Artists Profile

 Current Location :: London, UK 

Music Genres :: Rave & Hardcore

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!