1.Growing Up
Weirdly enough I’ve loved dance music since I was as young as ten. I used to listen to megamixes from CDs like WILD and Skitz Mix over and over again, and I was obsessed by the idea of mixing songs – I had no idea how to do it but I knew I needed to learn! I remember speeding up tracks to make them sound like chipmunks, that and just stitching random songs together… I’d tell kids at school I was DJ even though I wasn’t!
2.Inspirations
I think I’m inspired by pretty much everything I’ve ever listened to or liked. To me there is no difference between dance, hip hop, rock, pop, whatever – music is energy and I’m always just trying to replicate the moments of intense energy that have stuck with me as a listener. My biggest inspiration has actually been ‘Confusion (1995 Pump Panel Remix)’byNew Order. When I heard that track back in ’99 I was watching Blade – maybe it was the blazing 303 or just Wesley Snipes, but my brain snapped permanently when I heard the track and I knew I had to be part of rave culture.
3.Your Crew
Vamp Music has looked out for me ever since I started putting my bootlegs online a few years back, and since then I’ve made great friends and built a solid community of die-hard party-harders, the Acid Rave Crew. I’ve started a clothing label, Ratlife, with my girl Helen – she’s an absolute gun designer and insanely driven! We’ve put out Vengeance merch as well as a completely separate collection of gear. It’s been a great way to make a strong group of like-minded individuals, and it’s great to be able to connect with your audience in more than one way.
4.The Music You Make
As I said before, I used to love that Hi-NRG dance music of the ’90s, so I’m always trying to pay homage to that whilst keeping it all modern and relevant! I produce at that classic 130 BPM (roughly) but I don’t think that will be forever. I love playing at all tempos; speed is a flexible tool that I like to make full use of. I play anything, from 60 to 200 – there are no rules in dance music, just boring naysayers! If it’s got them underground rave vibes, I’ll play it.
5.Music, Right Here, Right Now
The music scene in Sydney was amazing, but the new lockout laws are gonna send it back to the Stone Age and destroy the careers of many up-and-coming producer/DJs. Music around Australia will still go on alive and strong, there’s talent everywhere you look – it’s just awful to see such a major vein of the industry get clogged up with so much bullshit.
Vamp Music presents Aquaholics Brillz, Seven Lions, Lazy Rich, Ember, Tigerlily and more on The Bella Vista, departing Star Casino Wharf on Saturday February 15.
