Skism — Breakbeat & Bass Music DJSkism
Thomas Stephen Petais, known as SKisM, is an English electronic artist from London who later lived in Australia. His work covered breakbeat, bass music, dubstep, drum and bass, moombahcore and drumstep, with a heavy, technically dense approach influenced by metal, classical progressions and ethnic samples. He was known for multi-deck performances and earned the nickname the DJ's DJ.
Early in his career, he formed the breakbeat duo Ctrl-Z with Nicholas D'Silva at Community Music school in East London. As Ctrl-Z, he won Best Breakthrough Act and Best Breakthrough Producer at the 2005 Breakspoll Awards, followed by Best Compilation Album in 2006 for Hardwired. In 2009, SKisM co-founded Never Say Die Records with Nicholas Sadler, also known as Mobscene, and co-founded Disciple Records.
Never Say Die's roster included Zomboy, Eptic, Must Die!, Dodge & Fuski, Habstrakt and Kompany. His 2012 single Like This with Virus Syndicate spent one month at number one on Beatport's Top 100 Tracks, while Experts featured a viral video involving Excision, Eptic, Skrillex and Zomboy. SKisM retired from producing in 2015 and formally retired as a DJ and producer in October 2021, leaving a legacy tied to technical bass-music performance and label building.