
From the raw underground to the world famous Creamfields festival, Brother Bliss is a house DJ bringing together heavy baselines with high tempo overlays. For the last five years, Brother Bliss has been locked away producing some massive house tracks. Covering artists such as Tiesto, Paul van Dyke, and Axwell, Brother Bliss has managed to build up a big following from those who live, breathe, and sleep house music.
1. What are the different faces of your personality, and how do they show up in the music you mix?
Someone once told me “music is about taking all the good and all the bad things that happen to you and putting them into something timeless.” Sums it up pretty well for me. When I DJ it’s always about putting how I feel down in music form and sharing this with the world. We all go through similar emotions, and with the power of the internet it’s easy to share them and get instant feedback from people who feel the same. What has happened to me in the week gone by massively effects what and how I mix. Friday nights is Jaeger Bombs and big room house and electro, there is nothing like cranking it up and blowing away all the traffic jams, bad people and stress in one eclectic moment. Growing up with Pete Tong starting my weekend on Radio 1 at 6pm was so inspiring to me, made me feel anything was possible for the next 48 hours, I never want to lose that feeling of differentiating the hard work of the week with the energy and passion of the weekend. I was bought up to work hard and make the world a better place, I feel that tends to come across when I mix, always striving for perfection. I love getting into deep mixes when I have the time to lose myself in the music. I usually mix tech or deep house when I am already relaxed, I aim to keep the mix going as long as possible, which is easy with 4 digital decks and Traktor Pro.
2. You’ve covered some major artists, including Tiesto. How do you approach an existing track and make your mark on it?
I love remixing artists work and have had the honor to work with some amazing vocals from Beyonce, Leona Lewis, Will Young and more. The best remixes I have done tend to be the ones where I don’t listen to the original first. Sounds strange but that gives me the chance to make something completely different. Most of my production is designed for DJs, to make the track flow as a long mix and to give big changes to cut with. I love big melodies and synth sections with orchestral influences so I guess that comes into it. I spent many hours rocking out on dance floors over the years and think I know what a crowd wants to hear from both sides of the decks.

3. Why House?
My musical journey started as rebellion. Growing up in middle class suburbia in Hampshire, the most extreme creativity I was exposed to was probably Axel F, but more regularly consisted of the Shadows and pop groups. I led a sheltered life musically feeling it was none of my business. Then the UK rave scene happened. A walkman was passed round the playground of an MC and DJ (Rat Pack) at a rave called Fantasia. That was it for me, one big fuck you to conservative Britain, the power of the people wanting to shake off sheer boredom, taxes, money, class, everything! I was alive for the first time in my life. The next 10 years were spent in warehouses, fields clubs and festivals living the people, the music and the scene. I danced to the evolution of house music from Chicago to Acid House, Rave, Jungle, Drum & Bass, Happy Hardcore the lot. It was during this time I visited the house of a school friend with an older brother who had ‘decks’. DJ Trigga was a fine role model and great person to learn the art from. His professional, calm nature gave me the skills I still mix by today. He taught me the importance of understanding vinyl, how it moves, how to control it and why it is an art form. Through DJing all types of music I finally found my home with house music. I think this had to do with many influences, but I also think its my favourite tempo to nod my head to, it just feels right. There is also a massive range of genres between 120 and 130 BPM. House to me is anything below 130 BPM with a four beat pattern, so deep, minimal, tech, progressive, funky, electro, techno, even Nu Disco and Dub Step give me lots of places to go whilst still reminding me of where I came from. There are some amazing artists in the scene which seem to push production and technology to new levels, People like Swedish House Mafia, Avicii, Nicky Romero, Hardwell, Dyro, R3hab, Feddie Le Grand, Dirty South, Tiesto, David Guetta and many more.

4. You’re also an avid technologist, what do you think about new online platforms and the way they have changed the relationship between DJ and audience?
Technology has given me so much, but I still own my first set of Technics SL1200’s! For me Soundcloud has been the biggest revelation in my life. Once I started producing, I needed an outlet so went with Myspace. I didn’t work for me at all so I looked about for something better and signed up for Soundcloud. Within a day I had more plays and interest than in 2 years on Myspace. I quickly signed up for a premium account and have been adding to it ever since. I find it amazing how simple the service is, yet no other company can offer what they do. I guess most of it comes down to the media companies control over content, SC’s independent approach, refusal to sell out, and great customer service make it the perfect way to share sound. Since signing to Overground Digital last year I have started using Facebook and Twitter much more. Personally I use it as a kind of news aggregator. I tend not to moan or tell people what I had for breakfast, but instead opt for great content like Free DJ Mixes, previews of my music and the odd bit of fun. I find it amazing that my music reaches people in over 100 countries round the world every week, but even more amazing is some of the places! Kenya, Iran Columbia, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Mongolia, Nigeria are all regular listeners in big numbers, that is so humbling to me. I guess we shouldn’t listen to main stream media’s opinion of where house music is popular.
Just wanted to mention my tips for 2013 - 27 Sundays (@27sundays1) are a new double act releasing some major tracks in the next few months. Yels is an amazing new dubstep producer I have worked with, this guy is crazy good!
DJs to watch:
Danny Palm - amazing talent from Sweden
Ovalice - from USA to Germany to Afganistan, one of my favourite people on planet earth
Funky Drive- another class act from Sweden, unique smooth style
Harvey - is special, you have never heard tracks like this guy spins
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