Calibre

Drum and bass

Dominick Martin aka Calibre is the 1st exclusively Irish Drum and Bass artist. Classically trained in violin, he dropped this for drums and began playing in various bands, before finding early Detroit techno and house. His inspiration around that time is said to wander around the likes of Kenny Larkin, Carl Craig, Juan Atkins, the Orb. His brother introduced Calibre to drum and bass and jungle, which at first he couldn’t follow the pattern as he felt it was too relentless and 'beaty', and so at that point he preferred four to the floor drumbeats from the US house style. From there he's developed on slowly but surely to become an accomplished producer. Since his early work for Dublin label Quadrophonic in 1998, Calibre has always delivered a sound that delves below the all too often unsatisfying drum and bass surface. His ability to bring a warm, natural feel to the digital landscape of drum and bass raised interest from Radio 1's Fabio, leading to a critically acclaimed double album in 2001, entitled 'Musique Concrete' released on Fabio's Creative Source imprint. Since then Calibre has released for labels such as Soul:R, including collaboration work under the Mist:i:Cal moniker with the Manchester duo Marcus Intalex and ST Files (together MIST). Other label contributions have included CIA, 31, Defunked, V and Critical. Remixes have also been a heavy outlet for Calibre, with commissions from the likes of High Contrast, Badmarsh & Shri and american R&B-singer Jaheim...