A mellow bass is heard throughout the room. The beat of the music starts picking up speed, and wobbles, extended notes of rhythmic bass, begin to form. Then, a coarse electronic sound, almost robotic, blends in to the beat. Suddenly, the drop occurs, initially a strong shuffling beat, and everyone in the room goes nuts. Over the past few years, a new branch of electronic dance music, dubstep, has been quickly gaining more popularity since its beginnings in the United Kingdom many years ago. Dubstep will be featured tonight at Filth Fest, a dubstep concert hosted by the Alpha Epsilon Omega fraternity. Attendees will receive non-toxic, glow-in-the-dark neon paints and glow sticks during the concert.
Second-year physics student Patrick Hovsepian, a member of Alpha Epsilon Omega who is involved in planning Filth Fest, has been a dubstep fan for the last three and a half years. He said dubstep has become mainstream in the United States with artists like Skrillex and Bassnectar, so his fraternity chose to host a dubstep concert that would reach a bigger spectrum of students who consider hard dubstep their genre of preference.
“(My friend) got me into the filthy dubstep, which isn’t so mainstream. I thought it was going to be a phase … I’m now a passionate hardcore dubstep fan,” Hovsepian said. “I figured if it is appealing to a lot more people, this is a great way to combine fans together who consider themselves (dedicated) dubstep fans.”
Individual members of T2, Tommy Winder and Tommy Rodenhier, and Dubking, the stage name of Christian Agosti, are set to perform tonight. Winder said T2 means T squared, because he often performs with Rodenhier, who has the same first name. Winder said when he used to play dubstep in his room, his dad would question the music.
“I’ve been open to all music. I listen to a lot of Linkin Park and hip hop … When I heard dubstep, I thought it was weird. But after listening to it, it’s so different from any other music. Sometimes, it just sounds like noise to other people,” Winder said.
Winder, a second year student from Pasadena City College, said dubstep artist and high school friend Datsik, who is signed with Rottun Recordings, introduced him to dubstep music.
“He brings a certain style to music, and I like it. He’s different because the whole record label is dark robotic sounding, as opposed to Skrillex, who uses high-pitched sounds. They have funky and hip hop influence (to their sound),” Winder said.
Winder uses different types of dubstep in his mixes. He said he uses dubstep and also includes some drumstep, which is dubstep mixed with drums so it has a faster beat. When he’s performing, his music ranges from 70 to 140 beats per minute, he said.
Winder also said he has performed at small venues in the past, and that tonight’s performance could be one of his biggest audiences. Winder said he’s been practicing his set for the last three weeks, and he will be playing an hour set consisting of 60-70 songs.
Although Winder usually performs alongside Rodenhier, tonight he will be performing separately. Rodenhier, a second-year music production and audio engineering student at Musicians Institute, became interested in dubstep about nine months ago and has since performed in venues with more than thousands of people. He uses drumstep, electrostep and dubstep in his mixes.
“My style (of dubstep) is very dance-able, upbeat, very party oriented … I just want to blow people’s minds and be recognized for the music that I play and promote myself as an artist,” Rodenhier said.
Hovsepian said even people who have never listened to dubstep can still enjoy the concert.
“You don’t listen to dubstep; you feel dubstep. It’s more than electronic fart noises. It’s massive quantities of bass, shaking you from head to toe,” Hovsepian said. “That’s what makes it appealing to me and hopefully other people, when you feel music and not just hear it.”