Thomas Stephen Petais (born January 14, 1982), also known by his alias SKisM, is a retired English DJ, electronic music producer, and record label executive. Petais is the co-founder of two independent

Electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

record labels: Disciple Records and

Never Say Die Records Never Say Die Records (NSD), commonly referred to and known as Never Say Die, was a British independent electronic music record label well-known for releasing bass music, dubstep, and trap music singles, extended plays (EPs), and albums The labe ...

. Petais is nicknamed, by those who've worked with him professionally, as the "DJ's DJ" because of the "technical prowess and energy on his multi deck setup" during his performances.

Career

Etymology

The etymology of Petais' alias derives from the English word

schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...

, which simply means to split or divide. Petais noted that the etymology behind the name didn't involve anything religious, "satantic or anything like that".

Musical style

Petais' tracks incorporate, according to the Ravelli Republic and

Beat Magazine Beat is a free monthly tabloid-sized music, arts and culture magazine ( street press), website and social media network published and distributed in Melbourne, Australia. It's Melbourne's longest running street press, and one of the earliest ...

, a " syncopating rhythm", "bass and drum elements", "classical progressions, metal influences, ethnic samples, and break beats". Petais also draws influences from both

heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a Music genre, genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal band ...

and

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

while growing up and from breakbeat during his music school years and his years being part of Ctrl-Z.

Ctrl-Z as 'Dash' (2000s–2009)

Petais attended, and is an

alum An alum () is a type of chemical compound, usually a hydrated double salt, double sulfate salt (chemistry), salt of aluminium with the general chemical formula, formula , such that is a valence (chemistry), monovalent cation such as potassium ...

, of Community Music: a

music school A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...

located in the

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

neighborhood. Petais met Nicholas D'Silva (ak
Night Shift
an
Pyramid
: a classmate in Community Music's Creative Music Production & Business program, and both formed Ctrl-Z: a

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that uses drum breaks, often sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as Florida breaks, hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat ...

band. Petais was also known as Dash and D'Silva was also known as Inch. In 2005, the group was selected as winners for, both, "Best Breakthrough Act" and "Best Breakthrough Producer" at the Breakspoll

Awards An award, sometimes called a distinction, is given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award may be d ...

: an award ceremony and music festival for artists and record labels that produce breakbeat tracks. In 2006, the group received "Best

Compilation Album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

" for their contributions to a compilation commissioned by Hardcore Beats (the label the group was signed to) called "Hardwired".

SKisM (2009–2021)

In September 2009, SKisM released his first, 2-song Extended Play (EP) titled Rise Of The Idiots / Back Off. Back Off was remarked as "dirty roughened gully funk... guaranteed to sooth the soul during frustrating, testing times" while Rise Of The Idiots was remarked having "added weight an irony" than the former. On July 17, 2009,

was founded along with Nicholas Sadler (aka Mobscene). SKisM did so because he "wanted to continue making

bass music Bass music is a term used to describe several genres of electronic dance music and hip hop music arising from the 1980s on, focusing on a prominent bass drum and/or bassline sound. As one source notes, there are "many different types of bass music ...

and working in the industry" due to the decline of the breakbeat scene. The very first track to be released on the label was a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

titled "Ruffneck '09" by Ctrl-Z and the

Freestylers The Freestylers are a British electronic music group, consisting of producers Matt Cantor and Aston Harvey. They have released five studio albums and a number of mix compilations for, among others, Fabric and BBC Radio. The group took their ...

with vocals from reggae artist Navigator on December 7, 2009. Ctrl-Z then released a remix of Cracks (by the Freestylers) on Never Say Die eight months later. In December 6, 2010, SKisM released his second, 5-song EP titled Down With The Kids. The EP included 3 original tracks: Power, Elixir, and Rave Reivew and two remixes, made by FuntCase and Matta, from his first EP. Elixir was remarked for "spawn nga whole range of fugly remixes". A VIP Mix was later released on 2013. Rave Review, on the other hand, was made in response and reaction to the radio playing "recycled samples and ideas coming through" and jumping all over the "future jungle type music" at a time where dubstep was starting to became popular. The song used a sample from

Henry Rollins Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, comedian, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1 ...

. In 2011, SKisM collaborated with

Flux Pavilion Joshua Kiekegaard Grant Steele (born 15 January 1989), known professionally as Flux Pavilion, is an English EDM producer, DJ, singer-songwriter and label owner. He started performing in 2008. Flux Pavilion has headlined three US tours, two UK ...

, with featuring vocals from the

Foreign Beggars Foreign Beggars were an English Hip hop music, hip hop and dubstep group. Since their formation in 2002, the group's trajectory had seen them evolve from an underground hip hop group to an electronic crossover act. The group consisted of four a ...

, to release Jump Back. The single was remarked for being "a dark, hard-hitting track" consisting of "grimy vocals" and "Flux avilions signature sounds". In 2012, SKisM released a 9-song EP titled The Division. The EP included 5 remixes and four original mix songs that each had a "variety of different genres and rhythms". In other words, deviating from producing what SKisM is typically known for: dubstep, Experts had a music video that depicted Excision,

Eptic Michaël Bella (born 9 April 1993), known by his stage name Eptic, is a Belgian DJ and record producer. He is most known for his extended play ''Overlord'', which peaked at 22 on ''Billboard''s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart. Eptic began his ...

Skrillex Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ, record producer, musician, singer. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he began his career in 2004 as the lead vocalist of the ...

, and

Zomboy Joshua Mellody (born Joshua Paul Jenkin, 1 June 1989), professionally known as Zomboy, is an English dubstep music producer, songwriter, and DJ whose mascot is a zombie. Biography Before Joshua Mellody was active under the name Zomboy, he h ...

each "battling ne-on-onean empowered internet troll" on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

that often gives "so much stick online... asking where the... music is". The song used a sample recited by

Phil Anselmo Philip Hansen Anselmo (born June 30, 1968) is an American musician best known as the lead singer for groove metal band Pantera, southern metal supergroup Down (band), Down, and Hardcore punk, hardcore band Superjoint, amongst other musical proj ...

from heavy metal band

Pantera Pantera () is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Arlington, Texas in 1981 by the Abbott brothers (guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul), and currently composed of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, an ...

.Sources: *
"The 20 Best Dubstep Songs of the EDM Decade"
''EDM.com''. 2019-12-23. * Jenkins, Dave (2022-04-05)
"Remembering Never Say Die with 10 of our favourite NSD releases"
'' UKF''. Kick It (with Zomboy) was made "with giddy disco samples, bird calls, and

Alvin and the Chipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks and billed for their first two decades as the Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for Novelty records in ...

' vocal chops". At the same year, Petais' single: Like This, with featured vocals from

Virus Syndicate Virus Syndicate are a British grime collective from Manchester, centred on JSD and Nika D. They are known for their fusion of dubstep with grime, and have been lauded by ''The Daily Telegraph'' as "some of the tautest British MC-ing since th ...

, reached and maintained the #1 spot on

Beatport Beatport is an American electronic music-oriented online music store owned by LiveStyle. The company is based in Denver, Los Angeles, and Berlin. Beatport is oriented primarily towards disk jockey, DJs, selling full songs as well as resources that ...

's Top 100 Tracks list for one month. In 2014, SKisM released a remix of Lazerbeam by

ShockOne Karl Thomas, better known as ShockOne, is an Australian electronic music producer and DJ born in 1982. Originally from Esperance, Western Australia, Esperance, Western Australia, he now resides in Perth. He has been releasing music as ShockOne ...

featuring

Metrik Tom Mundell, better known as Metrik, is an English electronic music producer from London. He has been releasing records since 2007, primarily through Hospital Records, the UK-based independent dance music label. He has found success in the UK D ...

and Kyza. The track is one of the few "record outside of his predominant genre which refers to the track being a combination of both

Moombahcore Moombahton (, ) is an electronic dance music genre, derived from house music and reggaeton, that was created by American DJ and producer Dave Nada in Washington, D.C., in 2009. Nada coined the name as a portmanteau of "Moombah" (a track by Sur ...

and

Breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that uses drum breaks, often sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as Florida breaks, hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat ...

influences. In 2015, SKisM, Habstrakt, and Megalodon collaborated to release Jaguar. The single was initially started by both SKisM and Megalodon two years ago, but Habstrakt was brought into the project to complete the track into its final product. The track was remarked for "its ability to swarm with a kind of barely restrained violence that broods and busts through with an untouchable gangsta lean".Sources: * Jenkins, Dave (2015-09-21)
"Close Encounters Of The Megalodon Kind"
'' UKF''
Archived
from the original on April 19, 2024. * Muniz, Chris (October 11, 2016)
"10 Tracks to Know From Never Say Die Records"
''

Insomniac Insomniac or The Insomniac may refer to: * A person who has insomnia Music * Insomniac (Green Day album), ''Insomniac'' (Green Day album), 1995 * Insomniac (Enrique Iglesias album), ''Insomniac'' (Enrique Iglesias album), 2007 * Insomniac (song ...

''
Archived
from the original on August 12, 2020. Since 2015, Petais has retired from producing music to focus his efforts on running the label such as "hav ngresponsibilities for other people" and " executively produc ngfor the artists' tracks". On October 5, 2021, Petais officially retired as a DJ and producer via a dissolution in its recent filing with the UK's

Companies House Companies House is the executive agency of the British Government that maintains the Company register, register of companies, employs the company registrars and is responsible for Incorporation (business), incorporating all forms of Company, co ...

Discography

''This is an incomplete list of the artist's

discography Discography is the study and cataloging of published sound recordings, often by specified artists or within identified music genres. The exact information included varies depending on the type and scope of the discography, but a discography entry ...

. You can help complete this list by adding missing items with

reliable sources A source text is a text (sometimes oral) from which information or ideas are derived. In translation, a source text is the original text that is to be translated into another language. More generally, source material or symbolic sources are ob ...

.''

EPs

Singles & Collaborations

Remixes

External links

SKisM , Facebook

SKisM (@skism_uk) / X

SKisM - YouTube

SKisM - Soundcloud

References

{{reflist Living people 1982 births Musicians from London British dubstep musicians 2021 disestablishments in England English record producers 21st-century English musicians 21st-century English composers 21st-century English male composers English male composers English DJs English remixers English electronic dance music DJs People from London Moombahcore musicians Breakbeat musicians