Blaise

I am currently based in London, UK. The music scene is very lively here with day and night parties on most days a week. London has a good number of super clubs and also more intimate clubs and bars like 64th&Social and Floripa which hold some big parties.

I first started to play music because of my love for listening to House & Garage music. I used to go to raves and listen to pirate radio stations and this made me want to become a DJ. Watching DJs such as EZ, Tuff Jam, Roger Sanchez in the clubs and seeing the reaction and joys of the ravers gave me a buzz and made me fall in love with djing. I started out on belt drive vinyl decks and then progressed to Technics 1210s once I improved and I have never looked back since.

Its been crazy busy of late which I love. I have just released my track and music video, Good Body with Nonô and Sweetie Irie. I have been playing all over the UK and have just returned from a big festival in Minsk, Belarus. When I haven’t been travelling, I have been locked away in the studio working on loads of new music. Myself and my music partner Theo, have been busy writing in studio sessions and working on new material with new singers and writers. I also was lucky enough recently to join Universal Music Publishing at the legendary Abbey Road Studios for a 3 day writing camp which was so good. It was surreal to work in studios that iconic artists have worked in and where amazing music has been made. I worked with some unbelievable singers and writers there and met some very talented people.

Your new single ‘Good Body’  is out now with vocals from Nonô and Sweetie Irie – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWhRBAe1P38 – what influenced the sound and songwriting for this single?

Good Body is all about body positivity. No one ever deserves to feel like their body is wrong. Of course there are times we want to get fit and perhaps be healthier – I go to the gym, I take the kids swimming and exercise – but that’s more about keeping fit and healthy and keeping your mental well-being up there.

It’s damaging – we are all guilty of it. It’s our culture – an obsession with looking like certain celebrities, the need to feel that we have to change that is the problem. It’s not our bodies that is the problem. We see certain models on the runway, in magazines, on Instagram and it’s all the same – photo-shopped and it’s not obtainable…yet young girls (and guys) are going out there trying to achieve it. Certain social media platforms lead people to believe what is “good” what is “perfect” and the track is a little bit more like…forget that, you’re good enough.

I also have two little kids and my young daughter who is only 7 and is really impressionable. She watches YouTube – she listens to music (she actually loves all kinds of music – from House music, my music (of course) Little Mix, Jess Glynne, Greatest Showman etc and as she’s grown older I’ve become more aware of lyrics and how much they impact on her.

As the summer comes round everybody is trying to get hashtag #bikiniready or hashtag #beachbodyready and the track is more about empowerment (men and women) to feel like their body is a good body. As long as you feel good it’s nobody else’s business.

People like Jameela Jamil and her @i-weigh movement, Megan Crabbe (@BodyPosiPanda) and the rise of other social media influencers are doing a lot to battle it with their positive body image messages and we wanted to create a fun (not serious) track inspired by it.

When we talk about good body – we are talking about all shapes, sizes, genders, races, abilities – the message is “you’re your own competition”

Being confident is attractive – being happy in your own skin is attractive. Enjoy doing what makes you happy. Mental well-being is so so important and all of this relates to this.

I sent the instrumental to Jin Jin (my manager) to get her thoughts on it. She sent a message back within 10 minutes with about 30 fire emojis!! She absolutely loved it and we knew it would be a single. Then we added the vocals which moved it out of the underground and into more pop territory.

It started life in Theo’s studio in Finsbury Park, North London about a year ago. We have tweaked and edited the track a good few times to make it sound just the way we wanted it to.

We approached it as we normally do and that is to have fun doing it. We didn’t plan on making this track at first as we were working on something else for a good few hours but nothing was working so we stopped what we were doing and started something else. That something else was Good Body and the rest is history.

Jin (my manager) loved the instrumental but had the idea of getting a vocalist on it and suggested Sweetie. I said yes straight away as I have been a big fan of Sweetie for years. Sweetie came into the studio with me and Theo and laid down the vocals in one hit. We knew we had something very strong already but then spoke about getting a female vocalist on it as well to help push the full message of the track. Jin knew about up-coming artist Nonô and thought she’d be perfect. I had never worked with Nonô before but Theo had and agreed that she could bring that message across – and she sure did! She came in and blew us away with her vocals and lyrics.

Making sure it was completely right was the main challenge. It changed loads with sounds and words on the track but it was a team effort on what was best for it and what the track represents. The most rewarding was when we got the final master back. The main man Jarred Hearman worked his magic on the master and once we got that and listened to it, we were buzzing.

Away from music, I like to run and go to the gym. I do this most mornings before my studio sessions. But my main thing to do away from music is to spend time with my family. I have 2 kids which keep me active and I do a lot with them when I am not in the studio or gigging.

I listen to so much music and all genres. I like to do this to get inspiration and ideas for my music. There is so much good music out there from the underground scene to the pop scene. The music scene is very strong at the moment with so much talent about.

It’s going to be a big end to 2019 for me. I make a permanent move to live in Dubai with the family, leaving the UK for the sunny desert next month. I am really looking forward to this. I have a just had a release on Ferris Wheel Recordings, Gene Ferris label and one coming out on Sam Divine’s label, D-vine Sounds. The campaign for Good Body is still going strong and will be carried on for the next few months. I have also a couple more singles due for release that we’re just in the process of finalising. I am also gigging loads around the world. I am at Eastern Electrics next month on August 3rd for Ministry Of Sound and then playing in Mauritius at the end of August.

There’s only a few select people that know this until now. It’s very embarrassing but when I was a kid, I was a massive BROS fan, it kills me to say that now and I don’t know what I was thinking. I used to think I was Matt Goss and there is a video in my house that has been threatened to be shared on social media of me dressed as him singing When Will I Be Famous lol… I even wore bottle tops like him on my trainers, why on earth, I hate myself for that memory haha…

I love street food and like to try all sorts. My favourite place to hangout would probably be Portobello Market at the weekend, Acklem Village for their food and stalls there. It’s a must go to if you have never been there.