A distinct kind of British invasion had EDM followers in a trance on the Queen Mary in Lengthy Seashore.
Armed with turntables, social media-star-turned-professional-party-starter Fish56Octagon made his U.S. competition debut Nov. 21 and 22 at Insomniac’s Dreamstate SoCal, the place he carried out alongside a few of the world’s most preeminent digital artists, together with Tiësto, Paul Oakenfold, Gareth Emery, Ferry Corsten and Chicane.
Fish, as he’s known as, is a 46-year-old from the London suburbs who joined TikTok on a drunken whim after being launched to the app by associates in 2021. Now boasting over one million followers throughout platforms, he’s seen his life flip due to that alternative — quitting a full-time advertising and marketing profession to grow to be a DJ, produce music and play units at a few of the world’s greatest music festivals within the 4 years since he uploaded his first video.
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Although his preliminary submit was about his watch assortment, the self-described “petrol head” shortly went deep into creating content material about automobiles and made a profitable facet hustle inside a pair years. Crossover between auto lovers and the music lovers in his viewers meant the dance songs he used to soundtrack his automobile movies and sporadic vinyl-haul unboxings spawned passionate dialogue within the feedback concerning the traditional rave songs Fish was sharing with the world.
He additionally benefited from an unintentional, scroll-stopping visible hook repeated throughout movies born from his employer asking him to make sure it didn’t seem like he was posting throughout enterprise hours: middle-aged, skinny and bald, dropping dad strikes in entrance of his sprawling Technics decks and pumping his fists to the beat between bites of Weetabix biscuits, all whereas carrying a purple and black dressing robe (what People would name a gown), gifted to Fish’s spouse by his mom.
Display shot of Fish DJing on TikTok in his bathrobe
(TikTok)
“That gown is elegant,” wrote a fan within the feedback.
“It was legit my mum’s but she found it too hot,” Fish responded.
“You the same build as your mum” one other particular person wrote again, punctuating the remark with a sweating smiley face emoji.
Fish additionally started to livestream on TikTok late into the evening, taking part in his personal mixes for the primary time in 20 years.
“I remember seeing people commenting on the Live going, ‘Mate, we were watching you before we went out. We’ve just gone on a whole night out in our city, come back and you’re still here playing,’” Fish stated. “I just love it. Sharing and being able to get out those obscure records. Sometimes it’s the big anthems everyone knows and sometimes it’s a tune that was an anthem to me.”
He’s had a decades-long schooling in digital music. Fish was launched to the style on the cusp of his teen years by means of an episode of the British detective present “Inspector Morse.” One episode occurred within the unlawful rave scene and he thought it seemed like enjoyable to get together in an outdated warehouse.
Fish’s style shortly developed by listening to pirate radio and vinyl. He pieced collectively his first setup with two hi-fi file gamers his dad had within the attic. Just one had pitch management. He discovered to beatmatch by plugging a participant into both sides of his amplifier and utilizing the stability knob to fade between them. He was given Soundlab DLP-1 belt-driven turntables for his birthday and his obsession accelerated over the following a number of years.
Fish56Octagon performing on the Dreamstate music competition in Lengthy Seashore.
(Niyaz Pirani)
“By then I was just spending every penny that I had on vinyl building my record collection up. It was all rave music, early old school, hardcore jungle, and then happy hardcore, drum and bass around that sort of time, early to mid-’90s,” he stated. “I played quite a few house parties.”
He turned a de-facto resident DJ in school, spinning vinyl within the scholar union, and dabbled in music manufacturing on the identical time. He finally bought his analog package and synthesizers when he switched to Ableton. He downsized his file assortment as he transformed them to MP3s.
The calls for of his post-college advertising and marketing profession meant the DJ dream disappeared for a few years. That was till his TikTok Stay units gave him a second likelihood as membership promoters reached out within the hope of reserving him. Fish admits a insecurity brought on him to remain on the sidelines. It was a proposal in February 2024 to play a solo present at Hidden in Manchester — about the identical time he switched his channel over totally to music — that bought him out of his home and onto a stage.
“Even if I wasn’t sure that people would come, I knew that anyone that did come would be coming to see me,” he stated. “ … I ended up putting a night on where I played for five hours straight, just me from the start to the end. When the tickets went on sale, it sold out a good couple of months before the event.”
Fish puzzled if it was a one-off occasion or the start of a life-changing run. Then the affords got here in from different huge U.Okay. cities — FishTales in Newcastle; acid techno at Beaverworks in Leeds; raves in Liverpool and Birmingham. He employed an agent. Dropped some merch.
“Not sure how this happened! But I’m here for it and hope you are too,” he wrote on-line.
A 20-date summer season tour featured three totally different units on the famed Glastonbury Pageant, and appearances at Studying and Creamfields. He additionally traveled to Eire, Scotland and Malta, marking his first time taking part in professionally exterior of England.
He give up his day job in August 2024 to DJ and deal with music manufacturing full time with the help of his spouse, youngsters and fogeys.
“They support me even though it comes at a cost that I can’t always spend as much time with them, but they understand that I’m following my dream, following my passion, and doing something positive,” he stated.
He’s gained an appreciation as a historian of the style. Fish’s followers have grown to incorporate Skrillex, David Guetta, Disclosure, Bicep and extra of the artists he has admired and now counts amongst his friends.
“For about the first year, I often would wake up in the morning — I’m gonna get a little bit emotional just talking about this — but I’d wake up in the morning and just think, ‘Wow, that was all a dream, wasn’t it?” he stated. “Then I look at my phone. I can see that actually it was real.”
Fish attributes his success to social media, although he stated it’s a mistake to suppose simply having social media followers ensures bookings and the upward trajectory of 1’s profession.
“They’re actually a function of each other. It’s because I was making content that proved to be popular about music that I managed to build up a following and have those opportunities come my way,” he stated. “I’ve now played, getting on for, 200 professional gigs at various clubs, festivals, events, raves, all around the world.”
Fish waited till November 2025 to make his first trek to North America with an 11-date run that includes his first U.S. competition reserving. He selected Dreamstate as a result of he’s all the time had a particular place in his coronary heart for trance and the emotional connection individuals have with the music.
“I love all dance music, but trance is the one that can kind of tug at your heartstrings a bit with those melodies, and the chord progression, and the way that the beats can be so crisp when they come in, and the way the bass hits,” he stated.
Fish carried out Friday evening on “The Vision.” It’s the identical stage performed by legends Chicane and Paul Oakenfold this yr and Darude final. He additionally co-headlined an hour-long B2B with Night time 1 Dreamstate headliner Gareth Emery early Sunday morning, because the top-billed act for the competition’s afterparty within the Grand Salon of the enduring Queen Mary.
He made his method to LAX after stepping off stage at 3 a.m. to fly to New York and play the final three hours of a 24-hour rave.
Chicane and Fish56Octagon run into one another within the foyer of the alongside Seashore Hilton after taking part in the identical stage Night time 1 of Dreamstate.
(Niyaz Pirani)
Fish has tour dates in New Zealand and Australia towards the tip of the yr, plus the most important present of his profession March 28 at London’s O2 Academy Brixton. He’s additionally releasing music for himself and others underneath his file label Octagon Discs.
As his viewers multiplies, Fish’s earliest followers stay enthralled by his seemingly infinite rise.
“How did the dude who recommends second-hand cars get to this. So happy for you dude,” one fan wrote within the feedback of his Dreamstate recap video submit.
“Music was my number 1 passion but i thought I was too old. Thanks for the support bro,” Fish replied.
“Amazing,” one other chimed in. “But I would not recognize u in the wild without the bathrobe.”
