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New tricks for B.Traits

B.C.-based drum ’n’ bass and dubstep DJ branches out into the UK electronica scene
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Who: B.Traits

When: Friday, Aug. 13, 12:30 p.m.

Where: Tommy Africa's

Cost: $40 (Deraylor wristband)

 

Let's face it: almost anyone can mix together two records. But it takes a special kind of talent, an innate ability to read the crowd, to really make magic happen on the dance floor.

Meet B.Traits, better known to friends and family as Bri Price: blond, young and female, she certainly isn't the average powerhouse that you find hunkered down in the DJ booth. But does she ever know how to rock a room.

She says the secret is to just genuinely be into the music that you're playing - no faking allowed.

"Don't ever play anything that you're not sure about, yourself, or something that you're not really feeling, but you think that everyone else does," she explained. "I'm not really down with that.

"Then, it's kind of like you're not playing music for yourself, as well, and it's not entirely selfish because I think that if I were standing up there playing music that I wasn't passionate about, I wouldn't be dancing around having a good time!"

B.Traits is a B.C. girl, born and raised in Nelson, transplanted to Vancouver in 2004.

"I was like 15 and I'd started going to those all-night rave parties," she laughed. "I always hung out with people that were friends with DJs, and then I became friends with the DJs myself."

At the same time she was into breakdancing and ended up teaching some breakdance moves to a guy she was dating - a DJ - in exchange for some lessons on mixing.

"Later on, we ended up living together. Then, as soon as I graduated from high school, when I had decided to move to Vancouver, I had kind of taken DJing on as my thing after that, so I ended up just taking the turntables with me when I moved," she laughed. "And then I just stuck with it."

She immersed herself into the scene in a big way and quickly made a name for herself with the city's drum 'n' bass and dubstep crowd, despite the skepticism and sexism she encountered along the way.

"I was just kind of thrown into the electronic music scene in Vancouver, and it just kind of grew on me. And I was like really well received, so I just ran with it," she said.

Soon, B.Traits was hangin' with the big boys - in the lineup of the World Drum 'n' Bass Tour, performing as part of the Formation Records crew and teaming up with MC Kay to form the Ladies Take Control (LTC) duo.

But the UK's thriving electronic scene has ultimately proven to be too tempting for this music junkie. In late 2007, the Digital Sound Boy himself, Shy FX, recruited B.Traits and quickly crowned her the first Digital Sound Girl of the DSB crew, finally giving her the opportunity to learn about the production side of things.

"It was a little bit difficult in Vancouver," she reflected. "I think being on Digital SoundBoy and it being a UK-based label, it was really difficult to just get anything finished, because I'd go over there for a few weeks at a time... and I could never really get anything completed."

She had been constantly rushing projects and planning her next trip to the UK.

"Then I'd come home, back to Vancouver, and just kind of sit and wait. And now that I'm here, I'm just able to get so much more stuff done."

B.Traits hasn't totally pulled up roots, yet - she still drifts between the two countries. She is making a special, short trip back to B.C. this week to play a few Deraylor Festival shows. This isn't B.Trait's first trip to the Whistler rodeo: she's played to many a packed house in this mountain town.

"Whistler's always got a really good vibe. I don't know what it is, it's completely different than Victoria and Vancouver. Maybe it's because there's so many travelers there," she pondered.

Anyone who has witnessed B.Traits in action can rest assured that she has some fresh material up her sleeve. Even before making her international move she was focused on keeping things interesting for the crowd.

"I do have stuff that I like to play in every set, definitely, but I never like to have it completely planned - that's kind of cheating!"

At the Whistler shows fans can expect to see another side of B.Traits, as she's been branching out from drum 'n' bass and dubstep.

"I'll be playing a little bit of everything. Since I've been in England, it's like my sets are almost more UK-inspired."

She plans to feature a wide range of genres, as well as a few artists that the Canadian crowd isn't all too familiar with - yet.

On top of her shows, B.Traits seems to have a lot of exciting, secretive projects on the go. In fact, even on Tuesday evening, she was locked away in the studio, working with an unnamed artist and others like Breakage and Shy FX.

"Oh my gosh, there's so much!" she laughed. "And there's so much I'm trying to hold down and keep a secret. This year, it won't be like too much for 2010, but I think that 2011 is going to be when everything's finally unleashed and it's going to be a really big year. Now, I'm just kind of getting all my duckies in a row."