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MC Profile – The Colonel – San Francisco (USA)

13/04/2026 American DNB, Dammit Records, Digital, DJ Calculon, Drum and Bass, Drum n Bass, Dynamite MC, INSIDE DNB, Metalheadz, San Francisco, Stamina, The Colonel

We get some really interesting music through the post here at INSIDE DNB, and have been following the Shoot Recordings imprint out of San Diego, California for a while now.

It was through this label that I first heard 'The Colonel', AKA Todd Scott, a fire from the hip MC from San Francisco with an infectious style that draws the listener in from the first bar.

He’s been the host of the legendary Stamina Sundays raves in San Francisco for a decade, and before that was the host of the notorious club, Compression.

He’s MC’d at DJ SS’s World of Drum and Bass in Miami, the Respect parties in LA, and has hosted jungle raves from Estonia to San Antonio.

We touched base recently to work on this interview, and are now very pleased to bring the whole thing to fruition! HOLD TIGHT. The Colonel is touching down!

So Todd, what is it about the drum and bass scene that sets you on fire?

Nothing beats DNB for energy in the dance! Every weekend at Stamina Sunday we reach ramming speed and explode the goddamn sun. No dancefloor in San Francisco can match our thunder and the vibe of the Stamina famina.

DNB MCing is probably quite a niche pastime out there in San Fran though right? How the heck did it even start for you?

I was inspired to be an MC by seeing Dynamite MC with the Full Cycle crew at The End in London, the weekend that Roni Size won the Mercury Prize for New Forms. I’d never seen a jungle MC before, and Dynamite brought so much heat that when I came back to America, I felt compelled to step up and add that energy.

Well that was some introduction to the craft to be fair! What were you doing in the UK, just out of interest?

I was there to go clubbing. That same weekend I saw Daft Punk DJ without their masks, and then attended the now legendary Metalheadz Sunday afternoon party at the Bluenote in Hoxton Square. I almost died.

The UK and the world generally hadn’t gone too festival crazy during that period in the music’s history. Apart from the odd super rave, it was still quite club focused, and this is the musical playground you prefer to perform in, right?

For Sure. Clubs kick the shit out of festivals. Festivals are like golf: a place you can go to escape your family for the day. Clubs are dark, dangerous, sexy. You can go somewhere weird in a club.

What kind of performing art were you into before this? I’m guessing it might have been hip-hop?

Nope! I was never a performer before I saw Dynamite and was inspired to become a jungle MC. I’d literally never touched a mic or had any ambition to be an MC, but I just felt like someone had to fill that role. So I stepped up.

If you had one golden nugget to gift to the Global DNB community, what would it be?

That’s easy. Give women space on the dancefloor. Junglistas might cut you if you get too close, and you’d probably deserve it. Back up and let them dance in peace.

How would you describe yourself as an MC to a raver who’d never seen you perform before?

I’m a jump up idiot at heart – if aliens came down and asked me about jungle I’d play them Mr. Happy. But I love all flavours and styles, and I’ll adjust my hosting style and flow depending on what the DJ is playing.

I’ve never been raving in the US, as much as I’d love to. I’m pretty sure that the positives and the negatives are pretty universal though. What grinds your gears about the American DNB scene?

I’d say this. Jungle promoters pay attention: sort your sound system, turn out the goddamn lights (this ain’t no disco, it needs to be DARK) and get a fog machine. If you’re at the decks and you can see the crowd’s faces, the promoter has pooned it. I would say the number one problem with American drum and bass is that the lights are too bright. TURN THEM OUT!

And now tell us all about the positives!

Nothing can touch a good jungle night. Junglists, we have the sickness in our minds. We level up the second we hear that boom clack. Normal people? they don’t get it until the drugs kick in, and then they flock to the DNB stage, haha!

Go to any festival and the jungle stage might be light in the afternoon, but by 10pm nothing is going harder. Jungle is like punk: it’s not just a music, it’s a state of mind.

Also, nothing matches the jungle community. We have everyone of all ages, looks and vibes, rocking out together. It’s all about the music.

On the whole though, you love what you do right? I mean, your vocal style is infectious, and fun too if you don’t mind me saying so. The seriousness of your message melts perfectly into the friendly tone of your voice!

Making music is one of the ultimate joys of my life. I have a track on my new EP called You Should Do It that’s all about the psychological and emotional benefits of making art, even if no one else ever hears it, the act of making it will fulfill your life and paper over whatever problems you’re having. Just sit down and do it tonight!!

So tell us a little bit about the scene in San Fran? I can imagine that it’s a pretty cool place to go raving!

I’m blessed to be surrounded by the artists at Stamina. Jamal, Flaco and Lukeino from Bachelors of Science are some of the best producers in drum and bass, and every week we get to rock to their new bangers. How lucky am I to be part of that?

You’ve had some HUGE names in DNB visit you across the pond there in San Fran too? Looking at the flyers on-line, it looks like the community are keen to experience all styles of the genre too?

Oh shit yes. San Francisco embraced drum and bass before any American city, and it’s been huge here since the late 90s.

We’ve had close relationships with so many legends for years, who love our beautiful city, but love our absolute rabid junglists even more. Ask your favorite UK DJ where they love to play most in the US, they’ll tell you. 🙂

I’m fascinated by the fact the the Stamina nights run either mid week or on Sundays! That’s pretty crazy, seeing as the vast majority of raves here in the UK are weekend affairs. This has been the case for years for you over there though. It must be a process that works well?

Our weekly event is every Sunday night, and it’s consistently one of the best and biggest nights in the City. But we also play other parties Thursday through Saturday. San Francisco has always been a junglist town, the heads are always ready to rock out.

Have you had the chance to perform in the UK yet? If not, is it something you’d like to do?

No, I haven’t made it to The Mothership yet, haha. And of course, the UK is jungle’s home, nothing can beat a UK jungle night and I dream of the opportunity to come rock with you absolute fucking nutters.

I just wish I could experience the energy of a UK DNB crowd. It makes the MC’s job sooo much easier when the dance is having it.

Tell us a bit about Shoot Recordings, which is how I got to know about you. What’s the story there?

Hahaha, wellllllll. I’ve been friends with Nik Calculon, the label head for years, and we had a great run making tracks together, and with legends like Stunna, Digital, Dave Owen and others. Shoot has a distinctive, forward-thinking sound and I was blessed to be affiliated with them. Now I’ve started my own label, Dammit Records, and I’m on to new projects.

Spill the beans on your latest EP, which I LOVE btw! Tell us a bit about your lyrical topics and your musical collaborations.

Thank you brother, I’m so proud of it. It’s listed as my EP, but of course it’s the product of many talented people, with Calculon and Stunna driving the beats (with help from Magnetic Soul), and back end production work from Digital (who had a hand in the title track), Random Movement, and the legend Survival. My lyrics are always born from the beat, I write to the tracks, so I didn’t go in with any plan.

Children of the Night has a truly sinister bassline from Stunna, so the theme presented itself. And yo, if anyone in the nightlife scene are vampires, it’s definitely junglists. We don’t wake up until midnight.

Gargantuan was born out of fire, because when Calculon first made the beat, he didn’t think it was right for me, and I basically harassed him into giving it up, haha. Later folks tried to make the beat more fancy, but I was sprung on its simplicity and fought to keep it how it is – a straight up banger, if I say so myself. I had a hand in producing this one–that’s me on the cowbell in the middle section.

You Should Do It was born out of a series of conversations I had with Calculon about art, and the value of making art. Like the song says, creating art expands your life, and I truly believe that. Even if no one on Earth ever reads what you’ve written, or listens to your song, or appreciates your painting, you still benefitted from making it, it’s always worth the time to make art, whatever it is. You should do it!

THIS IS MY ETHOS! I fucking love everything about what you just said!

And haha, Shut it Up. I’m pretty political online (FDT!) and a friend suggested I should bring it into my music, which led to this anti-facist diss track. If you didn’t know, you can check the track lyrics on Apple music and other services!

Shut It Up is basically a public service announcement inviting bigots to give it a fucking rest. I know the rest of the world thinks Americans have lost their minds, but rest assured it’s only certain idiot Americans, the rest of us are as angry and baffled as you are.

That’s a relief!

Before you sign off then, pick a couple of your favourite MCs, either from the past or in the contemporary scene, and tell us what it is about them that gets your neurons firing?

I think the MC’s job is to bring the energy, so I love the legends: Skibba, Det, Eksman, and my all-time king, Foxy. There are few things on Earth as exciting as hearing Foxy scream DO YOU WANT A REVOLUTION, the man is a goddamn legend. Dynamite is unparalleled, the Ragga Twins, Moose, the Navigator all destroy.

Carasel is one of my current favorites, and in the US it’s all about my man MC Dino, who I managed to get on a track called Getting Higher. And yo, I always have to big up MC Tali, who I never hear anymore, if you know Tali tell her to get back on the mic!

TALI! You out there?

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Dan Inside

Did some bits for Eternity Magazine back in the 90s, then some bits for Knowledge and UKF over the last 20 years on and off. Now running this website as a form of therapy, but also to keep in touch with the music and pay it forward, both to established artists and the new gen, because without them the music dies.

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