Rob Tissera Looks back at Seven Years of Kissdafunk

Kissdafunk founders Rob Tissera and Tolley have built a clubbing tour de force over the last seven years.

Catering to up-front house and electro fans, the night has gone from a monthly party into a world touring brand with parties in Ibiza each summer and residencies all over the UK. 

The formidable club brand turns seven this weekend, and will be celebrating with not one but two huge parties at Gatecrasher Leeds.  We caught up with Rob Tissera himself to find out how it all began and, more importantly, where it’s all going.

How did you meet? What were your backgrounds before starting KDF?
We were both involved in the awesome hard house night Sundissential. Tolley looked after security and I was resident DJ.

And why did you start KDF? What was the initial plan?
After working so successfully together, we both formed a sister brand Funkissential which operated as room two at our nights at Evolution. The room became so popular that we decided to move to the Mint Club. It was rammed every single time we opened the doors. After three great years we decided to go it alone so we gave birth to Kissdafunk.

Who came up with the name?
It was a joint effort. The name captured the spirit and the sound of the time.

How has the night changed/evolved over the years?
We’ve always had the same philosophy which is to give our crowds the very best music and to make the experience as much fun as you could possibly have in a club.

What are the key ingredients to a good party you think?
It has to be an adventure. It should start from picking what you want to wear whilst listening to your favorite CD and finish with you being exhausted in your bed having listened to the most upfront acts and the best resident DJs surrounded by your best friends. This is exactly what we tried to achieve with Kissdafunk.

And what makes KDF so special?
The crowd has the biggest part to play in our nights being special. Also, we've also had an eye for unearthing the freshest talent. We gave debuts to David Guetta, Steve Angello, Seb Ingrosso, Axwell, Dirty South and just about every other upfront DJ on the planet.

What are your proudest moments?
David Guetta’s outstanding performance at Mission, O2 and Victoria Warehouse  were all incredibly proud moments for both of us. Steve Angello and Laidback Luke at Mission was also a phenomenal night.

And what have been the biggest challenges?
Running KDF at El Divino in Ibiza was tough in 2007. We had to work so hard to make it a success but it was well worth it in the end.

Any funny tales to tell from over the years?
Where do you start?  Tolley loves to act the clown so there are PLENTY of stories, but my favourite is when we were in Ibiza two years ago. A guy who we didn't know collapsed from sunstroke at a party we were having after one of our gigs so I laid him down on a sun lounger under a sun shade on the roof top terrace. He’d just stabilised and he was sleeping soundly when, out of nowhere, Tolley ran up some stairs with a bottle of vodka in his hand. He tripped up the last stair and fell forward landing right on top of the guy. Tolley was 15 stone of pure muscle. All the legs of the sun bed flew off like something out of a cartoon. The forty people on the rooftop terrace drew a collective gasp thinking Tolley had killed this poor bloke but luckily, he sprang up and came back to life better than ever before! Everyone who saw it laughed for hours about it.

Any acts you haven’t yet booked that you really would like to?
Eric Prydz is the only one that we've never managed to book. He's amazing.

Tell us about the 7th Birthday plans…
We're going to do a two part birthday at gatecrasher in Leeds. We've done some great gigs there over the years so we've decided to make it our new home.

For Part one of our 7th birthday (February 26th), we thought we'd try to recapture those great times by giving the resident DJs and the fantastic Micky Slim their chance to play the tracks that made our night one of the best supported events in the north of England.

Tickets for Kissdafunk 7th Birthday Part 1

Part two (March 5th) is all about Dutch sensation Afrojack. The Dutch born DJ and producer is the highest new entry in DJMag’s Top 100 poll this year, and for good reason. I'll also be playing as will John Crayfod and Afrojack's label partners Bobby Burns and rehab.

Tickets for Kissdafunk 7th Birthday Part 2

Any other big events planned for 2011?
We're really excited about the future. We're going to be doing bi monthly shows with Gatecrasher in Birmigham and Nottingham. As well as doing the first Saturday of the month at Gatecrasher Leeds. We also have tours planned for Australia, Singapore, Dubai, Thailand and Bali. We’re also just putting the finishing touches to our plans for Ibiza 2011.

We'd like to say a huge thanks to our entire crowd as they are the people who really make our nights so special. We look forward to seeing plenty of old faces at both of these events.

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