DARE TO DREAM
WHEN YOU DETERMINE TO MAKE WHAT YOU IMAGINE COME TRUE.
I CAME AWAY FROM THE PHONE AND THOUGHT,
'DAMN, I'VE SAID IT OUT LOUD. NOW I BETTER GO WORK OUT HOW TO DO IT.'
I'D DARED TO DREAM. Martin Clark
I have a huge amount of respect for Martin Clark, AKA Blackdown (above left). His consistent commitment to chronicling underground electronic music in the UK has rightfully earned him a role of sorts within dubstep, a ‘chief spokesman’ if you will. But more recently he’s become much more than a man with an ear for words, contributing, both alone and alongside production partner Dusk, some excellent music himself. I checked his blog (as I do perhaps once a week) recently and I was taken aback by a few things he had to say about music and the nature of dreams...
"It was around the end of 2001 that I decided I wanted to learn to produce. The early Forward>> parties at Velvet Rooms had got me hooked and so I set myself some goals.
One of them was that I dreamed of playing Fabric. It seemed laughable at the time. In fact my friend, who I expressed this goal to (hey James!) definitely had a good laugh. Getting to a stage where I’d play the club seemed so impossibly far away that I couldn’t even see the steps required to get there. In fact they remained distant as close as this Christmas, over seven years later.
But I’m playing Fabric this Sunday. I blame the dream.
In general, I’m not overly mad about dreaming. The term seems synonymous with people of no action or direction. It conjures up suggestions of naivety, which won’t get you very far.
But there’s another kind of dreaming.
I guess I tend to focus on what’s possible, what’s real or what’s around me. Electronica’s headspace irritates me because it’s all plastic utopias, whereas dubstep’s bass is grounded in reality. But the key part of getting to where I’ve wanted to be has been allowing myself to not just accept what’s around me but to dare to imagine what could be.
The first time I mentioned the words “Dusk + Blackdown album” it was summer 2006 and I’d been on the phone to our (very understanding) distribution company. Just me saying the words out loud had left me shocked. I came away from the phone and thought, “Damn, I’ve said it out loud now. I better go work out how to do it.” I’d dared to dream.
So there we are: Dusk and I are playing Fabric on Sunday. Seems insane but it’s true. I for one won’t be taking it for granted."
I have a huge amount of respect for Martin Clark, AKA Blackdown (above left). His consistent commitment to chronicling underground electronic music in the UK has rightfully earned him a role of sorts within dubstep, a ‘chief spokesman’ if you will. But more recently he’s become much more than a man with an ear for words, contributing, both alone and alongside production partner Dusk, some excellent music himself. I checked his blog (as I do perhaps once a week) recently and I was taken aback by a few things he had to say about music and the nature of dreams...
One of them was that I dreamed of playing Fabric. It seemed laughable at the time. In fact my friend, who I expressed this goal to (hey James!) definitely had a good laugh. Getting to a stage where I’d play the club seemed so impossibly far away that I couldn’t even see the steps required to get there. In fact they remained distant as close as this Christmas, over seven years later.
But I’m playing Fabric this Sunday. I blame the dream.
In general, I’m not overly mad about dreaming. The term seems synonymous with people of no action or direction. It conjures up suggestions of naivety, which won’t get you very far.
But there’s another kind of dreaming.
I guess I tend to focus on what’s possible, what’s real or what’s around me. Electronica’s headspace irritates me because it’s all plastic utopias, whereas dubstep’s bass is grounded in reality. But the key part of getting to where I’ve wanted to be has been allowing myself to not just accept what’s around me but to dare to imagine what could be.
The first time I mentioned the words “Dusk + Blackdown album” it was summer 2006 and I’d been on the phone to our (very understanding) distribution company. Just me saying the words out loud had left me shocked. I came away from the phone and thought, “Damn, I’ve said it out loud now. I better go work out how to do it.” I’d dared to dream.
So there we are: Dusk and I are playing Fabric on Sunday. Seems insane but it’s true. I for one won’t be taking it for granted."
