It had been almost two weeks since I’d seen him and I was quite surprised at how I was coping with it. I’d gotten used to seeing him each week but suddenly, I was missing a guy I didn’t even know two months ago.
The more I write about this night the more I remember. The weather had been miserable all day, and rained the entire time I was in the car on the way to his house. It cleared for a few moments when I stopped to pick him up.
That evening was really cold, for Perth in February anyway. He came out in just a t-shirt and jeans. I suggested a jumper but he said he’d be fine; I believed him, he was English after all.
We chatted about the last couple of weeks on our way to Hillary’s, at least a 40-minute drive. It rained the entire time, nothing heavy, but enough to dampen the evenings plans if it continued. I think the Gods were smiling on us because the sky cleared on our arrival. From the photos, you'd never guess it'd been raining less than an hour earlier.
We made a measly attempt to pick somewhere to have dinner, and failed. Not that we cared, we headed straight to Cold Rock; happy to have dessert for dinner once again. The last time we went, we’d thought up great combinations after we’d bought our ice cream. This time we didn’t worry about looking at the possibilities, we both knew what we wanted.
He had to have the Cherry Ripe, which he mixed with Cheesecake ice cream. The combination was really good, but would you expect any less? I went for something a little crazy, lemon sorbet mixed with Nerds. If that isn’t a sugar over load, I don’t know what is!
We had no other plans and we took our time making our way to the grassed area to watch the sun set. Now, in getting to know someone new, you tend to ask a standard set of questions. What work do you do? What do you do in your free time? What kind of car do you drive? What kind of music do you listen to?
His response to that last question left me stumped. I'd never heard of “Dubstep” before. According to him, it’s not widely known, but it’s picking up quickly in the UK. I asked him to describe it; his response? “It’s really hard to describe. It’s similar to drum and bass, but it’s mainly bass, and it has a Jamaican influence. It varies heaps though”. And having heard it, that's probably as accurate as you’re going to get without listening to it.
This sparked my curiosity, and he'd brought along his mp3 player so I could listen this music. He had sent me a few links to songs during the weeks, so I could get a feel for it. Bar9's 'Midnight' was my first, it was an instant attraction. It's one of those home type songs, you can leave it for ages, come back, listen to it & it's like you never left.
Almost as soon as we sat down I told him to bring out the iPod. I was half scared I wouldn't like the music, but I didn't really need to worry. He gave me a little spiel about the DJ's, Caspa & Rusko, how good they were in their own rite & how they'd collaborated to make this album. Rusko had actually been in Perth the previous week but of course, we only found that out after the fact. It was rather disappointing & it still is.
The songs I remember him playing on the night were Guru – he described this one as ‘brain scan’ (I didn’t like it then but I can handle it now), Big Headed Slags – complete with incomprehensible Jamaican intro, Round the World Girls, and Louder. Part of the intro of that song has the lyrics “the R, the U, the S, the K, the O”, after which, I said, “Rusko” in this stupid, matter-of-fact girl voice that made him laugh out loud in a way I hadn't heard before.
When he laughs genuinely, it's just perfect. He get's that whole 'face-lighting-up' thing. It's enough to make a girl go weak at the knees. Anyway, I really liked the music, some songs more than others, but enough to add Dubstep to the ever-growing list of music styles that I listened to.
He titled that evening my first “Cultural Learnings of Dubstep with Swifty”.
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