Birmingham, Bass Music, and Banging Heads with Hannah Wants

Ben Smith grabbed five minutes with Birmingham born bass queen Hannah Wants ahead of a myriad of dates around the UK this autumn.

Jimmy Coultas

Last updated: 4th Oct 2014

Image: Hannah Wants

2014 has been a particularly special year for Hannah Wants, having dominated the hallowed Amnesia dance floor in Ibiza, bagging a slot on the lauded Annie Mac presents tour, and landing more tour dates than ever before - all made even more impressive by the fact that it wasn't until 2010 that she began to seriously pursue a career in DJing.

Growing up in Birmingham as part of a clubbing scene in which UK garage was rife is reflected in Hannah's faultless high octane delivery (hear that in her Mixmag mix below). She is often found threading together a fine selection of bass heavy cuts whilst maintaining her innate ability to read a crowd, something that has propelled her to become one of the most in demand DJs of her field, at a time when bass music is entering a golden age.

It's well documented that Hannah is a real crowd favourite - she claimed last years 'People's Choice Award' at the Bass Music Awards for one thing, although you'd only have to ask someone who's partied in Ibiza or at a festival this summer and they'd tell you the same thing.

She continues her involvement at this year's BMAs having picked up a nomination for 'Best Bass House Single'. With all that in mind, we found it absolutely necessary to catch up with Hannah, to find out what's still to come from the star selector.

Hello! It’s nice to chat to you again. Last time we spoke to you, which must be well over a year ago now, you were very much on the rise in the bass music world, with a lot of supporting slots coming your way, at some of the biggest clubs in the country. A year on and you are almost always the headliner, and are busy playing more gigs than ever before. How has that journey been, and how are you adjusting to your increasingly hectic schedule?

Heyyyy! Nice to chat to you again too. This last year has been the craziest and best year of my life for sure. The journey has been amazing and it’s a great feeling to finally start playing all of the places, venues, festivals etc that I had dreamed about for so many years.

The schedule is super hectic, I often wake up in the morning and it’ll take me a few seconds to literally remember what country, city and hotel I'm in. Walking face first into walls in the dark is common place. Haha. I love it though. I love the variety and travelling so much makes you really appreciate those days you do get home.

In terms of adjusting I guess it just happens naturally, day to day you don’t really notice a change but when you look back over a year or a month or whatever you’re like "wooooah, how did that happen?”.

Of the tonnes of dates you've got coming up, which are you particularly excited about? The Annie Mac presents date in your hometown must be up there?

I'm most definitely excited about the Annie Mac tour. It's mad because in 2012 the AMP tour came to Birmingham at The Rainbow and I managed to get booked for the warm up slot back to back with Tom Shorterz and it was such a big moment for me. I had my name on Birmingham AMP flyer and I played to, at that time, my biggest crowd. Now just two years later I’m an actual part of her tour which is obviously an absolute privilege.

I’m also super excited about playing the Holy Ship. It’s a massive cruise ship that leaves from Miami on January 3rd and sails around the Bahamas for 3 days with raves both on the ship and on beaches in the Caribbean.

So after my hectic December/NYE schedule I’ll be flying straight out for that. I watched videos and looked at pictures from the 2014 Holy Ship and I immediately wanted to be a part of it, so it’s kinda crazy that I’m there in 2015.

Speaking of Miami, you’re heading off on a tour of the US, that must be pretty exciting? How do you think the American ravers will take to your bass-wise wounds? And do you think you’ll need to adapt your style to suit a foreign audience?

Yeah, I'm actually just in Montreal as we speak about to start the tour. It consists of 12 gigs over 12 consecutive nights with around 8-11 hours of travel time and flights per day getting from place to place, so the demand is pretty high. I’m tired just thinking about it! Haha.

Anyway, this is my second time in America and I was quite surprised to learn that the ravers were really in touch with my sound. I found it pretty insane as I’d never played there before. It’s a MASSIVE country and people actually got my style (Get a flavour for that below) and knew who I was. Surreal.

I don’t adapt my style too much no. My style is my style and if I changed it to suit a foreign audience too much then it wouldn’t necessarily be ‘me’. If anything, playing so far abroad means I can afford to pull back a few older tracks that have perhaps been huge in my sets but have now been rinsed when playing in the UK - it still takes time for music to travel.

We noticed that you’ve launched a competition for an up and coming DJ to tour with you next year, how important do you believe it to be to nurture raw talent with opportunities such as this?

I think it’s very important. I’ve been a DJ for over ten years and I know first hand how hard it can be to initially get your name out there, start getting recognised or get given an opportunity.

Dynamics in the industry have changed massively over the years and I’m aware that it is a lot harder for a DJ to get a shot nowadays without producing music also. I know my collaborations helped to propel my name and therefore my DJ career at certain stages but I don’t think it’s fair for it to be compulsory.

DJing and producing are completely different skills. Just because you can make great music doesn't always mean you can read a crowd, mix properly, be a talented DJ and vice versa.

It’s really nice to be in a position to offer an opportunity to an up and coming DJ which focuses solely on the art of DJing, it’s what I’m really passionate about. I’m still in the very early stages of planning the specifics for the competition but it’d be amazing to find some new, raw and exciting DJ talent to join me on my first ever UK tour! I'm hoping this concept is something I can grow over the years.

You’re from Birmingham, a scene that is really flourishing at the moment, how did growing up in Birmingham shape your distinct ‘bass heavy’ sound?

When I started DJing around 2002 the scene in Birmingham was Speed Garage, Bassline House and UKG and so the music back then most definitely shaped my style. I still play Old Skool UKG, I still love dropping an old Speed Garage track in my sets and the whole Bassline House sound has just kinda evolved to what it is today. House music, bass influenced. It’s now just played 10bpm slower!

Where do you see club culture in Birmingham heading? Do you see a resulting sound that’ll become synonymous with Birmingham, if there isn’t already one?

I think Birmingham will always be a front runner in terms of music. The city and in particular The Rainbow has been putting on sell out shows for years showcasing a wide range of forward-thinking and popular genres and I can’t see it changing any time soon. The Rainbow for me is one of the best venues in the UK and encompasses everything about the 'Birmingham sound’ - it’s a proper rave!

You’ve produced a lot of your material with Chris Lorenzo (listen to one of their earlier collaborations 'Dappy' below), there’s obviously natural synergy there with your similar bass heavy approach and being from Birmingham and all that, but is there anymore collaborations in the pipeline, or perhaps something different you’d like to explore?

Chris and I actually have one more track in the pipeline. It’s a track called 'Rhymes' and it's been rinsed over the summer by myself, Chris and a select few DJ’s and now I can announce that it’s been signed and release details will be coming very soon! The crowd reaction and feedback I’ve had off this track has been insane and I’m so hyped for it’s release! (Check their remix of Disclosure's 'Confess To Me' that absolutely smashed it this summer below)

Moving forward after 'Rhymes' I have some collaborations lined up with some of my favourite artists as well as plans to release some solo material in 2015. It’s all really exciting!

Indeed! Last year, you picked up the People’s Choice award last year at the Bass Music Awards, that must have felt pretty good? Do you think it’s important to have these kind of awards that recognise talented artists in the scene?

Winning the Peoples Choice award last year felt good yeah, I really do appreciate the support I receive!

I really like the Bass Music Awards stand for. Music fans and ravers can have a say on who and what they’re loving and for the artist it’s nice to be recognised and appreciated for their hard work.

You’re a representative for the 'Best Bass House Single’ this year, what does that entail exactly, and, we know you probably can’t say, but we’ll ask anyway - what record would be your pick for the award?

Being a representative meant that I picked the nominees for the award which was an extremely hard task as there have been some great House and Bass tracks released this year.

What record would would I pick for the award? Haha, you can’t ask me that!

I’ll tell you the three tracks nominated that have featured the most in my sets over the past year or so; Skream 'Bang That' (above), Secondcity - 'I Enter' and Tough Love - 'Lonely Highway'. oh and 'My Nu Leng - Masterplan'. Okay that’s four.

Looking to see Hannah Wants in action? Head on over to her artist page here for tickets to all her upcoming shows.