NCV Feature of the Month

Issue #6 – Montreal’s Hardest Working DJ: Bliss
Written by Deliz

If you keep an eye out on who’s DJing in Montreal you’ll probably see many of the same names playing different parties on a weekly basis. It can mean a few things: either, they promote really well, or they’re really popular DJs that people want to hear. Both are equally true for DJ Bliss, www.djbliss.net, voted Montreal’s number one DJ in “Lalla Land’s Top Ten DJ’s in MTL”. For Bliss, being a DJ is his profession, it pays the bills, and he puts in more hours than most people do sitting behind a desk in a cubicle. The only difference is that Bliss is in front of decks rockin’ a dance floor cubicle!

Born in South Africa, Bliss was a young teenager in the 80’s, too young for the clubs, but still thriving to party and hear dance music. Instead, he hosted and played house parties with his friends and never looked back as a DJ. Today, Bliss’ life revolves around researching new music, finding old hidden gems in a stash of second hand records, and programming sets for particular gigs depending on the venue and expected crowd.

“…I put in about 25 hours a week of actually DJing for an audience, and I spend about 30 to 40 hours a week researching new music and practicing. To that you have to add all the time it takes to update websites, answer emails, negotiate contracts, and promote... All told, it can be quite demanding if you add the late hours.”

So why would a DJ need to dedicate so many hours to listening and discovering music? The answer is that no one has to devote that much time to anything, but to be the best and to offer a fresh sound that no one else is capable of reproducing is what separates Bliss from the rest. In the ultra competitive market called DJ land, “…there’s always someone out there who’ll be more than happy to take your spot”, says Bliss, so the only way to stay ahead is to be a leader and set the standards.

“… You consistently have to work on providing a set both you, the client, and the crowd is happy with, which is not always easy. I check out 4 to 500 new songs in a week and spend a lot of time filtering and trying to get the music to fit together. Every set I play is tailor made to the type of gig and crowd I’m playing for and in 10 years I can safely say I’ve never played the same set twice.”

To define his musical style is not easy and not important because the end result is always the same: a big-time-boogie-breakdown on the dance floor! Sifting through various musical styles during a set and banging out almost anything electronic, Bliss is known as Montreal’s break beat guru, his reputation made while DJing at the Grill, a Thursday break beat ritual at Blizzarts that lasted 4 years and saw the likes of DJ Scissorkicks, international break beat superstar, literally tear the roof off the place!

With over a decade of DJ experience, Bliss knows what works on the dance floor and he’s not afraid to test people’s musical tastes with a mash-up of different styles. To have an idea of what Bliss plays, check out his website and top ten charts, and if you want to hear his production skills put down in digital form, check his My Space page, www.myspace.com/djblissmtl, DJ mixes also included. Catch Bliss playing electro and acid house at‘Voyeur’ parties on a monthly basis at the S.A.T. , various styles of the break beat phenomenon on Friday’s at Boa with long time partner and DJ, T’Cha Dunlevy, and electro, brit-pop, and indie on Monday’s at L'Assommoir from 7 – 12.


DJ Bliss Interview

What's more important in a DJ set: track selection, technically sound, or tricks/turntablism?

Well, it is a commonly held understanding that 70% of DJing is track selection and 30% of it is the technical aspects such as mixing, fading, scratching, and I'd have to agree. I've seen rock DJs who can't mix to save their lives make a crowd go nuts and guys who mix perfectly but play crap music empty out the room…

Don't get me wrong though, I think anybody who wants to call himself a DJ should learn the basics of mixing if they want to get any respect. Basically, my motto has always been if you have a killer track selection and you're able to mix it together properly, you're pretty much invincible. As for tricks, they tend to wear out pretty fast. Scratching is useful but so many DJs abuse it to death.


What are your thoughts about the laptop DJ?

Personally, I still prefer vinyl but realistically it’s the future. People sometimes forget that the bulk of DJing really boils down to track selection and reading the crowd. DJs using this medium are perfectly capable of rocking a crowd. It is convenient and allows the DJ to bring a ton of music to a gig without getting a hernia. I think we just need to get used to the idea of a DJ using a laptop instead of pulling records out of a bag. I think as long as people like what's coming out of the speakers, that’s all that really matters at the end of the day.


Do you have a favorite style of music?

In terms of styles I have a soft spot for breaks because not many DJs play breaks and even fewer of them play the full spectrum of breaks. I like the fact it is a very diverse genre with such a rich history. I'm always discovering new tracks weather newer or older because so much of it is underground and obscure and labels often don't survive very long.
Another style I've always liked is electro. Kraftwerk and other early electro outfits were responsible for getting me into electronic music when I was a kid in the 80s. It’s a genre I've continued to play to this day through all its twists and turns. I just find the beats and the melodies easier on the ears than techno or other harder styles of electronic music.
When it comes to music in general, I tend to stick to the 90% rule, that is to say, pretty much 90% of any genre is crap and about 10% is really worth checking out. I'll spend an incredible amount of time lifting through thousands of tracks just to find the gems. I look for tracks that stand out a little and mess with common held musical definitions and think a little outside the box. They're the kind of tracks I come back to years later and usually find a lot more interesting than most of the generic stuff of the time.


With so many advancements in music technology in the last decade, where do you see music going in the next 10 years?

The future of music is in the mixing of genres and sounds to create new hybrids, taking stuff that normally shouldn't or wouldn't mix and trying to come up with something new.

The way I see it as more countries around the world begin to offer up their productions we'll have an ever-increasing myriad of unique sounding subgenres and flavors… Iraqi Idm, Chinese techno, Central African house music, Australian break beat, I dunno…you could probably think of a million of them, all bringing new sounds and flavors to the table…I think the main challenge will be to see how open minded we actually are to taking it all in.


Who would you consider the most prolific producer(s) in electronic music to date?

Aphex Twin. He's covered some many genres from break beat and electro to d’n’b and ambient and always does it his own way with a new twist


Who are your biggest influences when it comes to production?

Aphex Twin has been a big influence because he has no rules in his approach to making music. People follow him, not the other way round. The other would be Andrew Weatherall for pretty much all the same reasons.