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Life hasn’t always been easy for Dutch DJ/producer Jordy Bruins a.k.a. Son of 8-Bits. In fact, shortly after this interview Son of 8-Bits faced a nearly two-year battle with a serious illness - a battle he fortunately won. These days, he is fully back in action. In this edition of the MY FIRST GIG series: friendly and sympathetic techno artisT Son of 8-Bits. “I had to save the night.”
“I’ve basically always had music playing. It was like that at home too. My mother comes from the punk rock era. The TV was often tuned to TMF or MTV. So I’ve been listening to a lot of music my entire life.”
James Brown Is Dead
“In 1990, when I was eight, I was introduced to house music through my aunt. She often went to raves and sometimes bought singles. One day I heard “James Brown Is Dead” and I was instantly hooked. Of course, I had to have the single myself. Soon after, I discovered the Arcade compilation CDs, which were sort of promotional tools at the time. But to me, it just meant more music to enjoy. I saved up my pocket money and started buying one CD per month. That’s how I got my first Thunderdome CD.”
All About Gabber
“In my first year of high school, I bought my first vinyl. We only had one turntable at home, but that didn’t stop me. This was in 1995 and it was all gabber, gabber, gabber back then. That first record was undoubtedly a track by Ruffneck.”
Underground Feel
“Around the year 2000, the gabber era was coming to an end. The genre had become too commercial. I started looking for music with a more underground feel. That’s how I discovered the so-called ‘chemical beats’, like the Chemical Brothers. I also got into jungle and drum & bass, and later on, (tribal) techno – genres I still enjoy today.”
Technolab
“I bought two turntables with the money from my first job. By then, I had a little vinyl collection and started mixing at home with friends. We were also regulars at parties. We went to Shockers, which took place once a year at the RAI. And every month, we went to Technolab, a party held at a venue in Utrecht that’s now called De Helling, but back then it was De Vloer. Techno events there were organized by DJ Drifter and Zero-One.”
Self-Taught
“I was already used to listening to insane amounts of music, and at some point, I realized what the DJs were actually doing: ‘If you cut this part and layer it over that part, you get that.’ So I never learned DJing from anyone – I’m completely self-taught. Sure, I spent a lot of time watching DJs from the booth at Winkel van Sinkel in Utrecht. Big names passed through there, but the one who impressed me most was Benny Rodriguez. I was practically there every week and didn’t realize at first that Benny hadn’t been DJing that long. When I found out, it only made it cooler to see his development.”
Son of 8-Bits
“The name Son of 8-Bits came up during my studies in Leeuwarden. I was studying at the Academy of Pop Culture and had to perform for an assignment at De Gloppe, a venue similar to Db’s in Utrecht. The task was to develop our own style. Strangely enough, I chose drum & bass at the time.” (laughs) “I prepared the set with another student, and while we were out at a bar one night, I came up with the name Son of 8-Bits. It’s a nod to the computer world, but also kind of sounds like ‘son of a bitch’.” (laughs)
Musical Direction
“After a few years of casually DJing here and there, I was approached in 2005 by a new Utrecht-based organization. They asked if I wanted to help brainstorm for a party they were planning. They wanted advice on the music and atmosphere. I told them that techno and house were super trendy and would be a good fit. They already had a main act who could play a bit of everything, and I got to play too.”
Bangers Only
“My first gig in front of an audience – I wanted to be well-prepared. Not by planning the whole set in advance, but by deciding which records I definitely wanted to bring. Plenty of bangers, but not too many weird ones. I did pick out the first two tracks ahead of time. I knew that once I had those two mixed well, the nerves would disappear. Then I’d know how the decks felt and how sensitive the needle was. I wasn’t terribly nervous anyway because I knew I had the technical part down. I was confident.”
Not Amused
“After a few hours of enjoying the music inside, I stepped outside to grab a smoke and pick up a friend. When we came back in – boom – Top 40 music was playing! What?! I immediately asked the DJ, ‘What are you doing?!’ He said, ‘Some girl asked for it.’ I mean, come on. The organizers decided I should take over then and there. Gulp. That was a moment. I had to save the night because the crowd was clearly not amused by that Top 40 track.”
Too Mellow
“I quickly grabbed the two tracks I had planned to open with. But since I was supposed to play later on the line-up, they were a bit too mellow to start the night with – at least in hindsight. I would’ve preferred to kick things off with a real banger. Luckily, my music did resonate with the crowd, even though after three minutes I noticed people getting a bit antsy. That’s when I switched to tech house – and that worked like a charm.”
AWESOME!
“A big group of friends came to support me. It was such a fun night and they stayed the whole time. So if you ask me how I experienced my first gig, I’d say: AWESOME! I loved that my music choices worked so well and that people were really going off in front of the booth. That’s what you do it for. You can mix at home every day, but you won’t get that same sense of connection and energy you get at a live event.”
Don’t Be That Guy
“What I learned from that first time is that I should prepare for different directions in terms of the music I bring to a gig. Sometimes the vibe can be totally different from what you expected, and your original plan might not fit. Better to be ready for that. It also helps to check out who the other DJs are and what they’re doing. Don’t think you’re more important than anyone else. Make sure your set complements the others. Don’t be that guy who floors it after the previous DJ played a chilled-out set. Of course, you shouldn’t compromise your artistic freedom, but hey – if you release the clutch and hit the gas at the same time, the car will stall.”
PlayStation
“I started producing in the early 2000s. The PlayStation had a program called Music, which allowed you to make simple tunes and had loads of samples. For the time, it was decent. I still produce music now. I’ve released tracks on Reblin Records, Japan’s Cassette Records, and Germany’s Samplefreunde. And this year, among other things, my remix of Midnight Nation will be released on Natural Behave. Unfortunately, I can’t talk about the other releases just yet.”
Jack of All Trades, Master of None
“My advice to upcoming DJs: stay true to yourself. Don’t spread yourself too thin – better to be a master of one than a jack of all trades.” (laughs) “Stick to your own style. Another tip: organize your digital library properly. Think about which tracks are hard and which are soft. It makes it way easier when you’re playing a gig. In that sense, I do miss the vinyl era. Not the lugging around – I usually brought 50 to 100 records, not fun – but the covers. We don’t make that visual connection anymore. I sometimes didn’t know a track’s name, but I knew the yellow one with the black-and-white border would go perfectly with whatever I was spinning. Now you get tons of promos, but you lose that tactile link.”
“Over the past few years, I’ve had lots of great gigs – from Familia Techno Fuerteventura Norte to East Techno Collective in Panama. My last show with a live audience was about a year ago at Oosterbar in Amsterdam. Since then, I’ve been focused on building and setting up my new studio. I’ve created lots of new music and done several online streams. No, I don’t earn anything from that, but I don’t DJ just for the money. It’s all about the passion in the end. I’ve also been diving into pressing vinyl and learning about its distribution. I love the visual and tactile aspects of vinyl. Give it a push or slow it down, and you instantly see and hear what’s happening.”
This interview with Son of 8-Bits was originally published in February 2021 on This Is Our House.
Who is Son of 8-Bits?
Utrecht’s own Son of 8-Bits has been playing groovy techno and dystopian elektro for over 20 years. He’s done it in Japan, Spain and of course at home in the Netherlands.
Son of 8-Bits specializes in techno with a preference for hypnotic rhythms, malignant dub tracks, acid bass and relentless drums.
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