Interview with DJ Will Eastman (Blisspop, DC)

What and who is Bliss Pop?

• BLISS is a dance party I started 8 years ago. The idea was to bring DIY-inspired dance music and no-attitude parties to rock clubs, without a velvet rope or pretense. The motto is “Just fun. Insane dancing.” Since then, a whole culture of indie dance has developed and we stick to a free-form format playing house, indie, club, electro, punk, hip-hop, techno, 90s classics, whatever makes people move. Since 2007, we’ve been fortunate to do bigger parties called BLISSPOP at the 9:30 Club, one of the most respected clubs in the U.S. Moby played our inauguration party in January. The power went out for the entire block during his set and we improvised by banging on plastic garbage cans, beer kegs and metal sheets, DC Go-Go-style for 15 minutes before it eventually came back. There’s a video of it here.

Who are your favorite local artists?

• Dmerit, Nadastrom, Tittsworth, Outputmessage, TRiOBeLiSK, US Royalty, Thievery Corporation.

If you could create a party without regards to budget, what would you do?

• A free festival in DC on the National Mall party with Daft Punk headlining and every band and DJ I know on the bill.

What is planned in the future for your group?

• I just finished a remix of The Ruby Isle’s “So Damn High” that will be out in May. I’m also working on a remix of a track called “Stuck On You” from the forthcoming (and completely amazing) Dmerit EP. I have an original house/disco/funk track called “Feelin” coming out on 12” this summer with a remix/reinterpretation by Tittsworth, and am currently working on an album of original material.

• Blisspop events are every month at the 9:30 Club in DC and I’m looking forward to DJing with Miami Horror March 21st. BLISS dance party is every 4th Saturday at the Black Cat and March 28th will be our 100th party! DC is really live right now with lots of great producers, DJs and dance parties. There’s no place in the world I’d rather be right now.

-Jason Sturtsman