Zeds Dead, Baby

I feel I should be completely honest with you, and admit that I haven’t always been the biggest dubstep fan. In fact, I was absolutely a snob towards it for the longest time, and even now, I will always be upfront in saying it will never be my preferred sound.

I love House and Techno. That’s just who I am. But the reason why I’m writing this now is because that’s not who everybody else is, and at times, we have to stop and celebrate the different parts of this culture, and the people who introduced us to it all.

When I think of Zeds Dead I have quite a few memories, starting with the very first time I heard them at a Music Festival in San Bernardino called Escape.

Escape is a Halloween festival where everybody dresses up and the sounds are usually darker and scarier, sticking with a bit of techno, and maybe some hardstyle, and of course, dubstep.

I have always remained at the House and Techno stages at these events, but one year, I decided to go wander, and find something new. It’s really perhaps the best part of a festival when you think about it.

All the other stuff you plan for is kind of just part of it. You go for that reason so it’s almost as if when it happens you aren’t moved one way or the other.

It’s a side effect of going to festivals so much over the years. You get so used to seeing these big DJ’s playing on these massive stages, that you kind of forget about the spontaneity of it. The fun of the unknown. That’s what Zeds Dead was to me that night. The unknown.

I can remember hearing them play off in the distance. It was a remix of a Led Zeppelin song. Stairway to Heaven, I think.

“What is that?” I said aloud to myself. “Can we go over there?” I asked.

“Sure, who’s playing?” One said.

“Zeds Dead.” Said another.

“Oooo. Aren’t they a big deal?” I responded.

“Let’s go.”

It’s a beautiful feeling when a friend agrees to go hear new music with you, especially when you’re the one hearing it for the first time. They know what they’re about to hear and yet they willingly walk you into it, just to make sure you have the same feeling as well.

I’ve given that moment to others, and I was so happy to be the one being given the gift back this time. I even headbanged a little. Just a little.

After that I didn’t think about Zeds Dead much. I mean, I loved the moment, and they were dope, but you just get lost in it again. Moving on to the next one, and the next one, and the next one. I just put it to the side.

And then something happened that I never saw coming. I made friends with people who loved Dubstep. And they didn’t just love it. They love loved it.

They were obsessed with it right around the same time as I was obsessing over techno, so it was a very strange experience to feel that energy from others that you have, but over something completely different.

And that’s when I hung out with two friends that managed to bring Zeds Dead up again. It was one night when we were all hanging out together, and if I’m remembering it right, it’s the only time I hung out with these two friends at the same time.

Which is strange to say because over the course of years I had found myself very close with the two, and yet, never did all of us end up in the same room until just right at that moment.

And what did the three of us talk about? Dubstep. We talked about Dubstep, and of course, we talked about Zeds Dead.

I remember sitting in the middle and having one on each side, and asking them about Zeds Dead.

“Are they really that good?”

“Why is everybody so obsessed with them?”

“What’s the difference?”

I had so many questions, and yet, I seemed so naïve and inexperienced in the presence of these two, but I suppose that’s what I liked.

Being a raver for over twenty years, you find it hard to find people who can teach you about electronic music, and yet, it’s such a valuable moment when it happens.

I’m so used to teaching others that it just feels so amazing to be the student again, and that’s what I was with these two. I was merely just there to learn, and they, thankfully, were willing to teach.

They started by agreeing that old Zeds Dead is better because it was rawer and more original, but neither could deny that new Zeds Dead was good too. I believe they split on the decision, though.

“I like old Zed’s Dead.”

“Well, I do too, but I think I like new a bit better.”

“That’s cool. That’s what’s good about them. They have so much good music.

“I know. I’ve been listening to them for so long it’s like I don’t know life without them.”

I sat and kind of just watched them debate. Throwing in questions here and there to keep it going. I had no ability to say anything, and yet I wanted nothing more than for them to keep talking.

They seemed so alien and different to me, and still so interesting and unique. What’s better is they didn’t just talk to me about it, but they actually played music to support what they were telling me.

When someone shares the music they love with you they aren’t just sharing something they are interested in, they are showing you a part of their soul. They’re letting you in, and I value that above so many material things this world will try to force on us.

They both showed me that side of them right there, and I am grateful for that moment. Which doesn’t happen as often as you expect it to.

What’s cooler is that I understood what they were saying. Whatever they were teaching me, it was working.

Earlier Zeds Dead is like more soulful, and emotional and bassier. Like subtle bass. New Zeds Dead is like glitchy, and erratic, and uptempo. Which I’m told are both huge aspects of all forms of dubstep.

I will never forget this one night I spent with these two friends as they sat and taught me about Zeds Dead, and all of dubstep for that matter. I felt embarrassed realizing how I had acted before, and how I refused to give this new genre a chance simply because I didn’t know it.

How long had I been doing this? How bad had it gotten? Was I really one of those snobs I swore I’d never become?

“YES!” I can hear them both saying, and I suppose that’s enough to change. Isn’t it?

In closing, part of why say this is because those two friends who showed me Zed’s Dead, aren’t friends anymore, and in fact it’s been about two years since I have spoken to either of them. An anniversary I can feel getting closer and closer.

And I won’t say why we stopped being friends, because looking back, I don’t think about the way it ended, I think about how good our friendship was beforehand. How much fun I had learning from them. And how great it felt to be their student.

What’s worse is I’m just not sure if I’ll ever see or speak to either of them again, which breaks my heart just a little bit more every time I think or say that. And although, it will continue to hurt, I know it will help to have this music to carry me through.

You can’t stop people from leaving your life, but you can hang on to the music they left behind for you to remember them by. The music that keeps your love alive.

So, I just wish to say, thanks to those two friends for showing me the music of Zeds Dead, who I still listen to sometimes when up early and alone, writing about the people who inspire me.

If I could talk to them again I would want to tell them about how I finally went to Chicago. And in Chicago I went to this festival I know they’d love.

I’d tell one of them how I went to the Dirtybird stage, and we’d both roll our eyes like we always do, then I know we’d probably just laugh some more.

Then I’d tell the other that I also experienced a Wakaan stage and a bit of Liquid Stranger, which was crazy, and an amazing experience all on its own.

But I’d also want to tell them how we had to leave that early so we could go inside the soccer stadium and see Louis the Child, and then eventually Kaskade under the stars, together.

And even though I know they don’t think about me, I still think about them, and in that moment I’d want them to know they were there with me too. If only for just one moment.

I guess what I’m saying, is if you have friends that you love, and who are willing to share new music with you, music that matters to them, say thank you, and value them. Value the window they are opening to their soul just for you. It doesn’t happen very often, does it?

We only went to that festival one day, which sucks, because on the third day Zeds Dead was on the lineup. We were on the other side of the city listening to House and Techno at a different festival, and we ended that Sunday night in a warehouse at an after party with a DJ we love so much.

There was another show, though, that very same night, at the House of Blues that I really wanted to go to, but the people I was there with had no interest at all. They just weren’t there for that.

And it’s not that we didn’t have fun, because we did. It was a blast.

But I also can’t deny, It made me wish those two friends were right there, and not for any other reason, than the fact that I know they would’ve probably agreed to go with me. Mainly because they would’ve loved who was playing.

And who do you think was playing?

Zeds Dead, baby. Zeds Dead.

See you on the Dancefloor.

Or not.