When we discuss Sound Gallery as a team, we often find ourselves rotating around key words: passion, community, and kindness. Although we are a new venture, our project has been over a year in the making with a community that extends far beyond three years in its own right. With that said, part of that growth includes support from noteworthy people who emulate the very key words that resonate who, and what, we are.
One of those notable people is DJ Dis Bish.
A valued family member and DJ within the Sound Gallery community, Dis has played a pivotal role in sound-boarding our project with a lot of zest. This is someone we feel has not only pushed our team forward in seeking broader horizons, but has always strove to encourage others ( both big and small ) to not shy away from excellence. And so with that mentality, we felt it was absolutely clear that our March Featured DJ should be none other than DJ Dis Bish, himself.
Dis, can you give all of us reading here at Sound Gallery a little introduction on yourself? Your name, your location, any hobbies. You know, the whole shebang.
My Name is Dis Bish, Dis, or Bish. I am from Western Canada. I make Beeps and Boops on the internet.
1101011010101011. Beep boop. But seriously, what inspired you to DJ? And how long have you DJ’d for?
I have loved EDM ever since I was a child, my first experience with EDM came from a few CD’s. I borrowed from the local library. One was a Depeche mode album that had a few gooders like Firestarter and a Six Days mix by DJ Shadow. Another was a prodigy album. Needless to say I played them on repeat and for some reason they never made it back to the library. Then I found a group of friends at school who shared in my passion and we started going to events together. From that point after watching a live event I knew that I would LOVE to become a DJ. It wasn’t until recently, 2023, that I realized that this could be achieved at an in home novice level and I immediately bought an Hercules 400 and then went to a FLX6; currently I use a Denon Prime 4 +.
I can definitely resonate with the feeling on conveniently missing library CDs… I think Dead by Sunrise, Chester Bennington’s side project somehow made it home with me when I was a young kid. Then they shut down the library and it stayed. Quite easily one of the most-loved albums I had and a favorite genre all on its own.
Speaking of, are there any musicians that you look up to? And why?
Oh my god, I mean so many and not just EDM related. I grew up on the Eagles, Gnr, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Slipknot, Nirvana, The Beatles, R.E.M., Joe Satriani, Kiss, Eminem, Outkast, Snoop Dogg, Biggie- you name it I was into it. Uhhh except country, sorry not my thing. I even love Classical and Jazz. John Coltrane, Nat King Cole, Art Blakely… Obviously there are tons of references in classical, but I’ll move forward.
As far as EDM inspired artists, I love the classics: AVB, Above and Beyond, Cosmic Gate, Armin Van Buuren, Paul Oakenfold, Sasha, Carl Cox, Bass hunters. However, there are some really good stuff from new folks too: Phlegmatic Dogs, Artbat, John Summit, Drunken Kong. I would say my all time favorite at this point in time is CamelPhat. They have the literal Midas touch right now in the melodic house and tech scene and I have never been disappointed in a track they made. Check ’em out!
You seem very eclectic and loving on all genres, really. CamelPhat is an excellent choice in the realm of EDM, they certainly have some songs that resonate especially well with audiences.
With such a love for variety in sounds, do you have any preference to a genre?
I love Female Vocals. (clears throat) House, almost any kind, Melodic and progressive, Deep house, and Bass house are my go to favorites. HOWEVER deeply seated within me is another wolf (pause for gasp), and that wolf will melt to trance. I have recently being doing a lot of Techno sets of late as well… is there 3 wolves in me? It’s okay the wolves get along, don’t worry. I like to listen to DnB, Breaks, 140’s, Club/Dance music. I’m not to picky, I just prefer the classics.
With such a love of classics, have you considered producing any music? And if so, can you provide us some examples?
Not a producer, no. I used to play around with FL studios but I wasn’t great at it. My buddies and I would try to recreate tracks we liked. I’m pretty sure I got a shout out on a rap album I helped make the beats on, for a rapper friend. I think his name was C-Hussle, (lol) he had a gold grill with dollar signs engraved in it and everything. Bless him.
You helped to make the beats on an album!? And why is this the first time we’re hearing about this?
You’ll need to sit down with us sometime to share what you’ve worked on, because even the smallest contributions are really impressive. It’s a permanent fixture of your creativity. With that said, production of music can really be a full time job. So can DJing for that matter.
Is DJing your full time career? If not, how do you manage to balance music with work?
Last year I quit my job as a machinist and have been trying to make Djing my career. So far, I’m just going into debt… however, there is hope. Also, I never wake up and say “jeez, I hate my job!” Balance is very important, when I was working 10 hour shifts and would come home and do a 3hr set, it was hard. Add to that walking my dog Hunnee and dinner, and that’s easily a 16hr day. But we did it for a long time. It was just very limiting to when I could find places to get myself out there to play.
I think you bring up a really great point here; many people do not realize the struggle that goes behind building a career in music. Many of the well-known faces we’ve seen today have gone through poverty, sometimes homelessness, in trying to achieve their big break. And when they did, it came with a long road of sacrifices behind them. For what it’s worth, you seem to be heading in the right direction in terms of knowing your goals and shooting toward them. We really wish you and every DJ on our platform the utmost success.
Part of building success also comes with fine-tuning a niche that best represents who you are and emulating that for your audience. An identity, if you will. How would you describe yourself in terms of your stage personality?
Uhh, I don’t know… I love to engage in silly chat conversations. I like to dance and do redeems. Uhh… Sunny help me out, I don’t watch myself.
Look folks, the guy is humble-pie and clearly shy. Haha, we’re kidding. ( Kind of 😛 )
Stage personality? Very just open book. We’d describe you as being straightforward, honest, and always ready to goof off. Never taking yourself too-too seriously, but enough to bring a good time ( for yourself and others ).
This makes the next question in this interview really relevant: What would you consider your strengths and weaknesses?
I can make the smoothest mixes and transitions. I think that is my strongest attribute. That, and I have like 39000 songs on my deck, and computer… Plus like 200 playlist online exclusively, so variety, I guess? My weakness is that I don’t like to make things too unique, I like to give the artists credit for their work and so mixing songs, or chopping them is not something I’m good at. I can do it and usually when I do I’m like “shit, that slaps!” But it’s not my go to.
We can often be our own worst critics, so being able to self-evaluate for strengths and weaknesses can be really difficult. But it sounds like you have a sincere self-awareness and are taking steps to try and work with them, rather than opposed to them. A big step for any kind of entertainer.
I know we asked about your stage personality… but we’re going to ask something a little tougher here: What is your approach toward reading the crowd?
Twitch chat, if you’re reading this: please chat to us! Tell me you hate this song, tell me it’s a banger. Send me an emote, talk about your partner and kids, or your day at work. I love the engagement, I’ll always chat back, and it helps me know that you are enjoying the music. As for the question, I love the interactions I get on the internet, but there is a yearning I have for a crowd of people dancing, laughing, drinking, nodding heads, doing illicit things, and wearing not enough clothes for public places- that takes me to a euphoric state. More vibes, more energy. However, it’s also really good for seeing if people are not enjoying your music, which is WAY more impactful than anything else. I have an endless supply of music and I can pivot on a heart beat; if we need to slow down and chill cause folks are exhausted or speed up cause they are bored, or throw a fat drop in to get people moving… This is something the internet will never satisfy me on. Reading the crowd is vital. Not that it can’t be done without.
I have a lot of empathy for you here; as a streaming DJ myself, I too often struggle to understanding the audience in a chatbox. Mostly because you cannot tell when someone is lurking, vibing, or just has a different screen up entirely. Communication with your audience is definitely key, but can be a hard factor to work with on a streaming platform. In that respect, live DJing will always triumph.
Well Dis, we’ve reached that point of the final question in our interview. You know, the one we always ask and request that imparting wisdom on.
Any advice for those who might be starting DJing?
If I could give you one single thing to focus on it would have to be to have fun! Only play music you like, don’t do sets that people decide for you, or say the theme is __ tonight. If that works for you then go and play it, but if you don’t like what you play you will find this Hobby/Career uninspiring, and soon burn out.
As you get really good at playing what you love, you will find more to add to your repertoire and then eventually you will play any set cause you have that one banger list that kinda follows their request.
Don’t worry about numbers, or sales, or if people leave. JUST HAVE FUN AND PEOPLE WILL HAVE FUN WITH YOU! The people who aren’t having fun with you should not be catered to, build a community of friends and family. Don’t be afraid to ask if you are uncertain about something. Most other DJ’s are quite helpful and happy to share knowledge. If not, fuck ’em – they probably are too full of themselves anyways.
Good Luck, welcome to the Team! ♥♥♥
And there you have it folks, our DJ for the month of March: DJ Dis Bish. Thank you again for all your insight- just know you are a guiding star to many people in this community. And we appreciate you taking the time to give us a sincere look into what makes you, you. We also want to congratulate you on hitting the 1k followers on Twitch this past month. A huge milestone and we wish you success on your DJing journey!
For those of you who are interested in learning more about Dis Bish and his music, please visit our bi-weekly raid series or directly at his Twitch for more on his sets.