SOBANIC
Exploring the Creative Power of Nothingness
Music is the universal language of mankind — it transcends borders, overcomes differences, and brings hearts together in a harmonious chorus.
Welcome 🖤
Thank you for being part of this exciting journey of artistic exploration.
These short interviews are designed to forge a deeper connection between artists and their tribe. Whether you consider yourself an artist, a promoter, a devoted fan, or someone on the cusp of becoming one, get ready to delve into the fascinating complexities of the creative mind 👽.
Are you ready to uncover the weird and wonderful world of artistry?
Being able to be nothing, and have nothing, and accept that you are nothing, could only mean in life that you can only create, because there is nothing. Sobanic
Meet SOBANIC, an artist and promoter who made waves in the Drum & Bass scene with his event, Breakbaar in the Dutch city of Zwolle. In everyday life, he goes by the name Paul. His artist name, crafted with a playful twist, stems from “Zobenik,” which translates to “So I Am.” For SOBANIC, collaborations are a crucial aspect of creation. This focus on partnership, coupled with recovering from a burnout, led him to step away from Breakbaar to explore new collaborative opportunities. Today, SOBANIC has teamed up with MMNTM, and together, we share an incredible synergy and resonate at the same energy and frequencies.
Paul is not only an event maestro but also a skilled DJ, known for dropping beats like a pro. Check out his latest set at Kabelbreuk to see what he’s all about:
I crossed paths with Paul at Kabelbreuk, the heart of Zwolle’s drum and bass scene, during ANIMA’s gig, where I was assisting with logistics. We shook hands as he shared that he had attended our very first MMNTM event, ANIMA’s EP launch in Hilversum. I felt my cheeks flush 😊.
He then asked why there hadn’t been another MMNTM edition, and I explained that I was hesitant to organise it without a proper team again — I had clearly underestimated the effort required to stage such an event. Although I had the support of the artists, it was clear that we each had distinct roles to play 🎭 .
Paul then reached out his hand, an open invitation to weave our efforts together for another MMNTM edition. So here we are, exploring our origins, discussing our fears, and revealing the motivations that drive us toward our shared ambitions. We aim to be more than just an event; we aspire to cultivate a network of passionate people eager to create and enhance the scene.
Our mission is to provide a stage where creators can truly shine ✨. We’re dedicated to supporting local artists and enjoy infusing a bit of weirdness into everything we do as our signature move. Stay tuned for more on this in the interview!
Let’s dive right in! 🏊♂️
🌳 Sobanic’s Forest of Existence
Let’s start with what Paul posted on January 25th on his Facebook page, because it really struck a chord with me. And just to make sure you’re in the loop, I took the liberty of using ChatGPT to translate it for you:
Damn, it’s been almost 10 years since I threw my first DnB party at Zwolle R10. Time flies… there I was, bravely spinning a set on vinyl, no less. A lot has happened since then. Made many new friends. Organised and attended numerous events. That same seed I planted, ‘I’m going to learn to mix,’ has grown into a tree that’s still growing. Or perhaps it’s new seeds that have been planted. Such is nature, an ever-ongoing growth.
DnB has always been a home I fall back on. Something I’m actively involved with for a while before I go elsewhere for inspiration. That’s just how the DnB music stream is. It’s always been there but has always had a unique following. Not too aggressively commercial in my opinion, which is why it never died out. It’s our movement, and you’re welcome. Amen to the breakbeat.
I’m working with other people to get an event going in Hilversum called ‘Momentum’ MMNTM. I really want to tell you more about it, and I will, but it would be incredibly helpful if you could follow the page.
More to come later. Pz
Paul’s approach to everything can be summed up with a nature metaphor. He plants seeds 🌱 in music, events, gaming, and streaming, then waits to see what blossoms from them. “When I started doing music in Zwolle, drum & bass wasn’t too popular around back then. There were some parties before me, but I had to start out with the new generation,” he started explaining. Continuing, he added, “When I started doing that, a lot of people started to pop up out of nowhere.” Drum and Bass — acting as a bridge, uniting people and forging a strong network of creators.
This shared passion is what initially brought Paul and me together, and it continues to serve as a catalyst for connections within the scene. This is a forest in the making, each endeavour a seed planted, waiting to bloom into something magnificent, something one cannot possibly predict 🌳🌴🌵. Similarly, in Hilversum, we’re also beginning a new era with a fresh generation of our tribe.
“Simply put, starting to do something is like planting a small seed. You can’t predict what will grow from it. It will create stuff that you would not expect. It’s all about your intentions, but most of the time, you end up somewhere different from what you originally envisioned,” he elaborated on his taste as a creator.
My personal worldview is centred around the empowering reality that ordinary people don’t need a lot of money to start making a difference anymore. The internet has broken down many barriers, making resources more accessible to everyone and democratising the playing field. This digital revolution has effectively given everyone “superpowers,” allowing them to accomplish things that were once only possible for the wealthy 💸 .
Thys (from Noisia) captures this idea perfectly in his RANT TIME! post as follows:
These physically separate hubs and their digital interconnectivity will become a pressure cooker for a new culture. They will integrate the old, and respect the pioneers that went before them (and some of them at the top will keep getting their tour bookings), but they will make something completely new out of it. A new generation of heroes and anti-heroes will start out focused on their local community rather than the whole world. Out of necessity. Focusing on the whole world will be a waste of energy.
Damn 🤯 .
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Breakbaar’s First Sold-Out Event 🎉 But then…
We steered the conversation toward the origins of our drum and bass adventures. Paul began explaining, “There was my luck at first, where I saw that more people were interested in drum & bass than I thought there was. And then we went to Hedon, and the first event at Hedon sold out because people were still hyped on the last party.”
He continued, “So we were like, yeah, we’re going to do this, everyone’s going to be into it. But then we realised that being consistent was harder than we thought, because for some reason, the same people who we thought were completely engaged weren’t showing up anymore 🤔 .” Damn!
Paul grappled with the inconsistency: “We had all these questions that we didn’t have answers to; we didn’t know what was happening. Why was it that some events had a high number of attendees and at others we had a low number?” Being in the business of attracting people to events is arguably the most challenging aspect of all. “I do think that consistency is important, that people keep coming back, but while doing that, there should also be content that people want to engage with and keep engaging with,” he added.
And that’s when it hit me — the word ‘vibe.’ It’s the magnetic force that draws people in, making them want to engage and truly vibe with you. Content is a key component of this vibe architecture, while digital technology helps to spread the vibe far and wide, much like a mushroom expands 🍄.
“We did the small room back then, and I feel that they let 175 people in, and we sold that to the max. Especially for Zwolle, that’s a pretty high number. We were seeing that, for instance, we didn’t have night trains, so we couldn’t expect people coming from outside places like Amsterdam,” Paul analysed. “The thing that I mostly liked about our events was that every artist on our lineup became a big name later on. We did a good job at that,” he concluded proudly.
He’s absolutely right — organising an event is incredibly stressful and fraught with uncertainty, and Paul has earned my utmost respect for managing this in the city of Zwolle. I’m grateful to have teamed up with Paul because we’re now doing much the same thing in Hilversum.
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👻 Sobanic’s Dark Moments
Even with a larger team, you can’t escape the dark moments. In fact, if there aren’t any dark moments, the event is probably too easy, and as a promoter, you should set your sights higher. I’ve certainly had my fair share of hair-pulling, nail-biting moments 😬 — some nights, they even keep me up.
“It was always stressful because if you’re going to attend an event, we always felt that it had to be an experience. We worked really hard on our decorations. I remember our first decor; we just got a lot of old televisions, broke them into pieces, and stacked them on top of each other. That was the ‘breakbaar’ effect,” Paul recalled nostalgically. Then he continued, “That was super cool! But it took us a lot of time to arrange all these things, and we wanted to do something special for every event.”
“I was limited in what I had. Back then, I didn’t even have a driver’s license, so you had to network with people to help you out. And at some point, that was just too much, so you had to choose: is this worth investing so much time and energy into, or do you want to invest your time and energy in other things?” he started explaining, with a chuckle. “That’s why we mostly had basic decor; we always had a setup with broken mirrors or something like that, and we worked with lighting. I made sure we could at least handle the promo,” he added, shaking his head at the memories.
We both agreed that you can’t do it alone. There always has to be someone by your side, whether to bounce ideas off of or just to share the struggle. When I asked Sobanic about his darkest moment, he opened up: “My darkest moment was, and that’s when I quit for that time, when I felt that everybody was waiting for me to do it. I wasn’t getting new ideas from other people, they were all sitting and waiting until I put in the idea. And I was so hungry for people that tell me , ‘Hey, do this and this, and I’ll take care of that part.’ I tried to coordinate as much as possible, but eventually, I felt like people were leaning on me rather than supporting me.”
“And that’s why I’m happy that I found you guys, because I feel that this is the first time I work with people that put in more ideas than I’m doing 🙏😃 ”, Paul added. And thanks to Paul, we’re diving headfirst into the thrilling uncertainty of organising the second edition of MMNTM. Grab your tickets before they vanish like socks in a dryer🧦.
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Fostering a Network of Creators 🎨
One thing Paul realised was that there wasn’t anyone behind the scenes striving towards a bigger vision. “It was just an event, we met people, we networked with people, but then, nothing happened,” he explained. “And it was such a waste!” he emphasised.
That’s where MMNTM fills the gap. We were working hard to put our vision into words in this MOMENTUM Manifesto. Because this is the reason that keeps us inspired to persevere, even when times are tough.
A radiant fruit born from the seeds of our first MMNTM event is the collaboration track of the talented guys ANIMA x Binary. It’s an impressive piece, and we’re already in the planning stages for its official release. You will definitely be able to listen to the track at our upcoming event, if not earlier.
“That’s why I’m so happy to see you helping us with that right now. Like reaching out to Genome Rec. and KRKV, or any other artist, it’s already a big help, and that’s what I missed before,” Paul said. I have to mention: Ben from Genome Rec. is our biggest supporter 💙.
In the end, we’re in the business of making connections, with the event serving as a shining moment when those connections blossom into reality. I’d even go so far as to say that deep down, we yearn for those genuine human connections. And thanks to the internet, we’re able to keep those connections alive and thriving.
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🎛️ The first time: where discovery begins.
I like to revisit those initial moments when we first connect with music. They’re often transformative, and we all tend to remember them vividly:
“It was probably somewhere in 2002 when I first came in contact with drum & bass, which was at Lowlands. I think for a lot of people, they came in contact with drum & bass on Lowlands 😆,” Paul chuckled. “The first time I heard drum and bass, I don’t know who I saw back then, but all I can remember was that I heard that — drum — and — bass — , like a big sub-bass. And that sub-bass was always such an appealing frequency for me, it was sucking me in,” he continued.
“Whenever I spin drum and bass now, it needs to be bass-oriented, a little bit darkish. I don’t like climax-building drum and bass; I prefer when it tells a story,” he said. Then Paul continued, “I try to tell people a story when I’m mixing, let things blend and fluently transition.” ”The most exciting thing for me as a DJ is when I see the crowd react exactly at the point where I want them to,” he added.
This is fantastic because it embraces the heartbeat of groove, vibe, and storytelling in everything we do, one of the manifesto’s core principles I mentioned earlier.
“Regarding style, you know, I have a soft spot for certain labels like Flexout or Dispatch Recordings. Anything that brings the more darker, underground genre of drum and bass. The hardness of the beats combined with the hard synths, and that the beats have a lot of space to let them blend together, that’s what I’m looking for,” Paul revealed. That got me thinking, so I asked, “How would you sum up this type of drum & bass in just a few words?” Paul pondered for a moment before replying, “Intelligent, maybe? It’s deeper.”
So, if you’re itching to dive into this intelligent, deep kind of drum & bass vibe, make sure to come join us at the Momentum event in Hilversum this June.
🌌 The Majesty of Nothingness
I had to ask Paul how he’s feeling, what’s his mindset, whether he’s finding joy in being an artist or whatever else he’s up to. And man, did he drop some deep wisdom on me: “I had a burnout when I first stopped with Breakbaar, I stopped being completely creative, nothing was giving me energy anymore. So the only thing I could do was to be pleasant with being nothing at this point,” Paul started explaining.
Here’s a tip for you, reader: if nothing is fuelling your energy anymore, do yourself a favour and take a break. Continuing down that path will only make things worse. “Nothing is the source of power of creation. Being able to be nothing, and have nothing, and accept that you’re nothing, could only mean in life that you can only create. If there’s nothing, you can only build from that,” he continued. And this was something that really pulled Paul through his burnout. “Accepting the fact that I can be happy with being nothing, means that any set that I will do afterwards will only bring me joy ✨,” he said.
It seems like one of life’s toughest challenges is to let go of anything, especially our convictions. And I’ve got a golden rule: I only take advice from two kinds of people — those who’ve danced with burnout and those who are where I want to be. So yeah, I’m definitely marking this one down in bold red.
“Once you open up, you’re actually able to receive again,” Paul concluded. And that also means bracing yourself for the chance of an empty dance floor, something that keeps me tossing and turning at night. At the end of the day, what we really want from MMNTM is to create something lasting — planting seeds and watching them bloom into something beautiful. It doesn’t have to be huge; all that matters is the movement we’re building together.
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🎤 Late Night Rhymes: What Gets Paul Out of Bed?
Every MMNTM Interview wraps up with a peek into the artist’s individual quirks and desires. One of my favourite ways to do this is by asking what would get them out bed in the middle of night. So, what’s the one thing that would get Paul up and moving?
First response, “Nothing.” 🤣. But later, he started thinking, “Hm, with KRKV we started to do a little bit of rapping again. It’s just for us, and we’re having fun making it. But the fact that I could be working on a project all night, I find this very fulfilling. If he comes to my bedroom and says ‘Yo, I got a new beat for you! You gotta record it now,’ I probably might do it.”
And that’s a wrap on our discussion! We had such a blast that we’re tossing around the idea of starting a podcast 🎙️. Stay tuned — there might just be some exciting news on that front 🫡 !
Let’s Bring Quality Drum & Bass to Hilversum on June 22nd! This edition is to present the rich world of local producers 📍, bringing together an eclectic mix of artists from Hilversum, Zwolle, Utrecht, and Nijmegen.
In our continuous quest for the extraordinary, we’re excited to introduce an innovative element to this year’s event: the inclusion of an ultra-vibing artist from Bratislava. With his towering height, easily mistaken for that of a Dutchman, he’s sure to add a unique touch to the experience!
We look forward to seeing you there!
Until next time,
ADRIANA
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