Multi-talented artist Wreckno—aka Brandon Wisniski— is well on his way to becoming the next bass music superstar. Over the last four years, he's racked up the kind of production credits most artists can only dream of. He's collabed with Liquid Stranger and GRiZ, had diverse artists like J Worra and Gioli & Assia remix his work, and signed to the legendary Wasserman talent agency. As one of dance music's brightest emerging talents, Wreckno is on the move.
Hailing from the small town of Manistee, Michigan, this 26-year-old queer musician is a tremendous force to be reckoned with in the bass scene. As a huge inspirational icon in the LGBTQ+ community, he’s built a safe space for queer people in a genre that unfortunately lacks much representation.
Considered a triple threat, Wreckno combines rapping, producing, and DJ’ing in a melting pot of originality. With a musical style where old-school rap meets wonky bass music, the self-proclaimed “Full Time Bussy Bopper” is changing the EDM game one “bussy bop” at a time.
Born to be a performer, his unequivocal energy and dynamic stage presence provide audiences with an unforgettable experience. Wreckno’s explosive talents and a burning passion for dance music have helped him climb to the top of the bass music ladder. But before Wreckno was a festival performer, he was a festival-goer himself. Check out his evolution below.
Growing up in Michigan, how did that environment influence you to become an artist?
I would say being in a really small town and being super queer and open like I was out by the time I was 14. I was always obsessed with music, pop artists like Lady Gaga…By the time I got to 15/16, the EDM bubble was blowing up. And I lived 30 minutes away from Electric Forest, so I went when I was 16. I'm not going to say I shouldn't have been there, it's an all-ages event, so there's babies there. But those years shaped what I knew I wanted to do and opened up the world to me.
I went to Electric Forest myself back in 2018, and it’s definitely near the top of my list of favorite festivals. The vibe is unreal.
I have another level of love for it because I don't live up there now, but I have a car, so we'll be driving up this year when I play! And it's my first time on the lineup, so it's very full circle. My grandparents, my mom, everybody lives 30 minutes up north, so they're going to come.
So how did you come up with the name Wreckno?
The name came about when I was 16 with a friend of mine. We were doing this talent show that she ended up dropping out of, and it ended up just being me dancing to a mix of songs my brother made. She came up with the name and said we should call ourselves Wreckno. I never called myself that immediately, but it was my Tumblr URL for years. And I had a decent following on Tumblr just being loud and gay. Then eventually, I was like, “Okay, I’m DJ’ing.” And I was a hula hooper, so everybody knew me as Wreckno already. So it just kind of naturally progressed.
Speaking of “being loud and gay,” you are a massive inspiration to the LGBTQ+ community. How would you describe how you've changed mentally along your journey to becoming an advocate for queer rights?
I went into detail about this recently on my Instagram because I came out as gender fluid. So for me, that was something I've known ever since I was 16/17. When I was younger, I was in this phase where I was like, you're in high school, and you're rebellious. As a 17-year-old, I walked into Walmart in fishnets, a leotard, and high heels, and I was in Indiana. I would wear these crazy outfits in CVS and shit. My parents, my dad would be like, “What the fuck?” so that kind of wasn't there for me. For a while after high school, I stayed in small areas. I watered myself down. I was like, “How can we make it easiest to live here?” And in the last five months of just wearing skirts, expressing myself gender-wise, it's a reminder that “You've always been there.” With all the things, just getting on stage and having people accept me for who I am has allowed me to be myself.
What about some advice for those who may be struggling or experiencing that right now?
This is the thing. There are a lot of kids that are in small towns that don't have queer spaces. They have their group of straight friends that accept them. Maybe they're just taking that acceptance in a way. It's all they have. I have so many good friends from back in high school who always accepted me. But when you're in a spot as a queer person, you have to make the space for yourself. I would tell anybody who's listening to hone in on what you genuinely feel on the inside, sexuality, gender expression, anything, and find the people that will accept all of that. As well as give yourself the space to be okay with it because all the shit that comes in from the outside tells you you shouldn't, it can be silenced, and you can choose not to allow it. It's a journey, but you can make it.
Let's switch gears and talk about your sound. How would you describe your sound to someone who's never listened to you before?
My sound is in your face, sassy, queer, genre-bendy bass music. It's always underlined by bass music, but the great thing about me doing vocals is that I can hop on house tracks, hop on riddim tracks, hop on anything, and always bring my flavor of taste to it. And underneath everything I do, there's this unwritten love for women musicians and pop music. Like people loved the “London Bridge, Krabby Patty” thing that I did on SoundCloud. And it's just like my little love letter to the women and people who inspired me in both bass music and music in general.
And as a musician, you perform your tracks not only as a producer but as a singer/artist, and you’re a combination of rap, vocals, etc.
Yeah, absolutely. So now, I get a lot of opportunities to work with producers who are beyond my skill set. I got fortunate to learn from people who are definitely way more advanced in that section. I've been very lucky because I worked with people like GRiZ and Liquid Stranger. I was like, “Oh, I'm way behind them.” But then I had this special thing that they were like, “Well, I can put that part of you in here because that's on our level,” and there's imposter syndrome that comes along with it. But you know, I am learning every day to be like, “You’re that bitch, you got this.”
It’s pretty safe to say you were born to be on stage. What do you like about performing in general?
Performing is all I've ever wanted to do. We just started rehearsing choreo for certain sets and music videos. I was a dancer and hula-hooper before I was a DJ/performer, so to now be shoving all these dynamics into my life, you can do all of it! And my favorite part about performing right now is that it's allowing me to bring every creative outlet, or you know, concepts of songs and dance into something you don't randomly see at a bass stage.
Can you describe your perfect show?
So I was born in Indiana. I recently played a show in Indianapolis where we sold out, and I was like, “I'm actually from here” to the crow. It was like, every song, there was just a howl, and that's not every show. So, my favorite shows are where you can feel the “day one” people. People who saw me hula-hooping or anything that are there watching this evolution. So my ideal show is just the ones where the energy is there on both ends.
What excites you the most about the future of dance music?
What excites me the most about the future of dance music is the lack of boundaries we're heading toward. I love seeing genres that we've maybe pigeon-holed—like trap music or this and that—are evolving. The boundaries are breaking down, and these weird, new hyper-genres are emerging. And honestly, you hear it in pop music now, like hyper pop. So for me, it's continuing to see even tiny bits of dance music making it in big, pop songs. I love that.
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