Vilify Is Montreal's Newest Breakout DJ

It’s Wednesday night and Montreal’s Belmont nightclub is heaving with hundreds of smiling faces from all walks of life. Quebecois kids in #Struggle shirts mingle with Anglos rocking "RUN NDG" tees, bus boys rush to move empty cases of Molson Dry and everyone is buzzing about the headliners – dubstep legends Digital Mystikz. Not bad for a weekly showcase celebrating its 5th anniversary – a lifetime in nightlife terms. Welcome to Bassdrive, the metronomic heart of the city’s Dubstep scene and the brainchild of Montreal icon Vilify. Whether rocking her home base each week or playing a startling 180 gigs last year across Canada, Vilify has put in enough work to have all but the most industrious DJ begging for break, and she does so with a smile on her face and a passion for music that belies her spot at the top of Montreal’s DJ food chain. One week later, I sat down with Vilify to discuss 5 years of Bassdrive, how to run a club night and going international as a DJ.

Noisey: Who was Vilify 5 years ago? What were your ambitions when you first walked into Koi Bar, Bassdrive’s original location, and decided “Yeah, I’m going to do this”?
Vilify: Well the night started when someone said “I hear you DJ, you wanna throw a night?” and I said “no not really! I just want to DJ, I don’t want to promote.” But I did it, and it grew on its own and has become the greatest accomplishment of my whole life. I walked in there thinking I’d try it for a few weeks and if it didn’t work, I’d stop promoting and keep DJing. I had literally with no vision of the future, no vision of it growing into what it is today.

What were you playing at the time?
A lot more drum & dass, I was just starting to get more dubstep in there, a bit of hip-hop, a bit of jungle and probably some break core or something like that.

Where did you actually start DJing?
I bought my turntables as a teenager in Toronto when I was crazy embedded into the drum & bass scene there and a couple of months later, I brought them with me to Halifax for University and kept them in my dorm room. I met the Breakbeat Elite crew – Construct, Harmsworth, Ben C, and was welcomed by open arms. They definitely influenced me and we kind of grew together

Do you remember the first Bassdrive at Koi?
I do! It was actually my birthday. Since I’d just moved to Montreal and I didn’t know too many people, I figured I’d do the first one on my birthday to kind of force whoever I knew to come out. It was me, Recoil and Wally and it was actually pretty successful – better than I’d imagined!

What was the tipping point, the moment where you went “oh shit…this is something.” Because there were other dubstep events in Montreal but the energy at Bassdrive was different.
I think the tipping point was definitely when we started bringing in headliners and have those nights be successful. We tend to have locals play most weeks and have headliners for special events. When we brought in headliners, the same faces I saw every week would show up, but then people who knew bigger names would roll through and then stick around for the regular weeks. We did events with [Montreal promoters] SJU when they were first starting out, and we turned Koi into a sardine can. I’m thinking Borgore, Vaski on the first anniversary – you literally couldn’t walk through the club. That was a moment when I thought “wow, we did this!”

Who was your first big headliner?
I can’t actually remember if it was Borgore or if it was Vaski or maybe someone before that. Now it seems so long ago, maybe Starkey? I think all the headliner nights we did there did well.

There was a time where a lot of people didn’t like the direction dubstep was going in and by extension the direction Bassdrive was going in. The night definitely expanded towards drum & dass, trap and other styles, but you always kept your eye on the ball and kept yourself drama free.
Number 1, I’m always playing for myself and hoping people will enjoy it. I think if I was forced to play just one genre, I would be bored. Every set I play, I mix in 5 different genres of music and that’s what keeps it exciting and fresh for me. I haven’t tried to appease the crowd. When I played heavier dubstep, I wanted to play heavier dubstep and now that I’m playing more hip-hop and trap, it’s just what feels right for me. I’ve always done what I’ve done for myself and hoped other people were feeling it.

When you first started playing hip-hop at Bassdrive, how did it go? Rap in Montreal either goes over really well or sometimes, maybe because of language or cultural issues, it just doesn’t pop off.
I was a total hip-hop snob before and it was just strictly old shit. I hated on a lot of the new trap music, but now I play a hip-hop night on Thursdays at L’Écurie for 5 hours and I love mixing in old rap and new rap. It’s cool to see the reaction to these new tunes – stuff by Rick Ross and Rich Homie Quan. There’s a total reaction and they get it. It’s cool to be able to switch from bass music to hip-hop and back and have different parts of the crowd react, and react just as loudly as people who want to hear dubstep or drum & bass. I didn’t really expect to get that vibe.

Bassdrive’s had this interesting mix of young DJs and headliners. How have you struck that balance between the big name nights (which cost money) and the MTL-oriented ones?
Through the history of the night, it’s changed from when local nights would do better for whatever reason. There was a time when people just enjoyed being able to come out for free or 5 bucks. Now, there’s more variety – over the past couple of months we’ve done more headliners than usual but we try to keep it to once a month. That way people who can’t afford to come out have 3 weeks of free music. Even with a headliner we try to keep it to 5$ before 11. To see a huge name for 5 bucks…fair enough! Then on the other weeks it gives locals as many chances as possible – it seems fair.

Has the Montreal Police’s noise crack down affected you guys at all? The DMZ show I caught was heavy as all hell, but that wasn’t an average night. A lot of bars have faced fines.
I know people who own bars along the strip and DJs who’ve played the same nights for years and I feel the entire city is struggling because of this. It’s frustrating because all of us are here for the music and we want the music to sound the best. It’s not just the Belmont, it’s other clubs I play as well – they can’t even turn their subs on! It’s super frustrating and it seems like it’s only getting worse. Maybe that’s something I need to invest time and energy into because it’s not just our scene. Montreal is known as a city where you go out to clubs to party and when people go out and want the music to be louder…everyone suffers. It’s affected us, it’s affected my gigs all over the city. I know bar owners that really try to keep the volume down but then get hit with 1200$ fines because a cop walked in and had a bad day. It’s definitely been frustrating across my career.

You also made the move to Royal Phoenix to play Hip-Hop, how was that transition? What spurred you to do that?
It’s a monthly there. I also do a weekly Thursdays at L’Écurie. I never wanted to be pigeonholed by any genre, but I definitely used to be focused on different things. I do know that I tailor myself by the night but just along the same lines of being able to be eclectic. It keeps it fresh to know that it’s going to be a different crowd and I can experiment in different ways. It keeps it exciting.

And now you’re touring abroad! As someone who’s made her name off DJing, that’s rare. What’s the reaction been like across Canada?
I wish I knew how many provinces I’ve played across Canada! I’ve played all across the country, and I love it - especially new cities where you’ve never been there, you have no connections…but people know you and people react! It’s fun playing those nights because when you’re somewhere you’ve never played, you can bring out those favourite songs you’ve played for years that people at home might already know you for, but share them with someone new. Every city’s different and has a different vibe and I feel I can showcase myself and do my thing. I won’t name names, but there are some cities that people have told me “ah that’s not a good one, that city sucks” and those end up being my favourites!

As you're DJing increasingly outside of Montreal, do you think there's room for you to grow here? You’re someone who, career wise, has always really kept it moving, but how much further is there to go in Montreal?
I don’t know, I think I feel that desire to take on the entire world but it’s awesome to know that no matter what, I’ll have a home here and can come and do my thing. I’ll see what happens. It’s been the most amazing decision of my life to move to this city.

Son Raw is on Twitter.

Photos courtesy of Antony Doniewski