DJ Victim is one of a new breed of Dubstep DJ’s within Sydney switching people of all musical directions to the unique and different sounds coming out in the UK Dubstep and Grime scenes. Victim has been collecting music since the early 90’s and DJing in Sydney since 1995, starting out with a love of early Jungle and Breakbeat. He is one of the guys behind Sydney’s premier Dubstep and Grime night VOID, which over the last year has helped develop Sydney’s scene to one of the strongest outside of Europe and the US.

For Victim, Dubstep became the culmination of over 15 years of music interest and as a result is one to recognize the sounds crossover between Jungle, Drum and Bass, Dub Reggae, and Garage to constantly bring a selection of music that pulls the best elements of each into new and unpredictable arrangements. He builds his sets with precision and choice track selections often bringing his own unique blend of jump up and party Dubstep whilst at other moments expressing the sometimes relentless sounds of Breakstep and Grime, typical of his early roots in Jungle and Hardcore Breakbeat.

Like many, DJ Victim’s first exposure to electronic music was in the Sydney rave scene in the early 90’s. After hearing early music from Congo Natty, Altern8, Remarc and many others he was initially drawn to early Breakbeat and Jungle Techno and began following labels such as Suburban Base, Reinforced, Congo Natty, Kemet, Production House and various other Jungle imprints of that time. Upon further discovery he discovered music of a similar vein produced locally by the likes of Syndicate, Nasenbluten, Embolism and others on the infamous Bloody Fist label.

This interest in breakbeat music eventually lead to a keen following of early Breakcore in the late 90’s which fused many elements he found appealing in various genres into the one sound. Having foundations in Dancehall, Reggae, Breakbeat, Jungle and Industrial, Breakcore as it became known was somewhat of a natural progression from the Jungle sound which died off in the late 90’s to make way for the dark and clinical precision beats of Tech-Step Drum and Bass.

His first introduction to the sounds of Dubstep and Grime was in Sydney in around 2003. He wasn’t sold straight away but the few tunes that did attract his attention that night were a kind of a strange revival of the early Tech-Step style of Ed Rush, Nico, Trace and others on the No-U-Turn label. After digging deeper to see what else was out there he found inspiration in artists such as Distance, Oris Jay, Search and Destroy, Vex’d and also in the raw and hardcore beats of Grime. From here he took a heavy interest in the new up and coming artists in the UK Dubstep and Grime scenes that were creating new and interesting beats, but yet had contained many of the elements that he found appealing in other genres.

Whilst living in London in 05/06, Victim was exposed to the full force of the Dubstep sound and scene. The almost clichéd and mandatory attendance at the legendary FWD club in London sealed it for him. He experienced a sound that was slower, more minimal than he had been used to and even ambient at times but had a physicality that was inescapable and magnetic. Upon his return to Sydney he and a mate set to work immediately, to find a small intimate venue and cracking sound system to set up what is now Sydney’s premiere Dubstep and Grime night VOID. With a focus on pushing quality underground sounds by a diverse range of local DJ’s and producers VOID has been grown a rapid pace to see it’s grimey home, the Phoenix bar at capacity each and every month. In 2007 VOID has showcased an impressive array of international artists including BENGA, PINCH, VEX’D and DJ DISTANCE as well as a jam packed roster lined up for 2008, bringing to Sydney the sound of now.