In the summer of 1995,Stuart Breidenstein,formerly from the techno act Skylab 2000,and Alex Xenophon along with Dj Jonene,both formerly from the house act Deep-squared,created Bassland Prophecy in a quiet,unsuspecting neighborhood in the OC.
While the number of members of Bassland Prophecy was indefinite(possibly 20),the outfit would pack their gear,toys,and accessories and head for a stage to express their combined musical talents.Although,early sets were termed "cacophonic",the band would nevertheless heighten the energy of the dance-crazed night with spontaneity.
Based on two separate dreams,Stuart and Alex along with Dj Jonene gathered up enough resources to get a 1957 Crown school bus which was previously used for touring by a hard rock band,and embarked on a botched west coast tour.The journey began at San Francisco's Halloween mega-event in the Castro District with the bus parked unassumingly on the outskirts of the gala.
The boys were fully equipped with a 1500 watt generator,Dj Jonene's turntables,musical gear,speakers,disco ball,fog machine,and a black cat named Compton.They had invited their musical peer,Bleu, to play his original house music for their renegade sidewalk event,which nabbed up to 400 dancing halloweeners.
Eventually,the sheriff strolled by and said,"I'm gonna give you 5 minutes...get out of MY city.(blink,blink)........one minute...(blink).......two...".The boys packed the generator,held onto all of the gear inside,and made the mad dash up and down the hilly streets.
With Compton the cat safely yowling in the bathroom,most everything went crashing out of the cabinets.
"Stu!We're going too fast!",Alex screamed.
Stuart was silent.
The Bassland bus went flying down the city of San Francisco,making a pitstop to let Dj Jonene out,and never again to return.
At a truck stop outside San Francisco,Stuart and Alex figured that they had to get back Southern California but the bus only had 5 miles to a gallon...on open road with no traffic.
Bassland had to live on the bus and play raves to get back home.
"It was tough...for a year and a half,I had to live on top ramen...somedays, we had to share food...we got skinny."
Upon their return to Southern California, Stuart and Alex faced another challenge.
Parking.
"Parking the bus was an issue.Because we weren't allowed to park a 1957 seventy-five passenger Crown school bus on residential streets. Sometimes we had to...especially when parked somewhere in Hollywood(California) ,and Compton would escape.We would have to wait until he felt like coming back-he always did...after a week or so.Guess he had to getaway from us for awhile." Apparently the cat had been succesful in numerous occasions up and down the West Coast.
Not only did the cat suffer from the challenges of the extreme closed quarters in which all three boys inhabited during the arduously long hot summer,Bassland began showing signs of what submariners call "cabin fever".
"I think that...hmmm...not being able to bathe,or walk around without some lady in a passing beamer looking, gawking,and having no electricity-that was tough but I had a tiny handheld taperecorder to listen to music." Alex recollects,"So what! I got paranoid and edgey...Wouldn't you?!...Besides, we're still together-it wasn't that bad." Alex chuckles uncomfortably.
Somehow word of the Bassland bus and the duos' high energy performances began to travel throughout the Southern california underground electronic music scene.During that time,Alex and Stuart continued to set up their ragtag equipment wherever there was either an electrical outlet or out of the generosity of friends; and record new collaborative ideas.
"We were creating 90-minute mixtapes-beatmatching our own stuff either live or on a little Tascam 4-track and mixing down to DAT"
