Bro Safari Finds a Heavy New Sound

Though Bro Safari is a DJ name that connotes all kinds of stereotypes of the EDM scene, Nicholas Weiller tells New Times he didn't think too much about social criticism when coming up with the moniker. "I didn't intend to call myself Bro Safari for a long time," he says. "I had a bundle of four weird songs I wanted to release, and I needed a name. Someone said 'Brostafari.' We laughed, and somehow that became Bro Safari."

Weiller says he latched on to music at an early age. In fourth grade, he took viola lessons. Those were followed by piano and guitar. He had been in rock bands in high school, but when he went to college in 1997 at the University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, he didn't have anyone to jam with and so began DJing and producing. It wasn't until he released music under the Bro Safari name in 2008 that he really found a following. Those fans will be happy to hear he's finished a new EP set to drop this fall.

"It's long been a battle with management and my agents to give me some time off from touring," explains Weiller. "I can hit a stride in the studio when I have the time. I've been able to stack up five or six new songs — some solo, some as collaborations." Weiller says the creative process in his Texas home starts with his fatherly duties. "I have a family, so every day starts getting my kid up and taking him to school. Once he's gone for the day, I get into my routine. A song comes from my head, and I paint the picture. I get over my creative blocks and have another breakthrough and another breakthrough and then another breakthrough."

That recording process is going to have to take a break as Bro Safari hits the road for his Pretty Good Tour, kicking off August 25 at Revolution Live. "My sets have been getting heavier as the year goes on. There's been a revival of the dubstep sound, and I'm into it. I try to have the show be insanity from start to finish, with no dry spots. MC Armanni Reign performs every set with me. He knows when to show restraint and when to hype the crowd."

Weiller is no stranger to South Florida, having played at Miami Music Week or Ultra just about every year for the last decade. "South Florida is always an awesome run I look forward to. I have a lot of memories of being awake at dawn." He says with a smirk that those dawns didn't involve waking up any children. "To play down there so many times and have people keep coming back makes me very appreciative."

Bro Safari. 8 p.m. Thursday, August 25, at Revolution Live, 100 SW Third Ave., Fort Lauderdale; 954-449-1025; jointherevolution.net. Tickets cost $24 plus fees via ticketmaster.com.