An interview with the multi-talented BrEaCh

An interview with the multi-talented BrEaCh

01 May, 2012
by: Lowri

From soulful singer to house hero, we caught up with BrEaCh for a quick chat.

BrEaCh – aka Ben Westbeech - is a DJ, a producer, a singer, a classically trained musician and a bit of a party-starter. He has two albums under his belt as Ben Westbeech - but this year is all about his DJ and producer moniker BrEaCh. We chatted with the multi-instrumentalist ahead of his set at the Spectrum Warehouse Party this weekend.

So you are skilled in a lot of disciplines - do you see yourself as a DJ, producer or musician foremostly?

All three really, I think I have a really short attention span. I have to do loads of things at the same time to keep myself interested. It's a conscious decision to do that – I think I get quite easily bored if I just do one thing. 

You worked with a load of people on your album 'There's More To Life Than This' [from Motor City Drum Ensemble to Midland and Henrik Schwartz]. How did that all work? Was it a wish-list?

Well they [the label] came to me and said 'who do you want to work with in the house scene' and I put names forward. Most of them were actually up for it. A lot of it was my impetus, some of it was my managers impetus and the rest of it was the A and R and head of Strictly. We put our heads together really and came up with the people we were interested in working with.

Was that a steep learning curve?

Yeh it was so interesting working with other people – seeing the techniques they use in the studio, the programs they use, what hardware and software. Different people get different things out of you all the time as a singer.

There's no better experience than working with other people if you're learning to produce or becoming a musician. It's the main thing that can help you improve. It's like anything, playing sport, writing poetry, if you do it with other people you're going to get a different perspective on it which is really helpful.

Were you collaborating on the beats? Or was it totally the work of the producers?

It depends who I was working with. The Henrik Schwartz track for example, I sent over some chords and said 'that's the start of an idea for me', then he put them through his computer and made it sound really strange and we went from there. With other people - the people I couldn’t get in the studio with at the time - we would just send stuff back and forwards.

For your next record do you think you'll work more independently?

There's gonna be a couple of collaborations. It's going to be like my first one [Ben Westbeech record] – it's going to be less housey. I'm making quite a dark record now, which is sort of where I'm at in my wonderful life. I'm concentrating on BrEaCh at the moment but this is going to be in the backround – im just sort of chipping away at it getting bits and bobs done.

Who's the most inspiring person you've worked with?

Redlight. He's my best friend, we've been working together for so many years. He really pushes people in the studio – sometimes to the point of breaking – but we always get really good results when we work together.

What other DJs do you admire?

I love what Ben UFO is doing – I think he's really great. I love Oneman – for his sense of fun. He's quite jovial – I mean he's serious but really fun at the same time. Artwork – I love watching Artwork DJ – we just played together at Snowbombing and I really got to know him. I like people that throw in curveballs – there's so many serious DJs out there and it should be like 'come on, we are having fun right now.'

What's been your musical highlight of the year so far?

It was New Year's Eve playing at a warehouse party at Netil House. It was 4am, the very start of the year. It was a BrEaCh set and it just felt great playing a good set to people who were really having a good time. This year for me is all about BrEaCh and it felt good to start the year off with a really enjoyable set.

What tune are you loving to play out as BrEaCh at the moment?

Beatbox - Crazy P (BrEaCh remix)

Beatbox (Breach remix) - Crazy P by BrEaCh

Catch BrEaCh at the Spectrum Warehouse Party this Saturday May 5th.

Lowri