He’s not a barber but if you see Trimer in the mix, he will have your hairs standing on end and he will shave them straight off.
Now label manager at Audioporn and rising producer himself, Trimer (AKA Harun Blissett) came through the old school way; a DJ. You can tell if you’ve see him leaping around behind the decks mid mix at spots such as Boxpark Shoreditch, Roxy Club Prague or Ministry Of Sound London.
You can hear it in his slowly growing repertoire of bangers too. Most notably his Killers EP. Released this month and created with Audioporn founder Shimon, Killers is his largest EP to date and hits hard in all directions. With more to come before the year is out we caught up with him to talk about UKG, accountancy and the fine art of headphone munching. Get to know:
You’re a DJ first and foremost, right? You can tell this from the amount you jump around behind the decks…
Sometimes I wish I could just be a DJ and not have to do anything else. But that’s not how things go these days. I got into it around 2001 in my bedroom. Two decks; one belt drive, one direct drive and I had them set up on the bed so they bounced around all over the shop. That’s why I can jump around, I’ve been balancing them since day one.
If you can mix on a set up like that you can mix anywhere!
I’m glad. I’ve seen some terrible set ups over the years but I can work on it all. These days I’m lucky to tell people what I’d like in advance; three decks gives the best show you’re going to get. Two decks are fine, but you won’t get the same creativity.
It’s the classical way! The best producers start as DJs because they understand the music…
I think it’s good for everyone to learn how to mix two tunes and understand the set up full stop. If you’re going to go out there and press sync then that’s your decision but at least know when to identify a problem so if it all goes tits up you’re not just looking around for the sound engineer, you can sort it yourself. I don’t want to stand there shaking my head not knowing what’s going on, that’s embarrassing, I can deal with it.
So what are your favourite memories of breaking through? That must have been around the early/mid 2000s. Quite a mad time in D&B!
It was an exciting time but I guess I broke through mixing a lot of UKG back then. I was playing on the pirates.
I didn’t know you’d had a garage phase!
For quite a while man. UKG was a lot easier to break into and show what you could do. With drum & bass you had to know someone, or at least know someone who knew someone. Or be a really good producer. That’s definitely the best way now. Knuckle down, learn your craft. That’s why I’ve not released much until now. I went to music college, studied there for a couple of years, got my head down and met Shimon a couple of years ago and here we are.
This is your debut EP but you’ve had a few bits out before on M Ocean right?
Yeah a few bits as Fireteam which was myself, MC Mekar and DJ Smokesta from Kool FM. We had a couple of things out on Emotif records, Botchit & Scarper and I did one on my own as well. But me and Shimon did something last year, Scaredy Cat, which I see as my first proper release.
That’s when you joined Audioporn?
A few months after. Shim just hit me up and said ‘do you want to work on the label?’ I was like ‘wow WTF? A man who made tunes I grew up to asks me to work with him!’
Then suddenly you’re a label manager
Yeah! He asked me to get on board and do more things, I said I’d do some admin and he was like ‘no man, label manager!’ It stuck. I wasn’t surprised because I’ve always been that guy who wants to know how everything works. You start out as a clubber and look up at the DJs or see what the promoter is doing so you get involved, then you wonder how it all works behind the scenes. I love the inner workings and seeing how it’s all going.
Being a part of it, contributing to it
Totally man. It sounds cheesy, but I want to give something back to something that’s given me so much for over half my life.
It’s only right. To try and push it and contribute to it.
Yeah man. Now I can do this musically as well. It’s great and Shimon’s a good guide for that. Especially producing, if it’s rubbish he’ll tell you but if it’s good he’ll be jumping around. He’s got a lot of advice in so many aspects of the industry. Look at the acts he’s brought through and where they are.
Amen. So I heard you used to be an accountant but I can’t picture that. Mild mannered accountant by day, deck monster by night…
Ha! I know, it’s Clark Kent business. I’m still one now. I wanted to have a plan B. I work in a care agency and look after their accounts and their IT. Music is what I want to do but you’ve got to pay the bills because it won’t last forever. I’ve got freedom as well, I can be flexible with my day job so if I need to take a show or go away then I can do my work another time.
Also freedom as a producer. No pressure. You’re not just making tunes to pay the rent, you can have fun
Exactly. I played this EP to Dan from the Brookes Brothers and he said ‘ah man it sounds like you’re having fun in the studio’ And it’s like yeah that’s definitely it. We were just having a laugh, making noises and pressing buttons.
What’s your persy fave on the EP?
I’m going to say Killers, I love the way it moves and slides. It’s super bass heavy. Giant Locast is another favourite, it taps into the really dark stuff that inspired me when I was younger. I also have to shout out Pastry Maker for his role on Take Position. We needed a vocal and I called him up. 10 minutes later he sent me something, five minutes after that he’s in the project and I’m moving him around. It was that type of project. Everything was very natural and fun.
So what’s up next?
Label wise we’ve got an EP from Gino (AKA Arnone, AKA Rushmore) and 10 years of Audioporn which we’re looking to get out by the end of the year, even though it will be 11 years by then but who cares? It’s just a number.
Says the accountant
Ha!
The accountant thing shocked me when I heard as I honestly thought you used to be a barber
Ha, no I’ve never been a barber but I did used to cut my own hair and that is why I’m called Trimer. Why spend a tenner on a haircut when, back then, you could get two vinyls?
Quick maths! Anything more coming up from you personally this year?
Yeah there’s something of mine on the Audioporn 10 years album that might surprise people. It’s a bit different
I’m expecting some mad jazz lounge thing now
Not quite but I did play piano for years until football took over my life. From around the age of 5 to about 16. But I’m nothing compared to my brother Karim Kamar. He took the piano to the next level, I need to get him on a tune one day. YouTube him!
So music runs in the family!
It does, I guess. My parents weren’t musicians but they loved music and we had great things playing all the time growing up. My uncle is Winston Blissett. He’s a session musician who’s played for Massive Attack, Lisa Stansfield and Boy George. He’s still touring and travelling now. My other uncle was a hip hop DJ as well.
Did he ever bite his headphones too?
Ha! The infamous Drum&BassArena set. Okay let me explain this one. I don’t always bite my headphones. This is what happened… Me, Rene LaVice and Ownglow all playing b2b2b and it’s going well. I go up to go on and I’m doing a mix that I was going to do at a Young Guns event the night before. Just as I was getting ready to go in one of the DJs touched the deck and messed up the whole mix. I was furious. So back to the day; I’m about to do the mix and Ownglow went to touch something, watching the vid I think he’s going for the reload. So I put my arms out to keep people away, the headphones fall from my head and it looks like I’m shoulder barging him out of the way. But nothing is going to ruin this mix, right? I can’t put them back on because I’m in the mix and yeah, https://www.facebook.com/trimerdon/videos/1012968322134899/you’ve seen the video… It looks like some mad headbanging headphone eating competition. But that’s what happens when you get caught up in the mix!
Get caught up with Trimer: Facebook / Soundcloud
Shimon & Trimer The Killers is out now on Audioporn
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