DJ,” at which point Skream would reply, “that’s not what your mum reckons.” Merked! Another occasion, two listeners began sending for each other, writing diss bars by text message, sent via the show. “There was the time me and Chef began debating if aliens were real,” admits Skream. “These things tend to come out when we’re on the edge of insanity. I had to stop that one.”

“It was a big deal to get on Rinse, because I used to listen to it all the time,” explains Skream, who as a young producer benefited massively from the exposure DJ Hatcha gave to him with his now defunct Rinse show. “It means I can try new music out.”

There have been some quite memorable shows over the last few years. His disco special was entertaining, “refreshing” Skream describes it. “If you didn’t like the track I played, you would like the next one. That era of music is incredible.” Then there was the four hour back 2 back (b2b) special, the show that had so many guests you’d need a widescreen monitor to read it on the iTunes podcast. Crammed into one studio came Skream b2b Benga b2b Plastician b2b Chef b2b LD b2b Hijak ft Sgt. Pokes. Geeneus passed through too. Weasel Crew on tour!

It’s generally expected that when you get that many world class dubstep DJs in one room, the levels of tunes that get drawn for will be, well, levels. But few other DJs could have taken the banter to such heights. Somehow Benga became “The Bengalator” before surprising everyone by becoming a rapper. Plastician became “Plastic Ian” before surprising even more people by becoming an “ibby-dibby” old school garage MC. “Insiiiiide the riiiiide!” With everyone else driving, Skream and Pokes surprised themselves by drinking two crates of premium strength Stella between them. Perhaps this explains why, when Benga and Hijak were heading home and texted him to say they’d just driven past a man running naked down the A13, Skream couldn’t comprehend it. “I’m not being funny, but welcome to London!” he exclaimed. Welcome planet earth: just don’t ask what’s happening.

Martin Clark
Nov 2007, LDN

TRACKLISTING

1. ‘Steppin Outta Babylon’ - Culture
2. ‘Wobble That Gut’ - Skream
3. ‘Flim (Skream RMX)’ - Zinc
4. ‘Sandsnake’ - Skream vs Cluekid
5. ‘Sinisterize’ - Skream
6. ‘Badawi (Kode RMX)’ - Den of Drums
7. ‘Basslines’ - Benga
8. ‘Triple’ - Coki
9. ‘Refuel’ - Skream
10. ‘Bread Get Bun’ - Rusko & Caspa
11. ‘Lightning VIP’ - Skream
12. ‘Find Some Way (Skream & Plasician Mix)’ - Black Ghost
13. ‘Butcha’ - Hijak
14. ‘Calous’ - Skream
15. ‘2D’ - Skream
16. ‘Tek-A-Pill’ - Skream
17. ‘Oit, Kum Ere Sun’ - Skream
18. ‘Crash’ - Skream
19. ‘Murderer’ - Skream
20. ‘Make Me (Distance RMX)’ - Skream
21. ‘Night Vision (Skream RMX)’ - Distance
22. ‘Road Rage’ - Coki
23. ‘A Star’ - Unknown
24. ‘Sorrow’ - D1

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