BLVCK.SHEEP

Thunder Bay’s music scene has been thumping a lot more than usual. If you listen carefully, under the cacophonous roar of the long standing rock scene, the unmistakable bassy heartbeat of local Dj’s blasting sweaty dance crowds can be heard cutting through the air on the icy sidewalks of the Cumberland Avenue and Red River Road intersection – Port Arthur’s downtown nightlife core. 2015 saw some big changes for our electronic music scene, such as the debut of our first EDM festival manifesting itself on the Old Fort William camp grounds in the form of an alcohol free concert titled; Live Free And Righteous. Among the headliners were a swash of electronic music producers, locally born, raised and on the come up. Dj Classic Roots gained National notoriety this past year, winning the Indigenous Award for best Pop Album, and played along side local collaborating partner Dj Blvck Sheep, with other notable names such as A Tribe Called Red, Keys and Krates, & Sydney Blu. This explosion of electronic music onto the local and National scene is not coincidental. I chatted with 28 year old up-and-comer Joey Bergman - AKA Dj Blvck Sheep - about sharp sprinkly snares, experimental samples, and the importance of a supportive music community to find out more.




Let’s start with the basics. Your Dj name, Blvck Sheep, brings images to mind of an underdog, or a come up story. Is there any truth to that?

Yeah. Basically the electronic music scene is really wide right now. There’s a lot of gimmicks a lot of producers or Dj’s are throwing out there to get your attention. I’m not trying to give a gimmick or run around in the scene, I’m just trying to get up and be heard. I just want to like, sit back be myself and see what happens with that.

This past summer I caught you playing alongside some big headliners such as A Tribe Called Red and Keys N Krates, in Thunder Bay’s first EDM festival, Live Free Live Righteous. The festival was also notably a “dry” festival, meaning no alcohol was served. Can you tell us about that experience?

Yeah it was unreal. Meeting the whole crew was amazing, meeting all these interesting people from all over the world, all coming to hang out, and join the vibe. I dunno it was surreal almost, because I’ve never been in that situation before, and they were really modest and it just made me feel that way too, like just be modest and work hard and sit down and do the grind. The fact of it being a dry event made it so much better, you can have fun without alcohol or drugs, you know, just a vibe of happy people being around you is good enough. The music is good enough by itself. And the music just needed to be heard.

You are signed with the same managing company, AK Management, that Classic Roots was signed with, who won the Indigenous Award for Best Album in 2015. You both hail from Thunder Bay, and have collaborated in the past. Do you feel that there is a movement of Dj’s coming up from the North right now?

Oh yeah for sure. Especially since we’re doing workshops and everybody is helping each other. Nobody is sitting back and being a squirrel about it, hiding all their nuts, everybody’s sharing, it’s cool. When I say workshops, I mean at an after party or during a weekday like a Sunday we would get together with everybody and put our laptops in a circle, and we’d go over stuff and we’d help other people, younger producers coming up. We’d give them tips and tricks and how to make this certain sound, you know. It helps everybody get their foot in the door and that’s what we want. So it’s really exciting. Its starting small, you know, baby steps, but it’s developing into something fast. There’s another EDM festival in the works, it’s happening for sure, we’re just ironing out the details.

Being an Aboriginal Dj from Northern Canada, are you aware of yourself as becoming something of a role model for youth?

I talk to the youth quite a bit. I don’t do the youth outreach stuff as much, but I’ve worked with Roots before in those workshops, and you definitely see the impact that has, when you see young people’s faces light up when they hear something new that they’ve created, its kind of addicting. It’s a tough relationship to keep them distant from this drug involved scene while at the same time influencing them to see that it’s not all about that, its about the music. The feeling, the feeling between you and another, that’s what it’s about. But I think being Aboriginal has a huge impact because of EDM culture right now, and the influence it has itself on our society.

Okay let’s talk about your beats. Your background in music stems from some heavy rock influences in your younger years. Did you play in any bands?

Oh no, I just kinda jammed around on guitar, I jammed with a few people. I liked to play a little drums and piano here and there. I started playing guitar when I was a young kid, and then I got a bass, and then it just evolved from there. I’ve always liked to make new sounds.

What marked the transition for you into electronic music? What were the big influencers for you?

Haha. I remember my friend Corey came over, and he had a dance record, and he put it on a big sound system, I was completely blown away by it. That low frequency at high volume was just intense. I didn’t really feel music in that light before. I used to listen to Chris Sheppard records when I was young with my mom, and she introduced me to Chaka Khan and some other eclectic kind of artists from back in the day. It wasn’t until I was older that I got the real impact of the bass. Now I live for it.

You’re not only a Dj, but a producer. One of your first breakout tracks was the beat you produced for Classic Root’s, “Scream,” and you’ve produced tracks for many other artists. What about collaborating with other artists do you enjoy?

Uh, I like collaborating with the low key, like the up and comers, the underdog situations. Like my buddy Keifer, Professor Dice. He’s a sick producer, he’s got this really deep bassy sound, he’s got a studio and I’m really looking forward to working with him and any kind of hip hop artists. I’m really into a trappy kind of sound right now. What I like about trap is the complimentary sounds it has about it. The really heavy bass with the really sharp snares, and like, the way the highs work so they’re kinda sprinkly all over the place. It’s a really expandable genre, it’s really nice to mess around with basically. (laughs) Some of the sample lines you can get out of it are really heavy, and I really like that.

So, you’re a homegrown Dj, from here in the North. Maintaining an electronic music scene here in Thunder Bay has its challenges, most of them stemming from the fact that all our big name talent, like Sydney Blu and Classic Roots to name two, tend to go down South. Have you considered relocating to the GTA as your music career takes off?

Oh yeah, for sure. Actually I used to live in Kelowna, that’s where I really got introduced to the scene. I went out to Kelowna BC with my girlfriend at the time, we were really excited about living there, we wanted to travel and snowboard and see the sights. I guess you could say I grew up around *Datsik. I actually got into the producing side of music from him, actually, and Jeff who’s in *Xcision now. They were a major influence on me because they were coming up at the same time and were starting their own label, they just sort of did what they had to, they would spend all day just in their rooms, on a laptop, working 16 hours a day, day in and day out. Seeing that opened doors for me. They encouraged me, and gave me the “Hey, just try it, what do you have to lose,” speech. And I was like, okay, cool! I eventually want to make that transition and go to Toronto. But here my family and friends are my roots, and they keep be grounded.

* Canadian dub-step / bass music producers

Lately you’ve been working on your new album, “The Black Project” set for a 2016 release. Your newest December 2015 releases have been diverse. While “WTFuh” is a solid house track with some sexy European vocal samples, “Scream,” is really a mash-up, starting off with some melodic echoing riffs and ending up in some hard dance / trap with hip hop vocals. What can we expect from “The Black Project”?

All kinds of stuff to be honest. I’m experimenting really hard and I’m influenced by a lot of things right now. I’m making a lot of low fi sounds, a lot of heavier bassy tracks. Its really going to be compilation, not one track is going to sound the same as any other one. I just kind of experiment a lot with vocal samples. The great thing about vocal samples is you can take a single word or a single verse and turn it into an instrument. It could be a hook of another song that I heard that day, and it gets me inspired. Ah cool I wanna f*** with this, you know? (laughs) I’m like that a lot. I’m always tapping my knee, it’s all for the tune you know. That hamster is always runnin’ on that wheel.

Check out Dj Blvck Sheep at the Foundry on March 25th, and his new EP The Black Project set to be released on his Soundcloud account; https://soundcloud.com/blvck-sheep in 2016. - The Walleye Magazine

-Style/genre: My style is heavy electronic based music ranging from 126 bpm Electro Bass House to 150 bpm Trap music. I play high energy sets mixing fan-favourite acapellas with dirty bass lines that keep the crowd eager for more! BLVCKSHEEP throws down the best of what EDM has to offer by rocking any crowd big or small.
-How long have you been around: Started mixing vinyl and blending bangin' house music at parties/underground venues to eventually opening for big acts such as Laidback Luke, The Chainsmokers, A Tribe Called Red, and Keys & Krates.
-Favourite song you cover: Well, as a DJ mixing tracks together to create an atmosphere, I dont physically play live instruments, but I do enjoy playing Nirvana's - Lithium cause it stems from my youth and is a reminder to my fans where I come from.
-Best song you wrote: Like most artists, we think all of our songs are the bomb but the most enjoyable track I've made is OFFSPRING because I made it with the full intention of being a deep bass layered track but also kind on the ears with Cyprus Hill samples.
-What’s new: Im currently working on an EP and have a track titled "BLVCKTRAP" posted on SoundCloud which has 200+ plays in only the short time of being released with 3,800 plays in total for only 3 tracks Ive posted.
-Your motto: "less is more"
-Contact info: Management: AK Management (Toronto, Canada) http://www.alexanderkenneth.com/
Webisite: http://blvcksheep.com/
Email - j3erg@live.ca - The Walleye Magazine