Founders: Drew From SMOG

Founders: Drew From SMOG

16 February, 2012 | 9.11AM

• Written by: Sean Lewis
• Filed under: Music News: founders, smog

In our attempt to pay tribute to the promoters that keep the electronic music scene alive, our second entry makes its stop in the entertainment capital of the world, Los Angeles. LA feeds a culture for every genre, and dubstep plays a big role. Drew Best is the owner of Los Angeles’ most notorious dubstep event, SMOG. Serving as home base to 12th Planet, Flinch, and Kelly Dean, SMOG has ventured beyond California’s grasp to hold events in Chicago, Miami, Las Vegas, Detroit, Austin, and even across the pond to their own radio showcase on Mary Anne Hobbs’ Radio 1 program. With a strong following in one of the biggest cities in the world, their reputation has grown to become one of the strongest dubstep brands (and labels) in the United States.

We caught up with Drew to find out the story behind SMOG and see what lies ahead.

What turned you into a fan of electronic music?

I have been a fan of electronic music for as long as I can remember. I grew up in Chicago, where dance music was everywhere. While NYC had hip hop, and LA had rap, Chicago was all about house music. It was all around you at the roller skate rink, street festivals, and the radio. I was a fan of all the ‘80s stuff like Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, New Order, etc. By the time I was in junior high school, I was hooked on the industrial scene – all the Wax Trax bands like Ministry, Thrill Kill Kult, and Front 242. It was probably my obsession with Wax Trax that led me to discover the more “electronic” sounds. They had a partnership with Warp Records where they were distributing a lot of ambient music from artists like Aphex Twin and Autechre. That led to bands like Underworld that got me really interested in the rave scene.

What were you doing before you started as a promoter?

By the time I discovered the rave scene in Chicago, I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of. I started buying DJ gear and collecting vinyl. I wanted to be a graphic designer so I could make my own mix tape covers, ‘zines, and flyers. That led into a graphic design career through print, internet, and computer animation. I moved to LA to pursue a career in visual effects. Through a crazy turn of events, I found myself VJing at clubs and festivals and eventually found myself in the broadcast design world. Promoting was more of a hobby to me until it became a serious venture.

How long have you been involved with promoting events? How did it all start?

I threw my first event at the age of 16. I was trying my hardest to get booked in the competitive DJ community that is Chicago. No one was really booking me, so I decided to throw my own events where I could DJ at. This worked well for me because people took notice and I started to get bookings at other gigs.

What was your first event like? Who were the performers? How was the turn out?

After the ‘90s, I had told myself I was done with promoting and wouldn’t ever go back to it. I was more focused on my career in design, but I still dabbled in the club world through VJing and flyer design. That all changed when a friend of mine introduced me to dubstep. I was almost instantly hooked, and couldn’t believe there was nowhere in LA to go out and experience this music. So we decided to launch a brand called Smog and set out to do LA’s first all-dubstep event.

The first challenge we had was finding enough talent to produce an all-dubstep event. This was the summer of 2006 and at that time we weren’t eve sure if enough vinyl existed to do a night of all dubstep. We had heard through the grapevine that an LA drum n bass DJ by the name of Infiltrata (you now know him as 12th Planet) was making some dubstep tracks so we asked him to perform. He agreed to do the gig, but later discovered he was on tour in Europe at that time so it wouldn’t work. He turned us on to Argon Records in SF that had expressed interest in releasing his music. So we asked Matty G and Nick Argon to drive down from SF to LA and headline our first show. They were stoked, and so were we so that set it off.

It was an interesting first night. It was a free event at an Irish bar in downtown LA that was billed as an “Experiment in Dubstep.” Word got around, and we collected people from all over Southern California. At first, people sort of just stood around and stared at each other. They weren’t really sure what to make of this music. Little by little they got it, and by the end of the night people were losing their minds. After that, we knew we were on to something so we continued to do more and more shows!

How have the crowds changed since your first event?

The obvious answer to that is how large they have become! We went from crowds of around 100 people to crowds of up to 3000 people.  For the first few years, the music was much more different than it is now. Our shows were always 21+ so the crowd was much older. As time has gone on, the music has changed to appeal to younger people so now there is a whole new audience for dubstep.

What performers do you have in store for some of your upcoming shows? How do you decide on your next performers?

I guess we are still working out the details on the whos and whats, but we do have a lot of shows coming up. Right now you can catch us every Sunday night at Dim Mak Studios in Hollywood. We are teaming up with LA promotion team HARD to do a Dub Police event at the Wiltern on March 3rd. We’re working on a few shows in Austin during SXSW, and our annual Smog vs. Basshead event in Miami on March 22nd during WMC (or MMW or Ultra Week or whatever it’s called now).

We look for artists that are going to have an appeal with our audience. That isn’t always the deciding factor though. We look for artists that also best represent our interests as well. We’ve worked with other promoters that will say “Yeah, but this guy will sell a lot of tickets” but if the music isn’t a right fit then it doesn’t make sense to us. I’m sure (insert pop star here) would sell a lot of tickets too, but it’s not what we are about so it’s not gonna happen. We like to look deeper and find out what the artist’s message is and book DJs that support what that individual is trying to achieve.

Who are your resident DJs? What do you look for when finding local talent to play at your shows?

12th Planet, SPL, Flinch, Noah D, Pawn, EMU, DLX, Kelly Dean, Pablo Hassan, Steady, Unit, and Knyphy. We’ve got a pretty big crew and we are always trying to keep them in constant rotation. What I love about our crew is each of them have such a completely different style so we can cover a lot of bases when we are doing shows.

As for local talent, we have been trying out a lot of new DJs lately, especially with our weekly Sunday event. We listen to a lot of the demos we get and I’m a tough critic. Being able to mix properly is important, but it doesn’t just end there. You need to be a DJ that has some sense of style and taste. You need to be able to read your crowd and play music that they will respond to. If people aren’t feeling it, you need to change it up and gain their interest again.

What’s the hardest thing about throwing events?

I don’t think there is any one thing that is easy about it, so the answer to that could be all of it. Securing a booking with the artists you want, getting into the right venue, picking a date that doesn’t compete with other events, using the right amount of marketing (not too much, not too little), staff and hospitality, sound, lights, décor, tickets, and that’s before doors even open! In the end the hardest thing can also be my favorite thing, as I love the challenge of all of it. It stresses me out but it’s a rush at the same time.

What’s the most rewarding thing about throwing events?

For me, it’s hearing stories from people about how attending events have had a positive impact on their lives. I hate living in a world where people sit on the couch and stay in their isolated boxes. Get up, go out, meet other people, and go have the time of your life!

What are your most memorable nights?

SMOG 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY (9/6/08): It was the first time we sold out a show. Plastician and Cyrus were our headlining acts. We had friends of ours from all over the world in attendance.

CASPA @ SMOG WAREHOUSE RAVE (1/24/09): We rented an old warehouse building in the middle downtown LA. My friend Justin and I spent two weeks cleaning out the old building - pulling out debris, sanding down beams, and re-wiring the electricity. We obtained all the legal permits to allow us host the event. It was quite a production and many people walked in saying “I had no idea dubstep is this big…” – It wasn’t, until now!

SMOG VS BASSHEAD 2011 in Miami: Our biggest show ever! With nearly 3,000 people in attendance spanning across 5 rooms of headline talent, it was a festival of its own. The lineup included Skream, Skrillex, 12th Planet, Goldie, Zeds Dead, DJ Craze, Noisia, Roska and on and on…

What advice would you give someone thinking about starting his or her own event? What are some things people should avoid doing?

My biggest piece of advice would be to start SMALL. I’ve seen too many people bite off more than they can chew and completely fail in the end. Once you get in the habit of completing a few events, then you should gradually set the stakes higher.

Create a brand that people will trust. If your brand has a reputation for quality, you will have the freedom to book any DJ you like because people will know it’s always good.

Never try to do everything yourself. I’ve learned this the hard way. We now have a great team of people that are passionate about the music and love to be involved. It always helps to have an extra set of eyeballs looking for things that could go wrong.

What ventures are in the future for SMOG?

We’ve been investing a lot of time and energy into the record label. We have some incredible music coming out soon from Flinch, SPL, 12th Planet, EMU, The Juggernaut, Pawn, and Kelly Dean.  Also, mark my words: the Noah D album is going to be amazing! We’ve got a few music videos that are almost done and are looking great. Also expect more amazing shows coming to a city near you!

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