Bryn Whiting is no stranger to the Tidy family. He’s a lifelong clubber, fan and now a member of the Tidy artist roster, making his solo appearance on tidyTwo with a powerful, euphoric hard trancer.
Johnny Dangerous caught up with him to talk about how Lockdown has helped him and reintroduced him to a previous passion with a great outcome.
Bryn, you are no stranger to Tidy having been a clubber and supporter back in the day, a regular at the events, but how does it feel to be on tidyTwo alongside names like Tony De Vit, Lee Haslam, Guyver, Signum, Heaven’s Cry, Stimulator and Nicholson?
I have been around for a while as a clubber and I have been to many Tidy events in my time and I remember the first time I heard Music is the drug played and I was in a euphoric trance and I instantly fell in love with the Tidy two Label and it has brought so many great tracks from Guyver, Lee Haslam, Technikal to name a few and to be among that list of exceptional talent is more than a dream come true.
Tell us a bit about your history with Tidy and your relationship with the label has developed over the years?
So, my History with Tidy started many, many years ago I Volunteered to help at a Weekender one year, I think it might have been TW9 or TW10 just odd Jobbing Around site helping put fences up doing the goodie bags for when guests arrived and handing out wrist bands when people arrived etc. I did that for a few weekenders and then one Weekender I helped set up the Tidy Shop and got it all ready for when everyone arrives and I remember Andy Pickles coming in and looking around and saying “Good job Bryn” that was one of the first times I got all fan boy and giggled to myself that Andy had praised me.
After many weekenders of working and meeting lots of people I finally wanted to get in the studio and make something for myself so I went in the Studio with Michael Dow and we did a Cover of Gouryella and I sent this to Amo just to see what he thought. I saw him at a festival and he played it in front of Thousands of people and it was right there I was hooked and I then did another cover of Push – The Legacy, sent it to Amo and yet again at another festival The Tidy Boys played it again. I was so happy when that happened I just wanted to make music all the time.
I bought a music studio and made a couple of tracks by myself but I just wasn’t getting it … everything wasn’t working or sitting right. Then Lee Haslam noticed my hard work while working for Tidy so he took me on to help Run Slinky events in Bournemouth which of course I took without any questions asked and I started making music with Michael Dow for Slinkys record label.
Unfortunately I lost my father and dealing with his death really took a toll on me and I gave up my role at Slinky and I quit music altogether Sold everything and walked away. I began to focus on myself and fitness but my love for Tidy and the music never left so I would always keep in contact with people in the scene.
Three years ago I saw Tidy were doing an event at the Opera House…now the O2. (The Tidy Opera House Reunion), and I thought I need to be involved with this and help the boys make this event amazing so I spoke to Sam Townend and he agreed to get me involved with the running of the event. He made me Artist Liaison for the event so when the event came and it was a total success I did not stop all night running around making sure everything went smoothly as possible doing stage management duties and running DJs back and forth to their hotels, generally making sure they were having a good time.
I also DJ’d in room 2 so it was safe to say I was knackered by the end of the night. At the end of the event Sam pulled me aside and said “thank you so much for tonight “and he wanted me to do every event alongside him and I couldn’t say no and together we have run two Opera House gigs, one Christmas party, two birthday parties and countless little events but the biggest Event for me to date was TDV20 in Birmingham which was a mammoth event to run. There were 3,000 plus people there and it went smoothly as it could go. I can’t wait for TW25 to work alongside a great, great team who put so much time and energy into the events to make them the best for people coming to them.
This is your first solo release on the label. Your first release was Hands Up with Technikal. How different is it producing solo than with someone? Did you find it easier or more difficult?
Yeah, me and Alf did this cover together we just jelled really. We both knew what we wanted from the track and the result was better than what I could ever imagine and of course I sent it to Amo. I remember the first time he dropped it at a Tidy Weekender the whole room erupted and I had shivers run down my spine. These days I like working on my own in the studio. I prefer it as you are not rushed for time and it is your mind creating the sounds yourself and not an engineer’s so for me it is more of a self-achievement plus you do not have to get dressed if you don’t want to ha ha!
Tell us about Are You Still Alive… how did you manage to create a track 18 years after the label launched that has managed to fit right in with the original sound of tidyTwo?
It was not called You Are Still Alive when I first made it… it was called We Will All Be Together Soon. When I made it there were no vocals, there was only the main riff and it was 16 bars not 8 bars which it is now. It didn’t have the pads bit in the middle. I sent it to Amo and said what do you think of this and he texted me straight away and he wanted a zoom meeting straight away and we had the meeting and he said it’s a great track but we need to make it better to be an amazing track so we went back and Forth for a couple of weeks and he really helped guide me in the right direction how to write the track and I came up with two versions.
I played both to him and he was like “Right you need to combine the two to make one” which took me another couple of hours to do and we had the track but we were missing something so I went on you tube and spent a good 3 hours trying to find something inspiring to use in the breakdown. I came across this guy talking about life and how people moan all the time and I knew this was it so I ripped it and put it over the track , sent it over but Amo was still not happy so he Tweaked the words slightly and arranged for someone to voice what he had written and sent it to me and then I layered it over the track, sent it back to Amo and he said “That’s it That’s the one”
So, without Amo’s guidance and help this track could have been totally different to what it is today, and I cannot thank him enough.
What is the story behind You Are Still Alive?
Around May/June last year I had just moved out of my girlfriend’s flat and I was in my new place and all there was to see on the news was that the virus that has crippled us for so long and I was feeling the same as everyone else… sad , lonely, depressed and desperate to see and spend time with my friends so I just sat in front of the computer and started playing around with some chord progressions. I think I was playing with them for about two days and then I realised these were something special. The next day I played with the notes and within 3 attempts the main melody was written.
Another hot property at the moment in dance music Nicholson has remixed your track. How do you feel about that?
Without him this track wouldn’t have happened. Just before lockdown happened, I knew it was coming and I reached out to Carl and he helped me out to be able to buy my studio so without him none of this would be happening right now, so I want to take this moment and Thank him so much for being a wonderful human being and a great friend.
Carl has been top of his game for the last couple of years with his productions and I’ve been a massive fan since his Track Blueprints (Tara’s Theme) which he did with Technikal. I remember when Amo rang me and told me who would be doing the remix I literally was jumping with excitement and messaged him and congratulate him and I knew he would smash it.
He did such a good job and when he sent me the finished version I listened it and I had a little tear and I knew this would be a massive hit. Since its release, it’s had so much support and I can’t thank him enough for turning a good track into an incredible track. The man is so talented and deserves so much more recognition.
Who would you most like to work with and why?
Funny enough it is Nicholson and we have got a studio date planned very, very soon and it is because I love his sound, he is top of his game right now and he’s a great friend!
You are well known for your partying… is it a wonder You Are Still Alive..? Or, has Lockdown and the closure of clubs etc saved you?
Hahaha yes back in the day I did love a good party and I often question myself how am I still alive… Yeah, lockdown has been a horrible nightmare and also a blessing because if it wasn’t for me getting the studio when I did, I got to keep my mind active and not go stir crazy. I dread to think what could of happened as I’m such an active person and not being able to go to the gym or do anything productive it would have been just been hell on earth!
I really feel for everyone out there who is not as lucky as me. Everyone is fighting a different battle and if you can have something or someone to keep you slightly sane, we will all get through this Music is definitely a helper!
Where do you go from here?
So, from here I go back into the studio and keep writing more music, learning and developing my sound whilst keep pushing for more releases on Tidy and other labels. I am looking forward to The Weekender, working and playing and seeing all my friends in one place for one big, massive party.
Hearing You are Still alive being played on the Main stage on that sound System and hopefully everyone going mad to it will be something!
And finally…
I just want to say a massive thank you to a few people Adam Dixon, Jay Flynn, Michael Galvin, Tim Cooper, Alex Jenkinson, Sam Townend, Amadeus Mozart and Carl Nicholson and all my Friends and my family for Believing in me and supporting me and to every single person that Download / Streamed / or listened to any of my tracks it means the world to me thank you so so, so much.
Love Bryn xxx
