'Substance & Sound' is the debut release from the mysterious Dogtown Clash and it's been causing ructions on the floor since it came out on promo recently, with Rennie Pilgrem and Matthew B early supporters. City Hi-Fi finds out more…

Imagine if legendary West London punk rockers The Clash got together with seminal LA skate punks the Dogtown Crew to make dance tunes. They'd make music full of balls and attitude, right? Records to give an aural one-fingered salute to artificial genre divisions, formulaic dancefloor fodder and opportunistic band-wagoneering, yes?

Music, in fact, a lot like that which the mysterious Mick Bones and production partner Paws Simenon have been cranking out via their significantly-monikered Dogtown Clash outfit. 'House music has got really boring,' argues Mick. 'It's too safe, people are too worried about selling records. House music has become like your dad's music. It's time to start messing it up a bit again. 'Obviously The Clash are a big inspiration in terms of the name, but also in terms of attitude. The Clash were supposed to be the last gang in town, a righteous gang who weren't afraid to start throwing it up and kicking it in a bit.'

Any punk fans reading this may have noticed that the Dogtown Clash line-up take their names from original Clash members Mick Jones and Paul Simenon. Moreover, Dogtown Clash was actually formed following a drinking session in the West London Pelican pub where The Clash played their first ever gig. Just up the road is the Westway skate park, which got the duo thinking about their mutual love of skateboarding and inspired the other part of their name.

'The Dogtown skate crew were the first ones who started skateboarding in LA in the 70s, doing it in disused swimming pools and stuff,' explains Mick. 'There was a film out about them a few years ago. We're both really into punk and skateboarding, so we thought we'd fuse the two.'

Musically, Dogtown Clash take their cues from a rather different direction, as is evidenced by their debut single 'Substance & Sound'. With the original mashing up house grooves, electro sounds and ghetto-tech bass and a remix taking things down a funky breaks route, the twelve is a good illustration of the Dogtowner's independent-minded approach to music making. 'We want to cut our own path rather than worry about anyone else, ' states Mick. 'Our music is a complete mish-mash, somewhere between dub, electro and acid, with a punk ethic thrown in.'

'Substance & Sound' also finds Dogtown Clash adding their own contribution to one of the most popular lyrical styles in dance music: the tune devoted to mind-bending substances. And the singer/songwriter featured on the tune is exceedingly well-placed to sound off on the subject, explains Mick Bones. 'We wrote the tune a year ago with a guy calling himself Troy Fortress. He's actually a social worker who works with the baddest of bad kids, a drugs social worker. We got into that whole acid house thing of monotonous lyrics carrying on through the track and getting into your head subliminally.'

As well as introducing Dogtown Clash to the world, 'Substance & Sound' is also the first release on the new Westway, a new London label, set up by beat-freaks Barry Ashworth and Carl Loben, it's going to be releasing graffiti breaks, dirty dubwise house music, futurist electro and more. Music that, like The Clash did in those heady post-punk days, forever pushes forward.

Despite the name, Westway Records isn't just some trendy West London operation. As if to demonstrate this, the label is having launch parties in all four corners of the capital, and taking the sound to clubs and parties in assorted other cities too. They've also got a track forthcoming called 'West London's Burning'!

"There's nothing like a good bass-line to get a dancefloor moving. And the bass-line on the debut single from West London outfit Dogtown Clash is definitely a good 'un. The elastic, acid-electro low end tones that pulse and throb their way through the track are only part of the fun, of course. Punchy hand-clap rhythms and dubbed-out sci-fi effects help set up the rolling breakbeat house groove; a suitably spaced-out spoken word vocal from sometime drugs worker Troy Fortress adds atmosphere. But as no lesser an authority than Arthur Baker once pointed out, it's so often the b-line that really makes the difference when it comes to club tracks, and that's certainly the case here."

4.5/5 (Reviewed by Tim Irwin)