The Drum And Bass Takeover: Deadbeats And Brownies & Lemonade Push The Underground Forward At Dave & Busters

Without fail over the last three New Year’s Eves, fans of dance music will post declarations on Twitter (aka X) that the next year will be the time that “drum and bass finally takes over North American dancefloors.” The genre, which has long had a strong foothold in the UK, Europe and Australia, has never completely been embraced by North American audiences.

Deadbeats, the record label of electronic duo Zeds Dead, and Los Angeles-based promotion company Brownies and Lemonade have long been at the forefront of helping drum and bass gain a larger audience stateside. Deadbeats label manager Harrison Bennett often signs drum and bass acts and Brownies and Lemonade started a new event series, DNBNL, to throw renegade drum and bass parties in order to generate excitement among a new generation.

Within their own songs, Zeds Dead – which is managed by 2+2 Management’s Adam Gill and booked by Wasserman Music’s Cody Chapman – sprinkle in drops of drum and bass.

“To some extent, that phrasing on Twitter has become a meme unto itself,” Bennett says. “But I think what has been clear over the last two years is that there’s more of an appetite for the genre amongst fans and promoters here. What we don’t have here is the radio support and the DSP support that you do in Europe, Australia or New Zealand. But I think that comes with time. What we’ve seen is acts like Chase & Status coming on more seriously, getting some big crossover hits in the last year that have become dominant festival records being played by every single DJ out there.”

Bennett notes that he’s seen a slow but steady change in audiences’ reaction to the subgenre. He shares that every year at Zeds Dead’s annual shows at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, they’ve included a drum and bass act on the lineup. The first few years, he’d look out at the crowd and see many of them sitting down during the set. Year over year, more and more of the audience has been standing and dancing, with their most recent shows last July having the vast majority of the crowd up and moving.

“The conversation around drum and bass in America has had a lot of arguments around it,” Brownies and Lemonade co-founder Kushan Fernando says. “There is a dedicated fanbase who obviously loves drum and bass and the genre has been around for decades, so it’s a very well-known part of dance music as a whole. In America, it’s gone through waves in which it was popular. It feels like, in the past decade or so, the popularity of the genre in America has subsided quite a bit, whereas other sub genres in dance music have just become much more predominant.”

Fernando adds, “Whereas, in the UK, drum and bass is still just as big as any of the biggest subgenres in electronic music. People always wonder, why isn’t it really taking that type of approach in America? So that’s something we wanted to at least help with in our own way, because we really enjoy the genre. We think it certainly deserves to have the type of recognition it does in the UK, Australia, New Zealand or other parts of the world where it’s really thriving.”

The latest partnership from Deadbeats and Brownies and Lemonade was a drum and bass compilation featuring tracks from Zeds Dead, Blanke’s AEON:MODE side project, Bensley and DNMO, STS9 and more. To celebrate, the teams wanted something different and energetic that would mark the occasion. And thus Dave and Buster’s (which some refer to as “Chuck E. Cheese for adults”) on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles was confirmed for the album release party.

“They did one party there last January [2023], and it went really well,” Bennett says. “It’s been one of the most requested spots for them to return to. … It’s easy enough because it’s a bar, we just bring in some extra production and sound. It’s very much about the general atmosphere there. There’s no crazy stage build or anything. You’re throwing a pop-up rave inside of a Dave and Buster’s; there’s arcade machines around you. It operates within the normal hours of the restaurant, so you’re running with their rules.”
The secret lineup for the show featured Ghost In Real Life, Kumarion, Blanke’s alter ego AEON:MODE and a closing set from Zeds Dead.

“It just felt like the right time,” Fernando says. “We wanted to celebrate the release of this compilation. We have a really good relationship with the venue directly, and they’re really interested in working with us more frequently. It worked together in a really great way.”
Looking ahead to future collaborations, Brownies and Lemonade will be joining Deadbeats during the Zeds Dead’s annual Fourth of July run, topped with their own stage at the Deadbeats Backyard Jamboree at Denver’s Civic Center Park.

“We’re really excited,” Fernando says of the Jamboree. “We’ve never done an event of that scale with our DNBNL brand.”

Zeds Dead, which was on the cover of Pollstar last year, recently confirmed its return to the famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre July 2-3. The 2023 Fourth of July festivities included a July 4 show at Denver’s Mission Ballroom that sold 4,150 tickets and grossed $210,255.