Rob Tissera

Primarily a hard house DJ by trade, Rob Tissera is also an accomplished producer with a couple classics to his credit: “Kick Up the Volume” (1996) and “The Day Will Come” (1998), the latter produced in conjunction with Ian Bland as Quake. Based in Leeds, Tissera took an interest in electronic dance music during the ’80s; he frequented the Hacienda in Manchester and engaged in the warehouse rave scene that arose late in the decade. He emerged as a prolific producer in the ’90s, releasing tracks under a number of monikers, some of them collaborations, but chose to release his biggest hit, “Kick Up the Volume,” under his own name, which he had previously reserved for remixes. Released by XL Recordings in 1996, “Kick Up the Volume” was an anthem of its time, championed by big-name DJs such as Carl Cox, Pete Tong, and Judge Jules. Tissera subsequently found additional success in conjunction with fellow producer Ian Bland (aka Dream Frequency) as Quake. Their first production, “The Day Will Come,” released by FFRR in 1998, was a massive success, leading to a follow-up, “Mantra (Forever),” also featuring vocalist Marcia Rae (aka Marcia Ray), on Pete Tong’s label, Essential Recordings. Though the duo released no further productions, they busied themselves as remixers from 1998 through 2001. Tissera resumed his solo work (i.e., billed to his own name, but again, often collaborative in nature) in 2002 with “Burning” on Y2K, followed by “Bring the Lights Down” (2004), “Feel the Drums” (2005), and “Promised Land” (2005). During this same mid-2000s period, Tissera began increasing his profile as a DJ. He found a comfortable home as the resident DJ at Kissdafunk, a fashionable club in Leeds that grew to become a viable brand. He also began releasing DJ mix CDs for various labels, most notably Kissdafunk: Mixed by the Trophy Twins & Rob Tissera (2007); prior to that he mixed Hard House Anthems, Vol. 4 (2003), Goodgreef 2 (2004), and Hard Dance Anthems Past Present Future (2004). ~ Jason Birchmeier