How did you first get into DJing?

‍

Playing guitar was a huge focus of my high school years, and when I began to listen to more electronic music I found myself looking for ways to 'play' the new music I was discovering. I messed around with some DAWs at the time but they didn't really stick, and I was much more drawn to the idea of djing. But the real tipping point was when I moved overseas and found a place with a good friend, who at the time had put in many more hours on his decks than I did, and he taught me a shitload. The city we were in had a deeply ingrained music culture, and the combination of plenty of back to backs, meeting lots of like-minded people, and going to these amazing gigs each weekend, really opened my eyes to what djing was about, and it's turned into a bit of an obsession ever since then.

‍

You come from an engineering background, is there a crossover between this and your approach to music?

‍

Yeah, absolutely. The decision to study engineering was fuelled by both a curiosity to understand how the world works, and a desire to then apply that knowledge to improve it. With music, I have been drawn to it for as long as I can remember because of the fact that it provokes such strong reactions/feelings in me, and my interest in it is rooted in attempting to understand that and create more of it. That has manifested itself in a few different ways, like learning instruments, djing, making music digitally and electronically, as well as being interested in physically reproducing it through the technology side of things, so there is definitely a lot of overlap. There are also a lot of parallels you could draw between things such as the mechanical design process and the sound design process. I feel like it doesn't immediately spring to mind (especially with technology being so synonymous within our everyday lives), but music has evolved so much alongside developments in science and technology. That intersection of the two is incredibly fascinating to me.  

‍

We (at Douglas St) have watched you with a soldering iron, meticulously build a TR909 drum machine replica over the past year. Talk us through this process and what you’ve learnt?

‍
The process has been a very tedious one haha - I think about 90% of that project has just been sorting through electrical components and soldering. I have learnt a lot about analog circuitry and how electricity is converted to different sounds, which has been super fascinating, and that desire to understand how it all worked was pretty much the main reason I started it - although having a 909 to jam on is obviously a huge bonus!

‍

We’ve had a heap of big packages arrive at Douglas Street over the past week for another music project you’re involved in. Can you give us a sneak peak of what’s in the works?‍

‍

Yeah, this is related to a project that a few friends and I have been talking about doing for quite a while now - stupidly excited that it’s finally happening! Without saying too much, it is a lot bigger than a 909 and on the opposite end of the signal chain :)

‍

We’ve been streaming from our house every Friday for the past 6 months, how has this experience been for you?

‍

It’s been incredible - such a great experience in so many ways. It actually feels so routine now, but it is definitely part of what is keeping me sane during these times, especially since I am still working from home. My favourite part about it is no doubt being able to still have an outlet to listen to and share music with friends. We're also really lucky to live in a city that hasn't been hit too hard by the pandemic, so being able to invite old and new friends over to play and hang out has really been special.

‍

Has lockdown changed the type of music you’ve been listening to? ‍

‍

Yeah, I think it has. Before lockdown, I tended to base a lot of my music listening around ‘digging’ and would just constantly be on the lookout for songs that I could eventually play out to a dance floor. It's a habit I’ve been trying to change for a while, even before lockdown kicked in, but now it's just kinda happening naturally since there obviously aren’t a lot of gigs going around. Lately I’ve just been searching for music that I really enjoy listening to, without any sort of reason other than that I just gravitate towards it. That definitely still includes a ton of dance music, but also lots more ambient, downtempo, electronica, etc. As well as a lot of really fast, rhythmic stuff, like jungle, footwork and breaks.  

‍

How would you like to see the local electronic music scene grow and adapt post lockdown?

‍

I’m really hoping for a huge rebound in the local music scene - lots of people really eager to get out there and go dancing, as well as wanting to support local parties.  I’m assuming that international travel is going to be off the cards for some time, so it will be a nice opportunity to really promote and place focus on the incredible local artists we have here. At the same time, I realise these special communities that exist within music scenes don’t just pop up overnight so it’s definitely going to be a bit of an uphill battle coming out of this. Hoping things will be back in a big way in terms of passion and energy, even though it might be on a bit of a smaller scale.‍