[Report] Earthquake 2011

Magazine

Another exciting edition of Earthquake is coming up, once again held indoor. A “new” location is being presented, or rather: an old location under a new name. In earlier years, German organizers P.T.P. hosted many legendary parties here and after some important renovations, the former Tarm (not to be mistaken with the Tarm Centre in Cologne) reopened its doors under the pretty straightforward “Event Center” moniker.

Since we haven't visited the aforementioned P.T.P. parties, this was a new location for us. Keeping in mind the other two excellent locations in Bochum (Matrix and Area 51), we were very keen to find out what the Event Center looked like. After parking our car next to the huge club and getting our tickets from the box office, our journey of discovery began. The main area was at the end of the hall to our right. This was the only area that really stood out as it was quite difficult to find out where the other areas were located.

After a few records by Angerfist and the like, (“Incoming”) played by D-Ceptor & Newstyler, we set out to find the terror area. Walking back into the hallway and continuing past the UHM merchandise stand, we found another area to the right, hidden behind some curtains. This was the early hardcore area, where - in the back of the room - Music Machine from Sittard had set up a merchandise stand as well. Omira played some wicked tracks like “Partyraiser & Destroyer - Kick Da Ballistic”, “Danger Hardcore Team - Uninvited” and even Prodigy’s “Voodoo People”. He also proved his mixing skills, pleasantly surprising us.

The quest continued and we wound up in the industrial area during Viper XXL’s set. However this was still not what we were looking for, so we went back to the main area and decided to make a left and head towards what seemed to be the toilets. Turns out there was a bar next to it and after passing the bar, another room was located to our right. Finally, the terror area! Too bad it wasn't only the artists who terrorized the crowd, the heat was killer too! It reminded us of the terror attic in the Peppermill some years ago. This was really too much to take, so we went back to the industrial area where we ended up spending most of our night.

The first set would be a battle, but Tymon found himself alone behind the decks. Nevertheless, he eased the pain by playing one of Ophidian’s tracks (“Nurse”) besides his own “Weapons Of War”. Ophidian arrived half an hour later, which made us suspect this was planned. But then again, after his arrival, both DJs performed a back to back set which they did at Fucking Bastards just a few hours later. The crowd went nuts and the atmosphere was great! It remained that way during the banging set of The Dj Producer, who played “The Dark Lord (Peter Kurten & Necron Remix)” and “Bad to The Bone (Lowroller Remix)” in his own head-nodding style.

Dep Affect had a hard time following up this mayhem. Those who are familiar with his Third Movement releases know his style is much slower than The Producer’s. This lead to his music not being picked up by the crowd all that well and the area slowly emptying. We decided to go and check out Gizmo & Buzz Fuzz, and thank god we did! Much to our surprise, they didn’t just play hit after hit but had lots of rarely played tracks in store for us, such as “Raise Your Power”, “From The Darkside”, “The Prophet - I Wanna Rock Ya”, “Tripax – Raw”, “Rob Gee – Nonshlentustokken” and “The Prophet – Dreamtheme”. It was a superb set, despite the low volume (which was pretty strange, as there were certainly lots of speakers).

Naturally, a few minutes before 4.00 AM, the area got a lot more crowded as DJ Paul was about to play. He opened with one of his old happy hardcore tracks and quickly mixed “The Music Is Too Much” and “Smile Fuck-Up” into it. It almost seemed like this was a pre-made mix or mashup as we’ve heard a lot over the years. Time will tell. A few surprises occurred however, when ”Hate” (one of those superb early 2000 tracks) and “Tina, Was Kosten Die Kondome” were played.

The smell of food was a constant temptation as it was coming from the hallway right next to the entrance of the industrial area. Too bad there was no price-list and therefore no indication of which products were available. Either way, this was a popular attraction during the night. We focused on the music though, and saw The Outside Agency deliver another one of their trademark sets, kicking off with some slower hardcore tunes and building up to their crossbreed style which is becoming increasingly popular these days. Think “The Antichrist”, “Tormented VIP”, “Primitive” and a mix from “My Favorite Sin” to “Industrial Cooking Spray”. Enough said.

Stormtrooper is another one of those crossbreed adepts, releasing on Nekrologik and Rebel Scum and playing a banging set with “Rocket Fuel”, “Mixbreed Soldier”, “Planetary Anima” and “Fear Your Future”, making us thirsty for more. Speaking of which, drinks were pretty expensive in this “new” location. Contrary to most German locations, there was no card system and tokens were fairly normal in price: 9 for 20 €. However, 1 token would only get you various alcohol shots as soft drinks cost 1,5 token.

On to one of the last sets of the night: D-Passion in the main area. We arrived just in time to hear him play “Primitive”, after which he played a few older industrial classics like “Demons (Promo Remix)”, “Capture In Distress” and “Lying Through Your Teeth”. This was a personal high, contrary to what we were expecting in the industrial area. It seemed Sandy Warez had been forced to stop his set half an hour early and there was nothing to do but find some other place to end the night. After hanging around the early stage for a while, we decided to leave the party a bit earlier than planned. Turns out Leviathan also knocked off early because he was at the exit around the same time (7.30 AM). A bit of a shame, as the flyer mentioned a 12-hour musical experience. Nevertheless, a good party and another fine location discovered. The only real problems were the sound in the early arena and the heat in the terror area.