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Who: dj Sydney Blu
Where: O Ultra Lounge
When: Saturday July 11th, 2008

Here's a quick interview with Sydney Blu, former resident dj and held it down for 6 years at the legendary Guvernment Nightclub.

How did you discover electronic music and when did you decide to become a DJ?
In Ottawa I used to goto a club called Atomic nightclub all the time and that was pretty much my favourite club for dance music. I mean, I didn't really know of any clubs before then cause I'm from Thunder Bay. It's a pretty small town. I went to college in Ottawa. It was pretty much my discovery of dance music and house music.

 So after you became Djing, what chain of events led to the decision of becoming a DJ for a full time career?
I was basically on my way to work at Walt Disney World. I had a job there. When I went to college I graduated from travel and tourism. After that I moved here (Toronto) and I was here for just a few months but I decided to buy turntables instead of to go to Walt Disney world and decided to give Djing a try. I got my first gig and I did really well, then they brought me back to play. I got a couple more residencies and then the next thing you know I was playing all over the city and there was no need for me to leave. So, that's kind of how it happened.

 You were obviously very successful as a DJ in the Toronto scene. What do you credit your success to?
Probably being really big at my self-promoting, branding my name and my companies. I have a company called Bitch Slap

Bitch Slap, ya I remember those parties. Do you still do the Bitch Slap events?
No, I don't because I got signed and started touring last year. I stopped playing locally in Toronto about a year ago now. I mean I still play locally but I only once maybe every 5 months. I like it like that. It makes my shows way more special now. You know? I'm out of town all the time. But anyways, it basically came from just throwing my own parties and building my brand that way and promoting myself lots. You know?

Do you think that's an important thing for DJ's to do?
Absolutely, absolutely for sure it's really important. If you don't tell people about yourself, nobody's going to know about you.

 Once you established yourself in the Toronto scene, how did you take your name to the international stage?
Pretty much writing music. I mean, I've been producing music for 4 or 5 years now. My first really big hit, "Give It Up For Me" was a huge track. It was a really big turning point in my career because it was one of the highest selling tracks of all time on Beatport. It really introduced me on an international level, to a worldwide audience. Then after that, I continued to release music on "Mouse Trap", and started my own record label this year.

 Tell us about your label "Blu Music"
I started it in March for WMC. I've had two releases on it and they've both done quite well. The first one as called "Instinct" it was just an original track done by me. Then the second release was called "Panic Attack". It's doing really, really well. It's had a lot of support by like artist like Funkagenda that plays it at every single set. The label is exclusive to Beatport right now but it will be expanding even more in the next few months.

Are you looking to break new artists with your label, or focus mainly on releasing your own tunes?
I don't think I'm looking to do that (sign new artists). I'm a pretty new producer to the international world, so I'd rather just let people know who I am right now. Once I've got the reputation for having a pretty well known label then it's time to talk about doing new releases. I get so many demos all the time, people sending music. As soon as I said I was starting a label an out pour of emails and files came in. It's just not that kind of label right now.

Your recent dj chart on beatport has a lot of tech-house. We're used to hearing you play more electro & progressive tunes. Do you feel you're following the current trend?
No no no no. It's just kind of the way I've evolved. I definitely think I've evolved out of the electro sounds just because I'm more getting into progressive. I play mainly progressive now. I still listen to electro, you know? I play "Give It Up For Me" in my sets. I dip into tech house a little but I mainly play in progressive. It's what I'm releasing as my music and that's what I'm enjoying the most. I just play what I enjoy, you know? I really like a cool, dancey melodic sound.

Your playing at Pride again this year and you've played there pretty much every year in my recent memory. Does Pride mean something personal to you?
It's definitely been something that's personal to me. I'm not actually playing the stage this year, which is a bit different for me. I normally close down the stage, but this year I'm doing my own show at "Footwork". It's more personal because I have a lot of gay friends and have been in the gay scene for quite awhile. My Bitch Slap parties were gay and straight people partying together. I have a lot of gay fans so I'm really excited about having my own show.

Who in Toronto has caught your eye and you think is working hard?
There is lots of people. MC Flip Side is a very good friend. I've worked with him in the past and I continue to work with him. He's amazing. Same with Matty O'Demar, he's a brilliant producer and we'll continue to do music together. I was on Deadmau5's record label "Mouse Trap" I work with him and its quiet known. Adam K, I think he does a great job. He's a really great producer.  I think Carlo Lio is doing a really wicked job right now. He's getting international people looking at his stuff and playing it, so I think that's great. You know those Number 19 guys I think there doing a pretty good job. There's a lot of people really working hard and it's definitely paying off. Hatiras obviously is a legendary producer, like I think he's great.

Do you have any advice for aspiring djs?
Music production is really good idea. Research your favourite producers. A lot of them have youtube videos and a lot of them have instruction videos, if you're playing on a certain program like Ableton live. They'll have their own website & their own message board and have their own instruction videos. As a DJ like I was saying is try and get your name out there. Promote yourself as much as possible, you know? It's a combination of a million different things you just have to put together all of it into one package you know. Promotion, marketing, working hard in the studio, all of that, you know? That's pretty much my advice and take on it.

Saturday July 11th
SYDNEY BLU
www.sydneyblu.com
w. Pusherz, Jarod P

O Ultra Lounge
905-383-1494
612 Upper James
Hamilton

Free before 11pm
$5 before midnight
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