Jungle Music in his Blood - Dimensions at Phanganist

This Friday 16th of June Phanganist will hold a very special event. A Tribute to Ital Bless aka Iain Blessant. Dimensions will play a dedicated set for us along with 6 other DJs, so we speak to him to get the low down n his Drum n Bass career...
https://soundcloud.com/dimensionsuk/dimensions-tribal-nov-2016-live
Tell us your Koh Phangan story...
I came here in spring of last year. I had planned to travel around Thailand, but the people, the vibe and the music scene on the island charmed me, so a few weeks turned into months.
Apart from a few months away in Bangkok and Cambodia I’ve been here ever since.

Why the DJ name ‘Dimensions’?
No story really… When I was about 16 I had a psychedelic poster in my room that said Dope Dimensions. I was looking around for some inspiration and I laid my eyes on it!

You play House as well as DnB/Jungle, which was first?
I grew up with Jungle/Drum and Bass, listening to tape packs and swapping tapes with mates. So that was naturally what I started to DJ. I was in a DnB crew called Fizzy in London which did events and has a record label.

I was always influenced by pirate radio and after going through a UK Garage and Funky period I kind of grew into House in about 2009, at the same time a lot of DJs in the city switched as well. Most people were playing US and Afro House to start, and then the UK sound started to take off big time.

Since then I’ve been lucky enough to play at many events in London and Tel Aviv and hold my own events too including Desert House and Soundclash. I’ve done a radio show on various stations including Live FM, Image FM and Reform Radio for the best part of a decade, and pirate/underground radio is still close to my heart. So far in Koh Phangan I’ve played House sets at events including the Waterfall Party, Full Moon Party, FuBar, and still occasionally get the chance to throw down some old skool DnB!

What style of DnB do you play and what attracts you to it?
From old skool and Jungle up to present day, but I definitely enjoy playing the forgotten gems from back in the day. The beauty of DnB/Jungle is that there’s 25 years of material to choose from.  DnB/Jungle is in my blood, it’s obviously a completely different vibe to House, but it’s something which never leaves you.

Do you think it's good to have it represented on Koh Phangan?
100 per cent. Although it comes from the UK it is a global genre now. And Phangan is very much a global island when it comes to music. It’s also interesting to see how it probably gets the biggest reaction at the Full Moon Party.

You will play for us on Friday for Iain Blessant’s tribute night, what will you bring to the event?
I only spoke to Iain a couple of times, but apart from being a really nice bloke, it was obvious he was really into his DnB. So I think Friday will be about celebrating his love for the music.

I’ll steer clear of anything too dark and probably go with some 95 - 96, bass heavy kinda tunes, plenty of V Recordings and Full Cycle, and some rarer bits. Maybe take things a bit more up to date later in the set. Will see how it’s looking at 11.30pm.

What do you like to do in your free time on Phangan?           
At the moment I’m working pretty hard, so there’s not too much free time. But usually I go out to parties, explore new parts of the island, a bit of gym and hopefully playing in the Pool League when it starts again in August!

And what's your plans for the rest of the year?
I’ll be on Phangan for a good part of it, so music wise there should be a lot to look forward to.

Finally, leave us with your Drum n Bass philosophy....
Haha, good question… pick any lyric by MC Stevie Hyper D, and I’ll go with that!