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Get into the Rhythm and Stomp of life

New dub and bass night every Monday at Garfinkel’s

By Nicole Fitzgerald

What: RudeBwoy SoundSystem Night

When: Mondays

Where: Garfinkel’s

The drum ’n’ bass scene isn’t exactly a burgeoning metropolis in a small Newfoundland town of 1,300 people.

But thanks to Adam Petipas’s sluggish gait from school, instead of coming home to turn on cartoons the then 10-year-old sat sulking as his through-the-door-first sister tuned into a music station playing My Adidas by Run DMC — a complete departure from the Aerosmith and Def Leopard staples Petipas grew up on.

“I heard it and I was captured by it right away,” Petipas recounted. “It was so different, so raw. I just liked watching their videos and watching the DJs scratch.”

Moving on to Protégé and the Chemical Brothers and everything in between, as well as moving to Vancouver, Petipas has since co-founded his own label, a radio show and now a new dance club night in Whistler every Monday at Garfinkel’s.

“We want to push the music we like,” said Petipas, who is better known around the West Coast music scene as DJ Evo or co-founder of RudeBwoy SoundSystem. “We are a cross between jungle and drum ’n’ bass. We call it dub and bass, but its still got a roots reggae vibe. It’s not dark. We deliver positive messages.”

Positive messages are usually delivered on a four-table set up with Petipas and his partner in crime, DJ Rustafari a.k.a. Russell Soper, on deck. Always pushing the limits, the two keep at least three of the four tables spinning with as much freestyling as possible.

However, the two former Whistlerites are now provinces apart, spinning their own RudeBwoy SoundSystem nights at opposite ends of the country. Hip hop, raga-jungle, drum ’n’ bass and breaks are at the core of the System. However, Petipas’s album collection runs into chiller beats, aired at whereeveradio.com every Tuesday at 5 p.m. PST.

Petipas spins out down tempo, trip hop and mid tempo breaks on the Afterdark show.

“My record collection is very varied. I play records I wouldn’t be able to play at the clubs.”

A new 12” was added to his collection last month with the release of two new RudeBwoy SoundSystem tracks called Good Lovin’ and Suzanne. The sound is attracting global attention, or at least exclamation marks.

“We’ve been getting good reviews,” he said. “From Norway to Russia, people are picking it up. Some of the reviews aren’t even in English, but you see exclamation marks, so our name is definitely getting out there.”

With the RudeBwoy label, ocean-to-ocean club nights and radio show all dubbed with the same title, the boys hope to get their sound out in as many ways as possible.