Hey Shane, how long you been based in Melbourne?
I have lived in Melbourne my whole life. It’s a great place to live with an amazing variety of music, art, culture and people. I’m pretty lucky to live here, the electronic music scene here has been getting stronger and stronger over the last 5 years, especially the techno and bush festival scene.
Which artists inspire the music you’re making right now or have been a real influence in your career?
There’s a lot of different artists from a wide variety of genres that inspire me when I’m creating my own music. My favourite artist is Eric Prydz, from his rocking club techno alias Cirez D, to his melodic progressive house as his Pryda alias and the more club friendly music of Eric Prydz. He never ceases to amaze me with his productions and his live performances. Always creating new sounds and pushing the boundaries.
I love Perfect Stranger, for his amazing unique sound and ultimate sets under his techno alias, Yuli Fershtat. Perfect Stranger has one of the best ears for production and sound design. I owe a lot to him for helping me get to where I am today.
Other artists I love are Jerome Isma-Ae, Trentemoller, D-Nox & Beckers, Jeremy Olander, Artbat, Vitalic, Maceo Plex, Township Rebellion and for the more melodic side of things Eelke Kleijn, Dominik Eulberg, Gabriel Ananda and Kiasmos.
Share with us some of the biggest highlights from your career to date? This can be tracks? Gigs?
Playing at Rainbow Serpent Festival here in Australia was always my dream gig for 8 years, so me playing there for the last 3 years running has definitely been my biggest dream come true. Performing my first international DJ sets last year at ATOM Festival in France and Shankra Festival in Switzerland was an amazing experience as well.
In production, collaborating and remixing some of the biggest artists in the progressive techno scene has been incredible, such as Perfect Stranger, John 00 Fleming, James Monro and Nanoplex.
We saw you’ve played Rainbow Serpent for the past two years and Burning Man before that. Where’s next on the list for you?
Both were seriously amazing and inspiring life experiences. I am currently on my way to Western Australia for Blazing Swan, which is one of Australia’s premiere regional burns (sister gathering of Burning Man) where I’ll be playing two sets. Other than that I have a few wicked festival bookings lined up for later this year. It’s coming into winter here so festival season is winding up… time to focus in the studio!
Tell us more about your latest release that we premiered. Who’s been supporting it? And who approached who to get a Teenage Mutants remix?
Very excited for this release “Valhalla” that’s just dropped on Dear Deer Records. It’s going to be a big one, with the killer remix from Teenage Mutants. The release has received some great support and feedback so far, from artists such as Dubfire, Max Graham, Matan Caspi, Ben Coda, Drumcomplex and radio shows globally. The Teenage Mutants remix was arranged by Dear Deer, for which I’m very grateful. It’s huge having them remix my track and it also compliments the original so well.
Talk to us about your DJ setup when you’re performing. Any plans to perform live?
Currently I’m DJing with CDJ’s. Which is working really well for me. In the future I think I will work on a live set of all my own material for special events and festivals. But I love the flexibility of CDJ’s and being able to play anything I want.
What are your next goals for the rest of this year?
I have just recently quit my full time day job to work entirely on music. So I’m excited to dive into production and DJing fully and wholly. Such a great feeling taking this massive step, but it’s at the right time in my life as I have so many projects that I am working on.
My goals for the year would be to finish all the collaborations and remixes I have and work on a lot of new originals whilst producing the stunning results I am aiming for.
Do you have any future project news you want to share?
I’m currently working on a collaboration with Perfect Stranger which I’m very excited about. Also looking to start another collaboration with John 00 Fleming. I also have remixes for Nanoplex and Gabriel Moraes being released very soon.
