Bass By Any Means Necessary formed in 1986 after two of the original members, Jon "Harry" Davis and Tim Orford, built their own speakers, amplifiers and other assorted pieces of equipment as a side project from their day jobs as Sound/Maintenance Engineers at the old Polygram and MCA in-house studios.

After recruiting their then-flatmate, David R Boland, as principal DJ (due to his obsessive habit of record collecting), they spent the next few years playing mainly at private functions for various small record labels and other work contacts, with a few gigs in pub basements and some infamous house parties thrown in.

One of these parties was an annual pre-Carnival event on the Saturday prior to Carnival at their Golborne Road home, after which the Sound System was set up to play from the house for the rest of the weekend.

The numbers attending these parties eventually made the parties untenable, and greater regulation of the Carnival by the Statutory authorities prevented the Sound System from operating from their home. In 1990, therefore, the Sound System applied for and was granted a Licence to operate from one of the limited number of officially sanctioned slots allocated to Static Sound Systems.

At their first Carnival Bass By Any Means Necessary used a market stall as a DJ table (that was about it as far as infrastructure was concerned!), and attracted a crowd of probably less than a hundred. Since that time they have built the site up into one with fully professional staging and equipment - one that attracts consistently large crowds.

Past DJs at the Bass By Any Means Necessary events have included the likes of IG from Dodge City productions, Kevin Beadle and Chris Phillips (Kiss 100FM). Last year the Spiritual South Collective (whose productions are favourites on Radio One's Gilles Peterson show) made a highly successful guest appearance.

For many years Mitch Mitchell (owner of Club Brasil productions, a highly successful Record Label specialising in new Brasilian music - which has had great success recently with its stable of Brasilian and Nu-Latin artists - as well as owner of latinmusic.co.uk and host of regular Brasilian parties in Central London) was an integral part of the Sound System. His input helped to make the Bass By Any Means Necessary Carnival site a favourite for ex-pat Brasilians.

Hopefully Mitch will be able to return when his Club Brasil workload is less heavy. In the meantime, the Club Brasil website can be found at www.latinmusic.co.uk for information on Brasilian themed parties, gigs, new releases and back catalogue.