BRICK BANDITS

 

“The Brick Bandits is a Newark-based DJ collective that’s churning out the best, sexiest, most hilarious music in a genre known as Jersey Club.” - MTV, 2014

“Jersey Club has become the most deliriously entertaining dance-floor movement of the moment… the scene's top producers are now speed-dial favourites of pop's elite.” - SPIN, 2014

 

At some point in the last century, Newark earned the nickname Brick City; a name symbolic of the fortitude and scrappiness of New Jersey’s largest city.  Appropriate then for the Brick Bandits – a tight-knit, Newark-based DJ / producer collective that singlehandedly spawned some of the wildest dance music in a genre named Jersey Club.

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In the early 00’s, Newark-based club crowds had tired of traditional New York House and turned to Baltimore's rhythmically aggressive, more hip-hop-friendly offering.  Initially shuttling the music from Baltimore to Jersey, it wasn’t long before Newark residents started developing their own take on the sound and in ‘02 Mike V, Tim Dolla and Black Mic, formed the Original Brick Bandits collective. 

 

Brick Bandits set about developing their own sound, with fiercely guarded sound kits and sample packs.  The resulting Jersey Club’s a little faster than Baltimore, played at around 135-140 bpm.  Full of bouncy, heavy kick drum triplets and beat switch-ups, it repurposes a lot of vocal cuts, generally stripped from current and classic rap and R&B hits and pop culture references, all of which come together to make this high-energy, addictive and widely accessible dance music.   

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Club nights and block parties thrown by the crew provided an outlet for their sound and showed that Jersey Club wasn’t just a new genre, but a real movement - complete with it’s own fashion and choreography.  Where Ballroom has Vogueing, Jersey Club has the Tip-Toe, the Bunny Hop and One Leg Get Back – complete with YouTube tutorials, battles and awards.  

Brick Bandits’ formative years spawned a collection of infamous releases - DJ Tameil’s Dat Butt EP, Black Mic's Elmo’s Song, Mike V’s Backpack and Tim Dolla’s Sprint PCS – all of which took the underground by storm, leading to renowned, early trend-spotter Diplo making a trip to Newark and duly signing The Brick Bandits EP, released on Mad Decent in ’08.

“I didn’t know what the fuck was going on in that place - a bunch of 18 year old black kids listening to hardcore party music and making up dances.  It’s not just a Bmore thing, I had no idea this stuff was happening and it got me thinking like how the hell did these kids decide to make Mudvayne and Drowning Pool remixes with Lil Jon samples?  But that’s just a snippet of what the Brick Bandits are up to - the whole crew are murdering it right now.”  - DIPLO

Fast forward to today and most will agree that 2014 was the year that the rest of the world finally began to latch on to Jersey club and barrel forward at the speed of light. 

“There’s something going down in Newark, New Jersey.  Jersey Club is finally making it big outside state lines... It’s something approaching a movement and the rest of the world is finally catching on.”  - THE FADER, 2014

In 2014, Jersey Club parties became the hottest nights on the East Coast, with leading music outlets The Fader, Spin, Thump and MTV flocking to Newark to attend.   In October, Boiler Room held a Jersey Club Special, which saw a record-breaking 1.5 million viewers tune in live, eager to see how it really goes down in Jersey.

 

Leading dance labels Ultra, Pelican Fly, Mad Decent, Body High, LitCity Trax and LuckyMe released music from original Brick Bandits members Sliink, R3ll, Nadus, Tiga and Uniique, who went on to tour the Jersey Club sound across North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.  Major labels took notice and started requesting official remixes for huge pop artists, such as Iggy Azalea (R3ll) and Chris Brown (Sliink).  The year 2015 closed with Vice filming a three-part documentary series on Brick Bandits and Jersey Club, with hipster kids queuing round the block, in the snow, to get into the premiere after-party in Brooklyn – a strong visual representation of how far the sound has come.

With the world’s gaze firmly focused on Jersey Club, it wasn’t long before producers in other states, other countries even, were inspired to make Jersey Club - most notably Scandanavia’s Cashmere Cat and Trippy Turtle, and LA’s Athlettix crew, featuring Hoodboi.

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“Jersey Club’s growth within the electronic scene has been one of 2014's biggest surprises and with new producers flocking to the sound, you can expect Jersey club to continue to grow as its bouncy beats spread to new locations around the globe.” - DJ MAG, 2014

This idea of growth is really central to the Brick Bandits mandate, who are always keen to keep the younger generation involved:  “It’s important to hear what the kids are listening to because they always know what will be big next, they just don’t know it yet.” - TIM DOLLA, BRICK BANDITS

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Brick Bandits has always been more than just a musical outlet, membership also provides respite for Newark kids and an alternative to gang culture and crime.  Coaching and mentoring their youth, the older generation encourage positivity, school attendance and even charity work – with members taking part in the annual AIDS Walk.

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“Brick Bandits was always a place for those raised by an ineffective family, to get the support they needed.  Brick Bandits is not just a production team, it’s a family… We eat together, we laugh together, we drink together and we have fun together.” - MIKE V, BRICK BANDITS

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