Kissy Sell Out (born Thomas Benjamin Bisdee; 18 June 1984 in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, England) is a British/Canadian DJ, producer, graphic designer, label manager of San City High Records and Stepper Man, and science columnist for Sick Chirpse. Kissy Sell Out gained notability in 2006 for his electro music productions and energetic DJ style. In 2009 Mixmag described him as "one of the most exciting, charismatic and entertaining DJs of the decade".
In addition to his DJ work, he has released six albums – Youth, Wild Romance, Introducing Kissy Sell Out, San City High All Stars Vol. 1 & 2, Style from the Westside – and composed official music for the 2012 Olympics ceremonies held in London.
BBC Radio 1 From 2007 to 2012 he hosted a successful BBC Radio 1 show called the Kissy Klub. The show blended classical music, and computer-voiced fictional characters with an exclusive selection of remixes created specifically for the show called "Kissy Klub Versions". Notable artists such as Diplo, Felix Da Housecat, Hervé, Uffie & Erol Alkan made regular appearances alongside exclusive tracks Kissy supported which kick-started careers for a long list of breakthrough producers and DJs across the globe.
Until 2009, the majority of his musical output as a producer was in remixes for other artists such as Mark Ronson, Calvin Harris, The Human League, Sugababes, Groove Armada and All Saints. It was this early production work that caught the attention of executives at BBC Radio 1.
In July 2007, Kissy Sell Out was signed by BBC Radio 1 to present a monthly instalment of a specialist dance music show called In New DJs We Trust. In October 2008 he permanently took over Eddie Halliwell's Thursday night slot to host his own weekly show called the Kissy Klub. His radio show covered a selection of musical styles and genres with the tracks often seamlessly mixed together. His last show with BBC Radio 1 was in 2012.
In 2019, a new podcast called "Long Live The Kissy Klub" was started to make the Kissy Klub DJ mixes and remixes available to fans of the original show, in high quality re-mastered audio format, for the first time since the show's end.
Background Kissy spent his teenage years growing up in Colchester, Essex. He began practising DJing and teaching himself music production at the age of 13 when a school friend played him a United Dance CD mixed by DJ Hype. His particular interest became very melodically complex post-modern electronic dance music, often around 128 BPM in tempo.
As Kissy's technical abilities blossomed professionally, his live DJ shows began to focus on putting electro beats over classical pieces of music using Pioneer's CDJ decks. This unique element in his approach to mixing led to producing and recording his second album "Wild Romance" almost entirely using classical instruments – something which began to attract media attention when he was invited to speak at a formal debate at the Cambridge Union against Stephen Fry about the relevance of classical music to the youth of today in May 2011. Kissy also appeared with Stephen Fry on the BBC's Look East news programme and BBC Radio 4's Today Show, and wrote a two-page article published in The Independent newspaper about the subject.
Kissy has been the subject of two questions on the game show The Chase, first in the UK and then on the New Zealand version. The question asked on both occasions was:"Which of these Radio 1 DJs was born Thomas Bisdee? Kissy Sell Out, Kutski, or Mista Jam?"When not working on his own music, much of his time as a music producer has been spent mentoring fresh names in dance music through his label San City High and also by judging DJ competitions such as the Red Bull Thre3style UK tour.
Kissy has often been described by the press as being a staple of the east London electro scene, and most of his records are produced at his studio in the Shoreditch/Brick Lane area.
Inspired by early recordings of underground drum'n'bass events in the UK, Kissy frequently used an air horn during his DJ sets and in June 2007 was pictured on the front cover of DJ Magazine blasting one into the air.
During his final year studying Graphic Design at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, Kissy worked full-time as a design assistant at a high-fashion magazine called POP Magazine.
Pioneer DJ Kissy has worked very closely with Pioneer DJ since 2011, consulting as a brand ambassador and beta tester – alongside James Zabeila and Laidback Luke – during the development of two respective iterations of the CDJ-2000 Nexus and DJM-900 Nexus equipment, and several versions of Pioneer DJ's rekordbox software. Kissy has made many YouTube video demonstration videos for the company, using the 2000 NXS and RMX-1000 products, and personally went to the Pioneer DJ Japan headquarters in Kawasaki to contribute to the blue print designs for the DJM-900 NXS II product line in 2015.
Kissy has appeared on four instalments of the YouTube series Pioneer DJ Sounds since 2011, with the viewing figures approaching a million views in some cases.
KSO & Stepper Man In 2017, Kissy began releasing music and booking shows as "KSO", in addition to starting a new label called Stepper Man.
After 12 years as a professional music producer, the KSO moniker signalled the start of a new chapter in Kissy's career. A KSO debut album, called "Style From The Westside" released in August 2018, featuring collaborations with DJ Q, Darkzy, Wideboys, Sam Supplier, Dread MC, JG, Tengu, Jaikea, Pavv, J69, Hyperactive MC, Beth Macari and The Melody Men. The album is specifically a bass house and bassline club record, with the second single "Dub For Ya Speaker" described by Mixmag as "masterfully combining bassline house with vintage hip-hop and early jungle", featuring the release as their "tune of the month" in the breaks section.
UKF published an interview feature with KSO about the album claiming the release to be "one of the realest bassline albums you'll hear all year", noting that the rapid creation of the album in nine months coincided with Kissy becoming a father.
Health and fitness appearances In November 2015, Kissy became an ambassador for Decibel Nutrition, alongside JP from Made in Chelsea, Amy Willerton and Rob Edmond. Since then, he has featured in several photo shoots as a fitness model, and appeared on BESTfitTV as a celebrity contender in their extreme fitness challenge.
In summer 2016, Bear Grylls took Kissy on, alongside Mission Survive winner Vogue Williams, to host the main stage at each of his Survival Race events across the UK. The hosts presented awards to the winners, interviewed inspiring figures in the armed forces and challenged the crowd with various fitness activities.
Kissy's run of appearances was cut short, just shy of the last race in London, due to a last minute opportunity to tour Romania for the first time with MC Cobra.
Discography Albums Youth (2009) Introducing Kissy Sell Out (2010 – North American only release) Wild Romance (2011) San City High All Stars (2013) San City High All Stars, Vol. 2 (Mixed by Kissy Sell Out) (2015) Style from the Westside (2018)
Singles "Always (Together Forever)" feat. Robert Owens (released 7 March 2016 on San City High Records / Carrillo Music) "Caught Up" feat. Jamie George (released 2 November 2015 on San City High Records / Lifted House / Carrillo Music) "Who Walks Alone" (released 2013 on San City High Records / Vicious Bitch Recordings) "Ready for the World" feat. Hervé & Elliot Chapman (released 2013 on San City High Records / Vicious Bitch Recordings) "Live Wire" feat. Rob Sparx and Jane Thomas (released 2013 on San City High Records / Vicious Bitch Recordings) "Early Morning Crew" feat. The Squatters (released 20 November 2012 on What's Your Status?) "Turn It On" feat. MC Cobra (released 2011 on San City High Records) "Homesick" feat. Oh Snap!! (released 2011 on San City High Records) "Wild in the Warehouse / Redrinkulous" (released 4 April 2011 on San City High Records) "Joanna" (released 16 August 2010 on San City High Records) "Garden Friends" (released 9 April 2010 on Ministry of Sound Australia) "Come on Over (This Could Be Love)" feat. Tinashé (released 8 March 2010 on Island Records/San City High Records) "This Kiss" (Released 1 June 2009 on San City High Records) "Rikkalicious" feat. Hervé (Released 20 October 2008 on Cheap Thrills Records) "Her" (Released 23 July 2007 on Lavolta Records) "Her / Permanent Record" (Released 9 May 2007 on San City High Records)
Compilations Mixmag Presents Kissy Sell Out's Blowout (mixed by Kissy Sell Out) (released 8 September 2013 on Mixmag) Kissy Sell Out's Xmas Blowout (mixed by Kissy Sell Out) (released 1 December 2009 on Mixmag) Mashed Four (mixed by Kissy Sell Out and The Aston Shuffle) (released 19 April 2008 on Ministry of Sound Australia)
Official remixes Original ArtistSongRemix NameLabelYearGettoblaster feat. Servante"Fingerbang"Kissy Sell Out RemixWe Jack2017Run DMC"Walk This Way"Kissy Sell Out RemixTBC2015Terri B!"I'm Coming Back"Kissy Sell Out RemixCarrillo Music2015Lisa Williams"Junk"Kissy Sell Out RemixCarrillo Music2015Nadia Gattas"The Feeling"Kissy Sell Out RemixCarrillo Music2015Super Square"Erase Me"Kissy Sell Out RemixCarrillo Music2015Eddie Amador"Awake"Kissy Sell Out RemixCarrillo Music2015Hybrid Theory feat. Trilla"That's What It Is"Kissy Sell Out RemixFour40 Records2015Binary Finary"1998"Kissy Sell Out's Trap MixArmada2013Ali Love"Love Harder"Kissy Sell Out RemixDim Mak2013Steve Aoki feat. Kid Cudi & Travis Barker"Cudi the Kid"Kissy Sell Outs Style from the Dark SideUltra Records2012TAI"At the Disco"Kissy Sell Out's Skippin' SchoolDim Mak2012Spencer & Hill"Dance"Kissy Sell Out's 4x4 Moombahton FixDim Mak2012Zeds Dead"Rude Boy"Kissy Sell Out & MC Cobra's VIP MixSan City High2011Art vs. Science"Magic Fountain"Kissy Sell Out's Dark Crystal VersionMinistry of Sound (Australia)2010Noisettes"Wild Young Hearts"Kissy Sell Out RemixVertigo2010Frankmusik"Better Off As Two"Kissy Sell Out Says RelaxIsland2009The Human League"The Things That Dreams Are Made Of"Kissy Sell Out MixHooj Choons2009Shiny Toy Guns"Ricochet!"Kissy Sell Out MixUltra Records2009Noisettes"Don't Upset the Rhythm"Kissy Sell Out in the Black LodgeMercury Records2009Calvin Harris"Merrymaking at My Place"Kissy Sell Out RemixFly Eye2007Groove Armada"Song 4 Mutya"Kissy Sell Out RemixColumbia2007Sugababes"About You Now"Kissy Sell Out RemixIsland2007Remi Nicole"Fed Up"Kissy Sell Out's Rules of AttractionIsland2007The Black Ghosts"Face"Kissy Sell Out RemixSouthern Fried2007Operator Please"Just a Song About Ping Pong"Kissy Sell Out's White StallionBrille2007The Dykeenies"New Ideas"Kissy Sell Out's Crude OasisLavolta2007Chungking"Love Is Here to Stay"Kissy Sell Out's Own Private IdahoInstitute2007Acoustic Ladyland"Cuts & Lies"Kissy Sell Out MixV22007Mark Ronson"Stop Me"Kissy Sell Out's True RomanceColumbia2007Gwen Stefani"Wind It Up"Kissy Sell Out RemixInterscope2006All Saints"Chick Fit"Kissy Sell Out's Excellent Adventure / Bogus JourneyParlophone2006GoodBooks"Leni"Kissy Sell Out MixColumbia2006Neat People"Baby I'm Bored"Kissy Sell Out RemixRekabet2006
Remix EPs Title Details Tracklist Live Wire (Remixes) Released: 2012 Label: Kissy Sell Out LTD Formats: Digital download Live Wire ft. Rob Sparx & Jane Thomas (Sui Generis Remix) Live Wire ft. Rob Sparx & Jane Thomas (Sparx V.I.P Remix) Live Wire ft. Rob Sparx & Jane Thomas (GOLD Remix) Live Wire ft. Rob Sparx & Jane Thomas (The Sneekers Re-step Remix) Live Wire ft. Rob Sparx & Jane Thomas (Stereothieves Remix) Who Walks Alone (Remixes) Released: 2013 Label: Vicious Formats: Digital download Who Walks Alone (Toyboy & Robin Remix) Who Walks Alone (Suckfake & Daniel Brooks Remix) Who Walks Alone (Disposition Remix) Who Walks Alone (J A S P E R Remix) Who Walks Alone (Indian Summer Remix) Who Walks Alone ft. Holly Lois (Vocal Mix)
Kissy Klub Versions