What started as a hobby and time killer for Ottawa bass music lover Liam Fleming quickly turned more serious as he realized he had the skill and determination to make bass music his career.
Fleming, 20, is an Ottawa-based DJ and music producer who goes by the name “SHAKE” in the bass music community. He performs at nightclubs and parties across Ottawa, and also shares his music through SoundCloud and Facebook.
Fleming recently got involved with DNA Presents and Bydek—two of the biggest event planning organizations for high quality electronic music, he said.
Fleming said bass music is defined by a sound system music with lots of bass He said he first got into dubstep, then trap, and house music, but said bass music is a term he uses to describe his style.
He’s released an EP with Ottawa-based label, Capital Boom Records. He’s teamed up with several other local performers such as music producer Adium and rapper M.I.M.E.
Although he considers himself a DJ and producer, he said producing is what he truly loves.
“I know a lot of DJs that will only ever play other people’s music and never create their own. Personally, I don’t see nearly as much of an appeal for that,” Fleming said.
Fleming’s shows are local and usually at Barrymore’s, Ritual, or Babylon.
His crowd is filled with people who love bass and dance music, which he calls “a super fun audience to play music to.”
But he said having a job as unique as his can get tough sometimes.
“The hardest part is that you are your own boss so there isn’t someone to give you tasks and responsibilities. You have to make the call yourself, what the next step should be and that can be stressful because it can definitely be hit or miss,” Fleming said.
Right now, his tasks and responsibilities are to stay active, keep growing in the music community, and continue to raise level of production and the number of tracks he releases.
Fleming continues to be ambitious about his musical progress.
“After a couple years of working, I’m finally starting to get songs with large play counts on big channels, so that feels great,” he said.
His plans for the future are to start doing more national and international shows.
Apart from music, Fleming noted a few past hobbies such as snowboarding and skateboarding, as well as creative stuff like graphic design. However, he said 95 per cent of his time is put into music.
“You don’t really need hobbies when you enjoy what you’re doing so much.”
