Dogs On Acid
Encyclopedia
Dogs On Acid is a UK-based electronic music website, established in 2001.
, intended the community to be a place to discuss up-and-coming releases, mixes and gigs. Because their community grew in popularity and its content more and more covered the entire drum and bass
spectrum, it was decided to start a new website under the Dogs On Acid moniker in 2001, an unusual name that stuck when Dan blurted it out as a joke while having a drink and searching for a name. Since its initiation the website grew more day by day and is currently home to the largest online drum and bass community
and is arguably the largest website in its genre.
On April 27, 2010, the website reached 10 million posts from the forums, with almost 9 million posts on The Board and over a million on The Grid.
s, an image gallery, an online radio and an audio section, showcasing the latest tracks from the scene. The Grid, the website's music production
section, is the birthplace of many new D&B talent. Noisia
, Mistabishi, Pendulum
, Alix Perez
, Danny Byrd
and Data to name a few, were regular contributors before gaining any mainstream popularity. Next to this, most D&B artists and promoters are or were regular contributors to the community. Dogs On Acid also runs various music labels: Breakbeat Kaos
, Dogs On Acid and Under Construction (See BBK Sublabels) and promotes and organises various parties worldwide.
. The rivalry spawns from the fact that both portals are arguably the two biggest content-filled websites for the drum and bass genre on the internet. Today the relationship between both forums are light-hearted, where both production sub-forums have competitions for best track and mixes; bringing the comprehensive community together.
Much of DOA's users are considered more international whereas DnB Arena is a site mainly aimed at UK; although a few members post on both. Artists such as Mistabishi and Skream
have since been ridiculed by the forum and no longer post.
started much of their activity on DOA, before and during their time being signed to Breakbeat Kaos
(BBK), posting on the board and helping other producers on production forum the 'Grid'. During this time DOA was to become the first board to get hit with any news of their releases, also causing the group to be hit with many questions on the production side. Following the success of Pendulum's Slam and Hold Your Colour
, Fresh decided to release a compilation CD entitled Jungle Sound
Gold Edition. Pendulum responded to the thread stating they had no idea about the release nor gave any permission. Rob Swire
responded by admitting no knowledge of the album's release, and that it had nothing to do with the band. Rob also stated they gave Fresh & Adam F low quality tracks to be used for a set and not for releases.
One of the few threads causing uproar within the forum and gaining over a thousand replies & 141,000 views in the space of 4 weeks from Rob's
post. News of the scandal spread quickly, even being mentioned on Radio 1's Drum & Bass show only a week later. Fresh was also accused by various members for deviously capitalizing on Pendulum's
sudden success. Since the incident, Fresh gave his statement (although by this point the CD was out) and Pendulum left the label. On the 18th of June 2007 Fresh released Pendulum's last 12" Single: Blood Sugar / Axle Grinder along with a special edition ‘Hold Your Colour
’ CD.
) the band continued to be criticised by DnB enthusiasts, to the point where in March 2009 the band were booed at the Drum and Bass awards from certain enthusiasts for "selling out" "sounding more rock and having a different style to their preceding album". After receiving a heavy amount of criticism Pendulum decided to respond one more time and left the forum and have never posted since.
. Mary Anne announced during an interview "Everything happens on-line. The forums and the bloggers are running things - dubstepforum.com and dogsonacid.com are phenomenal". The forum is often compared with dubstepforum like it once was with DNBA
.
Although Fresh is still listed as a shareholder of Dogs on Acid, he recently mentioned that he no longer has anything to do with the running of the forum or website. It is unknown whether he still holds his share. With a high amount of lolcats and memes
the board has often been described as being a secondary 4chan
. The forum is ridiculed for holding trolls
and many Aliases.
and was purportedly scheduled for a major refurbish in 2010. The aim of this development was to make the website more of a Web 2.0
community involving mash-ups from soundcloud
and other MP3 stores. According to an old thread, some of these changes were purportedly being tested around 2008.
It was announced on Friday 17 December 2010 that 'DOA V3' would go live on the following Monday. However, this failed to happen with the site's owner instead stating that there was "no exact date" for the changeover.
During the week of 17th January 2011, many of the bugs that plagued the site redesign were worked on, and while everything is not 100%, the new features are being utilized.
History
Dogs On Acid began life as a community on Bad Company's website, bcrecordings.com, back in 2000. One of the group's members, Dan FreshFresh (musician)
DJ Fresh is an English Drum & Bass and Dubstep producer and DJ. He was one of the principal members of drum & bass supergroup, Bad Company, alongside Darren White , Jason Maldini, and Michael Wojcicki...
, intended the community to be a place to discuss up-and-coming releases, mixes and gigs. Because their community grew in popularity and its content more and more covered the entire drum and bass
Drum and bass
Drum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...
spectrum, it was decided to start a new website under the Dogs On Acid moniker in 2001, an unusual name that stuck when Dan blurted it out as a joke while having a drink and searching for a name. Since its initiation the website grew more day by day and is currently home to the largest online drum and bass community
Virtual community
A virtual community is a social network of individuals who interact through specific media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals...
and is arguably the largest website in its genre.
On April 27, 2010, the website reached 10 million posts from the forums, with almost 9 million posts on The Board and over a million on The Grid.
Activities
Next to a community which holds over 87.000 members, the website features: an Editorial section, stores selling merchandise and - in cooperation with Track It Down - online music downloadMusic download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
s, an image gallery, an online radio and an audio section, showcasing the latest tracks from the scene. The Grid, the website's music production
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
section, is the birthplace of many new D&B talent. Noisia
Noisia
Noisia, stylized as NOISIΛ , is a Dutch Electronic music trio consisting of members Nik Roos, Martijn van Sonderen and Thijs de Vlieger from Groningen, The Netherlands. They now produce a wide variety of music including drum and bass, dubstep, breakbeat and house music...
, Mistabishi, Pendulum
Pendulum (band)
Pendulum is an Australian drum and bass and electronic rock band founded in 2002 in Perth by Rob Swire, Gareth McGrillen, and Paul Harding.Swire and McGrillen were members of the rock band known as Xygen. After hearing Konflict's "Messiah" at a club, they were inspired to enter into the drum and...
, Alix Perez
Alix Perez
Alix Perez is the stage name of Alix Depauw, a drum and bass DJ and producer originally from Charleroi, Belgium. Currently based in North London, his music is characterised as liquid funk and released on labels such as Hospital Records, Liquid V, Bassbin, Creative Source, Horizons, Progress,...
, Danny Byrd
Danny Byrd
Danny Byrd is a drum and bass DJ, producer and musician from Bath in the South West of England. He is influenced by house, UK garage, R&B and the Old Skool Rave / Jungle Techno sound and releases his music primarily on Hospital Records, the UK based, independent dance music label.-History:Danny...
and Data to name a few, were regular contributors before gaining any mainstream popularity. Next to this, most D&B artists and promoters are or were regular contributors to the community. Dogs On Acid also runs various music labels: Breakbeat Kaos
Breakbeat Kaos
Breakbeat Kaos is a British independent record label based in London, UK that specialises in drum and bass. It is jointly owned by Fresh and Adam F, who founded the label in 2003 by merging Fresh's Breakbeat Punk with Adam F's Kaos Recordings. The label's first release was a 12" double A-side...
, Dogs On Acid and Under Construction (See BBK Sublabels) and promotes and organises various parties worldwide.
Public perception, controversy and rivalry
Dogs on Acid's arch-rivals are Drum and Bass ArenaDrum and Bass Arena
Drum and Bass Arena is a drum & bass music website and brand, established in 1996. It offers up to date information on the worldwide drum and bass scene, and has an online shop, forum and digital download section...
. The rivalry spawns from the fact that both portals are arguably the two biggest content-filled websites for the drum and bass genre on the internet. Today the relationship between both forums are light-hearted, where both production sub-forums have competitions for best track and mixes; bringing the comprehensive community together.
Much of DOA's users are considered more international whereas DnB Arena is a site mainly aimed at UK; although a few members post on both. Artists such as Mistabishi and Skream
Skream
Skream is a dubstep producer based in Croydon. One of dubstep's first and most prominent producers, he has played an important role in the genre's development. His debut album Skream! was released in 2006, and was followed up by Outside the Box in 2010...
have since been ridiculed by the forum and no longer post.
Jungle Sound Gold
The Drum & Bass group PendulumPendulum (band)
Pendulum is an Australian drum and bass and electronic rock band founded in 2002 in Perth by Rob Swire, Gareth McGrillen, and Paul Harding.Swire and McGrillen were members of the rock band known as Xygen. After hearing Konflict's "Messiah" at a club, they were inspired to enter into the drum and...
started much of their activity on DOA, before and during their time being signed to Breakbeat Kaos
Breakbeat Kaos
Breakbeat Kaos is a British independent record label based in London, UK that specialises in drum and bass. It is jointly owned by Fresh and Adam F, who founded the label in 2003 by merging Fresh's Breakbeat Punk with Adam F's Kaos Recordings. The label's first release was a 12" double A-side...
(BBK), posting on the board and helping other producers on production forum the 'Grid'. During this time DOA was to become the first board to get hit with any news of their releases, also causing the group to be hit with many questions on the production side. Following the success of Pendulum's Slam and Hold Your Colour
Hold Your Colour
Hold Your Colour is the debut full-length album by Australian drum and bass band Pendulum. The album was mastered by Stuart Hawkes at Metropolis in London. It was released in 2005 and reissued in 2007 by Breakbeat Kaos...
, Fresh decided to release a compilation CD entitled Jungle Sound
Jungle Sound: The Bassline Strikes Back!
-Reissue:The reissue sees the unmixed disc replaced by a new unmixed one....
Gold Edition. Pendulum responded to the thread stating they had no idea about the release nor gave any permission. Rob Swire
Rob Swire
Rob Swire , is an Australian record producer, singer and keyboardist. Swire is best known as lead singer and producer of Australian electronic band Pendulum and is sometimes referred to by the stage name Anscenic...
responded by admitting no knowledge of the album's release, and that it had nothing to do with the band. Rob also stated they gave Fresh & Adam F low quality tracks to be used for a set and not for releases.
We didn't approve and in fact strongly disapprove of the 'Junglesound Gold' artwork, especially in relation to our name being unfairly used as an advertisement - plainly an attempt to link 'Junglesound Gold' to the recent success of 'Hold Your Colour'.
As a result of the above, we do not endorse 'Junglesound Gold' at all.
- Pendulum.
One of the few threads causing uproar within the forum and gaining over a thousand replies & 141,000 views in the space of 4 weeks from Rob's
Rob Swire
Rob Swire , is an Australian record producer, singer and keyboardist. Swire is best known as lead singer and producer of Australian electronic band Pendulum and is sometimes referred to by the stage name Anscenic...
post. News of the scandal spread quickly, even being mentioned on Radio 1's Drum & Bass show only a week later. Fresh was also accused by various members for deviously capitalizing on Pendulum's
Pendulum (band)
Pendulum is an Australian drum and bass and electronic rock band founded in 2002 in Perth by Rob Swire, Gareth McGrillen, and Paul Harding.Swire and McGrillen were members of the rock band known as Xygen. After hearing Konflict's "Messiah" at a club, they were inspired to enter into the drum and...
sudden success. Since the incident, Fresh gave his statement (although by this point the CD was out) and Pendulum left the label. On the 18th of June 2007 Fresh released Pendulum's last 12" Single: Blood Sugar / Axle Grinder along with a special edition ‘Hold Your Colour
Hold Your Colour
Hold Your Colour is the debut full-length album by Australian drum and bass band Pendulum. The album was mastered by Stuart Hawkes at Metropolis in London. It was released in 2005 and reissued in 2007 by Breakbeat Kaos...
’ CD.
Pendulum Vs DOA
Although Pendulum (which at that time included Rob Swire, Paul Harding and Gareth McGrillen) felt the forum began to become negative and cut ends with BBK & Fresh they continued posting on the portal. Once the track Granite was released Pendulum became ridiculed by various members for their change in style and being accused of "Selling out" for mainstream success. Although the album was highly successful the band continued to receive heavy sarcasm and accusations for killing the genre from various members, described by the board as 'haters'. Pendulum responded by saying "if we 'killed drum and bass' last time, this is the final nail in its coffin." As the album continued to do well in the mainstream (including Propane Nightmares peaking at #9 in the UK Singles ChartUK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
) the band continued to be criticised by DnB enthusiasts, to the point where in March 2009 the band were booed at the Drum and Bass awards from certain enthusiasts for "selling out" "sounding more rock and having a different style to their preceding album". After receiving a heavy amount of criticism Pendulum decided to respond one more time and left the forum and have never posted since.
Today
The Grid (Production side) holds monthly Q&A Sessions where posters and members get to ask (mainly productive) questions to notable producers and artists. Members of the grid also collaborate to their 'Grid wiki'. The board holds more ambiguous discussions than in its early days. Regardless of the fact that Drum & Bass Isn't discussed as much this hasn't hindered the website; only leading them to receive just as much members as before. The board is still favoured for having discussions and debates on varied music and not just drum and Bass, it brings even notable DJs to post their opinions such as radio one's Grooverider or Mary Anne HobbsMary Anne Hobbs
Mary Anne Hobbs is an English DJ and music journalist from Garstang, Lancashire. She launched a new Primetime show on Xfm on 9 July 2011-Early career:...
. Mary Anne announced during an interview "Everything happens on-line. The forums and the bloggers are running things - dubstepforum.com and dogsonacid.com are phenomenal". The forum is often compared with dubstepforum like it once was with DNBA
Drum and Bass Arena
Drum and Bass Arena is a drum & bass music website and brand, established in 1996. It offers up to date information on the worldwide drum and bass scene, and has an online shop, forum and digital download section...
.
Although Fresh is still listed as a shareholder of Dogs on Acid, he recently mentioned that he no longer has anything to do with the running of the forum or website. It is unknown whether he still holds his share. With a high amount of lolcats and memes
Internet meme
The term Internet meme is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet. The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.-Description:...
the board has often been described as being a secondary 4chan
4chan
4chan is an English-language imageboard website. Launched on October 1, 2003, its boards were originally used for the posting of pictures and discussion of manga and anime...
. The forum is ridiculed for holding trolls
Troll (Internet)
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response...
and many Aliases.
Developments (DOA V3)
The website is based on an old version of VBulletinVBulletin
vBulletin is a proprietary Internet forum software produced by Jelsoft Enterprises and vBulletin Solutions, both subsidiaries of Internet Brands. It is written in PHP and uses a MySQL database server.-History:...
and was purportedly scheduled for a major refurbish in 2010. The aim of this development was to make the website more of a Web 2.0
Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...
community involving mash-ups from soundcloud
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform which allows collaboration, promotion and distribution of audio recordings.-History:SoundCloud was originally started in Stockholm, Sweden, but was established in Berlin, Germany in August, 2007 by sound designer Alex Ljung and artist Eric Wahlforss...
and other MP3 stores. According to an old thread, some of these changes were purportedly being tested around 2008.
It was announced on Friday 17 December 2010 that 'DOA V3' would go live on the following Monday. However, this failed to happen with the site's owner instead stating that there was "no exact date" for the changeover.
During the week of 17th January 2011, many of the bugs that plagued the site redesign were worked on, and while everything is not 100%, the new features are being utilized.
Accolades
- Nominated for Best Website at the Accelerated Culture Awards 2003, 2nd place
- Nominated for Best Website at the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
XtraBass Awards 2007, 2nd place - Mentioned in the July 2008 issue of KMag as one of "the top 100 most important moments in Drum & Bass"
See also
- Breakbeat KaosBreakbeat KaosBreakbeat Kaos is a British independent record label based in London, UK that specialises in drum and bass. It is jointly owned by Fresh and Adam F, who founded the label in 2003 by merging Fresh's Breakbeat Punk with Adam F's Kaos Recordings. The label's first release was a 12" double A-side...
- Drum and bassDrum and bassDrum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...
- Drum and Bass ArenaDrum and Bass ArenaDrum and Bass Arena is a drum & bass music website and brand, established in 1996. It offers up to date information on the worldwide drum and bass scene, and has an online shop, forum and digital download section...
- JungleOldschool jungleJungle is a genre of electronic music that incorporates influences from genres including breakbeat hardcore, and reggae/dub/dancehall. There is debate as to whether jungle is a separate genre from drum and bass as many use the terms interchangeably...
- PendulumPendulum (band)Pendulum is an Australian drum and bass and electronic rock band founded in 2002 in Perth by Rob Swire, Gareth McGrillen, and Paul Harding.Swire and McGrillen were members of the rock band known as Xygen. After hearing Konflict's "Messiah" at a club, they were inspired to enter into the drum and...