As The Blast prepares to celebrate its fourth birthday with their biggest Shit The Bed club night yet, we catch up with The Bandit to see how things are shaping up for the party and to see how he feels about putting crude phrases on chests around the world.

1) Hi, how the devil are you?
Very well thanks.

2) Shit The Bed 14 is coming up next month and it’s The Blast’s fourth birthday. Can you tell us a little bit about what’s in store?
Pure epicness! It’s going to be our biggest STB yet. The extra warehouse has given us a lot of freedom to bring in some new acts, Mad Professor Live is going to be insane and we always love a Kenny Ken Jungle set. Also looking forward to see a lot of our regular party people; Redlight has been killing it over the last 3 months!

3) In the past few years, The Blast seems to have become Bristol’s premier party night. What’s setting you apart from the competition?
Maybe that we always try and bring a sense of humour and not take ourselves too seriously. To be honest, we just want to put on proper good ‘raves’ and try not be constrained by genre snobs and people saying things like ‘you can’t book Instramental on the same line-up as Reso…’. We know that people love a bit of diversity.

4) Last year you made the move from Lakota to Motion for the Shit The Bed nights. How are you settling into your new home and how do the two venues compare?
Both venues are amazing, we just had itchy feet. To be fair we move around a lot anyway as each venue brings a different element to the night. The Blast has been at Level (R.I.P), Timbuk2, Dojo, Native and now Thekla, and we are not even 5 years old yet!!

5) High Contrast is the big name at the next Shit The Bed, although in the last few years, Dubstep seems to have taken Drum and Bass’s crown as the premier bass heavy genre in dance music. Do you think DnB has had its day or does the genre still have a lot more to give?
Drum and Bass is a real passion of ours. From being kids raving at nights like Warning in Cambridge and Movment at Mass back in the day right up until now. A lot of people are saying DnB is falling off but I have never known so much sick DnB on the radio before (Danny Byrd/Subfocus/Blame etc.). DnB is all good and dubstep is killing it as well, it’s a great time for people to be into music and have a party!!

6) You’ve got Joker on at Shit The Bed 14. Arguably he’s been the most exciting and innovative young producer to emerge from the Bristol scene in the past few years. Is there anyone else in particular that we should be keeping our eyes peeled for at the moment?
From the line-up we’ve got for this event it seems like everyone is getting swept up by Netsky fever at the moment! On a local level I think its all about acts like Central Spillz live and production wise we’re loving Eddie K, Interface, and Redlight of course.

7) I recently spotted a Shit The Bed T-shirt whilst on a trip to Cambodia! How do you feel about spreading the message worldwide?
Spreading the message of Shit the bed? Haha! Um, it’s not a message really, it’s more a state of mind! It’s a weird one because Shit The Bed is whatever you want it to be really. Just getting messy and having fun with your mates.

You’ve had a lot of big names on at both the smaller Blast nights and at Shit The Bed over the years. Is there anyone in particular you look forward to welcoming back?
There’s loads but Diplo is someone in particular that we always enjoy bringing back. The man is a genius and he kills it every time both with his tunes and live he’s just on another level!

9) Is there anyone you’d love to get on at The Blast, but have struggled to book in the past?
We have been lucky and we have had everyone from Mark Ronson to Congo Natty, Si-begg to DJ Derek, Chase & Status and Craze so not yet, but we are waiting on some very exciting peeps to confirm shows for the upcoming year, we have faith though so watch this space!

10) After Shit The Bed 14, what have The Blast got planned for the rest of the summer?
Over the summer we have some epic parties at Thekla, (no scaling down for us, summer parties are the best!). We’ve got acts like Andy C, Sigma, Jack Beats, Shy Fx, Breakage and of course Arsequake. We will also be repping The Blast at a few of the UK’s finest festivals too so that should be nice and messy!

11) Out of everything that’s happened in The Blast’s four year history, are there any favourite memories?
Rusko at NYE was pretty special (check out the videos on youtube!), Chase and Status was some insane sing along shizzle at Lakota last year. And my personal favourite moment (Bandit) was probably getting to play b2b with Die on the last set of the night at STB13 (he was one of my fav djs as a youth)!!!

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Sean Griffiths