Emerging from the tube, we realized that we were not in what we considered to be a classic London neighborhood. It was to be more precise, a "rougher" part of town. With nightfall quickly approaching we set upon finding the flat with what little sunlight remained. While we found the street with little difficulty, the address number simply didn't exist as far as we could observe. We approached a local who couldn't find the flat either, but recalled that, recently, another couple had also looked for this very same number. The sun had set and we stood at a street corner, stunned and dumbfounded, where our home should have been situated according to Google Maps. Without a European SIM card our mobile phone was useless, so we couldn't call the host for more specific directions.
I approached a professional-looking man who appeared to be in his early 40s and on his way home from the office, in order to get a second opinion on the location of the flat. He introduced himself as Dan and offered to call the host and suggested that we wait at a hotel across the street. Katherine and I settled into the hotel lobby and considered our other options.
A) Take the next bus back to Brighton
B) Attempt to find a hotel room in London on a Saturday night
C) Stay up all night and then take the first morning bus back to Brighton
None of the options were appealing. The last minute hotel prices were astronomical. Staying up all night would have maybe worked if we were still 20. After an hour had passed, Dan appeared. "I hoped I wouldn't find you here," he confessed with a genuine display of empathy. "I want you to know that there are good people in London. Why don't you two spend the night at my place," he offered. Shocked and relieved, we accepted his offer an made our way to his flat.
After a quick tour and a bowl of cereal, Dan showed us to the bus stop that was on the route to Fabric. After thanking him profusely, we parted ways for the night. The bus led us into the financial district, which at this hour on a Friday was not surprisingly quiet. Four blocks later we came upon a number of bars and nightclubs, signs that we were on the right path.
Reaching Fabric was a huge relief. For the next six hours we could let our worries dissolve away as we focused on enjoying ourselves. For the first 30-minutes we walked throughout the complex in order to get a lay of the land. Everything about Fabric's layout has been methodically planned. Lines moved extremely efficiently, including in the bathrooms. Bars were surprisingly accessible. The three dance floors were separated far enough from one another to ensure no sound bleed. It was clear that these guys knew what they were doing. While all these factors are great, I didn't come to Fabric for clean bathrooms or efficient lines. I had come to Fabric to experience what is regarded by audiophiles as the best club sound system in the world. Fabric delivered in spades.
As a drum and bass DJ, I had thought I knew all there was to know about the genre of electronic music. I knew for example that Fabric had engineered its sound system specifically for drum and bass music. This is not too surprising because London has embraced the genre more than anywhere else in the world. The UK is not only the birthplace of the genre, which is distinguished by its 175 beat per minute two-step drum pattern and physics defying basslines, but the highest volume producer of the genre's content. After 12-years of collecting and playing drum and bass on a variety of professional sound systems, I thought that I had experienced all that there was to hear. As soon as I positioned myself in the sweet spot on the dance floor, I became enveloped in an entirely new world of sound. When basslines dropped, the sound penetrated not just my ears but my entire body. Not in an ear-splitting way mind you. With the aid of subwoofers placed below the floor panels, you could not just hear the music but feel it as well. This was nothing new to the producers that have been performing at Fabric for well over 10 years. What I realized this evening was that, with the help of Fabric, drum and bass producers had been have been engineering their music specifically to take advantage of this capability. The effect was nothing other than jaw-dropping. During a break in a record's drum pattern,, the dancefloor eagerly awaited the "pressure drop." When it drops, the room explodes with cheer as the walls are rattled at seismic proportions.
In addition to experiencing the sound system, I was at Fabric on this particular night to enjoy two of my favorite drum and bass producers slated to play in Room 2, Calibre and Cyantific. Calibre, who rarely makes it to the US, is the single greatest contributor to my record collection. Cyantific is likely a close 2nd or 3rd. While Calibre's set was less inspired than I would have hoped, it was a privilege to hear his signature deep sound on the world's best sound system. The clear standout of the night was Cyantific. Seamlessly mixing between drum and bass, dubstep and even some electro-house, Cyantific worked the crowd into a frenzy. When he dropped Danny Byrd's latest hit single, "Ill Behavior" even the bar tender couldn't hold himself back from dancing.
As the hours passed the music in Room 2 began to wind down. Just outside of Room 2 was a lounge area with comfortable leather couches and still enough Martin Audio speakers to fill a small club. We made this our base for a couple more hours until it was time to head home.
Later next morning, we waited for Dan to make his way down to the living room, where he had made a bed for us on the couch. After chatting over tea and exchanging contact info, we thanked him one last time before parting ways. Had it not been for Dan's generosity and trust, we would not have been able to experience Fabric.
Thank you Dan!
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