Brad Smith

BRAD SMITH BIOGRAPHY

Brad Smith is one of the pioneers of Electronic Dance Music in Florida in the early 90’s. Brad started his career in the underground Acid House and Happy Hardcore scene at WBUL in Tampa. In 1992, Brad began his club DJing career at the infamous “Rave-O-Ween” in Tampa, Florida.

His roots go back to Rave/Techno spinning tracks such as Eon – Spice, Human Resource – Dominator and KLF – 3am Eternal. Several years later, Brad was involved in the establishment of the sub-genre: Florida Breaks. His name is synonymous with Anthems, whether he is crafting them in the studio or catapulting a crowd into a frenzy. Brad stormed into the DJ arena 1992 and has never slowed down! Brad has also kept the same furious pace in the studio with more than 500 tracks and remixes released. From his early years as Mr. Smith (Breaks) and Praying Mantis (DnB and co-founder of Stateside collective) to his more recent works as Sleven (Tech House/Techno), Natural Born Thrillerz (Electro House, Future House, Big Room House) and Spit ‘n’ Blood (Dubstep). Brad has had 33 Beatport Top 100 hits in Progressive House, Electro House, House, DnB, Dubstep, Breakbeat, Glitch Hop and Psy-Trance. Brad has remixed such notables as Capital Cities (of “Safe and Sound” fame), Interglaxtix (bass player from Heart’s own band), pop sensation Right Said Fred (of “I’m Too Sexy” fame), Starkillers Beatport top charting track “Discoteka” and Salme Dahlstrom – “C’mon Yall” which can be heard on Suave TV commercials. In addition, Brad’s own track “Something You Can’t Believe” will be featured in 2015 and 2016 on the TV shows “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” and MTV’s “Catfish”. Brad owns and runs the underground label, Crescent Records; established in 1996.

Brad Smith started writing and recording music in 92, being taught by the legendary Rob Intile (Lovecraft’s writer, producer, engineer and singer). Brad released his first record in 1996 on his own imprint, Crescent Records. Since then, he has released over 400 tracks, 30 CDs and over 90 remixes on numerous labels: Crescent Records, Box Of Cats Music, Del Sol Records, Rebel House Records, Dreams 2 Reality Records, Noize Bangers Records, Brawla Records, Journees Music, Roja Records, ShiftAxis Records, K5 Music LLC, 941 Electro Recordings, Kontainer Music, Future Music, Digital Records, Juice Recordings, Painted Puppy Records, Just Funkin’ Records, Streetbeat Records, Xquizit Records, Toolbox (UK), DarkWax (UK), Moonshine Records, Panadisc Records, Stickman, Painted Puppy Records, Version 3.0 Records and Breakzlogik Records. Brad’s journey in the studio has lead him in many

directions of exploration making House, Tech House, Techno, Progressive House, Minimal, Electro House, Drum n Bass, Dubstep, Glitch Hop, Future House, Trance, UK Hardhouse, Deep House and Breakbeat.
Brad Smith has held residencies at 100’s of clubs across the southeast US including The Parthenon, The Abyss, The Edge, 911, Infinity, The Masquarade, Ultraviolet, The Rubb and Luna Lounge (to name only a few).

In 1992, Brad Smith started his career in the underground Acid House and hardcore scene on the radio at WBUL in Tampa, Florida. Later in 1992, Brad began his club DJing career at the infamous “Rave-O-Ween”. During the last 2 decades, Brad has played over 1000 gigs with some the world’s biggest stars: The Chemical Brothers (at their 1st US show ever!), The Prodigy (on their 1st US tour), Orbital (live), Reel 2 Reel (live), Cosmic Baby (live), Utah Saints (live), Banco De Gaia (live), Crystal Method (live), Carl Cox, Moby, Danny Tenaglia, Deepdish, Afrika Bambaataa, Gat Decor, Sasha, Keoki, Kimball Collins, Sandra Collins, Trace, Josh Wink, King Britt, DJ Duke, Doc Martin, Bassbin Twins (live), Ed Rush and Optical, Dara, AK 1200, Xpansion (live), Shades Of Rhythm (live), Demitry (Dee-lite), Ani (Dee-lite), the Smart- E’s (live), Three, Monk, Jask, Andy Hughes, All Boxed In(Live), Maradonna (live), Aquanox (live), Luvdup (live), M5 (live), The Cotton Club (live), Red Seal (live), Rebirth (live), Metro (live), Jackal and Hyde (live), Cybersonik (live), Omar Santana, Jim Masters, Cirrus (live), Young American Primitive (live), Angelina (live), Dieselboy, Garth, Dillon and Dickins, Dj Who, Dj Magic Mike, Baby Anne, Vicious Vic, Bad Boy Bill, Lovecraft (live), Deekline, Dj Onionz, Feelgood, Jimmy Van M, Scott Henry, Nick Slater, Eric Davenport, Dream Frequency (Live), Dose (live), Prophecy (live), Q-Burns Abstract Message (live), Rainbow Bridge (Live), Micro, Jon Debo, Dub Tribe (Live), Plummet (live), K5 (live), Guy Oldhams, Stacy Kidd, Soloman, Chang, Uberzone, Simply Jeff, Dj Jeffee, Robby Clark, Chris Harshman, Chris Fortier, That Kid Chris, Juan Kato, Reese, Huggie, Scott Bond, Kelly Reverb, Dave Cannalte, Friction and Spice, Kingsize, Darwin Chamber, Pete “Shaker” Bones, Dj Icey, Rob Base & Dj EZ Rock (live), Young MC (live), The Mix Factory (live).

In 1995, Brad started to expand his musical realms while DJing at the infamous Parthenon club in Tampa, Florida; along with fellow DJ and mentor Dj John Panapolous. John broadened Brad’s mind by educating him in the best of House and Progressive House as well as teaching him about the vinyl market and business of the major record labels and record pools.

In 1997, Brad won his club, Luna Lounge, best dance club of the year. Brad was the only DJ at the venue, playing his legendary 5 hour sets of house, trance

and breaks every Saturday for 3 years to a standing room only packed house!

In 1998, under the moniker, DJ Praying Mantis; Brad alongside with Dj Dread and Bamboo started the infamous Stateside collective crew. The outfit was a group of inspiring Drum N Bass artists whom helped pioneer the genre in Florida.

In 2000, Brad started his mash-up/remix label, Mr. Smith’s DJ Tools, with partner DJ Spice (of Friction and Spice fame). Brad created the moniker Mr. Smith and his bootleg remixes under this name found worldwide success for which he is still known to this day. Most memorable is his remix of Sabotage’s “Return To Ibiza” which not only got air play from most of the world’s top 100 DJ but also most the world’s top 100 Radio stations. The track is still getting played across the globe on the radio 15 years after it’s release.

In 2005, Brad created his moniker, Mantis. Under this moniker, Brad had success with his tracks “I See The Light” reached number 18, “My Body” reached number 23 on the progressive House charts and “Twisted Love” reached number 25, “Yo Quiero” reached number 39, “Dance 2 The Music” reached number 46, “Change” reached number 48 and “If You Feel It” reached number 59 on the house charts.

In 2008, Brad adopted the moniker, Sleven; and has used it to produce underground Tech House, Minimal and Techno. Inspiring many of Florida Tech House DJs of today.

In 2011, Brad began another new chapter producing and spinning Dubstep under the moniker, Spit ‘n’ Blood. His first release as Spit ‘n’ Blood – “Fall Back” reached number 23 on the Beatport Dubstep Top 100 singles.

In 2013, Brad’s remix of “Vila Roel – Survive This World” debuted at #18 on the Beatport Progressive House Top 100 releases and #23 on the Beatport Electro House Top 100 releases. Also, Brad has charted twice this year on the Beatport Glitch Hop Top 100 Tracks Chart at #61 with LOWFREQ – 50k Watt (DJ Brad Smith Remix) and #85 with Dynomyt – Squares N Things (DJ Brad Smith remix)! Brad also had 5 tracks in the movie titled “Peace, Love, Unity, Revenge” and 8 tracks featured on Planet Fashion TV.

In 2015, Brad along with his partner, Reno Rojas as the group Natural Born Thrillerz remixed Intergalactix – “Tuesday” (the bass player from Heart’s own band), History – “History” (also known as Capital Cities from “Safe and Sound” fame). As a solo artist, Brad remixed Queen Victoria – “The Way”. Also, Brad

licensed his original track “Something You Can’t Believe” to the TV shows “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” and MTV’s “Catfish”.

In 2016, Brad made Techno remixes for Starkillers – “Discoteka” and Keith Berry’s – “Believe”. As Natural Born Thrillerz, Brad remixed Keith Berry’s – “Everybody’s Free” (cover of the infamous Rozalla – “Everybody’s Free”) and Starkillers – “Discoteka” (giving him 2 remixes on the same release under 2 different names).

In 2017 and 2018, Brad had releases and remixes out on big Tech House and Techno labels: Box Of Cats, Del Sol, Furious Funk among others and it saw the rebrand of Crescent Records into a Tech House and Techno only format. He charted on Beatport 4 different times in both Tech House and Techno top 100 charts.

In 2019, Brad had releases or remixes on Techno and Tech House labels Adverso, Typ3, La Mishka, Late Night Munchies and Ondska to name only a few. Brad charted in the Beatport Tech House Top 10 five different times and twice in the Beaport Techno Top 10 charts so far this year, making it his most successful year in his musical career. To top that off, Brad had
songs on over 50 tv shows including The Real House Wives Of Atlanta (trap songs), MTV’s catfish and shows on the networks: MTV, HBO, Vice Channel, Bravo, The History Channel, VH1, The Science Channel (to name only a few).

In 2021, Brad had a collaboration with TechUsOut released on the legendary Steve “Silk” Hurley’s label, S&S Records reach #2 on the Tech House Top 100 Tracks chart at Traxxsource.

In 2022, Brad expanded into the realm of Melodic and Progressive House. He is back in the studio with new tracks of Progressive House, Melodic House and Tech House to be released on more than a dozen labels.

When Brad isn’t making dance music tracks for himself, he is mastering tracks for other artists, producing Rock and Alternative Rock for singers, making dance music tracks for Pop artists and making music for television shows.