Punky breaks

>> Sase One and the Broken Crew put the fun in dysfunction

by RAF KATIGBAK

Mention “Montreal ruffneck drum & bass” to anyone in the D&B community and one name is always bound to pop up—Sase One. For the past two years, Sase has been representin’ the Montreal nu-school breakbeat scene with his debauched, solid weekly night, Broken at Blue Dog. He’s there alongside DJs Poontz, Melon, D.Kai, designer Heath Cairns and organizer Rhys Taylor (who, according to Sase, was “the thread that turned Broken from a bunch of DJs into a real crew”). Now, armed with records, a solid crew, a full tank of gas plus some help from Circa Footwear (and no doubt a mad sack of weed), Broken is about to bust out nation-wide on a tour that includes 12 dates in almost all the major Canadian cities over three weeks in May.
“Broken started out as a breakbeat forum where I could play breaks,” says Sase. “At that time, there was nowhere else you could hear them.” Sase got his big break several years ago after receiving massive props in Urb magazine for his

Don’t Fake the Break cassette, with Gnat. “At that time the Grill was more of a bossa nova thing. That sort of Jazzanova sound was considered breakbeats in Montreal. I was like, no, man, there is a whole other thing going on in the U.K. and Florida. It was an outlet for new talent and for people to hear the breaks they didn’t hear anywhere else.”

Not everyone approved of his love for the breaks, though. Some of the local drum & bass community saw the breakbeat night as a betrayal to the scene that Sase One himself helped to create. “That was retarded. I’ve been playing breaks and drum & bass just as long as I’ve been playing stuff like hip hop. It’s all about the breaks, if you change the tempo it’s still breaks. People who over-specialize and put things under a microscope are insane. In the end, we’re all just playing dance music.”

From the vibe you get at Blue Dog on a Wednesday, it’s obvious that the Broken Crew aren’t a conglomerate of DJs bent on becoming DJ rock stars. At the core, they are friends out to have an infectious and crazy good time. Sase, for one, is eager to bring the Broken vibe nation-wide. “I can’t wait to step off the bus in Saskatoon! Wherever we go, we’re gonna be causin’ mad ruckus! When the five of us are together, we’re insane!”

Apparently, “insane” consists of drinking (a lot), puking (sometimes) and hallucinogens (maybe). “We just want to get wasted and have a good time—we’re like the Sum 41 of breakbeats. Drum & bass and breakbeats are the punk rock of the electronic world. It’s the same kick-down-the-door, balls-to-the-wall attitude. And that’s the vibe we want to have. Fuck what you’ve heard, fuck what’s politically correct. This is a party, let’s break shit!” Well, for Montreal and at least 12 other Canadian cities, consider shit Broken. 7

Help raise tour funds and join friends of the Broken Crew, Y.R.D.M., Slyde, Krinjah, Scott C and DR One as they play this Sunday, April 28, at Stereobar, and Awen G, Jordan Dare, T’cha, Bliss, Mini and Corey K next Sunday, May 4, at Sona