Tanz Talks 002 // Harry Wills
TANZ TALK 002
The second in our Tanz Talks series is good time guy, recently promoted superstar, Mr. Sweatbox himself, Harry Wills.
Known for his quirky combination of party starting rhythms, and not-so-serious UK sense of humour Harry is a loveable guy from the scene. Whether you catch him in the booth, or in the afters discussing his love for vocals he is definitely an example of the kind of people the industry needs to flourish. We have been fortunate enough to collaborate with him on some recent projects including the anticipated Spicy release and his outing on Mood Waves, so let’s dig in.
We have decided to add a new feature into our Tanz Talks series, a quickfire journey to get the juices flowing before diving deeper into the realms of the figure in the hotseat.
Top podcast recommendation?
The Upshot, a sports based podcast about mavericks - served up with a healthy slice of gossip and general gear based chat.
https://open.spotify.com/show/1I73S1uKoKzkRnedbnYTlB
Favourite film?
Only one answer to this - Heat
Guilty Pleasure track?
I can rap the entirety of The Bloodhound Gang's smash hit 'The Bad Touch' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xat1GVnl8-k
Favourite dance floor moment?
Job Jobse dropping 'Man With the Red Face' at Nachtiville at a pool party, I was sitting on my friend's shoulders (Shout out Dan Jordan) and everyone was in a frenzy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkTTAfO94DQ
Favourite band/artist you have ever seen? And where?
Falmouth Sea Shanty Festival, I'm a sucker for harmonies and it's great to get boozed up to - this is gorgeous https://youtu.be/NiDoJcbtO8E?si=CbTTiRCtgjXwYuli&t=485
Now we have covered some of the essentials, welcome to the Tanz Talks series, it’s a pleasure to have you for the second in the series. How has the start of the year been for you?
It’s a pleasure to be on board. 2025 has been pretty good to me so far, including this Mood Waves record I’ve put three EP’s out so far and there’s a few other bits lined up. Things went a bit mad for a while with the Sweatbox EP that was a collaboration between me and Mikey Sebastian, thankfully that seems to be dying down a bit now though.
Of course we want to touch on your “Sweatbox” single you mentioned. It’s been amazing to witness the journey with that track, from the beginning up to the Radio 1 shoutout, and it’s still snowballing. How has the experience been for you and Mikey Sebastian?
Yeah, that track really took off in a way we never expected, I’d love to say we planned it haha. The journey that it went on from us first making it, then me playing it for the first time last year, then it doing the rounds in the clubs, to it being Danny Howard’s track of the week on Radio 1 was surreal to say the least! Having said all that, I’m glad to be getting new releases out - it’s always better to be looking forwards than back.
As a producer in a sample heavy industry, how do you find it working with a rapper and poet such as Mikey? And how does it elevate the music, as opposed to samples?
Before working with Mikey it was always something I was curious about and interested to try out. Mikey is such a talented musician and lyricist that it’s just really easy and he elevates whatever beat he’s going over. Obviously the flexibility you have when working with a vocalist compared to samples is unparalleled, having said that there’s a certain satisfaction that is difficult to describe when you find a good sample that no-one else has used before.
In terms of other releases you’ve just had a release on Mood Waves as well as SPICY via Tanzform - How does it feel to get these ones out? Do you have any other projects we can expect?
I’m really happy to be getting both of these out, I think they both showcase a side of my sound that I haven’t explored so much in recent times but that I’ve found myself returning recently to when I’m making things.
With the Tanzform record, I’d been meaning to send it to them for a while but just hadn’t got around to it - I had a feeling that it might be something they would like though… then last year at Gottwood I was djing with Alec & Rob, played the A-side and Tjizza appeared side stage asking about the track! I went over to Tanzform HQ a few days later, we listened through a bunch of tracks and from that came the Mood Waves EP and the next one on Tanzform.
I’ve also got a collab EP with Enchanted Rhythms coming via Ba Dum Tish, another Phone Traxxx record, a remix or two and hopefully another couple of bits, so plenty of other stuff to look out for.
As well as flying solo you are part of the live act Phone Traxxx, any exciting news you can share with us on that front? What are the next shows looking like?
Phone Traxxx Vol. 7 has been sent for cutting, fingers crossed we might be able to sneak it out before Summer. It’s four tunes that you’ll recognise if you’ve seen us do the liveset in the past year or so, I think it’s a really strong record.
Recently we've had some great gigs for Fuse & Gottwood Festival, both DJing and with the addition of Mikey on the mic for the livesets, which really kicked things up a notch! We're back on liveset duties this Friday at Shelter!
You are part of the Ba Dum Tish outfit, how are things going there since you stripped back with distribution?
My back doesn’t ache from lugging records around! But yeah, this is the fifth year of Ba Dum Tish so there's been a few parties celebrating it. Alec & me just played at Cobalt Studios on the weekend as part of the celebrations - fantastic club and crowd, can't recommend it highly enough.
Release wise, there’s some new records dropping in the upcoming months - a new Punchline, Sunny, plus that collab EP from myself & Enchanted Rhythms.
We like to ask this one; what is an ideal club environment for you?
As a punter - a bit rough around the edges, nothing too sanitised, good sound, a decent sized dancefloor, nothing too big, plus a nice outside/chillout space.
As a DJ - decent sound & monitoring, working equipment, booth at the same level as the dancefloor.
Last of all, what’s your hot pick from the Tanzform shop?
The Unit-Y Sweater. I’ve also got a pitch - how about some Cutting Shapes Pizza Cutters!