The event was called “Total Annihilation – Battle of the Kings” and featured 2016 World Clash champions King Turbo going up against New York’s King Addies inside their hometown of Brooklyn, New York (06.10.17).  I was magnetically drawn to taking a trip to New York to see with my own eyes how our World Clash champions would hold up inside enemy grounds.  Adding to the drama was King Addies recent bad publicity resulting from the “konk” incident where they scrapped with LP International.  As for King Turbo, they were being criticized for not clashing too much since earning their World Clash championship title, so this clash would be a real test for both Sounds. 

A group of four of us, Lisa West, Fine China, and Natasha Von Castle, and myself, took the 8-hour drive from Toronto to New York so that we could personally experience “Total Annihilation” with our own ears and eyes.  The move was somewhat spontaneous, but we were all King Turbo fans, and felt it necessary to cross the border to give them our support.  Armed with Canadian flags, whistles, and instant Instagram accounts, we eventually made it into the venue and settled in to represent.  I wouldn’t say we were in hostile territory, but the vibe inside the Paradise Hall was somewhat strange, I’m not sure how to describe it.  It wasn’t like a Canadian Sound Clash, and the crowd there seemed slightly older in demographic than the crowds we see in Canada.  The crowd size was about the same, about 150 people spaced out inside a low lit and medium-sized venue where hroughout the night, with the exception of a handful of people, this same crowd was generally quiet and unresponsive, more or less watching and waiting for something to happen, or just not impressed, who knows, it was hard to read them.

Now I will cut to the chase – this clash was a lob-sided affair.  I won’t take anything away from King Addies – they won the clash, and we say congratulations for the victory.  But if you’re a clash fan, you will relate to the kind of clash where one sound has all the fan support by followers who will stay stubbornly loyal from beginning to end.  Yes, I know, all is fair in war and Sound Clash, but this was a night of ‘total annihilation’, because nothing King Turbo played all night earned them a proper forward. It’s not that big tunes weren’t played, it was more a case of the people staying blank faced and not responding to them. 

King Turbo may have been World Clash champions, it didn’t seemed to have earned them any respect in Brooklyn – the fans were not there to support them.  The experience was like being shut out (in sports), because on this night Turbo would not score any forwards, a rarity in any clash under any circumstance.  We’ll give Addies credit for coming prepared, and will not make excuses for not winning.  Besides, hi-impact speeches were lacking from Turbo that night, and champion Sounds should have it in them to go to a next Sound’s territory, overcome obstacles and win. 

As a Canadian contingent out to support our champion Sound, we did not get any opportunity to wave our Canadian flags, cheer, or blow our horns and whistles.  Eventually, the four of us, along with the small and unseen set of Turbo fans (big up Snowbank in the place – Turbo fan for life!) that may have been in the place, had to except defeat and go down with the King Turbo machine. King Addies themselves may have been a bit surprised as to how easy this clash was for them, a classic walk over.  It wasn’t their fault that their fans were so loyal, the respect from an Addies point of view, had been earned.  As for Turbo – they would live to clash another day, and would just have to forget all about that night.  The drive home was somewhat quiet for our group of four, but we could only imagine how disheartening it was for Turbo. 

Pics by Lisa West and Ron Nelson