POPPY'S PEOPLE: The international DJ who was "never massively into music"

Friday 12 August 2022

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When I knew I would be interviewing a DJ with international success, Ministry of Sound appearances and close to 20 million streams, I expected a party animal with an inflated ego. My expectation couldn’t have been further from reality when I sat down with Josh Le Tissier.

Despite an enviable level of success in one of the most competitive global industries, Josh said he was not one to “put himself out there”. Although softly spoken, his humility and desire to live authentically came through loud and clear.

What surprised me most about Josh’s story, is that he said he was “never massively into music” growing up. 

Pictured: Josh DJ-ing at the Ministry of Sound nightclub in London. (Credit: Ben Fiore Photography)

“I didn’t get into music until I was around 17. I had just passed my driving test and fitted my car out with speakers. I wanted to find music with the most amount of bass possible for my car, which led me to electronic dance music (EDM),” Josh said. 

“I went from liking EDM, to becoming somewhat obsessed with it. I wanted to share it with other people because, at that time, it wasn’t as popular or commercially available. I decided to learn how to DJ so that I could share EDM with people and it quickly became my passion.”

Josh’s DJ-ing career began with birthday parties for family and friends. 

“After a while, I progressed to corporate events and weddings. Those events were nice, but I realised it wasn’t the best route for my long-term goal of becoming an artist,” he said. 

Pictured: Josh recently ticked seeing the pyramids in Egypt off his bucket list. 

Josh said: “That led me onto DJ-ing at Luna and Fusion for around seven years. It was still commercial, but on the dance side of music, rather than cheesy music at weddings. It gave me a massive amount of experience in being able to read a crowd and was a huge step in the right direction. 

“Reading the crowd is one of the most important things; you have to be able to play the right song at the right time. It can be stressful, and I have definitely had nights where the crowd is divided so you can’t please everyone and you end up sticking to generic, safe options. When you get a night where everything works, it’s the best feeling ever.” 

Josh continued to create his own music while working a full-time corporate job and performing at Luna and Fusion at the weekends. 

“I spent as much time as possible watching YouTube tutorials and networking online trying to learn how keep progressing. The end of 2019 was where I suddenly made big leaps forward after years of small steps,” he said.

“My big breakthrough came off the back of a bootleg, or unofficial, remix of Lewis Capaldi’s ‘someone you loved’. I couldn’t find a good version that I would be able to play in the club, so I made my own."

Pictured: Josh said that making music has been his passion for over a decade and he spends "as much time as possible" working on it. 

Josh continued: “I uploaded the cover to YouTube and Sound Cloud then, a couple of months later, I received an Instagram message from a radio presented in the US. He said that they’d been playing my remix for the last month and that, whenever they played it, they received loads of messages asking about it. 

“He had connections at Universal and asked if I wanted to make an official remix. I was cautious at first in case it was a scam, but after a little bit of digging I realised it was legit.”

Josh worked with the US radio station in correspondence with Lewis Capaldi’s management.

“Unfortunately, the official remix never happened but I still get messages to this day asking me when the remix is coming out. The US presenter then put me in touch with someone else at universal who was looking for an official remix for Carly Rae Jepsen,” he said. 

“After that, I did another official remix for smaller, independent artist. Both the official remixes were played two or three times a day on the station for six weeks.

“While that was going on, I had also done a cover of Insomnia by Faithless which was played at Tomorrowland [a Belgian EDM music festival].”

Pictured: Josh shares "Pastry Thursday" photos each week on his social media after his employer, Healthspan, started the scheme. (Credit: Ben Fiore Photography)

Josh explained that the exposure he attained through the Tomorrowland festival “helped set the wheels in motion” for seeing him booked to play the Ministry of Sound nightclub in London. 

“Someone I knew posted to their Instagram story that they were playing Ministry of Sound and I replied saying it looked cool and I’d have to visit sometime, but I meant as a customer. He replied and she he would be able to get me a gig sometime; I hadn’t even been hinting at it,” said Josh. 

“I was flown over to London and had a chauffeur from the airport to hotel and then from the hotel to the club. It was very surreal; I felt almost like a celebrity.

“The crowd at Ministry of Sound was amazing. It was very different to a Guernsey crowd because people who go to Ministry of Sound are there because they want to hear a specific type of music. Although I was testing the water somewhat, my predictions of what would go down well were correct; it was amazing.”

The next day, Josh was contacted by one of the club’s promoters and who invited him back to play the following month. He will be returning for the fifth time in October this year. 

Pictured: Josh will be DJ-ing at Ministry of Sound for the fifth time in October. 

I asked Josh if the stereotype of DJs being pulled into a lifestyle of partying, drink and drugs had been his experience. 

“I have met some DJs who fit the stereotype, but I wouldn’t say I do. It can be frustrating that the stereotype exists. I’ve started jobs before where people have ended up saying I’m nothing like they expected, because they thought I would be a ‘typical’ DJ,” he said. 

“I tend not to drink much, especially when I’m DJ-ing because I’d hate to make a mistake.

“I would say I am a bit of a perfectionist, particularly with music production. Sometimes a song can be finished but then I’ll spend hours and hours on something that people wouldn’t even notice a difference about. I’ve learned to switch that up to keep the momentum going.”

I was surprised by Josh’s quiet and reserved demeanor and wondered whether he intentionally downplayed the magnitude of his successes. 

“It might come down to being overpolite, or maybe shy. I do need to work on putting myself forward a bit more, rather than waiting for people to come to me,” he said. 

“I have met DJs who are bigheaded, but I have found that the more famous they are, the nicer they are. I met Scott Mills once when he came to the island and he was the nicest guy ever, I even gave him a lift to the airport. I think it’s important to be a nice person, because you never know who you’ll meet along the way.” 

Pictured: Josh with his girlfriend, Aleksanda, who he said is "amazing". 

Alongside being nice, Josh also believes “being true to yourself is important”. 

“I think that social media in particular has been really bad for people having a ‘fake it until you make it’ attitude. It might fool some people for a while, but it doesn’t take much digging to see that it’s all fake,” he said. 

“There is one person I met, and something seemed a bit off. A minute or two of picking through his profile, it was obvious that he had bought followers. That can only take you so far; I don’t think it will pay off long-term. I have always tried to do things properly.”

I spoke with Josh about how social media, particularly TikTok, was transforming the music industry. 

“It feels like some people are making music for TikTok, because it can be make or break. I still make music for people to dance to; my end goal is for my music to be played for an audience,” he said. 

“I make TikToks personally, but I don’t use my own music for them. I’m trying my best to do one a day, but it’s crazy how long it takes to do a 30-second video. I have to credit my girlfriend, Aleksandra, for coming up with ideas for me.”

Pictured: Josh recently took his grandmother to Poland. Aleksandra is from Poland, so the couple travel there regularly. 

Josh said that Aleksandra, who he met through work, was “the first person to properly believe” in him. 

“My parents have always been very supportive, but in a way that parents are always supportive of anything their child wants to try. They even came with me when I went on a DJ-ing course in London years ago because I was apprehensive about travelling myself.  

“In the very early days both with Aleksandra and with my music, I played her some and she said, if I put more work in, I could get somewhere with it,” he said. 

“She comes to all my shows with me, there was only one time that she didn’t and she felt like she had missed out so has been to them all since. She was the one who said I should promote my 20 million streams.

“Without wanting it to sound as though I don’t care about the streams, I think I have just become used to it. I was crazy excited the first time I got to one million streams, then it snowballed and I’m reaching the point where it’s close to one million every month. I really hope that doesn’t sound bigheaded.”

I can safely assure you that Josh did not sound bigheaded, rather he came across grounded and true to both his roots and himself. 

“I am hoping that my story might be a bit of inspiration for anyone else with a dream. I think a lot of people have the idea that, if you’re from Guernsey, you’re limited to what you can do. With the internet and social media though, there is no limit,” he said. 

“All my networking has come through social media. I talk to people online who have never heard of Guernsey and they’re surprised I’m managing to do everything I do from such a small place. 

“I don’t want to criticise anyone because I know we all have bills to pay, but I have seen it happen a lot where people I know have dreams as teenagers, but it fizzles out when they start working. I am proof that you can have a day job and still pursue a passion in your free time.”

Pictured: Josh wants to continue working on his music and hopes to make it a full-time career in the future. 

Josh works full-time for Healthspan and said people are often surprised that he has an office job. 

“I definitely want to end up doing the music full-time. It’s on the cards at some point, but I don’t want to jump in too early and have to consider financial pressures,” he said. 

“I’m not the kind of person who can sit still, even on holidays I will take my laptop with me to work on music. 

“I’ve always been inspired by my dad because he’s always had big dreams. He’s a businessman through and through and a bit of a workaholic. He has a decorating business, a photography business. He’s done so much over the years and always worked really hard. My mum has always been really supportive of him as well as me.”

Josh attended Elizabeth College and said it “might be a blessing” that he didn’t know what he wanted to do at school.

“The fact that I never knew what I wanted to do allowed me to discover a passion and just dive straight into it. I want to keep working hard, building on what I’m doing and bring out as much music as possible. I’m looking to build my following and hopefully see my streams continue to increase,” he said. 

“Without trying to be philosophical, I believe you only live once, so why not make something of it?”

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