Things had been conspiring against me all week. Not least of which was the fucking weather. It had been snowing for two weeks but it was supposed to have cleared up by Friday. Friday comes and bugger my mother - down comes about 6 inches of snow. The group was already down to three and migraines, work and other shit were threatening to reduce it further. By the time I left work, though, I couldn’t give a dry fuck, the snow had cleared and I was off to Ram. There is something about the Friday night excursion that gets me very excited. More so than a Saturday and this over-exuberance always leads to over indulgence. So, three hours of hard consumption later I cared even less that my brother was calling off due to being a knob-end, or something similar. I would have gone on my own, but a late recruit joined us at Colchester and we were back up to three and away.

After a tense, abuse filled, beer soaked journey we arrived at about 11. We were in within minutes because we had tickets, always advisable at the End because by 12 there are more people in the queue than at a Basildon Burberry give away. If you haven’t been to the End or read any of my previous pissy reviews, it’s a sweat box. A small wine cellar type affair with one of the crispest most intense sound systems around. You descend the staircase and to the right is the ‘lounge’ where old school, hip hop and breaks pump out at a more serene volume. To the left is the monstrous main room. A mosh pit, with raving scum juice lapping round your feet, harsh snare drums dry slapping you in the face, pounding bass punching you in the stomach and not an inch of room to move. It’s drum and bass heaven.

We entered tonight to the sounds of Red One in the main room. Always a shame to miss this guy. Over the last year or so I have heard him play some amazing sets, with a selection that rolls very close to my own. Even in the last 15 minutes that we caught, there were a couple of stonkers. Along with Jonny L’s clinical roller Roots was a new, unnamed slammer by Sub Focus and something by DJ Samurai last that really shook me up.

After downing a couple of drinks, catching up with a couple of boys I knew, freshening up and checking out the running order it was back down into the main room for Shimon and Spar back2back. These boys were on fire. Perfect 11, o clock combination. Spar’s mixing seemed to be a step up and Shimon was feeding off that. And the tunes …oh the tunes. Spar started with some guitar laden ram beast, could well be the new joint from him and Nightbreed – Arachnophobia . Ouch, this one twists the knife. The dupplate pressure increased with the new Trippin rmx, Citizen Kaine, Some beautifully intro’ed, heavy dropping Roni Size number reminiscent of Out of the Game and some thing from Shimon called Gunslinger I think, that is one of the funkiest jams I’ve heard all year. Scorchio. I left early from these boys because it was Sub Focus next, I haven’t seen the dude play before and I needed a break. We retired to the second room where Eddy Woo was doing anything but retiring with a heavy old school rinse out going on. At the time of press I can only actually remember turbulence but trust me there were some heavy tunes long forgotten being spun at an old school tempo.

We re-entered the main room at 12 for the Sub Focus set. Shit, this boy is on fire. His tunes were all over this evening regardless of the set, but he ain’t half bad behind the decks either. I expected to hear some amazing tunes, which I did but I didn’t have many expectations on the mixing. However, he can mix, I didn’t hear any mistakes and though there was no Andy C/Swift style mastery, there were a couple of big double drops and an all round cohesion and structure that you get from a professional dj set. To be honest, and as a dj I shouldn’t say this but none of that mattered with tunes this dude was drawing. Fuck a truck these tunes were good. He wound down Spar’s last one, the familiar black tarantula from Pendulum and started with something new from himself, which had a vocal that went on about ‘average sounds’ then broke into a hyper-kinetic midrange bassline and then to a real deep sub bassline then back again. Immense. There was a massive bit that intro’ed similar to Adam F’s Brand New Funk with big orchestral decadence and there was a strange but massive Spanish guitar number that he double dropped All that jazz into. There were other solid favourites from the uber-pop monster Xray, the pinnacle of wobble that is Scarecrow, to the simple battery of Ghost and other sub focus bits new and old that I cannot recall. He also played and rewound without prompting, the tune of the night for me. Absolute rolling perfection that sounded so good it stopped me in my tracks. I later hounded him for a name and can reveal that it is the new bit from BC and Noisia – which I think is called temptation or meditation or something ending in ‘tation’. This tune is the one. Quality set, well played Mr Focus.

Next up was Die. I was in and out throughout this set so I didn’t get a great feel for it, but it appeared like the usual Die bizniz. Quality rolling funk. Die always plays a lot of Bristol based numbers giving his set a real distinctive sound and from what I heard the same was true tonight. I caught a couple of the new Navigator bits from the forthcoming Navigator/ Full Cycle album which oozed chunky flavour. I Also heard classic West Country sounds like Jittabug (an all time favourite of mine), Snapshot and Blazin’ being thrown about the main room. Die never disappoints.

The main man Andy C was next and I am not going to go on about him because after previous reviews I am going to start to sound gay. I am just going to list the tunes and tell you that he absolutely tore the place down. Slightly anthem heavy selection but faultless high risk mixing, and the ability to hold a whole venue in the palm of his hands and then crush it. New bits were displayed like the aforementioned BC and Noisia piece, the hard as fuck new rmx of Photek’s Sidewinder, X ray (with the 9 tease), Blazing Jazz from Spar which is a real spicy meatball, Desparado, Roots, Ask Not VIP and All that jazz plus classics such as Outer Space, Piper (Ouch), Hush Hush, Screamer with Bacteria rmx drouble dropped over it, The beginneing, dubplate Killer, Odyssey, Play me or Snowcats, can’t remember, Friday, Together and many many more. You really shouldn’t take this kind of quality for granted, but you do with this man.

Fuck knows what I was doing for the Fresh set, but I didn’t catch much. It was during them dark and dirty early morning raving hours where time eludes you as does the ability to control of your facial muscles. I caught a few bits, the blazing new X Project from Fresh, Pendulum and Baron’s Guns at Dawn, Pendulum’s Black Tarantula and at the end the absolutely immense Immortality from Fresh. When you’ve got the Breakbeat Kaos artillery why use anyone else’s weapons. We left soon after Fresh finished, our departure being serenaded Swift dropping Turbulence over X Ray. Swifty, you fuckin’ demon. This guy never ceases to amaze me. The tune selection doesn’t change enough, but the mixing is a sight to see or hear. Nothing subtle but such talent. Unfortunately, things were starting to get messy, and me pal was going to get himself in strife so we were on the move.
What a night. A strange atmosphere though. Something about the cold outside meant it was really sweaty and close inside. There was no getting away from it but this only served to make it more intense. There seemed to be different crowd tonight as well, slightly younger, not studious trendy youngsters but more traditional essex ravers. There was no trouble what so ever though and there was the usual family feel, with industry heads all over place and loads of familiar faces, like Planet dnb badboy’s, Fatcat and Hayze, tucked away in their favourite corner brocking out. If I had to sum the night up in 3 words, it would be ‘Sub Fucking Focus’. This guy ran things, whether behind the decks or on them and along with pendulum this boy has a hell of a year ahead of them.

I’m getting to used to Ram at the End and it’s not until you go somewhere else that you realise how good it is. I have had some real drum and bass homes in my time:- Movement Monthly at Mass 1999 – 2001, True Playaz at Fabric 2001 – 2003 and Oscars 1996-1998 (oh Oscars where are you now) but Ram at the End is my home now and long may it remain so.

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