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!! //dj brisk : all you ever wanted to know! /art.0001: The Brisk Bible v1.2 Written by DamNation, 01/12/03

Real Name: Paul Nineham Profile: Sometimes credited as Paul Smith instead of his real Paul Nineham it seems as though you can never fault Brisks mixing or Production. Considered to be one of the best Hardcore producers around, his label Next Generation with Dean 'Ham' Hamilton is one of the most respected in its genre. Brisk also produces hardhouse with Ham under their Stimulant DJ's pseudonym. Records as: Brisk & Devastate, Brisk & Fade, Brisk & Ham, Brisk & Trixxy, Brisk & Vinylgroover, Brisk & Brown, Stimulant DJ's, Rapido, Cyberdrive, DropZone, Aluminous, Landslide, Eurotrash...

To the average club-goer in NZ, the name "DJ Brisk" might not be instantly recognisable. With the Planet Hardcore crew successfully following the dedication of other countries that have rebuilt the Hardcore scene from near-death in the late 90's, in the 5 or so years since Hardcore took a step down from the fore-front of raves throughout Auckland and Christchurch, we have seen new generations of clubbers (nee ravers) that have been force-fed overly large portions of House, Trance and Hard House. That is not to say there is anything wrong with those genres (as some of you know, most of our PH resident DJs are also known for their equal passion for other styles), but the important thing to point out is that many European/UK Trance and/or Hard House producers began their producing careers with Hardcore, even if it isn't considered the "cool" genre from those that have "moved on musically".

And this is where we turn to Brisk. The die-hardcore fans will instantly know this is the man behind the hugely successful Next Generation and Blatant Beats labels, but for the Hard House massive, he has also made himself a household name by teaming up with DJ Ham as the Stimulant DJs. You might even know him as Paul Smith, for which he also plays House. Heck, haven't we all played House at one point?

But here, we're talking a relatively small bracket in respect to the tens of thousands of other NZ club-goers who are not aware of Brisk's incredible talents. And this, my dear friends, is what this boldly-entitled 'Brisk Bible' is all about.

ABOUT BRISK: THE DJ As with many artists/DJs who eventually become affiliated with a style of Dance music, Brisk's early roots were in Hip-Hop. However, it isn't until one attends their first rave that, !"#$"%&#!'()#%**(+,*,-.(#$.%$'/0#1"2.3#$',&4(#)"2*#.%5(0#627%$,..)8#

For him, though, it was his first gig at the old Escape Club on the UK's south-east coast town of Southhampton. His first big gig, Hardcore-wise, was at The Sanctuary, for some gig called "Dreamscape". Not heard of it? Neither have we...

From thereon, other huge UK raves such as Helter Skelter, United Dance and Rezerection all placed Brisk as one of their main acts, which is where you will still find him today - at the top of his game.

However, to say Brisk DJ's Hardcore (or Hard House) by simply mixing together records seamlessly, is like saying Henry Ford just happened to invent a motorised Horse. There is a lot more to a DJ set by him than you'd expect. Perhaps his most noted is by which the speed he mixes, how well he scratches, and the diversity of labels he plays from. We can quite confidently stand by our claims that there are lot of DJs of all styles that one can only call "label whores". For Brisk, this isn't the case.

You won't find him playing 90% of his own tunes. You won't find him playing Hardcore, Hard House or Hard Trance records that all sound the same. The man leads his innovation upon his diversity. He can (and will) quite happily mix together styles from both side of the English channel, which many DJs tend to shy away from. And this is good. You won't just hear stuff from the UK and you won't just hear stuff from Germany or Holland. You'll hear it all.

ABOUT BRISK: THE PRODUCER But it's not just as a DJ that Brisk shines, he is also responsible for producing some of the great Hardcore classics. Although, in his own words, his first release on Men From UNCLE Records was "not very good at all", it went on to sell over 2000 copies. Don't always trust your instinct on how good a production of yours is, the majority may think otherwise (even our own Concord Dawn didn't think Morning Light was their best work, and look where it got them!)

As well as such past gems as "Eyeopener" (where he teamed up with Trixxy), Brisk is heavily renowned for his remixes. His remix of the classic "Now is the Time" (come on, you must've heard that on at least three compilations in the mid nineties) made it more popular than the original by Scott Brown. Brisk is also noted as laying down the tougher remixes from otherwise lighter-sounding tracks. Even I bought two Bang! records due to the excellent remix jobs he did. Suffice to say, I don't tell many people about it because...oh, that's blown it....

With Hardcore making a huge comeback over the last year, Brisk has firmly got his production shoes on, simultaneously releasing both Hardcore and Hard House/Trance. With Stimulant Records firmly established for a few years now, Brisk & Ham have reinvented themselves with refreshing new ideas and sounds. To quote them from a recent interview: "Every time we have gone in and come up with a Stimulant DJ's tune it's been a different tune. 9Hoover Time' was obviously the big track that made people's ears prick up which was straight up hoover mayhem. The follow up to that, 9Are You Serious' is pretty much going down the same route which wasn't intentional but then after that the tracks we've written lately under some pseudonyms are all completely different from one and other.: Their latest release (under the 'Eurotrash' moniker) is a combination of Hardstyle and UK Hard Trance, a combination you would see very little of from other producers.

BRISK @ STIMULATION & TWIN PEAKS So, what will you expect from Brisk from his first visit to NZ, when he plays Twin Peaks on the 5th and Stimulation on the 6th of December? Something you will very rarely (if at all) see from DJs these days, combining two totally different styles of Hard Dance into one set. As the emphasis on the event is "where Hardcore meets Hard Dance", the night starts of with Hardstyle, then Hard House - where Brisk will take over and magically merge the from Hard Dance and over to Hardcore - before 3 of NZ's finest Hardcore DJ's take us through until the early hours.

Says Brisk: ;I play Hardcore under the Brisk name, much to various people's dislike. You can't do two things in this country. You are not allowed to be good at playing two types of music, you must be shit at one of them.: And shit he is at neither, we must add.

So, after the rough night some of in Auckland you may experience at Carl Cox prior to Stimulation this Saturday, make sure you save yourself enough juice for Saturday night, where one of the world's finest Hardcore & Hard Dance DJs takes to NZ for the first time ever! And for those of you in Christchurch, you have no excuse. At all.

Brisk plays "Twin Peaks" at the Ministry, Christchurch on Friday 5th and at "Stimulation" at Cube, Auckland 6th December.

(Information sourced from discogs.com, stimulantrecords.co.uk, nextgenerationrecords.co.uk and 4clubbers.net. Respect!)

//image.(c)nextgen !

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!! //dj brisk : all you ever wanted to know! /art.0001: The Brisk Bible v1.2 Written by DamNation, 01/12/03

Real Name: Paul Nineham Profile: Sometimes credited as Paul Smith instead of his real Paul Nineham it seems as though you can never fault Brisks mixing or Production. Considered to be one of the best Hardcore producers around, his label Next Generation with Dean 'Ham' Hamilton is one of the most respected in its genre. Brisk also produces hardhouse with Ham under their Stimulant DJ's pseudonym. Records as: Brisk & Devastate, Brisk & Fade, Brisk & Ham, Brisk & Trixxy, Brisk & Vinylgroover, Brisk & Brown, Stimulant DJ's, Rapido, Cyberdrive, DropZone, Aluminous, Landslide, Eurotrash...

To the average club-goer in NZ, the name "DJ Brisk" might not be instantly recognisable. With the Planet Hardcore crew successfully following the dedication of other countries that have rebuilt the Hardcore scene from near-death in the late 90's, in the 5 or so years since Hardcore took a step down from the fore-front of raves throughout Auckland and Christchurch, we have seen new generations of clubbers (nee ravers) that have been force-fed overly large portions of House, Trance and Hard House. That is not to say there is anything wrong with those genres (as some of you know, most of our PH resident DJs are also known for their equal passion for other styles), but the important thing to point out is that many European/UK Trance and/or Hard House producers began their producing careers with Hardcore, even if it isn't considered the "cool" genre from those that have "moved on musically".

And this is where we turn to Brisk. The die-hardcore fans will instantly know this is the man behind the hugely successful Next Generation and Blatant Beats labels, but for the Hard House massive, he has also made himself a household name by teaming up with DJ Ham as the Stimulant DJs. You might even know him as Paul Smith, for which he also plays House. Heck, haven't we all played House at one point?

But here, we're talking a relatively small bracket in respect to the tens of thousands of other NZ club-goers who are not aware of Brisk's incredible talents. And this, my dear friends, is what this boldly-entitled 'Brisk Bible' is all about.

ABOUT BRISK: THE DJ As with many artists/DJs who eventually become affiliated with a style of Dance music, Brisk's early roots were in Hip-Hop. However, it isn't until one attends their first rave that, !"#$"%&#!'()#%**(+,*,-.(#$.%$'/0#1"2.3#$',&4(#)"2*#.%5(0#627%$,..)8#

For him, though, it was his first gig at the old Escape Club on the UK's south-east coast town of Southhampton. His first big gig, Hardcore-wise, was at The Sanctuary, for some gig called "Dreamscape". Not heard of it? Neither have we...

From thereon, other huge UK raves such as Helter Skelter, United Dance and Rezerection all placed Brisk as one of their main acts, which is where you will still find him today - at the top of his game.

However, to say Brisk DJ's Hardcore (or Hard House) by simply mixing together records seamlessly, is like saying Henry Ford just happened to invent a motorised Horse. There is a lot more to a DJ set by him than you'd expect. Perhaps his most noted is by which the speed he mixes, how well he scratches, and the diversity of labels he plays from. We can quite confidently stand by our claims that there are lot of DJs of all styles that one can only call "label whores". For Brisk, this isn't the case.

You won't find him playing 90% of his own tunes. You won't find him playing Hardcore, Hard House or Hard Trance records that all sound the same. The man leads his innovation upon his diversity. He can (and will) quite happily mix together styles from both side of the English channel, which many DJs tend to shy away from. And this is good. You won't just hear stuff from the UK and you won't just hear stuff from Germany or Holland. You'll hear it all.

ABOUT BRISK: THE PRODUCER But it's not just as a DJ that Brisk shines, he is also responsible for producing some of the great Hardcore classics. Although, in his own words, his first release on Men From UNCLE Records was "not very good at all", it went on to sell over 2000 copies. Don't always trust your instinct on how good a production of yours is, the majority may think otherwise (even our own Concord Dawn didn't think Morning Light was their best work, and look where it got them!)

As well as such past gems as "Eyeopener" (where he teamed up with Trixxy), Brisk is heavily renowned for his remixes. His remix of the classic "Now is the Time" (come on, you must've heard that on at least three compilations in the mid nineties) made it more popular than the original by Scott Brown. Brisk is also noted as laying down the tougher remixes from otherwise lighter-sounding tracks. Even I bought two Bang! records due to the excellent remix jobs he did. Suffice to say, I don't tell many people about it because...oh, that's blown it....

With Hardcore making a huge comeback over the last year, Brisk has firmly got his production shoes on, simultaneously releasing both Hardcore and Hard House/Trance. With Stimulant Records firmly established for a few years now, Brisk & Ham have reinvented themselves with refreshing new ideas and sounds. To quote them from a recent interview: "Every time we have gone in and come up with a Stimulant DJ's tune it's been a different tune. 9Hoover Time' was obviously the big track that made people's ears prick up which was straight up hoover mayhem. The follow up to that, 9Are You Serious' is pretty much going down the same route which wasn't intentional but then after that the tracks we've written lately under some pseudonyms are all completely different from one and other.: Their latest release (under the 'Eurotrash' moniker) is a combination of Hardstyle and UK Hard Trance, a combination you would see very little of from other producers.

BRISK @ STIMULATION & TWIN PEAKS So, what will you expect from Brisk from his first visit to NZ, when he plays Twin Peaks on the 5th and Stimulation on the 6th of December? Something you will very rarely (if at all) see from DJs these days, combining two totally different styles of Hard Dance into one set. As the emphasis on the event is "where Hardcore meets Hard Dance", the night starts of with Hardstyle, then Hard House - where Brisk will take over and magically merge the from Hard Dance and over to Hardcore - before 3 of NZ's finest Hardcore DJ's take us through until the early hours.

Says Brisk: ;I play Hardcore under the Brisk name, much to various people's dislike. You can't do two things in this country. You are not allowed to be good at playing two types of music, you must be shit at one of them.: And shit he is at neither, we must add.

So, after the rough night some of in Auckland you may experience at Carl Cox prior to Stimulation this Saturday, make sure you save yourself enough juice for Saturday night, where one of the world's finest Hardcore & Hard Dance DJs takes to NZ for the first time ever! And for those of you in Christchurch, you have no excuse. At all.

Brisk plays "Twin Peaks" at the Ministry, Christchurch on Friday 5th and at "Stimulation" at Cube, Auckland 6th December.

(Information sourced from discogs.com, stimulantrecords.co.uk, nextgenerationrecords.co.uk and 4clubbers.net. Respect!)

//image.(c)nextgen