Liz Sheehan catches up with two local award winning DJ's - Philly and Mono Lisa who are keeping breaks well and alive in Perth with their Force Majeure night and regular spots at Ambar.

Jager bombs or vodka and red bull?
Lisa: White Sambuca thanks!
Phil: or? Jager with a vodka rebull chaser thanks.

When did you first play together and how did it go?
Phil: We played a closing set at Ambar a few weeks before Major Break and it went really well.
I guess someone must’ve liked it because since then we’ve played together at Major Break, Breakfest and a tonne of other nights too. We both have heaps of fun up there and our styles seem to work really well together.
Lisa: Yeah I really enjoy playing with Phil.  He’s also one of my best mates so it’s been wicked playing so many great gigs together.

You seem to have played a few different genre's in your time Phil - what's your favourite?
Well I got into DJing through hip hop so that always has a special place in my heart – I love the funky soulful side of that genre, but theres nothing like banging out a pumping set of breaks and house to an up for it crowd – the energy from those sets is hard to beat.

Phil - tell me about your up and coming release with the Destination? label?
I recently made a tune with the Signal Drivers, which came out quite well, so they’re going to release it on their label with a bunch of remixes from some quality artists. Should be out in the next few months.

Have you got anything else in the works after the release?
I've got a stack of music near completion in a few different styles, so hopefully there’ll be some more stuff out this year – stay tuned.

What made you decide to get into playing Breaks Lisa?
Well I have always loved breaks so there was never really any doubt that I would play breaks. As soon as I learnt how to mix I scoured ebay for months building up my breaks back catalogue, as well as my credit card bill! I couldn’t really think of playing any other style – about 75% of my sets are made up of breaks tunes.  Although I have started mixing a bit of dnb lately to keep things interesting.

Do you have any plans to start producing tracks Lisa?
I would love to, but I haven’t really thought much about that yet – just concentrating on my mixing for now.

Where did the idea for Force Majeure come from?
Phil: I was looking for an idea for a new night to run and noticed the lack of nights pushing the harder sounds in breaks and house, so after talking with Megs and Lisa we came up with a name and proposed the idea to Ambar. The first night was a huge success with heaps of people commenting that they don’t hear enough of that style anymore, so hopefully we can build on that success and have some more fun parties.

What was the best part about the last Force Majeure?
Phil: To me it was the response from the punters. We knew there was a market for our sound but didn’t realise how hungry the people were for it.
Lisa: The night brought a lot of old crew back to Ambar and also showcased the best of breakbeat to the new crew who perhaps haven’t heard an entire night of hard breaks ever! We achieved exactly what we set out to do and more.

How do you feel about the direction of breaks in the last few years and in the future?
Lisa: Well the old ‘breaks is dead’ argument has been done to death, but my response to that is I play breaks and have only played breaks for the last 3 years and have still been booked so go figure! The last 6 months have seen a lot more quality breaks releases from artists all over the world and I’m sure there will be more to come.
Phil: I think breaks has definitely been in somewhat of a lull in the last year or two as other genres have their time in the sun, but that’s a part of the cycle that all genres seem to go through. I think the next 18 months will see breaks rise up again. That being said I think one of the best developments in the past few years is that DJs and punters alike are much more open to having a range of genres played in the same set or the same night. At Force Majeure this time we’ll have breaks, house, drum n bass and dubstep all in the same night and I think people are looking forward to that.

Who is your favourite DJ/Producer and why?
Lisa: Such a hard question - my favourite producers change on a daily basis! I usually play late sets which focus on the harder tip so lately have been playing a lot of Baobinga and ID, Backdraft and Bassbin Twins stuff. My favourite DJs at the moment are the Breakfastaz – their sets are always so hard, energetic and relentlessly banging; pure entertainment from start to finish.
Phil: Lately ive been getting into Sam Hell’s stuff a lot, and Break the Box is also producing some great work at the moment. On the DJ tip, Nick Thayer always plays amazing sets, heaps of styles mixed toether really well.

Progressive is like an orgasm that never comes. Discuss
Well there aint no fucken way you’ll hear progressive at Force Majeure!!

Catch Philly and Mono Lisa on Friday 27th February at Ambar for Force Majeure also featuring Dart, Fine China, Shockone and The Nightcrawlaz.