New underground collective announces latest event in Leeds

Leeds underground music collective Dub Bandits has announced its upcoming event this coming Wednesday - February 2 - taking over Wire, voted one of Mixmag’s clubs you need to rave at this year.

DJs Bailey Ibbs and An Avrin will be heading up the event, with attendees told to expect a mixture of breaks, techno, electro, garage, broken beat and “everything else in between”.

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Hosted by three students - Louis, Tom and Jonah - the event has already seen a successful launch party at Distrikt, a venue known for championing the underground.

“As a clubber at heart, to be able to organise my own events with the help of my friends who share the same passion and ultimately play alongside some of my favourite artists at my favourite club is something I’m incredibly grateful to be able to do,” Louis explains. “My one regret is that I wasn’t able to do it any earlier because of the pandemic, but we got there in the end and I couldn’t be happier.”

Tom, one of the three organisers, too notes his keenness to get further involved with the city’s underground. “It’s always been an ambition of mine to further integrate and immerse myself into the massively exciting underground music scene,” he explains. “Having spent countless hours mixing and listening to some of my favourite underground artists, the ability to convey my passion for the scene through Dub Bandits is priceless and a massive honour for me.”

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Jonah echoes the feelings that have emerged from his experience of organising the debut event: “The whole process has been great so far - booking and communicating with artists whose songs I’ve spent hours listening to and mixing is a bit surreal! To be honest an event like this has been in the works in my head for at least a couple of years now, but annoyingly I just never really had the right conditions for it to work. To be able to put this together with two like-minded mates has been a dream.”

Tickets for Dub Bandits’ event at Wire on February 2 are available now - grab yours here.

Niamh Ingram is Mixmag’s Weekend Editor, follow her on Twitter