I’ve always thought of Garage as being the least imported of the UK Bass genres. Where Grime, Dubstep and DNB have widely established scenes around the world, I didn’t think UKG had travelled much further afield than Ayia Napa in the noughties. How wrong I was!

I was first enlightened about European Garage when interviewing Moscow-based journalist Alexandr Rassokhin. He told me all about Russia’s rebellious avant-garde rave movement, and was keen to shout out a number of pioneers. This included DJ and promoter Vaden, who’s righteously been crowned the Russian ambassador for UK Garage.

Since networking with legendary UKG artists like MJ Cole and Sunship on MySpace in the early noughties, Vaden has remained a highly respected player across both the Russian and UK Garage scenes. Not only has he flown over legends like Slimzee, El-B and Heartless Crew to St Petersburg and Moscow to play at his prestigious club nights and radio shows; he’s a pioneer for championing local Russian UKG talent, and plays on stations like Rinse FM, BBC Radio 1xtra and Ministry of Sound Radio.

All this got me thinking. Why has UK bass culture been so well received in Russia? I was pondering on it for a while, until I read Jordan Moussavi’s excellent 3000Blog feature on the Bassline scene in the Ural Mountains with the Sight by Sight crew. He seemed to gave the answer I was looking for: “there's an authenticity to the sonic qualities of Bassline forged in the colder climes of Russia'' Moussavi says, in the same way “they might come across 'disingenuous coming from the sunny shores of the Mediterranean”. And it’s so true! Cities like London, Detroit or Berlin, which have pioneered some of the world’s most iconic, industrial bass music, all stem from gritty Concrete Jungles with hard exteriors, brutal architecture, freezing winters and complex histories.

So who better to teach us more about the Russian Garage scene than with Vaden himself?! I reached out to him on IG to learn more about the work he’s done in establishing UKG across Russia.

I was really impressed with all Vaden’s achievements & such a strong connection with the UK & international music scene. Promoting the UK music outside of the UK was always a complicated task as it’s connected with different mentality & musical roots. But Vaden took on a sophisticated role of the UKG ambassador in Russia and I can confidently say he copped with it in the best possible way. All his significant efforts in building the Garage scene with own parties, international DJ sets, radioshows on major russian & UK radios including the big one BBC, gaining a recognition from the genre originators like Grammy nominated Todd Edwards or Garage Godfather MJ Cole as well as outstanding DJ & promoter skills, are truly worthy of respect and all praise. I can’t even recall any other international DJ who was as deep in the UK music. Vaden’s passion to UK Garage inspired me so much that I’m even ready to book a ticket to St. Petersburg to attend one of his parties soon.

And if that wasn’t enough, after our call he then provided a comprehensive list of the Russian UKG promoters, events and producers you need to know. Trust me - if you’re an underground bass-loving raver exploring Russia, this is the ultimate guide for you! Enjoy.

Vaden’s Garage Inflections boat party with near 200 people capacity

Hey Vaden! How did you become the Russian ambassador for UK Garage?!

It all started in 2001 when I first got my hands on the CD albums MJ Cole - Sincere and Artful Dodger - It’s All About Stranglers. I was listening to Hardcore and Progressive Trance at the time, so when I heard Garage it was something totally different and I instantly fell in love with this music. It inspired me to learn DJing to promote this sound to the Russian people.

And what was your journey from being an underground UKG DJ to an established promoter in St Petersburg?

“While I was DJing and playing on Russian stations, I was building relationships with top UK producers like MJ Cole, Wideboys and Sunship on myspace”.

I quickly became known in the community as the guy pushing UK Garage in Russia, so they would send me their dub plates. It was great getting recognition from those guys!

Ghost Recording label boss and UKG / Dubstep pioneer El-B at Vaden’s club night Garage Inflections

My first big moves were getting my UKG mixes played for several years on Saint-Petersburg’s legal radio Sputnik on Comfort Music with Eugene Maysky radioshow. This resulted in releasing my first mix CD in 2006 - 2 STEPs to LOVE. It became one of the bestsellers in the genre across the country! Then in 2007 I supported MJ Cole at a massive party in Sochi - the largest beach resort city in Russia. Following that from 2010-2012 I got myself a residency on Essential Garage on Ministry of Sound Radio - a great achievement for an international DJ.

In 2011 I did a mix with MC Kie and in 2012 recorded a 100% russian Garage productions mix for DJ Q on BBC 1Xtra, and supported him in Saint-Petersburg. In 2016 I started my monthly radio show on Moscow legal Megapolis FM and had El-B & Slimzee in the studio. Later that became a UK G w/ Vaden show on Saint-Petersburg’s TEST FM radio, which you could compare to a platform like Boiler Room.

Vaden with Garage and Bassline legend DJ Q

Doing some parties, playing across Russia and getting more recognition from the UK community, I was able to get some gigs in London, Ayia Napa, Prague, played on some pirate radios in London, then to get my first guest mixes & Garage Hour on Rinse FM that later resulted in a monthly slot since 2020. Also in 2020 I had my second appearance on BBC 1Xtra guesting Heartless Crew!

And how about the parties themselves - what was the vibe like there?

Garage Inflections was the party I started in Saint-Petersburg back in 2011 with my mates BLΔSTΔ, Retrospection and NCGNT. It started as a small evening party in one of the most popular venues during that time.

St Petersburg ravers at Garage Inflections

“Due to garage inflection’s success, we were able to take over many Saint-Petersburg venues with our events, even ones who weren’t involved with Bass music before!”

MC Bushkin of Heartless Crew and Vaden in St Petersburg

“In total we’ve done nearly 60 parties including sold-out boat parties on the Neva River in Saint-Petersburg. they were really unique in Russia!”

Sounds mad! Any plans for promoting after lockdown eases?

From 2019 my attention in Saint-Petersburg was switched to my solo Vaden All Night Long party that I was invited to do in one of the central St Petersburg clubs – Tancploshadka.

Before us, the venue had a “no Techno” policy. But after my first sold out All Night Long party with several 100 people going nuts on the dance floor to the whole spectrum of UKG, it was decided to make this party on a regular basis! And it will continue when COVID restrictions are gone!

Brand new Russian UKG (February 2021)

GARIDGE is the party promo group in Moscow I’m the part of alongside with Moscow mates Tiger Balms aka Artem Fine & Masha Skye and Whitelabel. We started in 2018 with a bang as there weren’t any active Garage parties in Moscow that time and the audience were really hungry for a proper Garage night. We managed to have Slimzee set as his 2nd date in Moscow - this party was next level business. Before the quarantine restrictions we were doing parties every several months... and plan to continue!

Special mention also goes to the Russian community Selector, as this is one of the central hubs of the scene. With a compilation of original articles, top media publications, videos translations, playlists and many more, it covers everything “Hardcore Continuum” related: Garage, Grime, Jungle, Dubstep, Breakbeat Hardcore and more.

“ THE Selector Telegram channel is THE NUMBER ONE place to communicate across THE RussiaN SCENE.”

Why do you think there's such a strong link between the UK and Russian scene?

Russia is a really big country. That's why we have a lot of different movements. But in places like France, Prague, Germany. You have a scene too. They might not be big but they definitely have an audience.

“It's mostly a DIY scene. They don't have any big budgets. It's built only on community. That's why I love it - that's why it's so underground!”

It’s underground values and underground sound but with the potential to get bigger. I can say it's a bright future for UKG in Russia.

Russian UKG/bass events

United (Moscow) – massive Moscow community pushing Bass oriented music covering Grime, Dubstep, Garage with bookings like DJ Squarewave and Slimzee

Truesteppin (Moscow) – brand new & one of the most regular Garage parties in Moscow from Maxim Nusteppaz (one of the 1st Garage DJs in Russia back in the early 2000s)

Radio Invisibility (Ivanovo) – Dubbed the ‘Russian Manchester’ as the historical center of the textile industry. Strong team pushing Garage and related styles locally

Dubraw (Krasnodar) – the most powerful Russian soundsystem movement & community on the South with summer / winter festivals and parties

Fat Vibez (Saint-Petersburg) – label and parties pushing various styles of Bass music

Sight by Sight (Perm) - the most powerful Bassline party across the country and well established label. Kind of like the ‘Russian Sheffield’

Sight by Sight Captured by @deemonsterphoto

Loyal Lads (Perm) – more Garage oriented parties including some of Sight by Sight crew.

Continuum (Saint-Petersburg) – soundsystem inspired parties pushing wide style of Bass music

Russian garage Producers

BLΔSTΔ (Saint-Petersburg, Garage Inflections), NCGNT (Saint-Petersburg, Garage Inflections), Hi TOP (Saint-Petersburg), Bumpy (Moscow), DJEGOR (Ivanovo, Radio Invisibility), Baadwrk (Perm, Sight by Sight), Bearonbike (Perm, Sight by Sight), unknown david (Nizhnevartovsk), Wasta (Saint-Petersburg) and many others.

Russian garage/grime/bass DJs

DJs: Mechtatel (Severodvinsk), Head Space (Saint-Petersburg), Moscow Legend (Moscow), Oddkut (Moscow), Tiger Balms (Moscow), Whitelabel (Moscow), Toton (Moscow), Dubfellah (Moscow), Robin Axford (Moscow), Timij (Saint-Petersburg), Twizztee (Arkhangelsk), Maxim Nusteppaz (Moscow), Retrospection (Saint-Petersburg), Chekma (Perm), Outselect (Saint-Petersburg), Skotcha (Anapa), B-Founder (Perm), Zuluwarrior (Moscow) and many others.

Russian Bass Events (Garage, Grime, Dubstep, Bassline, DNB, Jungle, Juke etc)

Big Roba Soundsystem (Moscow), Grechafunk (Saint-Petersburg), CMMNTY27 (Pyatigorsk), G42 (Sakhalin), 5169 (Sochi), Get High on Bass (Saint-Petersburg), In Beat We Trust (Saint-Petersburg), Shift (Moscow), Gunfinger (Saint-Petersburg), Kover Dubz (Moscow), Puvibe (Moscow), BLKROOM (Saint-Petersburg), Urban (Saint-Petersburg), Judder (Moscow) and many more.

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Vaden on Russia’s thriving Garage scene