Behind the decks with Saul Bliss

SoGlos.com goes behind the decks with Dakota’s Love Saturday resident DJ Saul Bliss, who dishes the dirt on naked clubbers, Dolly Parton requests and why his dad should have been a porn star.

So, Saul Bliss how did you, er, arrive at your DJ name Saul Bliss?
Well, I was born… I actually took a while playing around with a few different ideas before I realised I had a unique enough name to use it as my DJ moniker. My dad’s name is Richard – I always told him he should have been a porn star.

How long have you been DJing, and are you a local?
I’m originally from Leckhampton in Cheltenham, and am living in London now after an eight year stint in Australia. I’ll be showing my age now… but, I’ve been DJing for 16 years – my best mate Alex got me into it originally, and I started out on some belt-driven turntable horrors.

Describe your style?
Versatile – I can do a smooth warm up for international guest DJs or smash out a cut up three deck special with loads of acapellas and over-ambitious drunk scratching.

Where can SoGlos.com’s readers hear you play?
I’m just about to play Cardiff at Glam with Steve Angello, and the Ministry of Sound for Champagne Sushi in August with Judge Jules – so I play wherever people will have me! In Cheltenham, I’ve been the Love Saturday resident at Dakota for almost two years now.

And what should they expect to hear from you?
Depending on the booking, anything from breaks, house and tech to an old skool hip hop set, which can be a lot of fun. I’d rather die than play RnB though.

Anything specific?
Right now, Axwell’s remix of TV Rocks ‘In the air’ for the big commercial club environment. Something very obvious and big like ‘Insomnia’ by Faithless is a classic floor-filler. And while there are too many all time favourites to mention, Future Sound of London’s ‘Papua New Guinea’ holds a very special place for a start.

Laptop or decks / vinyl, CDs or MP3s?
I started on vinyl and still love it, but my back doesn’t. At my Dakota residency I’ve been using Sarato recently (hardware which is said to ‘bridge vinyl and digital’ – linking regular turntables with computer audio files), as it means we can store a lot of music for every possible crowd we might get. It also means my fellow resident Russell won’t lose so many CDs when he’s ‘tired’!

Any weird requests or bizarre sights?
Rather worryingly Dolly Parton has been requested rather too frequently by people young enough to know better! You get used to seeing odd things in clubs – but seeing a geezer spontaneously getting his kit off was really weird, as the bouncers didn’t really know how / where to grab him.

Career highs and lows over the past 16 years?
Being flown out to Bali or Ibiza to play has to be some of the highlights. While in the past taking gigs I would never have wanted to play if I didn’t need the cash has been soul destroying, and led me to getting a ‘proper’ job three years ago.

Any burning ambitions on the horizon, Saul?
I’d definitely like to make some time to get into the studio in the next year to produce some tunes.

Favourite clubs you’d love to play?
Of the ones I’ve seen, if I could play anywhere in the world, it would probably be Space in Ibiza. In Gloucestershire my favourite’s Love Saturdays at Dakota, of course.

SoGlos.com
20 July 2009