Hey Alegria great to be chatting to you…
Hey there, thanks for asking me to chat.,it’s a privilege and my pleasure!
For those who don’t know tell us a bit about yourself…
My real name is Piotr Hauser, and I go by the name of Alegria (that’s ah-leg-RIYA, not a-LEG-ri-ya, mind…). It’s the Portuguese word for “joy/happiness”, and it’s been given to me in the world of capoeira the afro-brazilian martial art, which I practiced for about 8 years until hurting my back and other life obligations coming into play.
It organically became my DJ name, when I started out.
I’ve been spinning drum & bass since 2009 (which is rather late considering how many people have been following this music since day dot, but it also means I’m not a jaded old junglist who got bored with everything already.
I run a series of DNB nights in my city of Poznań (Poland),the events are named after the crew – DrumObsession.
Those who know me, know this particular name fits like a glove, cause I’m positively obsessed about the music and I guess you could even call me a DNB nerd… I also host two weekly radio shows every Wednesday: “DrumObsession” on Bassdrive.com (4-6 pm GMT) and a traditional radio show (aka no mixing) called “Połamana Lekkość Bitu” on my local FM station, 98,6 MHz – Radio Afera (10-11 pm GMT).
How does DNB compare where you live with the UK?
To be quite honest, it doesn’t.
Polish crowds didn’t really get to experience this music since the early 2000s, rave culture never really made it here, so the hardcore and jungle fundamentals weren’t established.
Some of those styles made its way over here, but in general I’d say the majority of DNB event-goers follow the mainstream names but don’t seem so inclined to dig.
That being said, we’re one of the few events in the country that tends to attract the real heads, the diggers, the passionate nerds and just good people.
Some travel hundreds of miles to celebrate with us which is something I imagine is almost extinct a habit in the UK.
Is there anything you wish to change within D&B in your home country?
That’s a tough one.
I’d love it if more people took their time to research the music, its roots and history. That would then open them up to even more richness that the genre has.
Then again it takes education from the promoters for people to start doing that, I think.
We know the importance of that aspect, so we always try to incorporate that educational aspect and take risks with our bookings.
A few years ago I would have said: the unity between promoters from different towns and their cooperation, but we’ve come a really long way and I’m proud to be friends with so many crews, some really prolific.
We are all trying to build something here!
Why & how did you start DrumObsession?
Now that’s a question I can’t answer, because I wasn’t the one who founded it!
Kriss_J and Artiztix did back in 2006, and it started with the event name (because back then both of them were in different crews but were already running events together).
Somehow it evolved into them becoming a crew and their night became a regular staple of the IQ Club.
I guess the “why?” can only be answered one way, they wanted to hear the drum & bass vibe that was under represented in our city (despite neither of them are actually FROM Poznań, but it’s the biggest city in the area).
Fast forward to 2009. Artiztix found my first ever hour-long DNB mix I posted on a polish forum called dnb.pl, then suggested to Kriss_J they book me to play warm-up at one of their events and approached me about it.
I bet back then I was really rubbish but somehow they saw potential and wanted to have me on board.
Now after I started taking initiative as a promoter my main goal was to bring artists whom I love but whom no-one in Poland dared to book before.
We still try to keep that cutting edge mentality nowadays and we were the first to bring artists like A Sides, Calculon, Dave Owen, DFunk, Icicle, Flaco, FD, Foreign Concept, Halogenix (even though I got him for an off-shoot night I did). Hydro, Jaybee, Komatic, LM1, LSB, Mako, Mark System, Moresounds, Naibu, Paul SG, Phil Tangent, Presha, Random Movement, RoyGreen & Protone, SCAR, Sinistarr, Stray, Technicolour, Tokyo Prose, Triad, Villem.
Any forthcoming events?
You literally caught me after our last DrumObsession of the season, which was our gig #73 (or technically #84 if you count our birthdays and the special ObsessionDrivenBass nights – whenever a Bassdrive-related headliner comes to town).
Moresounds played a live act, which was a first for us, but also a first time in Poland for him.
Turned out to be a wicked night of fusing the DNB and jungle aesthetic with the hectic grooves of juke/footwork and lots of bass.
We are in the process of setting new dates for the 2016/2017 season but I can already tell you the 8th of October is gonna be a special one… Our 10th birthday event, so save the date and fly over if you wanna experience some good vibes that’s way different from any English gig.
As for my gigs outside of DrumObsession, I am proud to announce my debut UK gig courtesy of Scenic & Advisory aka Sublime DNB at The Queens Head in Redditch!
They have a wicked following of heads who know!
I attended one of their events back in Birmingham in 2011 and they’re organising a massive weekend 8-9th July.
15 Years of Dispatch Recordings on Friday and Metalheadz on Saturday.
I’m blessed to be part of the Friday lineup alongside Randall & MC Conrad, Ant TC1, Survival, Amoss, Philth, Denial, MC Fokus and LJ High, and the Saturday also has a wicked lineup, so come check it out!
Can we see you being a D&B soldier at Sun & Bass this year?
Standard!
Ever since attending my first one in 2009 I’m hooked and SAB is my Mecca.
I need to do an annual pilgrimage to gather vibes for the year to come and I love meeting all the worldwide family there!
So yeah, front row centre for all the artists that I love and that I can manage to catch.
Big ups to Stefano and all the crew for a great job they’ve been doing all these years, nuff love!
Are you still head of PR and Marketing for Jazzsticks Recordings?
Sadly not.
Paul and I parted ways some time around 2014 but I’ve been helping him out since the label’s birth.
Then again he always had a really clear vision of what he wanted to achieve with Jazzsticks, so there was no way I could help him with A&R.
Then there’s also the fact Jazzsticks is such a tight-knit family of prolific jazzy DNB producers, that he probably rarely has the need to even look for music beyond that group even now!
I am currently involved in helping Mako promote Utopia Music and manage their fan page as well as their official Soundcloud and Youtube channels.
Again, I’m more a “trusted intern” and friend than a decisive person.
Steve Mako just like Paul is a man with a strong vision of how the label should grow and develop but I’m proud and honoured to be part of his team!
For all those reading this, what advice could you to them about becoming more involved in DNB?
Just do it!
In all seriousness though, it all depends on how much time you got on your hands.
I don’t think I need to stress the importance of listening to as much music as possible to be up to date with what’s going on in your favourite labels and areas of the genre, but yeah being a fan is key.
Everyone wants to be a DJ, a promoter, a producer and basically anyone that’s “above” a punter, when the truth is,it’s the fans that are the most important and it’s their support that can elevate any artist to the top or make them succeed.
If you wanna get involved in helping your favourite labels, artists or promoters just hit them up and let them know.
There’s never enough helping hands in the scene, and it will likely not go unnoticed!
Of course any final words?
I wanna send a big shout-out to anyone who made it this far in the interview.
It’s commendable, I like to talk a lot and people nowadays have the attention span of a goldfish, so big up!
On the real though, one love to my DrumObsession family (Artiztix, Impakt, Zoo-E, Yan Koveeaq, Sebastian Grzesiak and Kriss_J whereever he may be), gotta big up my Bassdrive.com family, far too many to mention, but of course mad props to DFunk, Dvus, Magik and Overfiend – the four owners keeping the thing running for so many years now, much respect to every single one of the people attending our events and supporting DrumObsession and everything I do.
Biggest of ups and the largest amount of love goes to the love of my life – Zuzia. Thank you for putting up with me for over 3 years now and not breaking a sweat. You are my biggest inspiration, supporter and motivator.
One last shout to the Drum+Basics readers out there and beyond: you make the drum & bass scene what it is.
Use your power wisely.
Elevate the artists who really have something interesting to say in their music.
Support your local promoters so that they can bring bigger and better acts for your listening pleasure.
Do not pirate music!
Also love one another, for we are all one (shouts to OneMind aka Mako & DLR, getting me on hippie vibes hahah).
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