The LocALe – Brad Copeland

It’s super tough to move on when you’re as passionate about this scene as we are. House music came into my life when I needed it the most; that’s why I feel an incredible sense of satisfaction when building this site. This music is a welcomed distraction from reality and when I support the people making it with a post, it feels like I’m repaying a friend who has been really, really good to me. I’ll always listen to underground beats, so it’s inconceivable for me to ever stop endorsing them.

However the reality of it is; dedicating your life to house music is not all that rewarding financially. Yeah, there are people making good money in EDM, but you need a huge support system of like-minded, motivated colleagues to make something unique and popular. Of course you can be a follower and sell out, but obviously that’s not how we’d like to make it happen.

It’s been difficult to hold on to the quality club kids over the years, as they’ve progressed to more profitable and less enduring endeavours and more traditional, professional lifestyles. They’re married, they have children and / or demanding careers. Many of our friends have been forced to prioritize and unfortunately for people like us still hanging on to the dream, late nights on the dance floor are not high on their lists of things to do. With a quick scan of online sources, people can be up to speed in minutes, enjoying music in their new preferred locations; cubicles, treadmills, vehicles; etc.

To our chagrin, one such person is Brad Copeland. When we were just a one page site promoting only a few mixes at a time and our guest lists at System Soundbar and the Guvernment, Brad was sporting a residency at the world-renown temple of sound Stereo in Montreal; still to this day THE BEST underground venue in North America. He was spinning alongside the top DJs on the planet, hosting the best parties on the continent and we were nothing more than a few hardcores rocking it out in the middle of his dance floor.

So you can imagine how pumped we were when Brad decided to compile one of the first ever bringthebeats exclusives. It showed what a great character guy he is for recognizing and embracing our dedication and for being so into making music that he had no problem putting something together for one of the little guys.

When he moved to Toronto, Brad assumed residencies at System and This is London where we returned the favour and made his gigs one of our top priorities while promoting at the clubs. We obviously bailed from TIL we he left and were lucky enough to partner up for our next project at EXPOSED at The Mod Club Theatre. But when we moved on from it, Brad decided it was time to move on to other interests, something that was inevitable for someone as technically inclined as him.

In May of last year, Brad and fellow Canadian DJ legend Max Graham officially opened i-Technique, a Mac service franchise  in a prime location on Yonge Street near Eglington. They work out of a super stylish store and are doing incredibly well, but if I know Brad half as well as I think I do, he’s dying to make music (something he’s probably never stopped doing) and blaze some dance floors (something he’ll be doing for Jenn`s bday party this Friday night).

As if he had never even taken a break, Brad re-surfaced in the fall with a killer promo mix and a stellar Fabricated performance that only our wedding could hold us back from being a part of. And now lucky for us, Brad has taken some more time away from his outrageously busy schedule at the store to compile another spectacular set of today`s most upfront, party starting progressive and tech house to help promote this Friday’s bash. It feels just like old times bopping my head to these amazing tunes. I can not wait for Friday, and I really hope Brad can find more time to hook us up with more phenomenal beats; we all miss them very much.

Download (left-click and unzip):
Brad Copeland – bringthebeats – April 2010