{"id":20,"date":"2023-12-06T21:21:09","date_gmt":"2023-12-06T21:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/callum-willis\/?p=20"},"modified":"2023-12-07T18:19:52","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T18:19:52","slug":"getting-to-know-harris-outside-of-the-rave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/callum-willis\/getting-to-know-harris-outside-of-the-rave\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting to know ‘Harris’ outside of the rave"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Harrison Reid, better known as \u2018Harris\u2019 to those in the UK garage sphere, is a twenty year old York based DJ and producer who has accumulated 350k listens on Soundcloud for his first release \u2018In The Rave\u2019. More impressive still is that the song released under \u2018Shellout Sessions\u2019, a label he co-owns and manages. After ten months since his debut hit, along with playing multiple successful events throughout twenty twenty three, I’m eager to explore how this all came about as well as what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Harris at ‘Shellout Sessions Volume 3’ by Blind in One Ear, Deaf in One Eye<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I\u2019d say I\u2019ve always been musical.’ Harrison told me without missing a beat. He started devoting his time and energy into producing music while doing his GCSE course during school, before this however he\u2019d played the piano for many years. To begin with he created house music, only finding garage on a whim with his schoolmate PJ Statham, another York based DJ and Producer who at the time was beginning his own success story. Harris sighted finding Conducta\u2019s Keep Hush set on YouTube as the definitive moment he knew he wanted to make garage music. \u2018I remember watching it with PJ and we were both like \u201cthis is the sickest thing I\u2019ve ever seen\u201d and from then we just started getting into garage.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The London based head of Kiwi Rekords \u2018Conducta\u2019 may have been an introduction to the scene but Harris credits artists like ‘Gemi’ and ‘Sammy Virji’ as inspirations to begin creating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After two years of both production and learning to DJ, York\u2019s Ziggys bar and nightclub saw Harrison\u2019s debut set. \u2018I got up and was really excited – nervous too but in a good way, it was a good night.’ He continued to recount, \u2018if you know your music and you know what the reactions will be like from the crowd, there\u2019s no reason to be nervous.’ The set was a full circle moment as he went back to back with longtime friend, collaborator and previously mentioned PJ, years after finding garage together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their continued friendship and musical association lead to the creation of their own label and events company named \u2018Shellout Sessions\u2019. In part this was also a response to their shared dissatisfaction with York\u2019s nightlife and their having to travel to do sets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We thought instead of having to go out to other cities like Leeds or Newcastle we\u2019d much rather have our own events that we control.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking about the role he plays in Shellout Sessions Harrison explained, \u2018I obviously DJ at all the events we throw. I help organise the venue, do promotion like put posters up, contact residents to let them know what the situation is\u2026 just day to day running really.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His main role however is finding the artists that will get their music released through the label, sorting through submissions and deciding what fits their brand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as the other music he cultivates for the label, \u2018In The Rave\u2019 released under Shellout Sessions on the 6th of January this year to large success. When asked about the creation of the song he explained ‘Originally I was listening to my Spotify playlist and that Katy B tune came on, \u2018lights on\u2019, and I just thought “these vocals go hard\u201d’. While the original is a 2010 pop single from Katy B\u2019s debut album \u2018On a Mission\u2019, it was decided here that a garage remix would be fitting. \u2018I remember looking at Soundcloud to see if anyone else had done it\u2019 he continued, \u2018and nobody had so I got a one shot off splice and I made a melody with that, put the vocals over the top, made the bass for it as well but then I couldn\u2019t figure out what to do with the drums.’ To fix the issue he consulted with PJ who sent him over some samples to use for the drums. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018He added his own little touch to it.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PJ Statham pictured with Harris in Ziggys by Blind in One Ear, Deaf in One Eye<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ironically, considering the success of the song, he originally didn\u2019t want to release it. \u2018I didn\u2019t think it was very good but PJ told me \u2018you need to put this tune out\u2019 and so I thought \u201cwhy not?\u201d’ This led to thousands of listens on SoundCloud and in clubs, becoming a welcome surprise. While the quality of the music, as well as the right marketing and a bit of luck can all make for a songs success, another factor has become important for smaller artists. \u2018I think TikTok is a really good tool for garage at the moment\u2019 Harris confessed, \u2018the thing that helped my tune blow up was TikTok streaming.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some, TikTok has been an opportunity at a big break, garnering them an audience as the algorithm promotes their sound to a degree they could never have afforded through traditional mediums of music marketing. While Harris and Shellout Sessions exemplify this, \u2018In The Rave\u2019 does highlight an issue too. \u2018Because people would re upload [In the Rave] and then others would make TikToks with that sound, I didn\u2019t have any ownership. People reuploading meant that they had it for themselves and in a sense that\u2019s kind of a bad thing.\u2019 Harrison had no credited connection to the song once it was placed onto TikTok by a third party, making it difficult for those who would want to find the artist behind it. \u2018It did annoy me a little bit because I\u2019d be in the comment section asking for credit and get none.’ <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, while not to undermine the importance of this issue, the success on TikTok did positively impact the number of streams in this case. Despite this, Harrison has fallen out of love with his first hit for a different and far simpler reason. \u2018It\u2019s a good tune but I\u2019m sick to death of hearing it. I don\u2019t even play it out at my sets anymore.’ <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems that a focus on releasing new music is imminent for Harris in 2024, stating \u2018I\u2019ve got a couple of tunes I\u2019m sitting on at the moment, I\u2019ll play them out and give them a bit of promotion, then they should be out next year.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s plenty to keep an eye on between his personal releases, sets across the North and the events he\u2019ll be co- running for Shellout Sessions. Next up, you can see Harrison play on the 17th January at the Shellout Sessions x Cribb event happening at Blue Box in York. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy your ticket here: https:\/\/www.fatsoma.com\/e\/8ofrrgib\/shellout-sessions-x-cribb-presents-scruz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And stream ‘In The Rave’, along with Shellout Session’s other releases here: https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/shell-out-session\/harris-in-the-rave-free-download<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Shows\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Harris in the rave at Ziggys by Blind in One Ear, Deaf in One Eye<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For updates on Blind in One Ear, Deaf in One Eye follow @blindinoneeardeafinoneeye on Instagram<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harrison Reid, better known as \u2018Harris\u2019 to those in the UK garage sphere, is a twenty year old York based DJ and producer who has accumulated 350k listens on Soundcloud for his first release \u2018In The Rave\u2019. More impressive still is that the song released under \u2018Shellout Sessions\u2019, a label he co-owns and manages. After […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":21,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[5,6,7,8,10,11,9],"class_list":["post-20","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-dj","tag-garage-music","tag-house-music","tag-newcastle","tag-producer","tag-uk-g","tag-york"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/callum-willis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/callum-willis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/callum-willis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/callum-willis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/callum-willis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/callum-willis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/callum-willis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/callum-willis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/callum-willis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/callum-willis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}