Speak to most people interested in the hard dance scene and they would have heard of Cally & Juice. They have been DJ partners in crime for over 6 years playing events such as Hard House Academy, Frantic, WiLDCHiLD, Impulz and a host of others. Not only do they DJ, but produce as well, releasing records such as “All you bastards”; “Blurred” and others besides.

What most people don’t realise is that they each run their own events in Wales. With Cally (Ian) working on Bionic with Brian M in Cardiff and Juice (Gary) running Breathe in Swansea. Breathe is a monthly event but also tours regularly to the West of Wales as well as travelling to other parts of the UK to other events such as the Bionic & Breathe room at Westfest last year.

With 2 Breathe events this weekend (Breathe and Breathe West) I decided to (finally!) speak to Gary about Breathe and where and why it all started.

So most people outside of Wales although have heard of Cally & Juice have not have heard of your monthly event Breathe so could you tell me some of the clubs history?

Well Breathe started 6 years ago in my home City, Swansea. It was originally held at wicked old theatre called the Palace but when that closed down due to lack of repair about 3 years ago we moved to our present home, BAR 5 in Swansea.

Why did you decide to start Breathe?

At the time I was resident at a night called Tick-Tock in Swansea and when that closed down I started Breathe up as a way of getting a chance to play out more often. Fortunately for me it turned out to be one of the best things I’ve ever done.

Looking back over the past 6 years what has been the most memorable Breathe event?

Without wishing to sound too cheesy, there have been too many wicked memories to pick out just one memorable Breathe. I’d probably say the best Breathe events are the NYE parties and the Escape Into The Park “After-parties”. These are always rammed and the atmosphere is absolutely electric. I look forward to these dates every single year.

Wales is renowned for its love of Hardstyle, why do you think it’s so popular in Wales?

I think a bit of it’s to do with Bionic and Breathe pushing the Hard Trance/Hardstyle sound for so many years. The clubbers in South Wales get a better opportunity to be exposed to this type of music than the rest of the UK. It’s the same reason Hard House is still so big up North, that’s what the Hard Dance promoters up there expose their crowds to.

Being a DJ you get to play many different places, what’s been your favourite city to play in?

There are so many great city’s to play in but I’d say the best crowd reactions are in Swansea and Cardiff. Ask almost anyone who travels from outside to a Bionic or Breathe for the first time, and they are always blown away by how friendly and up-for-it everyone is. I mean, Cally and I have been playing back to back here at least twice a month for eight years and they still welcome us with the biggest cheer you can imagine every time. It’s the best feeling in the World!

How does the crowd from the West differ from the rest of the UK?

I think I answered that one above (sorry about that. I got a bit carried away lol)

Who are your residents and what do they play?

Apart from Cally & myself our other resident is a sexy little female DJ called Frisky. She plays a mixture of Hard Trance and Hardstyle and not only looks the part but she’d give most male DJ’s a run for their money technically. Her beat-matching skills are out of this World – and she hardly uses her headphones when she’s does it. It still baffles me to this day how she does it. Lol. Keep an eye our for this one!

You have your own label called Ourstyle, how did that come about?

About 2 and a half years ago Cally and I started writing tunes again. We were lucky enough to have some very successful tunes out on Nukleuz Black like “All You Bastards” and “Blurred”. However, if you write tunes for another label you have very little say over what gets released or what direction you can take the music. With your own label you’re the boss and you can write tunes the way you want to, hence the name “Ourstyle”.

You and your partner in crime Cally have a busy DJ schedule so where do you find the time organise Breathe?

That has been a very big problem to be honest. As I’m the only person organising everything I’ve found it very difficult to give it the attention it deserves because I have to juggle it with DJing, Producing and still working in the week. Fortunately I’ve gone part time with my day job as a Financial Adviser to concentrate on the work I love i.e. DJing, producing and Breathe. Things are still hectic but at last I can concentrate more on promoting and pushing Breathe to a wider audience.

I know you and Cally have been spending time in the studio, so when can we look forward to your next release, and on what label will it be on?

With regards to Ourstyle our first release “Do It Like That” did very well earlier this year and our second release, “Serotonin Rush” (written by Vandall with a hard remix by us) is due out at the end of August.

We’ve also just remixed QT-13 (you may know it as the “chop-chop-tempo” tune) for DJ Activator on Activa records. That was a great honour for us to be asked to remix such a legendary tune. It’s in the shops now as they say.

If you weren’t a DJ what would you be doing now?

I don’t want to think about that one lol. I’ve been very lucky that Cally & myself have been some of the lucky few who have been able to turn DJing into a career. Long may it continue (fingers crossed).

Having said that if I wasn’t DJing I’d still be a full time Financial Adviser. To be honest I’m glad I’ve got the qualifications and experience as an Adviser because it’s something goes wrong with the DJing I’ve still got a career to go back to at any time. It’s quite reassuring - even if it is a bit boring :)


(Thanks to Juice and Frisky for the photos not to be reproduced without permission)