Tell us a little about yourself, and what you do.
After finishing my Arts degree at the end of 2018, I was fortunate enough to spend a year living in Bristol in 2019 before the world went into chaos. When I returned to Melbourne, I spent the two years of lockdown studying to be a primary school teacher. I now work as a casual relief teacher. I love the idea of having a bit of a dual identity- teacher by day, DJ by night, but surprisingly they have intertwined more often than one would think! In the coming year I plan to spend some time teaching in the NT and look forward to discovering the music scene up there and maybe creating a few parties of my own?
How did you get into the world of DJing? Did you find it a smooth ride?
This is a weird and complicated one for me. It all began when I came back from an exchange in the Netherlands and wanted to do something with my newfound love of electronic music. Despite having no musical background I decided that I wanted to ‘become a DJ’, not really knowing what that meant. Whenever I get excited or passionate about something, everyone in my life will know about it, so very quickly, all my friends knew me as a DJ. The only issue was that I was really bad at DJing... The self-perceived pressure I felt from my friends was both positive and negative for my journey. It encouraged me to keep working at something that I found really challenging, but it also caused me a lot of anxiety as I felt I wasn’t living up to this identity I had developed. I had a lot of dudes who tried to teach me how to DJ (as I didn’t have any female friends who DJ’ed at the time), but it just wasn’t clicking for me. It was only when a friend of mine, Niamh, asked me to come along to the Yarra Youth Services DJ program, that I began to build my confidence as a DJ. The program is designed to support young women and gender diverse people to build their skills and confidence in DJing, and that’s exactly what it did for me. It highlighted the importance of having safe, non-male spaces for young women and gender non-conforming people to find their feet in such a male-dominated industry. I wouldn’t say my ride has been smooth at all, but it has definitely been incredibly rewarding. It was the first time in my life that I had a goal that came so unnaturally to me and has taught me the power of hard work and perseverance.
How would you explain your style of music?
Funny you ask, as just the other day, I was chatting to my friend, Zach, about how I kept getting asked to write descriptions for my mixes or provide a bio which encapsulates my ‘sound’ and I never knew what to write. The thought of identifying genres stresses me out and heightens my ever looming imposter syndrome. He suggested that instead of fixating on genres, why don’t I just focus on the emotion and write about what I aim to make people feel when listening to my music. Of course, genres can help understand a DJ’s sound, but even within a genre there are so many different directions one could go. So, rather than using genres I don’t really understand, I would say that my style of music is generally designed to make listeners feel a euphoric sense of warmth whilst having a good, hard boogie. I often find that perfect sweet spot in trancy rave music. More recently, I’ve come to appreciate the power of tracks with lyrics as a means to bring dancers together and create moments of unity and joy. As any artist, my taste is consistently evolving and I am intrigued to see what I find myself playing in the coming months.
What is your take on the current music scene for young DJs and artists? Do you think it is a smooth ride, especially for womxn, gender-non-conforming peoples, and BIPOC?
This is a tricky one to answer. Personally, I’ve have a pretty positive experience as a queer female DJ in the Naarm music scene. My first few club gigs were all non-male line-ups, so I was fortunate to have had positive interactions with bookers, patrons and other DJs. I think the hardest part for many non-male identifying DJs, including myself, can be cracking into the scene itself. So much of it is about who you know and that can be a very frustrating thing when you are just starting out. Even if there are so many inclusive spaces, they can still seem scary and unattainable for many. Fortunately, we have some incredible networks, programs and communities designed to support womxn, gender-non conforming people and BIPOC in our music scene, such as WIP, the Electronic Music Accelerator program at The Push, Sound School, and the Yarra Youth Services program I mentioned earlier.
I was reading RUPA’s interview in one of Demure’s earlier issues and she mentioned an experience of being booked just to fill a quota on a line-up, despite not having released any music for the booker to see if they liked her sound. That anecdote really stuck with me as I hadn’t considered that experience before. There are so many incredible and talented DJ’s out there but we want to be booked with integrity, rather than to tick a box on an event line up. RUPA’s experience emphasised the many challenges at hand in our music scene.
I can’t comment on whether it is a smooth ride for others, but I do feel confident that our scene is heading in the right direction to create a more inclusive and diverse space.
The music scene is one that our generation really needs to work at diversifying and improving practices. What would you like to see more of in the Naarm industry over the coming year?
More low-stakes opportunities for emerging DJs to play to a crowd. There are a few groups doing exactly that, like Arvo Girls and the Echo Collective, but I really recognise how long it took me to believe I was ‘ready’ to play to a crowd. Once you do it, you realise how you are your own harshest critic, and most people just want to hear some good tunes.
Another thing I’ve noticed is the accessibility of DJing (and production) to those without/who are unable to afford their own equipment. Colour recently opened up its doors for artists to book in free practice sessions on club level equipment and I’d love to see more venues/organisations doing this sort of thing. Of course, another shout out to Yarra Youth Services and The Push for providing these opportunities on a weekly basis!
Have you got some exciting shows or sets in the works? Where can we see you over the next month or so?
Playing at House of Plants: 7th April
TBA: 22nd April at 24 Moons