DJ-producer and Two Brewers and Popcorn resident Chris Brogan has two uplifting house tracks out at the moment – Power and Rise Up. Here he explains more about each record and reveals where you can hear him play them this weekend.
Hi Chris, how would you describe the music you play?
I would say the best way to describe the style I play is uplifting house. I do mix it up and add some of my own productions, which range from vocal piano house to tech house. Essentially, I focus on making sure the crowd is energised and happy.
Does it change depending where you are playing?
Of course, depending on the venue I can go a little more upfront or harder. For instance, when I play at the Two Brewers, I will probably focus on more commercial tracks and songs the crowd knows, compared to somewhere like Popcorn at Heaven, where I can get away with playing some of my harder tracks. The crowd there never ceases to amaze me and it’s always busy.
How did you get into DJing?
I’ve been DJing for over a decade now, starting our in straight bars and clubs. I played regularly for Salvation, doing some of their international dates, and guest DJed for mega brands such as Hed Kandi and Defected. I’ve played at Fabric, Egg, Ministry, all the big venues. But I really got my big break when I started playing at Fire back in 2013. Since then I’ve played up and down the country and abroad. Now you can find me at Popcorn on Mondays, and the Two Brewers. I love playing both venues as they allow me to pretty much do what I want while keeping it uplifting. I also won Best Newcomer at the Boyz Awards back in 2015. Every year since I’ve been silver so it would be an absolute honour to snatch the crown this year.
We are loving both the tracks you have out at the moment, can you tell us about them? First up is Power with Nicole Tyler…
When I set out to do Power, I wanted to recreate a moment thinking back to some of my best clubbing nights when vocal house was at its peak. Call me old but there’s nothing out there at the moment like this. Power is a piano house banger with a full vocal from the amazingly talented Nicole Tyler. The track plays with danceable piano line and explosive drums builds. The lyrics are inspiring, empowering and motivating. Nicole wrote them and we put the track together pretty quickly. She’s a dream to work with and has worked with Milk and Sugar, Thomas Gold and Reza. Electronic Youth, producers I really admire, have also remixed the track turning into a tech house banger. I’ve been playing it out for a few months now and the crowd goes wild each time I play it. When you get such a reaction from the crowd with your own production, the feeling is the best in world.
And next is Rise Up with Amy Pearson…
Rise Up is a cover of the Sunkids classic. I wanted to create my own updated version and make it into another piano house sensation and is signed to mega label Housesession. It’s an uplifting – see, there’s a theme here – house track with my signature piano riffs and empowering vocal. Amy Pearson, who I’ve worked with on a couple of other releases, covered the vocal in one take. She’s such a pro and we had so much fun doing this one. I’m very lucky to be working with her, she had a platinum album in Australia a few years back and has worked with big names such as Avicii and Demi Lovato. When it comes to the lyrics, my favourite line is ‘Get up off your lazy ass and rise up’. It gives the track a fun element to it and I’m very happy how it turned out. The track comes with two great remixes from Ozzie London and Francesco Gomez.
What projects have you got coming up next?
I’m working on a couple of remixes at the moment, notably one for Silverhook, and also working on a few other tracks. My next release will be something I wrote a few months ago called Invisible, which is out for the Miami Winter Conference released on Let There Be House late March.
Where can we hear you DJ over the next couple of weeks?
You can catch me at the Two Brewers in the backroom every Saturday and at Heaven on Monday (19 Feb). I also have my monthly radio show Bearhouse on This Is Electric at 8pm every last Saturday of the month.
Download Chris’ tracks from iTunes, Spotify and Beatport now.
djchrisbrogan.co.uk
soundcloud.com/djchrisbrogan
photos by @ShotByZooby
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