Brillz, Party Favor, Ghastly and Willy Joy @ Soundgarden Hall.

Text and images by Dylan Long.

Brillz and his gang of beat freaks, the Twonk Team, made their way to Soundgarden Hall on Saturday to launch fans into another dimension of utter weirdness.

The night started on a wild note from sets by Chicago native Willy Joy and future bass spinner Ghastly, who both got the crowd jumping with absolute ease.

The Twonk Di Nation tour ripped Philly a new one as Party Favor and Brillz absolutely killed their sets. The night had multiple climaxes, the first being Brillz playing out his massive new tune “Destruktion” which sent fans into a genuine frenzy of head banging and freakishly intense jumping. The night truly hit its peak when at 1:30am, the stage transformed into a back-to-back madhouse consisting of all four artists gathering on stage together and partying it out. Waving the Twonk flag back and forth ontop of the monitors while blasting out the heaviest beats imaginable, Brillz and his squad had no issues leaving fans anxiously awaiting the next appearance of the Twonk Team in the city of Brotherly Love.

During Ghastly’s set, the man himself Brillz was generous enough to give us some one-on-one Q&A time before his brain-melting set.

Let’s talk 2015. You (Brillz) and the Twonk team as a unit. How do you think the year went overall, what are some highlights?

I mean we’re in the highlight right now. This tour right now is super fun, the energy is amazing, all the artists are great, the fans are turning up super hard, we have an ill tour bus and we’ve never had that before. We’re out here with the production too, I got to work with some dope visuals and got to do a lot of more artistic things with the set, so we’re definitely in the highlight of 2015 right now. And the tour doesn’t even end until early March.

Twonk is a label and clothing line you created it back in 2013, can you talk us through the creative process behind everything Twonk?

Well the first thing you have to understand is that there’s no master plan to it. I was working on an album that had like 10 songs on it with the label Slow Roast which is Kill The Noise and DJ Craze and I needed a name for the album. I had to vibe with the record first to figure it out. At the time though I was getting really into cryptic messages and knowledge and esoteric teachings and different weird philosophies, so I wanted to put something out there that didn’t have any meaning in a sense. The word Twonk popped up in my head and when I sent them the word “Twonk” they were like “well what is it?” and I went, “Exactly, what is it?” Let’s make it something, let’s let people define it. I’m really grateful for the fans that caught ear to it and got behind it and that support inspired us to turn it into a movement. We’re all Twonk Team because we made this movement together; the DJ homies, the fans, everyone we’re on tour with, the whole entire audience.

You have your track “Destruktion” with Laxx coming out very soon, is this one up there with your favorite collabs to date?

Oh for sure. I found Laxx’s music online, I hit him up and asked him to be on the Twonk Team Mixtape and he slayed it. We became homies talking online since he’s from the UK, and naturally we’re gonna work on a tune. We started sending files back and forth and it was crazy with “Destruktion,” he sent me something in an hour and I literally did a half hour of work on it, sent it back and he did the same; we went back and forth like 8 or 9 times in one day and that’s when the tune was born. We worked on it for a while and polished it up but that one day is when “Destruktion” was born.

Any favorite artists you like to collaborate with?

I mean I think I’d really like working with this dude Party Favor but I think he’s too cool for me. (Party Favor is sitting across from Brillz.)

Party Favor: Put in the interview that I say “Fuck that guy.” (Towards Brillz.)

Me and Party Favor have a collab that we’re working on and I have a feeling that one’s gonna be up there. We’re working nonstop while on tour.

What songs or artists got you into producing and honing your craft?

When I first heard Mr Oizo’s Analog Worms Attack, I immediately went out and bought some drum machines and a sampler. That was like  a serious moment of what the fuck. I think growing up in Jersey on the East Coast was and still is my favorite rap group, RZA’s beats were super inspiring to me when I started making hip hop stuff. Later on when I started getting back into the scene around 2006, 2007 I became friends with Kill The Noise who is one of the most amazing producers, so he was also a huge influence on my sound and my inspiration to do all of this.

One last question for you; it’s a theoretical question. You wake up, your house is on fire. You can grab one single item, be it an album, a gift, whatever. What is it and why?

Um… not including my dog?

It can be anything.

Well obviously I’m gonna grab my dog.

What’s your dog’s name?

Magik, with a K. He’s a Pomeranian chihuahua.

I’d love to meet Magik someday.

He’s pretty fuckin’ chill. You can follow him on Instagram.

Well, I learned you have a dog named Magik tonight so I’d say this was a successful interview.

Party Favor: I’ve known Brillz for over a year and that’s honestly all I know about him.