Last year was a powerhouse year for you as a 2019 FBi Dance class alumni, playing shows, radio and putting on events as Third Space. How have you adapted to the change of pace this year?

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I think the change of pace was necessary, not just for me personally, but for music/events in a broader sense. It coincided well with my growing disillusionment with club music in Sydney, and discussions I had with friends and Third Space made it abundantly clear that DJing has to be much more than the club.

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Third Space is a project you started with Index and Akka, an experimental club night and sonic disruption exploring liminality. Your project ‘Identity Crisis’, a facilitated conversation with DJ Haram, was scheduled right as lockdown began and couldn’t go ahead. Can you tell us about the concept behind this event and are you looking at doing something like this again when restrictions allow?

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Third Space first and foremostly aims to platform Indigenous folk and people of colour. We had this amazing opportunity to facilitate a dialogue with DJ Haram re: forming meaningful connections within communities and navigating the political responsibilities of dance culture. We wanted the night to be small, intimate and ultimately meaningful and nutritious for the attendees. We very intentionally prioritised young artists of colour, First Nations community members and LGBTQIA+ folk to attend. I guess after the major events of this year, namely BLM and it’s aftereffects in our local contexts, I think it’s more important than ever to interrogate what it means to be shunted off as an “experimental club night” that holds events like these. While we did self-describe as such, it feels as if anything that threatens the status quo (aka non-white music/lineups) is forever distanced through this kind of language. Genre is ultimately colonial, and I think it’s vital that we consider how we approach music, how we organise around music, and how we are reflecting our values through our navigation of the music world. Future events for Third Space are a bit nebulous, I think we feel that the project is forever and ongoing in our daily practices, and whilst that might not appear tangibly in the public form of events or music or production, it doesn’t make it stagnant or any less vital.

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This year has been a time of reflection for a lot of us, how has this time affected your relationship with music and djing and your approach to music going forward?

I think a lot of this I touched on in the previous question. Music is really important to me, and feels like a conduit in which I can express my grievances (internal/external) with the world lol. In that respect, my relationship to music hasn’t really changed and I find it weaves in and out of all of my other intersecting interests/values. My relationship to djing has definitely shifted, and whilst I love playing to people and seeing people dance, I can’t help but feel a craving for more than that. What does that look like? I really have no idea.

Your sound is quite unique as you incorporate guitar driven metal into techno tracks. How did you develop this style? What influences you? And were you a big metal head growing up?

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I am very naturally drawn to darker distorted sounds, but also love a good hook, so I try to incorporate that into my sets as seamlessly as possible. I definitely listened to a lot of metal as a teenager, but feel like in a more general sense, I was much more invested in big and heavy sounds that made me feel some type of way. Also screaming / growling / chanting / speaking taps into a really deep part of the body that I feel like I just can’t access with other types of music. I think my history of mixes seem so disparate because I’m not beholden to any genre, and I play what I feel is right and what melodies and rhythms melt well together. I always love mixes that approach the absurd, and I guess my ultimate hope is that people feel something. Also I’ve always said my goal is to be a mashup dj, I still feel like I stay true to this hahaha.

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What’s your dream gig/ party look like post lockdown?

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One where there is tea and a small meal cooked by someone’s mum served at the beginning of the event

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You’re currently doing some pretty amazing research for your PHD, can you tell us a little bit about it?

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My project is looking at the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids in treating PTSD and Dravet Syndrome (a severe form of childhood epilepsy). Recent research has shown that both these diseases have a large inflammatory component, and cannabinoids have great potentials as anti-inflammatories, which is what I’m investigating. I’m very lucky to be part of a lab that sits on the edge of science/policy, I think I would be severely less interested and more burnt out if there wasn’t a very tangible consequence to our lab's research. I eventually would love to take my experience into some kind of harm reduction sphere!

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How would you like to see Sydney’s electronic music landscape adapt post-covid?

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Again, I think my comments re: Third Space answers this question as well. I almost think post-lockdown is an illusion bc it implies some sort of return to normality. I think we kind of have to imagine a vastly different future, and many communities have already been doing this for decades. I don’t think I personally have the capabilities to even envision what my next week looks like, so I think I’ll defer to Indigenous and Black communities for their post-lockdown visions. I will say, with the increasing reliance on the internet (especially for accessibility reasons e.g. livestreams), I think we have to be careful about using the internet in a way that distances ourselves from real life. There’s lots of ground work to do in the club (and beyond), and I think it’s really important to stay connected to that and ask ourselves: what are we actually doing to foster these relationships and to bolster these communities (of any marginalised group) beyond a simple donation to a org/charity?