IT'S A WARM December evening in Perth, Western Australia, and uber-breaks master DJ Freq Nasty is about to wreck the decks for the meanest two-hour set highlighted by stomping basslines at the Global Festival outdoor concert-rave.
The lanky six-footer is on stage, but the only thing the 3,000-strong audience can see is his head with a gigantic horizontal wrap made from his long dreadlocks. He's cranked up the volume, cracked out the speakers and has the crowd dancing and cheering to his big, burly beats.
For sonic spice and nostalgic glee, Nasty likes to mix in a vibrant selection of old-school anthems - from house to soul to classic pop - with his fat, fast-paced beats and drums. He also has a penchant for dropping in a favourite chart-topping tune or two. Imagine 50 Cent's In Da Club or Pink's Get The Party Started or even Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit playing over breakbeat or jungle drums. The result - energetic, fun and fresh - is superb.
'I've always been very eclectic when it comes to music,' Nasty says. 'I've always loved combining genres, and over the years that love just happened to be called breakbeat. I've always done my own thing, trying not to get in on someone else's scene. By creating my own style, I cut out the competition.'
Constantly redefining 'broken beats' is Nasty's forte. With a moniker inspired by sci-fi comics, the DJ, musician and producer has often been touted by the music press as one of the pioneers of the UK breakbeat and nu-skool breaks scene. Highly respected for his production work, which he indulged in years before becoming a DJ in 1997, Nasty has also established a reputation as a remixer for a diverse range of artists including Asian Dub Foundation, Kelis, KRS-One and Mystikal. Fans flock to his resident gigs at Brighton's The Boutique and London's Fabric.
Currently on tour to promote his latest album, Bring Me The Head Of Freq Nasty - which brings him to Hong Kong on Christmas Eve - the 34-year-old continues his global domination of breakbeat wonderment. He has already been on the road since mid-November, playing around Britain and Europe, and the next three months will take him to clubs, raves and festivals across Australia, New Zealand, Asia and America.
Bring Me is the long-awaited follow-up to his 1999 debut, Freqs, Geeks & Mutilations. That release, on Sheffield's Botchit & Scarper label, was lauded as a breakbeat breakthrough but sold only about 10,000 copies. Still, Nasty established a reputation for keeping the dance scene fresh with creative fervour and won much acclaim among the world's top DJs - so much so that Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, signed him to his Brighton-based Skint Records label. This move was significant for Nasty's career because only big beat purveyors hold a spot on the Skint roster.
