Dart, Kent, Devo and Blend decided to farewell their fans in January 2008 after 9 years of Roller. BUT the Easter Bunny might be bringing Perth’s Roller fans something special! Liz Sheehan caught up with the Roller boys to talk old skool, Roller and wedding DJ’s!

Were you guys disappointed in "Shrek" when at the end they are still ogre’s?
Mike - I would say.. yes, but I was more disappointed the Donkey was still the Donkey.
Dart - was there a cat in that? That was crap, the cat was shit.

Have any of you missed Roller since the farewell night over a year ago?
Kent - Definitely, I still shed a tear. In all honesty, you reflect back on that night, what a finale!
Dart - Oh the finale was huge!
Blend - I almost cried that night. It wasn’t until the very very vey end when we were saying good bye to everyone at the exit door, and everyone just started chanting “ROLLER”. The feeling that gave me was pretty awesome.
Devo - The hardest thing was getting my internal body clock back, it would get to Thursday and for the past 8 years, I would think “Yeah we’re doing this (Roller)” but now it’s like “oh... what’s on TV”.

Would you say you have separation anxiety?
Blend - It's more the people you get to see every week rather than the music that we played.
Devo - Still now, and especially when we first finished, I would go out to the Scotto or something, people would come up and say to me 'Where's Roller?'

Dart - You've played with some pretty amazing DJ's like LTJ Bukem and Shapeshifter to name a couple. What was your most memorable experience?
My toppest memorable moment was my first support slot at a Bukem gig. I got there early and was getting ready. He & Conrad were there and Bukem came into the DJ booth and while I was playing and he grabbed the mic and busted out some rhymes. He asked my DJ name & then put that into the rhymes.  It was pretty funny.

Devo - you started off with the violin as a child... how does one go from violin to DJing drum and bass?
Dart - You know he's also a church singer... for St Georges Cathedral choir? But sorry back to question!
Devo - No it's true, I did a music scholarship and I just always did music. I think me and Dart left school and we started hanging out with people who played techno and then going, "this is really cool" and we got hand me down decks from a few different people and just tried it out.

You've all been in the scene a while. Best old skool rave you've been to?
Kent - Definitely "Telepathy", which was 1992. The most memorable thing about the rave was that it got shut down by the police at the end and I remember standing in the midst of the crowd, there was a good 5000 people there. At that stage the music stopped and they actually played one more tune because everyone started chanting “rave on rave on”. It was fantastic, everyone was on the same page and this was about 6 or 7 oclock in the morning when this happened and then everyone had to bolt. Very very memorable.
Dart – I got on the news for my very first rave in 1994, it was on "The 730 Report". It was at the Hellenic Centre, it was "Lost in Rave", with Paul Holden. He was travelling around Australia promoting his “Where is Sydney” tune... I swear I heard that 10 times that night.
Blend – 1999, "Twisted" was the rave at Gilkinsons Studio. I can’t remember who the headliner was but Packer was the headliner for me. I still have the flyer at home. I just remember Packer dropped such an awesome set, a massive drum and bass set. One of the tunes I heard for the first time there was the “Prisoners Of Technology” by the Beastie Boys remixed and it just blew my mind. Ever since then I have been a massive fan.
Devo – Ahh.... 94 or 95, Bjork was touring. She was going out with Goldie at the time. So I’m at a party at Jacksue Gallery, and they turned up, Goldie jumped on, and that was that. Wicked. It was about that time that the breaky jungle sound was really rearing its head in Perth, so it was good to hear. At that time I wasn't really up with names and labels, so it wasn’t till a while later that I realised what a big name he was.

Would you say Greg Packer has been a big influence for you all?
Kent – Definitely. He always has the impact of playing one tune that is very memorable. He was one of my idols back in the day.
Dart – He casts a big shadow over everyone else. So many of us grew up listening to Greg, to me - he more than anyone is responsible for the success of Drum and Bass in Perth
Devo – The thing is he has no real ego at all. He’s really mellow
Blend – Going back to those days, 90’s early 2000’s and sitting outside raves, people would go ‘Packer’s on’ and everyone would go back inside. There was a pulling power to that guy and I think he’s still got it to this day.

How much has the Drum and Bass scene changed since the first roller 10 years ago?
Kent – Local amateur artists have really stepped it up since it first started. People like Pendulum have taken it, grabbed it and gone, and now it’s so well polished. Now it’s gone worldwide when it was really just a UK thing and that has had a lot of influence as well.
Blend – The technology has made it accessible to anyone and that’s a good thing. It’s not about guarding your record bag anymore. The accessibility is just huge. Drum and Bass has stood strong in Perth for a long time now. There are still so many people out there that love it.
Devo – Before when a touring DJ would come out, you would rush out to see them because he would have a bag full of records nobody would have heard before, now it’s like you can just download it off the net.
Dart – It’s changed heaps! The DJ’s have still got those fresh tunes. The big difference is that people have already heard them because everyone’s listening to sets from all over the world, in the old days it wasn’t like that.

Kent - so you've been collecting vinyl for years, just how many records do you have?  Can you pick a favourite? 
I’ve got about 20 crates which would amount to 120ish per crate, I’ve only counted them once for insurance! There was one point in my life when I had a large amount stolen and that pushed me back a bit, that was before I played out in ’95. These were really old rave tunes as well, I am still gutted about it to this day. I find it hard to pick a favourite but it would have to be “A Home boy, A hippie and a Funky Dread” by Total Confusion. That’s a 1990 tune. I guess the raves and all that came into play from here and that’s where it branched out into a diverse range of genre’s. But oh what a tune!

Blend – how are you enjoying your regular spot at Ambar with "Japan 4"?
I love it! At first it was very challenging in a way that I was playing a spot that I never really had been given to play before. As in from break beat to hip hop style. I have really enjoyed stepping it up and having the challenge and choosing tunes that I think will fit the scene. I only do start ups, I’m not playing the big dance floor tracks as yet, but yeah I am really liking it. All the guys there are really good to DJ with as well. They’re just so welcoming and friendly and open to what I play.

What can we expect to hear at the Easter Roller? Will it be classics or new stuff?
Dart – Definitely a mixture. It has to be! We’ve got the mighty Sardi playing. Everything that Sardi plays will have been made that week, he’s so fresh! He’ll be making a tune as the set is going and play it at the end – that’s how fresh he is! We’ll definitely be mixing it up. Roller doesn’t believe in the “Two Week” rule. If the tune is still good years later, why not pull it out!
Blend – I can sturdily say that I will be playing some classics but also some tunes that I haven’t played out yet.
Devo – am I allowed to play Dubstep?

Are any of you jealous that Devo is a wedding DJ as well?
Dart – I’ve seen Devo in action and the answer is yes! I have seen the way the crowds go off to Devo at a wedding. He’s phenomenal. The man is the greatest wedding DJ I am ever likely to see and I’ve seen a few in my time.
Blend – I am jealous of the money he makes. I think anyone would be jealous if they saw Devo in a tux.

Any last words about the Easter Roller?
Blend - I am really looking forward to seeing all the people I haven’t seen for a while.
Kent – I’d like to see the Roller finale crew there. People came out of the wood work just to see us and farewell us. I’m looking forward to those people coming back.
Devo – Everybody is welcome. Doesn’t matter if you don’t like Drum and Bass... just come down and drink beer. It’s about hanging out with the people and socialising.
Dart – I want to see the people who know and love Roller, to bring a Roller virgin with them. That would be cool.  Roller's a Perth thing, nowhere else in Australia has Roller, it's not a national brand, it's not about internationals.  It's local business first and foremost and everyone in Perth should jump on board and rediscover their love for local gigs.

Catch the Dart, Kent, Devo and Blend along with Sardi for the "Roller Easter Special" – Thursday 9th April at The Rosemount Hotel. The great thing is, this event is FREE!

Photo by Rob Bunt