DJ Klaim
Around mid 98, Klaim had linked up with a few DJ/MC friends to form a crew. "We actually had a little crew going before forming 'crews' was all the rage! We called ourselves 'The Elite Crew', I'll have always have good memories of it. One of the members had a loft bedroom, where his decks were, so every Sunday we'd go round there to do a mixtape. Think there was about 3 DJs & 3 MCs, so each DJ would get about half an hour to do their mix, the sets were very varied come to think about it - but I was always the one playing the more darker selection"
Klaim was now at the right age where he could go to nightclubs.....LEGALLY!. "Club Colloseum, Camden Palace, Gass Club & Leisure Lounge, those were the clubs to be at really. Karl 'Tuff Enuff' Brown, Matt 'Jam' Lamont & EZ, those were my heroes you could say! Been to some absolute legendary nights where they've played. It was actually through hearing Karl Brown play at Gass Club, that I decided I needed decks. I literally pleaded with my Mum to buy me decks, she thankfully gave in in the end, I remember bunking the day off College so I could mix on them all day as well!".
UDM records in North London was Klaim's haven for close on to 7 years, with regular trips to the shop during his lunch break from College & at weekends, "It was mad really, I was spending close to £pound;70 every visit - bare in mind I was going to the shop once a week, I was probably paying for the shop to be open!". UK Garage by around 2002 to 2003 had taken on a lot of darker elements, which although Klaim enjoyed, it had driven away a lot of what you could call 'Traditional UK Garage' followers. "It did hurt the scene a lot, but I probably didnt notice too much because I was buying a lot of the vinyl which was supposedly hurting the scene, so I was blind to it"
Rinse FM was another major influence on Klaim, a station which was home to all the Grime crews. "Rinse was permanently on the radio, was listening to most of the Grime crews, and a DJ called Kode 9 mostly, he was playing some strange stuff, nothing I can say I had heard before!" Klaim sights a show by Radio One DJ, Mary Anne Hobbs as a turning point for him. "She done a show called 'Dubstep Warz' which I think was in early 2006, thats when I decided to make the 'switch' I guess you could say. I can truly say I had never heard anything like it before. All the big players in Dubstep like Mala, Distance & Skream doing 15 minute mixes showcasing their productions/labels etc..."
Klaim then began concentrating on buying alot more Dubstep music, although still buying UK Garage. "To be honest, it was starting to hurt me in the pocket, so I really had to make a choice - and unfortunately 90% of the UK Garage which was out at the time wasn't really up to standard I felt". You can catch DJ Klaim on London's Sub-Jam 104.7 FM, doing the Dubstep Specialist show. "The show started slowly, but is now getting a great listenership, you're now even getting people texting in requesting certain Dubstep tunes, which is amazing to think, if you knew the demographic of our listeners".
Klaim has plans for the future, which include starting a label & a small club night, "I'm 28 now, so you could say I'm getting on, but a label has always been on my mind - it's just about getting the right people involved, not just for the hype of it, but for the music! - as cheesy as it sounds. I'd say a club night is foremost in my mind though, somewhere small & intimate with a decent setup, I just wanna seperate myself from a lot of the things I see in the clubs where I'm from. Oh, and defintely a lot more DJ bookings!".