It’s taken years for local DJs David (Scoobay) Vieira and David Furtado to prepare for their first international sound clash on local soil.

If the two music lovers, who make up part of Young Gunz Soundcrew (YGS), take home a win, it will open up doors for them to share their turntable talents with the world.

On June 28th, they will be battling it out with Young Hawk Sound from New York/Jamaica and US-based Love People Sound, winners of Action Pack Clash 2013 and Brooklyn Faceoff Clash.

Mr Furtado said they were definitely feeling confident, but also a little nervous in lead up to the Rumble in Paradise event.

To prepare they’ve been studying up on their opponents by watching videos and listening to audio from past shows.

But Mr Vieira insists the win won’t just be handed to them on a silver platter.

He said: “We do feel we have the home-court advantage, but a clash of this magnitude hasn’t happened in Bermuda for a while.

“And I know that the real sound clash fans who have been waiting for it won’t be biased. They are going there, paying their money to go in and won’t side with us unless we deserve it.”

Mr Vieira said that both have a lot to prove to local supporters.

The DJs got started working on their craft ten years ago.

“Back then it was just a bunch of five or six friends who got together,” Mr Furtado explained.

“To be honest, we got the name from an old Western movie called Young Guns. We didn’t even know about it as a sound, it was just a bunch of friends playing together for fun.”

They hosted their first party at St Mark’s Church Hall and were “overwhelmed” when 300 people turned up for the event.

They started playing at events for free to get recognition from local partygoers, but these days they’ve earned a reputation for being one of the best sound crews on the Island.

Mr Furtado said their success boils down to determination. At one point he was working full-time at Harrington Hundreds from 8am until 6pm, then would spin music at local clubs six nights a week from 9pm to 3am.

“We’ve also tried to stay humble the whole time,” he added.

Mr Vieira believes sound clashing has become somewhat of a dying sport on the Island, but he hopes through this event and others they can revive it.

A sound clash is a musical competition where members from opposing sound systems look to win over the crowd by playing the best tunes.

Unlike a normal party or event, DJs must use dubplates from recording artists, which feature their sound crew’s name and make it exclusive to them.

YGS were just teenagers when they collected their first dubplate in 1999. Jamaican dance hall artist Sean Paul was visiting the Island and one of their friends happened to have a link to the artist’s manager.

The DJs used $400 of their own savings — or what Mr Vieira referred to as “lunch money” — to pay for the dub.

“Once we got the Sean Paul Just Give Me The Light dub and played it at dances, the reaction was unbelievable,” Mr Furtado said. “People were like ‘You have Sean Paul bigging up Young Gunz. That’s cool!’ — and that encouraged us to keep going.

“It is cool to have Sean Paul, a Grammy-winning artist, singing out your sound. It’s a good feeling, but not easy to get.”

Coming from a small island, Mr Vieira said it was challenging to get access to big name stars. They’ve had to network just to get a foot in the door sometimes and even had to fly overseas just to record a new dubplate.

However the two men said the investment will be worth it if they win the sound clash at Pier Six.

They hope it will open up more opportunities to play and compete overseas.

In fact, the audio alone from the event could be heard by more than 100,000 people worldwide, including promoters in places like Berlin or Austria.

Both DJs said there’s no greater feeling than representing Bermuda and showing their skills off in a foreign country.

They had the opportunity to play in Germany and Amsterdam alongside Europe’s Sentinel sound crew in 2010.

“That’s when it actually hit me that I could get used to this,” Mr Vieira said.

“It wasn’t the luxury part of it, but more that you are in a city where their first language isn’t English and they love and embrace this music.

“This music takes people to different places and I really wanted to stick with it.”

Their other goal is to show Bermudians how much fun a sound clash can be.

“We want people dancing from 10pm until 3am or whenever the venue closes,” Mr Furtado said.

“We want to hear the airhorns, whistles and the loud crazy responses. There will be a few ‘boos’, hopefully not for us, but you are going to hear a few negative responses.

“That’s what a sound clash is about, just getting that reaction from the crowd because they decide the winner and it’s all about them getting excited for it.

“You have to be there to really experience it,” he added.

Ticket for the Rumble in Paradise event on June 28th are $30 (or $20 for those with a valid college ID card).

They are available from YGS members, Kit n Caboodle, The Cave in St George’s, Fish n Tings and the Wild Apache Promotion Team, whom are organising the event.