Yorkshire & Lincolnshire

Niche where bassline started

But everyone knows that to appeal to young people, you need to be seen as underground and maybe just that little bit dangerous.

That's been the reputation of a scene that started in Sheffield but which has spread in popularity across Yorkshire and into the Midlands - the scene is called bassline.

Cult scene

Bassline has a huge following among Yorkshire's myspace generation both in big cities like Sheffield, Leeds and Bradford, and in smaller towns such as Skipton.

The scene began at the Niche night club in Sheffield, but the club was closed down nearly two years ago after it was raided by hundreds of police officers with helicopters and armed response vehicles.

South Yorkshire Police deny that the operation was over the top as ACC Paul Broadbent explains:

"We needed to take some positive police action on a nightclub where guns had been seen and fired. Class A, serious illegal drugs had been seen, sold, used and supplied. Criminal gangs from Manchester, Leeds, Leicester and other cities were coming to the Niche to do their business. I'm not allowing that to happen in Sheffield."

Police raid on Niche club

Steve Baxendale was the owner of Niche and one of the founders of the bassline scene in South Yorkshire.

He's now running a new club called Vibe, also in Sheffield, but he remains critical of the police tactics:

"The name of the operation that night was "Repatriation". That says it in one, doesn't it?

"Yes, I would say there was a bad crowd coming to the Niche but we didn't have the information the police had."

Steve says that there can be bad crowds in commercial nightclubs, of all races and colours.

But the police are concerned about the bassline scene, in particular.

"Bassline music seems to attract people who have a real liking for serious violence. Most of the firearms incidents at nightclubs in Sheffield would be around the bassline scene," says Inspector Neil Mutch.

Night club violence

One person who knows all about the consequences of nightclub violence at first hand is Thomas Hanley.

His brother Michael loved bassline music.

A group of men attempted to rob his brother of his gold chain outside a bassline club in Dewsbury, but the incident soon escalated into something more serious, as Thomas explains.

"Then, all of a sudden, the gang's stepped aside, one's pulled a gun out and took my brother's life... Then one of them walked up to him and kicked him in his face as he was dying."

Although most people come to bassline nights just for a good time, a small minority are involved in gangs.

One of the Vibe staff in Sheffield, Matthew Commons, told Inside Out that violence can be a big problem on bassline nights.

He recounted the story of what happened when he was working at a bassline night at another club in the city and a fight broke out.

"I was pushing one group back towards the stage area - as this was happening one of them stabbed me in the top of my leg with a screwdriver. As I've got rid of him, a second one's come at me with a knife in his hand."

Future scene

In Sheffield the police and club owners have developed a more co-operative relationship since the raid on Niche.

But Steve Baxendale says it's come at a price, and it's impossible to have a bassline night in Sheffield these days:

"I've had to give the police a guarantee that the Niche name will never appear in Sheffield on a club. I've had to guarantee that there's to be no more bassline played..."

Steve Baxendale

Bassline is in a unique situation - on the one hand it could be about to hit the big time, with the mainstream music industry showing an interest.

On the other hand, its reputation for attracting trouble has left it out in the cold with mainstream nightclubs and the police.

Thomas Hanley certainly believes the culture of violence must be taken out of the music which his brother loved.