With Q-Dance's first event in Canada set for this October, I figured it would be the time to take a closer look at someone who helped bring hardstyle to Alberta/Canada and turn it into one of the most sought after genres in Western Canada. Enter James Bayliss, who through his tireless work and determination played a major part in introducing hardstyle to thousands of now devoted fans in Alberta. He's the only Canadian artist to have his own radio show featured on the coveted Q-Dance radio roster, and remains one of the go to acts that perform in all of the hardstyle massives in Alberta. If you're a hardstyle fan in Canada then you've got to read this interview on how the path to success isn't always straight as an arrow, but when you've got passion and determination, anything is possible. Enjoy:
Who is James Bayliss?
James Bayliss: He is a 26 year-old, 6'6 tall DJ from Alberta who loves hardstyle.
What's your style in the genre?
I don't know man, I play everything. It all depends on the mood. A lot of people think that hardstyle doesn't have a lot of styles to it, but honestly it's a pretty diverse style. You can play anything from really melodic to super raw, or really clubby. I don't stick to one style as it depends on the night and who else I'm playing with.
You're a DJ and not a producer?
I'm a DJ but not a producer, not yet. I am working on producing but it just takes time.
Hardstyle has taken off in Alberta in a big way, what was your role in making it the scene that it is today?
7-8 years ago I got brought on with Boodang spinning hard trance back in those days. That was the tail end when hard trance was truly king and then everything went house music. That was the time when I found hardstyle and fell in love with it. I became good friends with the owners of Boodang and was an active member of the team. I just kept on begging them and begging them that hardstyle was going to be the next big thing. I told them that they had to jump on it and be at the front of it. Eventually they put their faith in me we brought Lady Dana to our afterhours in Edmonton at the time. It did really well. Then the guys at Boodang put me right after Cosmic Gate at one of their big raves in Edmonton. I was put on the mainstage and that was the first time to my knowledge that hardstyle had ever been played anywhere in Canada. This happened around 6 years ago. Some fellow promoters told me to tone it down so you don't turn fans away. To be honest I had to change my dynamic because I didn't play the same way back then versus the way I play now. I played it with the intent to attract people to hardstyle. So I slowed it down a bit, played at 145 bpm instead at 150 bpm. I stayed away from the raw stuff, where at that point it wasn't around.
After I finished my set, the owner of the building came up to me and asked “What the f*ck was that? That was nuts!”. Prior to that I only played in the third room where it had only a couple hundred people capacity. Everytime people came to me asking what they were hearing and everytime I told them it was hardstyle. I was making 2,000 – 3,000 Cds every month and was handing them out to big raves and was getting people involved. I was making them aware of what hardstyle was. As time went on, the guys at Boodang continued to have faith in me and the bookings and shows continued to get bigger and bigger until we started doing Shaw Conference parties. They decided to bring in a hardstyle act to finish the night at one of the huge parties. I believe it was Headhunterz and it did extremely well. I kept pushing, Boodang kept having me back, and together we created the largest, most dedicated Hardstyle community in North America. Blackout 2013 was single-handedly the largest Hardstyle party in North American history, beating SOQD in LA. And now in 2014 - Q-Dance has seen our potential and is joining Boodang Music Canada and doing The Sound of Q-Dance right here in Qanada on October 10th in Edmonton. Its crazy if you think of where it started and where it is now. I'm beyond proud.
As it stands, Alberta has the biggest hardstyle scene in North America as far as I'm concerned. Really I was just a guy with a lot of passion for hardstyle and wanted to see it grow. Nothing's changed in that regard but now I understand the business side of it a lot more now. I'll still keep on going until we start doing massive shows at least somewhere in Canada. We'll have to wait and see.
Is there something special about the Alberta crowd that really allows them to prefer hardstyle?
If you were to ask Paul, who is one of the owners of Boodang, he'll tell you that Alberta used to be all about hardcore. Now this is way before my time so I have to take Paul's word on it. So that might explain why Western Canadians might be more attuned to it. I think what it was that it was presented to people in a certain way that appealed to the general audience that listened to electronic music. If they like trance then they're going to listen to hardstyle because that is how I presented it to them. I didn't just show up and pound their faces into the ground with a heavy beat and expect them to like it. I played sets that appealed to them and get people involved. I made them wonder what they were listening to and asking what song was being played. They might have not liked the entire set, but they might have liked that one song. You give tracklists, and you get them involved. I think that's what built it out here. You need to have a company that's at least willing to throw their back into it and start working to build it. I don't think you can walk into a city and immediately have a hardstyle scene.
