Photography: Jente Vanbrabant
If you think Belgium is just about jump-up, think again! This tiny country has a lot more to offer, with labels like Abyssal Music, Midas Touch Recordings, and artists like Bredren and What-U-On-About?! pushing the deep drum & bass sound. The latter celebrated their 10th anniversary in 2023, and how! Hosting a stage at Rampage Open Air, playing at Kompass Klub in Ghent, and throwing a birthday bash inviting S.P.Y, Black Sun Empire, and Bredren, these four guys from Leuven sure know how to host a good party or two.
“Bredren did a wonderful job getting everyone into it, not going too hard,” recalls Fuzz. “When S.P.Y played his first track, it was just pure fire after fire after fire. And then Black Sun Empire after that… It was a great night.”
The collective already have a second edition event coming up on March 9 this year, inviting none other than Mefjus and Halogenix. It’s safe to say What-U-On-About?! is putting drum & bass on the map in Leuven, a city in the centre of the country, placing themselves next to concepts like Ghent’s Star Warz and Brussels’ Bredren Invites.
We had a chat with Teezer, Fuzz, Tesla and Speedwagon, talking about their anniversary, a special mix, and the beautiful genre that is called drum & bass.
Congratulations on your 10th anniversary! Looking back, what are the highlights of 10 years of What-U-On-About?!
Speedwagon: We invited Skeptical back in 2021, that edition was so popular Skeptical had to help put on wristbands at the entrance. That night we also played Back to Back with Skeptical. Another favourite memory of mine was the night we played at Ampere in Antwerp, after our big hero Calibre. And then all the stuff like Rampage Open Air, Tomorrowland. Our edition in the club Manhattan, with DJ Hazard and Used, was also very cool.
One of the nicest things about What-U-On About?! is when you go to pick up a DJ from the Eurostar or the airport, you can socialize with them, and you can build a bit of a bond. When you hear or see them afterward, they are always glad that they came to play at our concepts. Often these DJs play at very big events, but they also like to play at smaller events, like ours at Rumba, or the Social Club, to keep in touch with the public and with promoters.
Teezer: The highlight always changes for me. After Covid, we moved to Rumba, we had our first event in Manhattan, and now our first event at Het Depot. I wonder what will come next. For me personally, the whole of last year has been a highlight.
A question about your name, because it is particularly UK-sounding for a Belgian concept. How did you come up with it?
Speedwagon: When we wanted to launch our new concept, MC Mota and myself had just watched the cult film Human Traffic again, in which the slogan “What you on about?” was often said. That’s a film about the nightlife experience of some young people in the UK. Provided a few spelling changes, our name What-U-On-About?! was born.
Last December you organised a rave to celebrate your 10th anniversary, how do you guys look back on that?
Speedwagon: It was a rush and before we knew it, it was over. We had been working towards that for a long time. As it was the first time organising at Het Depot we were a little curious about things like, are we going to sell a lot of tickets? We knew we had a good lineup, and in the end, we did sell out.
Fuzz: Especially the crowd, too.
Tesla: There were a lot of people who used to come to What-U-On-About?! for a long time, now coming out again to celebrate our birthday. We do have a good fanbase. It’s nice to see people are still coming back after so many years. Or people who came at the beginning and now say, “Well, it’s been ten years, we’ll go back and support.” It was a room full of people who knew each other and wanted to have a good time.
Teezer: We already felt great about the party on the night itself, but it became even better the days after it, because a lot of people were texting us they loved it, and that they had a really good time. Nothing went wrong either. We had a little bit of stress about that because it’s the first edition in a venue where you’ve never organized anything before for quite a few people. Something can always go wrong, but nothing did. Another very good thing was the sound. It’s been quite some time since we had such a quality sound at a drum & bass party in Leuven. And you need that for this genre: a good sound, a deep bass.
How do you see yourselves evolving?
Speedwagon: The edition in December was amazing so it might be hard to top that vibe in the second edition. I do think we made a very good impression with this party, and who knows, maybe that will attract new people? That way we keep renewing ourselves.
Fuzz: What is important is that in December 2022 we organised What-U-On-About?! in Manhattan (a legendary venue in Leuven, which was very popular in the ‘90’s, red.). That was such a milestone, drum & bass in such an iconic venue since years ago. In December 2023 we had the edition at Het Depot… It’s just going to come down to continuing to do that, we want to expand the scene in Leuven, so everybody finds something they like. I mean, Liquid, JumpUp, Neuro, all the subgenres. Like Star Warz did in Ghent years ago, putting drum & bass on the map.
Teezer: In every city, they do big drum & bass parties. You’ve got Star Warz in Ghent, Rampage in Antwerp, Bredren Invites in Brussels… In Leuven, it was always what we did, and they were always small parties at Rumba or the Social Club or something. And I think we want to put Leuven next to Antwerp and next to Ghent again. With a big lineup. In a big venue. With a good sound. I believe there’s room for that.
Let’s go back to your 10th anniversary. Hosting Bredren, S.P.Y, Black Sun Empire, and playing yourselves after that! How did that go?
Speedwagon: I didn’t last the last half hour. Because I… I was completely broken from the other sets.
Fuzz: That makes two of us!
Teezer: It’s apparently become the standard on a big edition, that it’s just me and Tesla mixing during the last half hour, haha! But other than that, I want to thank the people at Het Depot, because I’ve only heard good things about them. They worked hard that night and made sure it all went smoothly. We are four DJs, but they were with around 20 people who all helped that night, and they did a wonderful job at that.
And in 360°…
Fuzz: Yes, it was Het Depot who came up with the idea.
Speedwagon: But of course, we also see these videos on YouTube these days of these 360 sets and stuff. And we thought, maybe we should try that.
Teezer: People think it’s cool, to not always have a front view of the DJ. You’re also very close to the artists, so close you could touch them. Also, you see people all around you, not just standing in rows and all looking in the same direction. You see each other partying and I think that works, too. If you’re partying yourself, and you see a dude at the other side of the booth going crazy, that’s contagious.
Let’s talk about the artists you invited that night.
Tesla: Bredren is a well-established name in Belgium. They complemented nicely to what that S.P.Y and Black Sun Empire would bring. Bredren adapt well to the crowd and the hour they are playing at. Someone who can play so versatile, that’s good to have on your lineup.
Speedwagon: The first seeds of What-U-On-About?! were kind of planted when we went to Sun & Bass. And one of the big heroes at Sun & Bass was always S.P.Y. Since then it was always one of the names we would have liked to have had on What-U-On-About?!. So S.P.Y was the first name for this lineup that was decided. But then we needed another name to go with that, and we had Black Sun Empire on our list. It may not necessarily be 100% a name for What-U-On-About?!. But when you combine those two names, S.P.Y and Black Sun Empire, it works.
Teezer: It’s something you’re going to see us do more often in the future, bringing that kind of combination.
Tesla: What we also definitely have to mention is the added value that MC Mota brought to the party. MC Mota also started with What-U-On-About?! but then moved to Ghent a while ago, and that’s when he officially quit the project. But he remains our resident MC to this day. MC Mota has also worked with Bredren, S.P.Y, and Black Sun Empire before, so he knows our styles through and through.
Teezer: It also wouldn’t have made sense if MC Mota hadn’t been there at the 10-year anniversary.
I want to ask you something about Black Sun Empire in particular. Very few neuro names are booked in Belgium. So what was the general reaction to that?
Fuzz: I think it has to do with ‘Know Your Audience’. And with What-U-On-About?! we’ve always had an older audience, so they know those legendary names. It’s an act that only comes to Belgium once every so often. Those guys organise Black Out, one of the biggest parties in the Netherlands. Like us, they also have a lot of experience in throwing parties and DJ’ing. And that just fit.
Speedwagon, back in December you released a “100% S.P.Y mix” to promote your event. Can you tell me a bit more about that mix?
Speedwagon: Yeah, I wanted to do a little promo stunt and I was wondering, what exactly can I do? I eventually got the idea to put all of S.P.Y’s tunes, remixes, collabs, etc. together in a mix. It was quite hard because he has so many incredibly good tunes and I didn’t want to make a three- or four-hour mix either. He’s such a versatile producer, he’s made liquid, jungle, some harder stuff… I tried to put in a little bit of everything, while also steering clear from just putting one hit after the other. I chose some old stuff, and some new stuff, to give people an idea of what S.P.Y has done over the years. In the end, I ended up with 37 tunes, for a mix about 1h20 long. S.P.Y himself complimented me on it on the day of the event, that felt great!
How do you see drum & bass in Leuven evolving a bit besides yourselves?
Tesla: You see other concepts starting up, which we can only encourage. We started in a time when we dominated the scene, there was nothing else outside of parties that we threw.
Speedwagon: We can only applaud the fact that young people get inspired by the things that we do and that young people also get the appetite to organize parties. And we do see things happening. There are a lot of enthusiastic young DJs who want to go for it. And that’s something you have to embrace and you have to be happy about it. A scene that doesn’t renew itself, is doomed. So I think we can only be happy about that that there is youthful enthusiasm as well.
Teezer: There are a few newer concepts right now in Leuven. For example, you have Basement, a concept from These Guys. They organise their events mostly during the week at Het Gewelf. That’s how we started, too. Literally. Split Personality started a new concept recently as well, called Respect the Breakz. I’m happy that people are coming up with new stuff.
Any final thoughts?
Speedwagon: We have always had good editions, and invested a lot in them. Some editions we might not have had enough money to break even, because these editions with international DJs in small rooms cost a lot of money. But we didn’t give up and kept going for it. Even though we had to put some money in the till ourselves once or twice because it didn’t bring in enough. But we always had fun, people were always having fun. And that’s why we’re so grateful now because that investment has been worth it.
Teezer: We haven’t gotten rich from it and we’re not going to. But we don’t even need that, we really do everything we do for the love of drum & bass.
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