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bluFire Bass prepares for biggest concert of career
Ian Ong/The SPOKE
Ready to rock: Senior Phill Warren is preparing for his upcoming performance at the Borgore Show. Warren began working as a DJ at the age of 13.
Ian Ong When senior Phillip Warren first started DJing, he sat in his room, experimenting with hiphop music on his computer. Four years later, he has become the school-wide electronic sensation bluFire Bass and is faced with the most influential concert in his DJing career. Next month, bluFire Bass will join prominent electronic artists Borgore, Ookay, JAUZ and Dotcom in Philladelphia. Named after Borgore’s own record label, Buygore Records, the Borgore Show will run from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Jan. 31 and offer mixes of trap, dubstep and dance music. Warren, who says he is prepared to take his special style and attitude to the next level as the opening DJ for the show, is already popular among students
for performing at the library coffee house in November. “It was a packed house, there was a lot of spirit from the students and everybody was pumped about it,” sophomore Chris Turocy said. Sophomore A.J. Nadel is Warren’s classmate in Music Production and a fan of his music. Nadel said that Warren enjoys tinkering with sound in Music Production. “S ometimes he’ll jus t go off and do his own thing even though it’s not what the project says, but it always turns out really nice,” Nadel said. During the upcoming performance, Warren will be recording a music video for his new song, “Swiggity Swag.” For Warren, having a good turnout at the Borgore Show would be his dream come true. “I’ve decided that I don’t want to do anything else except tour the world and make music,”
Warren said. “I want to go to Delco for college, and by the time I’m finished there, I want to be famous and touring the world.” Warren began DJing at the age of 13 after his cousin introduced him to electronic music. He began mixing songs by cutting samples out of songs and mashing them up. While Warren began by creating “terrible” mixes of hip-hop, he now uses a style he describes as combining trap, dubstep, deep house and other sub-genres. Warren has also produced his own music that he performs and uploads to his SoundCloud page. He became bluFire Bass, a name he chose because “fire” was a catchphrase he used with his friends to say something was quality. “I’ve been trying to think of new ways to mix and to get people more hyped,” Warren said. “I’m thinking of songs where people will be screaming the lyrics to if they hear it and all they want to do is just go wild and dance.” Warren may be a DJ, but his tastes in music are diverse. “You have to expand your horizons and know more music besides electronic because it’s like, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, the great artists back in the day, and so many people don’t even know who they are and it’s a shame,” Warren said. Warren takes inspiration from all kinds of music, and admits
to mixing classical along with hip-hop, funk and reggae. He follows the bands Sublime and Funkadelic, and cites the song “Unfunky UFO” by Parliament as his personal favorite. With the Borgore show next year, Warren has the opportunity to play alongside Ookay, a trap artist who is an inspiration to his work, and big names like Borgore who have started their own record labels. Warren faced heavy opposition to his dream of becoming a DJ. When times looked their bleakest, Warren took inspiration from a teacher named John Deonarine, who guided him in the right direction in music and in life. In the end, his passion for music revealed a valuable lesson. “Never stop, and believe in yourself. Don’t care what anybody can say to you,” Warren said. “Honestly, it’s just my love of music that keeps me going, so if you love music and you love DJing, get into it! And I’ll help you.” Because of his signature style, Warren has garnered offers from promotion companies and support from ’Stoga students. “He’s really good. He’s really talented for someone in high school,” Nadel said. “It’s crazy because there are some people who know me as bluFire and not Phill Warren. Some kid asked me the other day if I even attended the school; they
asked me if I was just a DJ,” Warren said. His next goal is to channel his fans’ energy in order to ensure that the show will be a success. There are not that many performers at he Borgore Show, “so if I get a lot of people to come there, the record company may consider adding me to their record list and touring the country,” Warren said.
-Senior Phill Warren Warren encourages students to experience what electronic mixing has to offer and help him make headlines all over the area whiling having some “safe fun.” “Just seeing all of the DJs at concerts I would go to, I would listen and be like, ‘I can do this, if they’re doing it, why can’t I be up there?’” Warren said. “I’m just really trying my best to become a headlining act, that’s the only thing I want to do in life, and that’s the only thing I can see myself doing. I can’t see myself sitting at a desk or a cubicle or something. That’s not me.”
Ian Ong/The SPOKE
Swiggity Swag: Senior Phill Warren plans to record a music video for his new song “Swiggity Swag” during his performance at the Borgore Show. He produces and performs his own music.
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