Where are you currently based?
Currently Based in Sydney, Australia!
How did you first start playing music?
I was a young University kid, and at 18 (maybe a little before that age let’s be honest here), I started going out to clubs. There was one club in particular called the Paramount that I’d go to (everyone from Perth knows the Paramount). I was just mesmerized by the DJ, i went back every week, till i finally thought, “That’s it” I’m going to dive in.
I was nervous telling my parents as they thought it would be a stupid idea, but found out that my Dad actually DJ’d some parties back in the 70s and 80s, so they were all for it. So it was a great experience, I DJ’d for many years even eventually playing at the Paramount. This all led me to find producing and songwriting which was the catalyst in moving cross country to Sydney!
What’s been happening recently?
Heaps actually, my little song factory has been in full swing! Just finished off an EP for Melb Pop artist Greg Gould, and been doing so many songs for big DJs in the Dance Space, including Timmy Trumpet, Armin Van Buuren. I had 4 of my songs land in the Q Dance Top 100 of 2022, so happened to find myself in the writing space for a lot of big Hard Dance and Hardstyle acts (Working closely with Maikki). Also doing a bunch of work on Music for Media, including TV and Movies, we recently landed two big campaigns for Mitsubishi Australia, and also Community Chest Singapore. Whilst also trying to develop a system that’s repeatable to break artists on Tiktok! Plus recently heading to Europe and the US for songwriting trips, so I’ve been very busy!
Please tell us about what music production means to you:
As a DJ i always never felt 100% right playing other peoples music, i mean at the end of the day, I was playing out someone else’s creative vision. Growing up, i always had really strong creative ideas about how things should go. I was always more a creative person than an analytical person. So when i started making music it felt way more “right” to me than ever DJ’ing. I love to have ideas, it’s one of my greatest passions in life, and producing allows me to do that, day after day again and again. Being able to produce is basically being able to draw sonically, and when you can draw, then you can get out all the weird and wonderful things that live in my head. A Lot of people never get to that stage, because learning how to produce is like learning an instrument, it might take 8 years of learning guitar before you can sit down and just musically flow. I’m in a place where i can musically flow and its amazing, i wish everyone could one day download this skill matrix style.
How did you approach production?
It always has an overarching goal of what I am trying to do, it’s very rare I just create for the hell of it, but I like this way, it’s nice to sorta undertake project by project. From there it either comes “idea first”, or “sound first”.
If “idea first”, it might be a lyric i had thought of (for example i recently did a song called “Komodo”) i always thought it would be cool to have a song titled that, then i could move into the sounds that i imagine support a song like that, i imagined it sounding sorta exotic and super tribal. Or the other way is to go sound first, in which I will just be constantly hunting for sounds that make me go “ahh yes”. So both sides then from that point happen pretty organically, till the end of the song!
What equipment do you use?
I use a
16 inch Macbook Pro Intel i9 – Last year before the Apple M Series 🙁
Adam – A77X Speakers
RME – UCX Soundcard
Virus – TI2 Synth/keyboard.
Audeze – LCD-X Headphones
Apple Logic Pro
Who or what influences your sound and production technique?
I’d say alot of my life has been learned by emulation, then walk past that into my own ground of that. I’d say I’m more influenced by artists than producers, and if you combine these 5 artists I think you get my natural sound.
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LANY
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Halsey
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Red Hot Chilli Peppers
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Coldplay
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Avicii
Then from produce point of view i really admire
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Max Martin
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Zedd
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Ian Kirkpatrick
What tips do you have for up and comers?
So many! Here’s just some one liners that I have developed and lived by.
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People will let you in any door if you’re good enough, so just keep knocking and improving and eventually you’ll get through.
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Your Network is made up of friends of friends, that’s where opportunities will come from, same way, help introduce people to who you know.
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The reason you are doing music is that you have good music taste, that should stay as your North Star, if you do that the music you make will be good, – make music you think is dope, seems obvious but it’s hard to separate.
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If you don’t have an idea you don’t have a song, early on a lot of producers spend so much time, adding layers and mixing something with no real idea in it – I learnt that the hard way.
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Think less about what you want to do for a job, school, career and more about what you wanna do in life, you have 80 years on this planet at best, make sure your path is always pointed and moving towards what you actually want to do.
Please tell us about any upcoming collabs:
Well a lot of my work these days is more working with and developing artists, So I’m going to mention a couple artists Im working with that really excite me and i think could be massive coming out of the Australian Music Industry.
Voli K
Amazing singer, recently been on tour with Tones and I and Mackelmore, amazing powerful soul voice, that just feels so authentic and real.
Clara Fable
Amazing Pop Meets Burlesque artist, nobody can turn out a look better than Clara. Her voice is also amazing and feels like a pop star already. Very excited by where she’s headed.
Maikki
In the dance space, no one is doing better powerful pop punk meets EDM vocals, I’ve been with her since the inception on her team, and she is just going from strength to strength, plus throwing down huge streaming numbers!
How do you usually decide who you will work with?
It’s usually a combination of things, but mainly it’s uniqueness, being good or having a good voice is one thing, but being unique really sets people apart. I also find a lot of artists or singers in the industry usually might be doing one genre or style, where in another style they would do way better, but they’re just not exploring it. So I love taking singers and artists into genres they don’t usually do, and getting amazing results.
The other is trying to work with artists that i think are ready for a breakout, just haven’t found the connection of right elements put together, that’s the most exciting part for me, then trying to engineer thaa moment.
Its super early days, but I’m loving the chase and it leads me to some great artists and singers. Recently I was watching a Theatre show on Tina Turner’s life, and the lead singer had this AMAZING voice, so I reached out and she’s coming into the studio today and were going to try some Diva house vocals, so I’m always on the lookout! So if you’re reading this SEND ME YOUR MUSIC!
Please tell us about the Aussie landscape VS the US market?
That is a tricky one, I guess the US market is the tastemaker for the rest of the world, which i love! Also just the economy of scale, a platinum record in the USA is 27 times more sales than Australia. So you get all the great parts of any industry flocking to where the money is. Alot of bad comes with it also, but the best of the best converge on the US Market.
Australia on the other hand is more insular, a lot of acts here are only big here, and struggle to break out in the rest of the world. It is less daunting of a music scene to begin in though, and generally face to face people are pretty great in Australia. But the music industry is ALOT smaller, I was in Perth (City of 4 million) and there was no real music industry there (hence my move), and I see Sydney as a halfway point between Perth and the US Market. 😉
Who are you listening to at the moment?
Im more of a song guy than a album or EP guy, so heres some great songs im hooked on at the moment!
Post Malone – Mourning
Eli Brown – Be the One
Kesha – Eat the Acid
Frank Walker ft. Ella Hendersen – I go Dancing
Torren Foot, Azealia Banks – Net Bottega
Mike Posner – Aint Dead Yet (Elis Edit)
LDRU, Peptalk – Alone Again
Ian Dior – Saddest SoundTrack
Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Eddie
*Check Out Peptalk in my list, an amazing Pop Group from Sydney making waves, that i think will have a huge breakout soon also!
What’s planned for the remainder of 2023?
Well I’m off to Asia this week for a little relaxation and recouping Holiday, but after that just head down work! I might do a Europe Trip for music around October for ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event), but that’s still up in the air. Then just grinding trying to get a platinum record!
Favourite food and place to hangout?
Me and my Fiancee are obsessed with an American Bar and BBQ Restaurant in Surry Hills in Sydney called Surleys! It’s super typical American style bar, with the best Sierre Nevda Beer on tap and wings you cant imagine, maybe my affection for it is foreshadowing who knows 😉
Me and my Fiancee are obsessed with an American Bar and BBQ Restaurant in Surry Hills in Sydney called Surleys! It’s super typical American style bar, with the best Sierre Nevda Beer on tap and wings you cant imagine, maybe my affection for it is foreshadowing who knows 😉
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