BrainRave have gone bananas this month with a brand new addition to their troop – GorillaFist!
Way more than just a fun and memorable name, this Calgary-based artist has been storming through the electronic music mists under a whole variety of alias and genre subspecies but has gone ape under this new project. It’s his most ambitious yet.
Just listen to his Opponent EP and you’ll hear why. Flinging out wild, abrasive and unapologetic textures like he’s swinging through the trees, there’s a bold unapologetic fierceness to his jump-up / neuro hybrid which definitely backs up his mountainous moniker. We premiered Pull It for a flavour.
No monkey business. We called up Calgary.
I gotta ask. Where does the name GorillaFist actually come from?
My wife handed me one of those canvas bags with the really long straps. I always find the straps too long, so I just grab the bag and carry it in my own unique way.
[Gorillafist mimes his method – it does look quite gorilla-like] She said, ‘You’re carrying that like a gorilla — you’re GorillaFisting that.’ It just stuck from there.
Would you say you’re a bit of a gorilla-y type of guy?
I’m not sure…
I mean physically. Like, I would use my own frame as a reference.
Haha okay, maybe yeah there’s something there. Actually we do kinda look similar. Cap, beard, glasses.
It’s a mood, man. I did think you’d be a lot younger than me as you’re a name to me but maybe we’re similar ages?
I’m up there, man. You can tell by the white beard — somewhere in the Ray Keith era, maybe a bit younger. I started back in the ’90s.
Haha. Speaking of Ray Keith, when I think about the Canadian jungle foundations I often think of his stories about Canada and how influential cities like Toronto were for pioneers like him. Two countries always coming up in historic conversations about early international shows: Germany here in Europe, and Canada. Your country was a huge spot for the development of this sound globally. Were you part of that wave?
No. I listened to it, but I wasn’t part of that scene — that was Toronto. And just for context: Calgary to Toronto is further than London to Moscow. Canada’s huge. It’s a four-hour flight, so it’s not like we were popping over.
Wow. That’s a great sense of scale! Calgary still holds its own though?
Wow. That’s a great sense of scale! Calgary still holds its own though?Drum and bass is doing really well here. Nothing like Bristol or London, obviously, but relatively speaking, Calgary punches above its weight. We get a lot of UK artists coming through, a lot of festivals.
How did you get into D&B in the first place?
Growing up I was into punk and metal — had bands, played guitar. Then I heard a track called Acid Rock in an underground club here, early Belgian techno. I thought, I could make this. That launched a long progression: techno, into the hardcore breakbeat scene of the early ’90s, then into jungle and D&B.
Did you ever go back to the guitar?
A little. Got rid of all my gear years ago, then a few of us decided to get back into it — bought a Gibson SG, like Angus Young, started learning AC/DC. Not the hardest songs, but they rock.
They sure do. Similarly I’ve picked up my guitar in recent years too. Love it. So were there other aliases before GorillaFist?
Definitely. I had techno and house records out on all kinds of labels from Germany, Toronto, New York… Many under names I barely remember — Goldfish, Unknown Control. Had my own label for a while too. Back then you had to buy all your gear. I only started DJing about three years ago — production’s always been where I spent my time.
Oh wow. Would you say GorillaFist is the most ambitious project you’ve done so far?
Absolutely. I used to morph between genres — house, techno, some speed garage — and I had a different alias for practically each label. This is the first time I’ve stuck with something this long, or put in this many hours in front of a DAW.
What kept you from making D&B sooner?
I think it’s one of the hardest genres to make. I was doing melodic techno right up until GorillaFist started, partly to build up my chops before I moved in.
You mentioned a goal of landing a release out of the UK.
Yeah — I achieved that last month, just beat out the BrainRave release. OTD put out my Metal EP pretty quickly once BrainRave was already lined up. I checked with both labels to make sure the timing was fine — they were cool with it, so I ended up with two releases in short succession, which I’m pretty pleased with.
Your sound leans hard into a UK influence — jump-up, but also that punky, abrasive modern neuro sound.
Oh, absolutely. Almost entirely UK producers. Neuro and jump-up both — I love all the subgenres of D&B, and I think that’s why they cross-pollinate in what I make. You get neuro-ey jump-up. Like Aniks, or maybe Waze — he doesn’t sit squarely in either camp, and I think both sides appreciate what he does. Maybe that’s where I fit too. The BrainRave release definitely leans harder towards the neuro, almost technoid side.
How did you link up with BrainRave?
My buddy Sigjir told me to send them some music. I gotta say, the professionalism behind the scenes has been fantastic — the tools they use, the promotion, all of it. I’d put together a tune highly influenced by Current Value, and Sigjir – who’s great and has some big stuff coming himself – pointed me towards BrainRave. I sent over a tune called Pull It and they responded fast, said they liked it, asked if I had more.
Sick! And that’s how the Opponent EP came about!
Right — I sent Pull It, then Opponent, which I’d made a while before but held back on because I thought it might be too hard and too off the wall. They loved it and asked for more. I was going through a stage of some pretty experimental, harder neuro-ish tracks, so I kept sending them over, and we built the EP from whatever resonated.
How long has that whole process taken?
A few months between the first and fifth track — maybe three or four. Then another couple of months pinning down the release itself. All in, probably six months.
Has it always been called Opponent?
No, that came later — Marc BrainRave’s call, and a good one.
Big up Marc. OG 1 More Thing alumni! So who, or what, is your opponent?
Poor work on my side. Laziness on the production side. Sometimes I’ll have a tune that doesn’t feel as complete as it should, and I’ll send it to friends prematurely, hoping they won’t notice what I notice. So I lean on a good crew. They’re very direct, no sugar-coating. They tell me the good and the bad, which I need.
Sounds like your opponent’s really yourself, isn’t it. Your past self. That’s the only competition that matters.
Absolutely!
Big up the crew, then.
Sigjir who I mentioned earlier. Gautz, and DJ Phrantik — all from the Urban Hell Audio days, back when that was my first label. The label’s largely defunct now, but a few of us still bounce productions off each other, both on the engineering side and the songwriting side. ‘This riff’s too repetitive,’ that kind of thing. Good, positive critique.
You need that! What’s next after Opponent?
2026’s shaping up to be a huge year. I’ve got a single on Hard Steppers — a Canadian label — later this month. In August, a five-track release on Yard Records out of Toronto, run by Ryan Ruckus, who was deep in that early Toronto scene we discussed earlier. Then in September there should be a four-tracker on Hooked On in the UK. October, a couple of jump-up tunes on Sweep The Scene, which is another Toronto label. And sometime in the autumn, something with Voidcat, a newer label out of Vancouver. More lined up than I’ve ever had.
That’s amazing! And on the DJ side?
July 30th, I’m playing Montreal for the first time — my first show out of town, period — supporting Marcus Visionary with the Hard Steppers crew. Towards the end of August, I’m playing locally with Street Rock. Then September 4th, back in the Montreal area for the Timeless Festival. Hope to see some of you there!
GorillaFist – Opponent is out now
