If you follow Fokuz and its sister label Celsius, you’ve probably seen the name Bert H over the past few years.
He appeared seemingly out of no where back in 2014 with his first release on Celsius and followed it up with a steady outpouring of releases that showcased his unique sound. Melodic yet upbeat with an edge, Bert’s music can fit almost any dance floor. Other than his music, there’s not much known about this Russian producer. With his debut album “All About” set for release on Fokuz in the fall of 2017, we sat down with Bert to find out more about his story.
“Interview edited for language correction and continuity.
Many thanks to Bert for doing the interview in English,
since his English is much better than my Russian.”
AK: So, the basic questions first. Where are you from, and how did you discover the world of drum and bass?
B: I was born in Moscow, Russia. When I was 12 years old, I accidentally stumbled across a radio show that was playing drum and bass late one night, and I liked it very much. I remember the first track I ever heard even; it was Sub Focus – X-Ray! After that I started to record every radio show onto cassette. I still have a giant collection of old dnb cassettes even. Probably over 100 of them.
AK: Other than Sub Focus, who were your early influences production wise?
B: I was listening to AI, Brockie, Ed Solo, Logistics, Black Sun Empire, Calyx, and Future Prophecies to name a few. Around the same time I was recording these mixes, I got a copy of FL Studio. It was then that I started production… can’t say it was music right away. I didn’t get into DJ’ing until after I was out of the army, around the age of 21.
AK: How long were you in the military? Did you find that shaped your music preference at all? What do you do for work these days?
B: I was in the military for one year and enjoyed my time. During that period, I was listening to almost exclusively DNB. My tastes didn’t change, but I kept listening to more and more DNB. Drum and Bass is one love! Now I own my own woodworking company. I also do some additional work in the music industry as a mix engineer.
AK: Your first release was with Celsius back in 2014. How did you get in touch with Marco Dreazz?
B: I sent my first tracks to him in early 2014 and he picked them up right away. It was very exciting for me, and I was happy to get my first release as a DnB artist. From then on I worked very closely with Marco.
AK: So from 2014 until now, you’ve released something like 30 tracks on Fokuz and its sister labels. Now you are prepped for your first album to drop at the end of 2017. Can you tell us a bit about the album?
B: Yea man. Very excited about the album coming in the fall. I was sitting in my studio just sorting through all my demos and noticed I had something more there. I put together the idea for the album and Marco was on board. It was totally an accident. When I set out to make these tracks, I wasn’t necessarily thinking of creating an album, but when I sat back and listened I realized that’s exactly what it was. I’m ready to share it with people. There are a lot of tracks with my regulars like High N Sick, All Mode, and Monrroe. There are also some BIG remixes coming from Seba, Command Strange, Zerto T, and one more top secret one.
Look for Bert H’s album “All About” coming autumn 2017. Follow him via Facebook and/or Soundcloud:
[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/bert_h[/soundcloud]