Disclosure
Cloonee, real name David Bissett, is a British DJ, music producer and founder of Hellbent Records. After beginning his career on the British house and tech-house scene, he gradually developed a recognizable sound built around tight grooves, powerful bass, minimalist percussion and striking vocal samples.
In Cloonee’s music, contemporary tech house meets hip-hop, Latin music, reggaeton, dembow and other club influences. International recognition came through releases such as The Ciggie, Be Good To Me, Like What?, What Ya Want, Sun Goes Down, Sippin' Yak and Stephanie, while his own Hellbent brand evolved from a record label into an independent platform for music, events and visual culture.
Childhood and Cloonee’s real name
Cloonee’s real name is David Bissett. He grew up in the small town of Bewdley in Worcestershire, in England’s West Midlands region.
Bissett’s earliest musical interests were far removed from house. One of his first major passions was nu-metal and heavier guitar music. As a child, his father took him to concerts, and one of the first performances he vividly remembers was by Killswitch Engage.
Rock and metal culture would later influence Cloonee less in terms of sound than in the visual language of his Hellbent brand: its merchandise, graphics and event design frequently reference the aesthetics of concert T-shirts and heavy music.
Where the name Cloonee comes from
His stage name is connected to Ireland. As a child, David regularly spent school holidays with his grandparents and went fishing with them at Cloonee Lake in County Kerry.
The name of the lake later became the basis for his artist name.
First interest in electronic music
Bissett’s interest in electronic music developed gradually through British bass and house styles.
An important transitional influence was discovering the music of Chris Lorenzo and his Cause & Affect project, where bass music was combined with house rhythms. Cloonee’s early style was also influenced by the British jackin house scene, Ill Phil, Patrick Topping and wAFF.
This combination of heavy bass and direct club grooves appealed to Bissett more than more melodic forms of electronic music and gradually defined the direction of his own productions.
Beginning his DJ career
An important stage in Cloonee’s development came during the years he spent in Sheffield. He gradually began playing at Tank, initially taking smaller and warm-up slots before becoming involved in organizing regular events.
Working in the club gave him practical experience of playing extended DJ sets and a direct understanding of how crowds respond to bass, vocal fragments and shifts in rhythm.
His production skills developed much more slowly. Cloonee has openly explained that he has no traditional musical education, does not play instruments and spent his early years learning production software through trial and error.
His main tool became his ear: the ability to quickly recognize a groove, bassline or vocal fragment that works and then build a track around it.
Early releases
Bissett began releasing music under the name Cloonee in the mid-2010s.
In 2017, he released Like This on elrow Music. His early releases were primarily focused on functional tech house: heavy kicks, basslines, short vocal samples and minimalist arrangements.
Over the following years, his music appeared on Sola, Repopulate Mars, Solotoko, La Pera, Solid Grooves and other notable house labels.
The Ciggie and his first major success
One of Cloonee’s key early releases was The Ciggie, issued in 2018 on Solid Grooves.
The track helped establish his position within the British tech-house scene and marked the beginning of a period of rapid growth. In the years that followed, his music appeared increasingly often in sets by major DJs and climbed the Beatport charts.
Breakthrough in 2019
2019 became one of the first truly significant periods in Cloonee’s career.
He released music on Sola, elrow Music, Solotoko, La Pera and Repopulate Mars, while Be Good To Me reached number one on the Beatport Tech House chart.
By the end of the year, Cloonee ranked among Beatport’s best-selling tech-house artists, establishing himself as one of the notable new producers on the British scene.
Like What?
At the beginning of 2020, Cloonee released Like What?.
The track continued his run of successful club releases and reached number one on Beatport Tech House. It already clearly displayed the formula that would become characteristic of his later work: a minimal structure, a strong vocal hook and a groove designed above all to trigger an immediate dance-floor response.
Chris Lake and Black Book Records
Chris Lake played an important role in Cloonee’s international growth.
Lake began actively supporting the British producer’s music and signed him to his own label, Black Book Records.
One of the first major releases from the collaboration was What Ya Want in 2020. Let's Rave and Holla were later also released through Black Book.
The connection with Chris Lake eventually proved important not only for releases but also for Cloonee’s broader career development in the United States.
Get Stupid
In 2020, Cloonee also released Get Stupid.
The track climbed into the upper reaches of Beatport’s overall chart and strengthened his reputation as a producer capable of creating structurally simple yet highly effective club records.
The hip-hop and rap sampling heard in Get Stupid would later become an important part of his musical language.
Sun Goes Down
Sun Goes Down was released on Big Beat Records on January 22, 2021.
The track became one of Cloonee’s biggest early hits and significantly expanded his audience beyond the narrower tech-house scene.
It later received remixes from Classmatic, Luuk van Dijk, Wade and drum & bass producer Kanine, further extending its presence across different areas of electronic music.
Mi Amor and Latin influences
In 2021, Cloonee teamed up with Spanish producer WADE for Mi Amor.
An interest in Latin American music later became one of the more noticeable characteristics of his sound. Latin vocals, percussion patterns and rhythmic elements increasingly began to appear in both his DJ sets and studio productions.
Moving to Los Angeles
Cloonee’s career changed significantly after the pandemic. In 2021, he moved to Los Angeles.
The decision was connected in part to Chris Lake and his circle. Bissett had the opportunity to experience the scale of the American house scene through shared events in San Diego and Brooklyn and decided to focus a significant part of his future career on the United States.
American audiences proved considerably more expressive than the club crowds he had been used to in the UK. For a musician who grew up attending metal shows and enjoyed the physical energy of large crowds, the environment felt especially natural.
How Los Angeles changed Cloonee’s music
The move affected not only the scale of his performances but also Bissett’s musical tastes.
Life in Southern California exposed him to a broader range of Latin music, reggaeton and dembow. Everyday surroundings played an important role: new friendships, parties and musical recommendations from members of Los Angeles’ Latin American community.
Cloonee gradually began integrating these influences into his DJ sets and productions without abandoning his tech-house foundation.
Hellbent Records
The next major stage was the launch of his own label, Hellbent Records.
Hellbent was created as an outlet for club-oriented house and tech house, but over time it grew into a broader brand with its own events, visual identity and clothing line.
Aesthetically, Hellbent is strongly connected to Bissett’s love of heavy music. Its visual language features motifs reminiscent of metal merchandise, concert T-shirts and more aggressive rock imagery.
Through Hellbent, Cloonee also gained the ability to control his own releases and support other producers whose music fits his vision of contemporary club house.
Hellbent as an event series
Over time, Hellbent expanded beyond being a record label.
The brand began organizing its own events, including large-scale shows in the United States and dedicated programs during Miami Music Week.
Cloonee views Hellbent parties as extended club journeys in which a DJ can play significantly longer than the standard 60–90-minute festival slot and gradually shift the character of the music.
Sippin' Yak
Sippin' Yak, one of Cloonee’s best-known tracks, was released on March 15, 2024.
The track came out through Hellbent Records in partnership with Polydor and became a clear example of Cloonee’s signature approach: a minimalist tech-house groove built around a memorable hip-hop vocal.
Sippin' Yak significantly expanded his international audience and became a regular feature of his major festival performances.
Stephanie
His next major release was Stephanie, created with InntRaw and featuring vocals from American rapper Young M.A.
The track is based on material from her well-known song OOOUUU. Cloonee built a minimalist tech-house groove around the rap vocal while preserving the recognizability of the original source.
Stephanie became one of the biggest club tracks of the period. At Tomorrowland 2025, both the original and numerous remixes were among the most frequently played records at the festival.
Why vocal samples matter to Cloonee
Vocals occupy a central role in Cloonee’s productions.
Bissett does not have a traditional musical education and does not build his tracks around complex instrumental arrangements. Instead, the starting point is often a short vocal, rap phrase or sample that defines the entire character of the track.
This approach can be heard clearly in Get Stupid, Sippin' Yak and Stephanie. The vocal does not simply decorate the arrangement; it acts as the main hook around which the bass and percussion are constructed.
Cloonee’s musical style
Tech house remains the foundation of Cloonee’s music, but by the mid-2020s his style had broadened significantly and begun combining multiple genres.
His productions are characterized by economical arrangements. Instead of using large numbers of synthesizers, Cloonee prefers a few highly expressive elements: a powerful bassline, drums, a short vocal hook and a limited number of effects.
Simplicity is a deliberate method. The main criterion is not technical complexity, but whether the track can work immediately on the dance floor.
Hip-hop as a source of samples
American hip-hop has a significant influence on Cloonee.
Rap vocals and fragments of classic recordings regularly become the foundation of his house tracks. This is especially evident in Stephanie, Sippin' Yak and Get Stupid.
The producer uses familiar vocal material as an entry point for the audience, but places it in a completely different club context.
Latin influences
After moving to Los Angeles, Latin American music became another important part of Cloonee’s musical language.
Latin vocals, reggaeton and dembow rhythms increasingly appear in his sets, while his own house tracks use percussion and vocal elements associated with Latin club culture.
Bissett has repeatedly emphasized that this interest developed through direct contact with the Latin American community in the United States rather than as a short-term attempt to follow a musical trend.
X-Rated
In 2025, Cloonee released X-Rated, featuring material from the American hip-hop group Funkdoobiest.
The track continued his characteristic approach of combining rap vocals with a minimalist tech-house foundation.
Cloonee in 2026
2026 became one of the busiest periods of Cloonee’s career.
In January, he released XTC with Jocelyn Enriquez, while in the spring Cloonee teamed up with British duo Prospa for Free Your Mind. The track reached number one on Beatport’s overall chart and became one of the platform’s best-selling dance releases of the year.
More releases followed throughout the year, including Good Girl, Get Up And Dance, Movimiento and other tracks.
Are You Still You? — debut album
On October 6, 2026, Cloonee released his debut full-length album, Are You Still You?.
The record contains 16 tracks and became the first full album project of his career after more than a decade of releasing singles, EPs and club tracks.
The album brings together several sides of Cloonee’s contemporary sound: tech house, hip-hop sampling, Latin influences, collaborations with house producers and a broader song-oriented approach.
Releases connected with the album include Good Girl with Prospa and Tristan Henry, Get Up And Dance with Franky Rizardo, and Movimiento with Yandel and ATLAC.
Get Up And Dance
One of the singles from the album era was Get Up And Dance, created with Dutch producer Franky Rizardo.
The track combines Cloonee’s heavy low end with Rizardo’s more minimalist, swinging groove and became one of the festival IDs actively tested throughout 2026.
International performances
By the mid-2020s, Cloonee had developed into a major international touring artist.
His schedule includes performances in the UK, the United States, Ibiza, Miami and at major festivals. The American market holds a particularly important place in his career: Hellbent runs its own events there, and Cloonee has built one of his largest audiences in the country.
In 2025, Hellbent staged large-scale events in Los Angeles, while Cloonee also regularly appeared in Miami Music Week programs, at Club Space and in other major American club projects.
Cloonee’s DJ style
Cloonee’s DJ sets are built around a hard but relatively simple groove. He freely combines his own tracks, unreleased IDs, hip-hop vocals, Latin music and more traditional tech house.
Crowd response plays an important role. Bissett does not treat a DJ set as a display of technical complexity for its own sake, but as a way to continuously maintain the physical energy of the dance floor.
This is especially evident in extended club sets, where he can gradually move from more minimalist house into harder tracks, Latin rhythms and familiar vocal hooks.
Cloonee discography
Studio albums
2026 — Are You Still You?
Cloonee’s debut full-length album, combining contemporary tech house with hip-hop and Latin influences.
Selected releases
- Like This
- The Ciggie
- Be Good To Me
- Like What?
- What Ya Want
- Get Stupid
- Let's Rave
- Sun Goes Down
- Pop It
- Mi Amor — with WADE
- Holla
- Love You Like That
- Sippin' Yak
- Stephanie — with Young M.A and InntRaw
- X-Rated — with Funkdoobiest
- XTC — with Jocelyn Enriquez
- Free Your Mind — with Prospa and Sybil
- Good Girl — with Prospa and Tristan Henry
- Get Up And Dance
- Movimiento — with Yandel and ATLAC.
Hellbent and Cloonee’s place on the contemporary house scene
By the mid-2020s, Cloonee was no longer simply a producer releasing tech-house singles through third-party labels. Hellbent gave him his own infrastructure for releases, events, visual identity and the development of emerging artists.
His music nevertheless retained the central quality of his earliest work — a focus on the dance floor. Bissett does not try to make tracks more complex simply to demonstrate production technique: the music needs to communicate its idea quickly and provoke a physical response.
This approach helped Cloonee progress from warm-up slots in British clubs and early releases on smaller labels to major American venues, his own international brand and a debut album.
Contemporary Cloonee exists at the intersection of the British tech-house tradition and American club culture. His style incorporates the UK’s bass heritage, hip-hop sampling and the Latin influences of Los Angeles while preserving the minimalist groove that formed the foundation of his career.
