The Blackout Crew on donk’s second coming

There’s no sound in existence that can’t be improved by a donk beat. I’m serious. Donk, bounce and Scouse House are a familiar friend for anyone who grew up north of the Watford Gap in the early aughts, springing out from clubs like Wigan Pier to soundtrack all the key moments of teenage life. VICE once called it a “northern dance music phenomenon that sounds like a pitch-shifted power drill” and “the most terrifying and hilarious dance music genre to ever come out of the UK”.

The unmistakable sound went relatively quiet in the 2010s, but has bounced back since the pandemic as the UK’s club-going crowds look for something more entertaining. Nights like London’s Mums Against Donk, Planet Fun and The Donkline, plus Brighton’s Chicken Run-themed Farmageddon have all been championing sweet boing and have successfully transported these typically northern sounds to LGBTQ+ audiences in pastures further south. 

Possibly the most famous of all to put a donk on it are Bolton’s The Blackout Crew, whose 2009 track “Put A Donk On It” lists off all the genres that would be improved with a donk beat, to a donk beat, making the most well-known donk track of all time. The group recently collaborated with London producer Jax Jones for a donk remix of his new track “Won’t Forget You”, proving the UK’s growing appetite for the sound. 

Speaking to both Jax Jones and The Blackout Crew’s founding member MC Vipes on Zoom one Friday afternoon, we talk about tunes that have been improved with a simple donk, and how this meeting of the minds came to fruition.

Hey Vipes, for those who don’t know can you explain what a donk is?

Vipes: The best way to describe donk is that it’s a bit of an offbeat bassline. When Blackout first started we described it as like getting a drainpipe and hitting it with a ping-pong bat. It basically comes from clubheads from back in the day, big Dutch DJs and producers were using this sound which was referred to as a donk. But it’s basically an offbeat bassline. 

So, you didn’t invent donk?

Vipes: No. One thing we can’t say is that we invented it, the actual sound has definitely been around since the early 90s but it might not have been called a donk at that time. I think Alan Aztec, another DJ and producer, made a piece of software called The Donk Machine where you could use samples of donks and I’m pretty sure that’s where the word came from. Then obviously we came up with ‘Put A Donk On It’ which was basically referring to the fact that most people were getting their music from the charts and then putting an offbeat donk on it. And that’s where the name came from! 

Do you recall the first time you ever heard the donk sound? 

Vipes: It was probably around the time that we started going to the youth club where everything started with Blackout. We started going to DJ workshops where they taught you to DJ with different types of records, it was back with vinyl and stuff like Technics were around. We’d be taught how to mix garage, drum and bass, things like that. Donk, or what they called Bouncy House back then, was the first time I can remember donk if I’m honest. 

Could you tell us the story behind the time you infamously put a donk on it?

Vipes: Blackout all started at that youth club. We were young lads that couldn’t go back to school for one reason or another, we’d been kicked out for not performing or whatever so we went to a youth club called the Harmony Youth Project. There, we were learning how to be youth workers and get our NVQs, we made a tune with the youth workers there and made a video for it, which then got signed because of how well it did on YouTube. 

Our next tune off the back of that was ‘Put A Donk On It’, and it was literally just a group of us in our youth project having a bit of a laugh. At the time, most of the tunes that were being made on what we’d call the bounce scene, which is now called the donk scene which is our type of rave scene with that type of music. Every producer was just getting like a Rihanna tune and putting a donk on it and speeding it up. We were just having a laugh and taking the mickey out of people who did that and it just sort of blew up online. 

What was the funniest donk remix you remember from that time?

Vipes: The Emmerdale and Coronation Street theme tunes that have been remixed and we still wind people up with them now. We have a friend in the scene that DJs at clubs and if they put out a video of themselves DJing in a club, he’ll put the Coronation Street donk over it to make it look like that’s what he played in the club. It’s just daft things like that, honestly there aren’t many tunes that haven’t had a donk put on it. 

There are now quite a few donk nights such as Mums Against Donk and Planet Fun happening in London. How do you feel about the genre’s resurgence? 

Vipes: I’ll be honest, I haven’t heard of them but I’d like to think there is a donk resurgence because we’ve put some serious effort into doing it. We failed to crack the South last time we were around and one of things I’m actually very proud of at the minute is that when I bought our artist account on Spotify, it shows that at the minute our city with the most listeners is London. 

For me, that’s absolutely mad because it’s a northern thing and it seems to be spreading around the country like wildfire. With the views and streams and everything I’m aware there’s a resurgence but I wasn’t aware of those raves that you mentioned.

“I think club culture generally has become more fun because of the pandemic. The world around is feeling more miserable, with wars going on... the band-aid for that is music” – Jax Jones

Do you think it’s important for club nights to lean into sillier sounds such as donk and be less serious? 

Vipes: Oh, yeah! Obviously each to their own but if you came to one of our raves it’s a different experience. The music is faster and donk is a fun sound, it’s about time it’s taken a little more seriously. 

Like I said, the first time it was around, it was all a bit of a joke and even we were seen as a joke. But one thing I think is important this time is that people are taking it seriously because it’s a good sound. The remix we’ve done with Tims (Jax Jones) is not a joke – that is a good track! I must have listened to it 10 million times and not got sick of it. For me to be able to listen to something so many times and not get sick of it, is a testament to itself. 

Jax Jones: I think club culture generally and sonically has become more fun because of the pandemic and the world around is feeling more miserable, with wars going on. 

Vipes: Yeah.

Jax Jones: As young people, part of the band-aid for that is music that makes you feel fun, even when you mention German techno and the harder side of it. Coming out of Germany we have Marlon Hoffstadte and DJ Heartstring, people that are making quite emotive trance throwback, eurodance-related stuff in the genres that were popping 15 years ago. You’ve got that trend cycle, you’ve got the mood of the world: it’s the perfect storm for something like donk to return. 

What’s the best donk mix you’ve ever heard?

Vipes: There’s so many. We’ve got some great producers like Fitzy & Rossy B, they’ve made a lot of original tunes. As far as a track that’s been remixed, he did a remix of Rihanna’s ‘Please Don’t Stop The Music’ and that track is honestly one that I can say that putting a donk on it was a good idea. 

If I’m honest with you, my preference with donk is I like the hard stuff, a lot of Spanish producers like Miguel Serna, Raúl Soto and people like that. There’s a completely different scene in Spain. There’s another genre of it called hardbass as well which is like heavy, heavy donk.

Do either of you have any final thoughts on donk you’d like to share before we wrap up?

Vipes: One thing I will say is we’ve really enjoyed working with Tims, it’s been refreshing. Us guys were doing our own thing until 6 weeks ago and we obviously want to get more things done so we’re actively making music and are in the studio. We need to have a chat with Tims about doing some more stuff as well. It’s not going to be a flash in the pan, I can tell you that for nothing. 

Jax Jones: It’s really cool how well-received this song has been, particularly this version of it. Other DJs like Patrick Topping and our own Hannah Laing are playing donk music to thousands of people every weekend. It feels like the old chinstroker guard that would be kind of snobbish to genres outside of the capital, those barriers are coming down. I think the snobbery in dance music is starting to decrease because it’s about what the fans want and not what a ring of DJs think is good. I think that’s reflected in the success of the record. 

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