Who would argue with the fact that Brisk
is one of the top re-mixers in the country Who would argue
the fact that he has quickly developed into one of the most
in demand DJ's in the country Just forget about arguing and
live with the fact that Brisk is an asset to the scene, and
until, or if the scene fades away, he will be there at the
top. "Fade away You're joking!" was the replay
from Brisk, real name Paul. He isn't in two minds about the
scene fading away, "it's been here for nearly ten years
now and it shall remain for a lot longer. It might undergo
variations or transformations but it will stay."
JTS isn't the place to be on a Friday, for this is the DJ's
mecca, where all new material is transferred from DAT to acetate
(dub plate). Needless to say all the top hardcore DJ's can
be found at this North London cutting house. In comes Vinylgroover.
Where's Brisk Next through the door is Sharkey. No sign of
Brisk. Then Ramos, Supreme and Marley. Still no Brisk. After
nipping out for some light refreshment, Brisk greeted me upon
my return, on time, and with simulated oral sex between Sharkey
and Ramos taking place in the corner of the room, the interview
commenced.
Brisk's involvement in the scene started in his schooldays
where he was listening to artist such as Man Parish, Hashim,
Kratwerk, Public Enemy, Ultramagnetis MCs and Big Daddy Kane,
but the emphasis was always on dance. At the tender age of
fifteen, the sort of age where most of us were concerned about
spots and exams, Brisk staged his first night at a local club
in Southampton known as the Escape Club, nowadays known as
The Rhino.
"It was a series of events which culminated in where
I am today. It wasn't planned as such, but more of myself
being sucked into something that I knew I loved", and
although Brisk sits happy at the top of his artistic perch,
we found it was more difficult than most people would assume.
From The Escape club just around the corner to The Basement,
Brisk gained his first residency on a Friday night, and then
regional residencies at Brainstorm in Salisbury and Remix
in Bournemouth. This domination of the South Coast all started
in 1990, so it is a testament to the man that he is where
he is today, five years is not a great deal of time for a
DJ to make such a mark. "Everything went wrong then.
All the clubs started to lose their licenses or change ownership
for one reason or another. That interfered with my progress
for around eighteen months, and then I landed a booking the
legendary Club Kinetic in Stoke On-Trent. Although his first
booking at this infamous club was to play in the House room,
he was quickly recruited for Hardcore and remained a resident
until its closure (by the authorities) in 1996. "From
that night everything snowballed. A residency in Stoke, when
you live in Southampton is weekly journey of 450 miles alone,
so I was piling on the miles but, shit man it was worth every
mile!"
Brisk opened his musical doors to Dreamscape at The Sanctuary,
his first major event, after playing at Club Kinetic for about
a year. Needless to say that one other promoters had heard
Brisk play, they were to follow in the footsteps. Thus Helter
Skelter, United Dance, Hysteria, Rezerection all jumped on
the Brisk boat. When we talk about mixing ability, we often
mention Brisk. This is not for no reason at all, for it is
my opinion and that of many other DJ's and promoters that
Brisk is the finest mixer in the country. Could this be the
reason for the speed of his assault into DJ stardom
It wasn't long before his passport was stamped, flying to
Holland, Germany, Switzerland and Australia. Brisk was in
demand, and crowds up and down the country, right across the
world, were enjoying these unique sounds, the sound of the
South Coast genius. Why genius Ask the same people mentioned
above and they will also tell you that Brisk is one of the
top re-mixers and producers in the country. His first track
was, admittedly, "not very good at all", on Men
From Uncle Records which Brisk co-produced with DJ Intense
from the Isle Of Wight. "Surprisingly it sold over 2000
copies which was a bit of a shock, because it wasn't that
good at all", but as this was his first release his critical
comments about himself are rather harsh, but this shows his
honesty and integrity, the fact that he can be critical of
himself. From these early days he then took the producing
route via Remix Records and Kniteforce.
It was a series of re-mixes that made Brisk what he is today,
other top labels quicklt recognising his production talent.
Scott Brown's "Now Is The Time" received the Brisk
touch making it even more popular than it already was. It
may have been that he respected Slipmatt, Force & Styles
and Hixxy, but Brisk's remixing skills were so much in demand
that he gave birth to his own label, Next Generation Records'.
Instead of writing material for other people, which he still
enjoys doing, Next Generation was Brisk's master plan to express
himself musically. NGR was initially planned for launch in
late 1996, but due to his workload this was put on hold but
it is now fully operational and ready to do damage on the
hardcore scene. The whole project is a joint venture with
DJ Ham, "who I rate totally. A very talented and innovative
producer with whom I share the same musical vision".
Brisk's sets are often very diverse, he admits that if he
could get away with it, there would be a mixture of Bouncy
Techno, Gabber, Happycore and Hard trance. Evolution, Quosh
and Universal are just some of the labels you can find inhabiting
his record box. "There's so many labels I respect and
follow" and foreign labels such as Ruffneck, Industrial
Strength, EDM, Inferno and Samurai are amongst his favourites.
Foreign labels very often don't get picked up and pushed but
Brisk recognises their potential and uses them accordingly.
He doesn't like to distinguish between small parties and
large events either, "to be honest as long as the crowd
are enjoying the music then I really don't care. I like to
see people getting off on the music, whether this is at a
huge out door event or in a small club it just doesn't matter".
He does, however change his set depending on the area in which
he is playing. "I find the Northern clubs the crowds
are a little more into the harder side of things, in that
I can play more aggressively. If I then hit a club in the
South I have to lighten my style slightly as they tend to
go for more "happy" material. It would be nice to
play a similar style all over so I can open a few eyes and
ears, but you have to remember that the crowd vote with their
feet and an empty dance floor means you aren't hitting the
spot. That's how it is but I'm cool with it".
Both Brisk & Ham are writing 24-7 at the moment as their
North London based studio lines up an array of tougher than
tough hardcore releases. "Hardcore music should be just
that, hard!
A ruff and tuff selection of sounds pasted over a hardcore
rhythm section at around 175bpm, the perfect tempo!".
Most DJ's comment that the music should be slowed down, but
Brisk is not of the same opinion. "It's hardcore and
should be just that hard. This is what distinguishes our sound
and keeps it an extreme form of dance music. Some of the other
forms of hardcore can touch 300bpm, now that is pretty quick
and would be hard work to dance to but 175 isn't too fast.
I don't really understand what all the fuss is about but people
are entitled to their own opinions of course". His hope
or producing are very high and he plans to take Next Generation
and their artists "as far as they can go".
As producers start to experiment, they get noticed by other
record companies, for their production talents, for example
Sharkey, now signed to React, Slipmatt with XL and so on.
This will inevitably mean that Hardcore music could be chart
bound, reaching a far wider audience with the injected promotional
cash from the larger record companies.
"There's this big fucking debate regarding the commercialisation
of the music at the moment, will it have detrimental affects
or not Personally I think it can only help the situation.
It mean our music will be taken to a much larger audience
and prolong its longevity. Yes, we might get categorised as
"pop artist" but as long as the music retains its
original format and doesn't get watered down then I see no
problem with it. Artists such as Goldie, Grooverider, Alex
Reece and Adam F have all remained true to their music in
as much as they haven't tailored their sound simply to obtain
a huge advance from a major label so why shouldn't we receive
the recognition that they get We all work just as hard".
Could it be that we are to see the names Slipmatt, Dougal
and even Brisk on the front cover of many an international
magazine
Brisk agrees that he would be thrilled if his music achieved
such status but stressed he would never water down his material
to do so.
We were after some juicy comments, controversial statements
but "there's no-one who I have any beef with to my knowledge",
and knowing Brisk like I do, he's not into insulting anyone
anyway. He is a very approachable person who always has time
for the ravers, enjoys playing out more than anything and
who believes firmly in his music. Some would say that his
music and beliefs are the perfect partnership, some would
say it is destiny. From the streets of Southampton to the
CD Compilations sitting on the shelves of record shops across
the planet, Brisk is a true success story. With the DJ schedule
and Next Generation Records under his belt his pace in going
to be increasing a great deal, a sprint rather than just a
brisk walk!
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Hardcore Compilations :: DJ Brisk
