Being Will Sparks - Highs, Lows and the Making of an Australian DJ Legend

Welcome back to Danny Rantz today. My guest needs no introduction. He's my most requested guest and he's aware of that because I told him just about five minutes ago. So today we have none other than Mr. Will Sparks. How are you my man? DG, very good back in the homeland. Melbourne, the place where it all started I guess, it'll always be home. You've been back for a couple of days. You've been getting back in touch with the home city. That's it. You know, families still here. Melbourne will always be where the heart is. It always feels like I'm coming back home because I did move up to Queensland for the last five years just for a change and you know, I'm so out of the loop here though. When I do come down sometimes I'm like I don't miss it but I do. More and more lately. Yeah, I don't know, just family, you know, thinking about long term stuff and yeah, it means a lot to me this city because it really started my career and all the stuff that happened throughout. I still know every street like the back of my hand and it's always good to get back and see all my mates too. So let's get there. But before we do, let's wind it back right. So I don't know what we do as my guest but for you, I feel like the origin story is going to be a bit longer than normal right. So you're 17 year old kid living in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne and you fall in love with a genre that is uniquely made of Melbourne. And at that time it was called Melbourne Sound. There's obviously a journey that changes and that takes you around the world. But explain to us, I guess, how you first found out about this genre in Melbourne and how you fell in love with it and how your journey began. Yeah, well my sister worked at Cuba and she had this little Suzuki car with the matter system in it. And I was a heavy metal guitarist. I didn't even listen to any sort of electronic music. And I'm in a car. I'd still remember it and she started playing some orchestrated record, something off one of those TFU or wow our podcasts. And my whole body, my soul left my body. I felt, I couldn't believe it. I was listening to I lost my shit pretty much and I was like, this is like nothing I've ever heard before. And I freaked out, I'm like, what is this? And she's like, this is, this is just TFU. This is what they play in the clubs like Cuba where I work. And I'm like, I've never heard anything like this. Why isn't this bigger? I like, I didn't understand. So I started to go in this like obsessive, compulsive search for more of that type of music. Because I was so into my heavy metal, I was obsessed. I'm like, I'm going to banjo you into like Trivium Kill Switch, Lamb God. Oh, the proper heavy stuff. Yeah, like, and I covered every single song on their albums. And this was just a whole not a level. It's like I had the same feeling with that music, but with this whole new thing that it was electronic. But the thing that got me was the, it was a frequency, has to be a frequency of that kick base, that, that toughness of a Melbourne tune. It's like dirty, like, we used to do. That's how we'd explain it. It was like, it's dirty. Thank you. I wish I said that for years because I was always trying to explain what it's like how it feels. But I do say, if you get it, you get it, you know. I've got goose people saying the word dirty and thinking about it. Sure, you're just thinking about that. Yeah. Well, yeah, it was so new to me and I'm like, I need to know everything about this. And I couldn't find any of the songs because they were DJs around Melbourne producing these songs. That was the only people in the world making this style of music. So, I didn't know what to do. I was like, I've got to like make my own because I was making music on my guitar and I'd make riffs and I could never remember them and I'm like, I could even put my riffs onto a MIDI. But that's longer down the track because it took me a while to work out how to use the program and whatnot. But it's so crazy. I went down the rabbit hole of all the DJs. So, I found orchestrated, Joel Fletcher, Callus. I saw this video of Callus playing on a wow-our-boat cruise or something and he's playing jump and he's just flick in his hand and he's doing his sweat and he does this flick and I don't know. There was this vibe and when he played jump, that changed my life. I was like, this is everything that I care about right now and I want to be that. And when I started researching everything, Lab22, Van G, even like Fraser Adnan and Samuel James, JDG, they were all popping up and I'm just Facebook going through everything, following everything and I worked out that, I followed the Lab22 page and then I saw Van G was doing a production course, instantly signed up. Don't know how I got in so easily. I'm like, okay, I haven't booked in. It was 200 bucks for the session. Asm and Mum, she was always about doing what I loved so she paid for that and I had my first session within that next week. She's 18 here or you before you, it's 17. Yeah. 16, 16, 17 I think. Around, I dropped out of school in year 11. And can you remember what that city was? They got you started? The CD. Yeah. That my sister had in the car. Yeah. I think it was Purple Pearls by Stevie Mink. Oh, banger. Banger. And I was like, and then it went to this, it had to be Nightcrawler or something. Yeah. Something with like the dirtiest, filthiest, most heaving bass and my sister's sub in this little car, it blew my head off. It's cranking. Cranking it. And I was, I just couldn't believe it. But anyway, so I signed up to the course. He goes, yep, come out to notable park to the studio. I'm walking there and I'm freaking out. I'm like fanboying. I walked into the studio and it's quite this computer there, Vangies. Then there was another one there. Five minutes later, this bloke walks in and goes, hey man, hey, go on. I'm like, that's Callus. So I went into like the show, show, thing. I couldn't believe I was looking at Callus. And I was shaking and shook his hand. He was like, oh, good, brother, what's going on? Just sweet eyes. And I'm like, how am I living my dream within, I don't know, three to four months of me being obsessed with this sound. I'm now shaking hands with the people I look up to. I was like the painting picture for the love 22 of the days, don't know. It was on Jackson's Road. I'm pretty sure it was in Noble Park. Noble Park. And it was effectively like a little studio next to a milk bar. It was like, it didn't get more out of suburban than the love 22 studio where so many massive careers came from. It was rough hours. Yeah, exactly. So I used to go to that Fission Chip Shop next door and just get bag chips when I ended up eventually working there. Right? So when I did the course, Evan Van G said, you know, you've got something going because I was making stuff. I started to make some pretty cool records. Not that were very low produced, but I was just starting, right? And he goes, well, I think you got something. And because I was sending him stuff, and he goes, can you work for me? So I ended up actually being the main teacher for his production course. He taught me the criteria, the theory, and I was working there full time within the next couple months. And because I was working there, I was making so much music because I was teaching these kids, people that were way older than me in their 30s. And I was just 16, 17. And I started making all this music and I started creating this big catalog. And the more you make music, the more you kind of work out. And that's when I started to get into, you know, Joel and Sammy. They were around sometimes, but I was still so young. Anyway, it sucks I already got to that point in the podcast now because I want to go back to before I did the course. Yep. Right? I went out one night. This is just after I found out about, you know, callus and everything. And I went out one night. It was a school night. I snuck out with my mate to jump room 680 on Glen Free Road because you could jump the fence out the back and land in the smokers. It's a random night. It's not there anymore. So you can actually probably explain in detail how you did it. Okay. There's a car park behind the club. And I think we just jumped on these bins and then lifted ourselves up over the brick wall. And you could just jump in and it was there. Just to start it up. Yeah. Yeah. And we just did it on a random Thursday night. Now I walk in and I see my good mate Woodsy now because he was the manager there and he's walking around with his earpiece in. You look like a sh- I've just remembered him being like a shark. You got to avoid him. He's still the same. He is. The shark. Party shark. Yeah. Here we are. You know, you know. And I got in the smokers. I'm wearing like a Tommy Hilfiger vest. I look like such a gimp. And with my mate, we go in. We didn't know what night was on. And I once you get into the smokers, you got to go straight into the club so you don't get seen by the security guards. I went straight into that side room at room 680 and I look up and job pledges playing and callus together. And I'm like, where the fuck am I? I couldn't believe I saw them. They were there. It was just meant to be. It's like God, the universe, something just landed me in that place. When you've jumped the fence, you had no idea that noise in the abyss, which is what it was back over in '68. 80. Yeah. Was on. No. So you've just heard this music down a little bit of investigation, jumped the fence. These dudes are staring you in the face. Exactly. - Wild. - It just happened. I was just, everything that's happened in my life has been such perfect timing. I don't know how or why. Something's looking after me because when I walked in there and I heard that music pumping and that dirty sort of stuff, I couldn't believe it because this is my area. I'm from Campbellwell and Glenfrey Road's just down the road. So I thought you could only hear that stuff in like the main clubs in Melbourne. 'Cause that's what I was really interested in. - To that point though, you like, other than you jump in their fence, that was the truth. It was only the underground sort of night clubs that were playing in the city at that time. - Yeah, yeah, exactly. So the fact that I out in my way in the burbs. - Goes back to timing. - Exactly. So you know what I did? For the next two or three months, I jumped every single Thursday night for noisy neighbors. And I was underage. I was like 16, 17. And this is before I did the course. But that's how I met them. That's how I met everyone. I used to sit by myself in the corner of the club, just listening to the music. And I'd know exactly where to stand to hear the subs perfectly. So I'd stand right in that spot. I wouldn't move all night. I'd just be like admiring. And Samuel James came up to me and he's like, "Hey man, you hear every week on your own "to standing there. "What are you doing?" I'm like, dude, I just love all your music. I love everything about what you guys do. I'm like a big fan. And because he loved that I loved the music, he really gave me the time of day. And then JDG Jordan, he came into the mix and Joel, I'm trying to remember when I sort of met Joel, but I used to sit out the front of the club around the front just to watch Joel walk out with his mates. 'Cause I loved him so much. I'd watch him walk out with his little swagger, you know, he had a flaney on in his heart. And he used to be like, "It's guys the king." 'Cause I was obsessed with bugging device and his truck with Jordy subjected, his old minimal tunes. And he was killing it too. Again, he was also a young too, but he was like a trailblazer. Jolly. A trailblazer, sorry, trailblazer, when he came to the minimal stuff. He was producing high quality stuff with some of that older guys who were like, "Bend you one for six to 10 years." And I, like, minimal got around him and there's so many names that are sold now that I forgot, but the minimal heads were all over him because he was just a kid from Melbourne as well. And I think he was just a team or even a bit underage, maybe. A lot of him. He was around the traps. I actually gave him one of his first gigs and it was funny, so I booked him. He was 16 from HP. And I put him on the line up and then the landline called. So this is how long ago I was like the landline and the club called and I answered it and it was his dad. And his dad was basically like, "Jo can't play tonight because he's got Tafe tomorrow." I'm like, "Oh, okay." And then not five minutes later, Joel rolls in. So at that age, I pretty quickly realized that Joel was not 18. So I would've said, "He would've been playing well before his 18-year-old." Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he was, I mean, still is such a talent. I, he inspired me with my, like, most of my journey and my evolution of music. But, yeah, 'cause I was so young, I couldn't get in the clubs and I wasn't close with anyone. And that's when I did the course and then started working for them. So I was in the noisy neighbor crew. So with the guys, you know, obviously you said you were from Campbell, right? Like, was that music a thing there? 'Cause like from, I'm like knowing what I know from my club, kind of, you know, era, that area would traditionally didn't listen to that style of music. So I remember when you kind of came across, it was sort of like, "How? Where'd you come from?" 'Cause most of those people came from, like, South East, you know, out of South East, back in the beginning, you know. Yeah, of course, yeah. Yeah, pop. Caucasian DJs on a Tuesday night. Yeah, exactly. That was one of the best nights back in the day. Hey, did you ever go to Room on a Tuesday? Of course it did. Of course it did. You're like, "If I can get in me, I spent my whole, I don't know, 17, 16, 17 year old years there. Thanks to Juffa letting me in. Do you remember Juff?" No, I don't know. Do you remember Juffa? No. Oh, if you're listening to this, everyone got past Juff. I think it was blind or something. You couldn't see the ID. Anyway. To be fair, we used to have a guard and we were quiet or not. So I'd be like, "Just pretend to look at it." Yeah, yeah. Yeah, get in. Give us money. In fun this CCTV. Yeah, all good. Yeah, sweet. It's not our fault. But I think the coolest thing about my earlier years, when I started to create music, I just wanted to be in the Melbourne scene. I was desperate. And I knew I had something because I was making these songs that were like, pretty good for me anyway. And then I used to go out to the city and catch the night rider. Do you remember the night rider? Yeah, man. I was talking about it yesterday, funnily enough. Really? Yeah. Well, I used to catch that into the city or at home, obviously, at 4am. But I'd go there by myself or sometimes if I may want to come. Just to sit out the front of Trump at 5am to listen to Joel Fletcher play Bucky Dungun. Because there were these vents where you could hear the music because it's underground. I'd sit on the gutter just like freaking out hearing it. I remember just standing there just like listening. I don't know if I was even dancing, but I was just obsessed, man. So obsessed. And then I'd sit out the front of Huawei and I'd talk to the security guards. And I got to a guy that was leaning against the wall of War of Tarlein. Because Huawei was like the mecca of Melbourne, the Melbourne sound. And I'm like, do you work here or something? He's like kind of arrogant and he's like, yeah, what's up? Because I was just a kid. I was like, I want to play here one day. And he was just like, sweet, who are you? Sort of things. This is Matt LeBon. Ah. Yeah. And he was this real tan skinny, had his singlet on. Fringe. Fringe, yeah. Just the whole war look, you know? And I'd just kept rocking up and I became an annoying kid that was in the street asking questions, when can I come in, listen to this, listen to that, give them CDs to listen to. And that was the sound cloud days when sound cloud. I was actually going to ask you this because like, you know, when you were talking about finding that music, where were you finding it? Because back then there was no sound cloud, there was forums and stuff like that. So I'm assuming maybe that's where you-- Oh, with music forum. Yeah, Melbourne music forum. Yeah. Yeah, which was controversial in itself. Is it? A few people have been, yeah, it wouldn't happen at the time because we were obviously-- Leica. Yeah, because it was just stuff was getting leaky so often. I had a deal with Heath and I for grapevine in the song, which no doubt you remember. And we were about to hear it re-saying and signed to Bush Records, which is Kyle Cox and Eric Palsy, record label. Cute, yeah, yeah. And Heath gave it away on a CD for a lift home back to Chattie and the kid leaked it on Melbourne music forum and then it all fell over. But people were trying to-- the kid who ran it, people were trying to hunt him down and kill him at the time because that was the-- that was like-- it was almost like the explosion of the Melbourne sound because everyone could get access to it, it became accessible. And it was also at the same time, it was like nobody wanted it to happen and then it turned the sound cloud and then it was the opposite. Everyone was giving away music for free everywhere. That's it. So I remember leaking music was so bad. Like, remember when you'd swap music? Yeah. You had that. I'd swap with that. I remember Hooker Mickey or his name at the time, Terry C.O. used to swap music. If you gave me something, I'd give you something. It was literally like a currency. Yeah. And then when Melbourne music forum started and something would get leaked, it was like the best thing ever for us kids that wanted it. But when sound cloud started, that's what really started my career because then I started creating some sort of like fan base with that. And then these-- and then Matt LeBon ended up giving me a chance because-- So why was your first gig, Saturday gigs? That's the next question I was going to ask you. Like, what was your sort of introduction to night clubs and what clubs did you play? And like, do you have any yarns on them? Yeah. Okay. So the gig I ever did was thanks to a guy called Jordy Bear. He went to my school and he was right into the Melbourne club scene. He was promoting it. Wow, wow, and somewhere else, I forget maybe later, like-- and he wanted to give me a chance and he started his own night. It was a club across the road from Billboard. What's it called? It's upstairs. Ah, altitude singing, Simba. It was called Simba. Yes, Simba. That was my first ever gig. And every one of my mates came. It was sick. I didn't know when they were except for my mates. I remember getting on starting and, you know, the 1,000 MK ones or whatever they were just ruined these decks. That was worse but taking Heath from night at the time running that. What was it? Yeah. No way. So he must have promoted for them. Possibly, yeah. Maybe. I don't know. But I didn't know that was your first gig, you know? That was my first gig. And then after I played, we obviously went out for a beer and at the end of the night, Jordy, I just remember these so vividly, this bright red 20 and a bright blue 10. He goes, "There you go, mate. That's for you. That's for your set." And I was like, "What? You can get paid for this shit." I wasn't expecting to get paid for it. I was just excited to play. When I saw that you could get paid for it, I'm like, "Wow, okay. That's incredible. $30 back then for me was heaps. That was like a shift, an hour shift at my war workshop." So the fact it was just for DJing, I'm like, "You're kidding." But yeah, once I did Simba, that's when I was going over to Wawa, a knowing Matlabon, and he had another guy called Stretchy. And Stretchy knew of me and knew of my music from SoundCloud. And he was such an open, loving sort of guy. He wanted me in. He wanted me to come in and play with him, because he loved my shit. So you were releasing music before you started playing? Yeah. Okay, I didn't know that. I was putting up Charlie Shane. That was the first one I put up. And out of few songs, I had a remix of "Satisfaction." And once I was finally able to club and go into the club, I wasn't playing gigs yet, but I turned 18 and I started straightaway at wow, wow, I went straight there. And that's when I met Holly J. She was always front dance floor and she'd always DJ there, one to turn. I loved her stuff from the wow, automatic stuff. That's how I knew of Holly. And I met her. She was just the most lovely person as well and open and was so happy to hear about and wanted to know about what I was doing. And when she got the satisfaction remix, she played it one night. And I was there. And that was the best feeling I've ever had in my life. Just seeing someone that I look up to play one of my songs out at wow, that was a pivotal moment in my journey once that happened. I'm like, okay, what's next? And I finally got a gig with Stretchy going back to back every Thursday night at wow, and when I started, there was this crew of guys from the west. And one of them is called Nick Dunham. He is still one of my best mates. So he was one of my first ever fans. And we are still great friends, which is so cool. And he got all his mates around us. We got to stay around for the recovery set 4am or something on a Thursday night for me and Stretchy to go on and go back to back. And the more we did it each week, we killed it. And these people were just rolling in and all of a sudden we were pulling more people than probably the main acts at the end of the whole night. And you're pretty quickly playing mostly late nights. Like I know we talked to this before, but I've never met you with Van J. So I must have been working with him at rooms just down the road from room 680, which is crazy because it's the beginning of your story. You were ordering a boost juice and they were like, "This is Will, I'm going to be thinking of really tall at the time." But I'm still out. But you were pretty quickly playing mostly recoveries, because I remember when I met you down the track, I had a different conception of what maybe you were up to because you were playing sort of 5 to 8am all the time. - Graviarts. - Yeah, you were playing all the Graviarts. And you pretty quickly became a really well-known name in the recovery scene. But you weren't necessarily participating in the recovery scene. You were just supplying the fucking vibes, right? So how was that? When you were first cutting your teeth, like normally kids start off opening sets and they're putting you on at 6am, 5am, 7am, 8am, 8am in the morning? How did you deal with that? - I used to get there at 11, 12 o'clock. And I'd say they're all night until I had to play. I'd be sitting there on the couch with my DJ, UDG bag, waiting. So I was so excited to play. I wouldn't go to. If it was today, I'd go to sleep and then wake up at 4 o'clock and go in. But I was. My drug was music. I could start up one night listening to it. And I would never got into the drug stuff because I had a few mates that were in the scene and they just ruined themselves. And also a friend said to me, "If you ever touch ice or G, whatever was going around in the club scene at that time, I'll never be friends with you." And I never did it. - Good advice from him. - Very. And I have him to thank for that because I probably would have. You were surrounded by it pretty heavily too. Like that. The times you were playing, the clubs you were playing, the sound and music. It would have been hard to avoid, especially 18 years old when you were very impressionable. So that's cute as to you for that. Yeah, I'd never had an interest in doing that to myself. Of course, I had a couple of drinks here and there for socialising and I'd get pretty pissed sometimes, sometimes. But I would never be gacked. And I was always focused on playing a good set. So I didn't get caught up in the drug stuff. And I think that's the number one thing for kids these days is you can ruin your career if because this job is surrounded by that. I treated it like a job and a passion. And I loved the music so much that I didn't need drugs. And people who say to me, "I need drugs to listen to your shit." Well, I don't need drugs to either listen to it or even make it. I just love it. So the next thing is you start making music right. So you pretty quickly make waves. And I don't know how long it took you. But I remember meeting you in Glenberry Road. And then quickly hearing remixers and stuff, everyone wanted them. They were like back then, like you said, it was a commodity. Their people were trying to swap them. Knowing who you were from your songs, connecting that you're the same person. And then wanting to book you. So run us into the journey of like half quickly, that sort of started. And then the first song that pops out for you. Definitely. So I got, became really good friends with Joel in the end. And I used to follow him everywhere to all his gigs. He was getting booked ten times a weekend or even more. I'd come to every single one and I wasn't booked for anything. And he'd play, he started playing my remix of Rack City. That's one. I was trying to remember, but I couldn't remember what it was. That's it. Yeah, that was the one I remember. I was like, "I tried but come on, everyone knew it." And I was like, "Woo sparks remix, woo sparks remix." And then quick guys, like just like your career started in Melbourne. Like obviously when we're wide, but it progressed so quick from that Rack City remix. That was it. That was the first song of mine that every DJ in Melbourne was playing from Zack DePertro to Calis to probably even, you know, Heathenara. But that was the first one. And when I saw everyone was playing it, do you remember the little like, it had a little tune come in and people would know it? And people would know it, did, did, did, did, and once it started playing, the whole crowd would go crazy. So that was the biggest hit for me to come through in the Melbourne scene. But after that, I just kept making music. I'd live for it. Every single day I'd wake up in my mom's house in my bedroom that I grew up in, had this shitty set up in the corner of my room. And the minute I'd open my eyes, I'd be so excited to jump straight on and just do what I was working on the night before or something. I didn't sleep, man. I was up till seven in the morning every night making tunes. Crazy. When I was 18, 19, 20, I'd lived off McDonald's. I had my P-plates. So I'd just go down there, I'd get a few chicken and cheeses, come back. And I just remember never sleeping, just sleeping during the day and making musical night. That's why all good producers do, right? Yeah. I created the magic's made in the middle of the night whenever I'm sleeping. But these days on the complete opposite, I'm like a fitness freak that needs his eight hours and ice bath and so on and so on. It wasn't like that when I first started. But after that, sound cloud is what really got me going. And then so the biggest hit you had in the Melbourne scene, which kind of bled out to Australian scene, was KebaclNG. For sure. And so can you run us through kind of, I guess, making it? I will mention that Flea is, his real name is. His real name is Alex Jones. And he is one of the most revered hip-hop artists in Australia. A lot of people from guys like Chillin' Out to Husky, down to HP Boys, give him credit. He's a pioneer. He's a pioneer, much the same as yourself. So can you kind of talk about that link up too? So how can Muganjji started? What did you do in Korea? And then the link up, the famous link up in famous link up of Dr. Flea's like Alex Jones in Wolfs Parts. Yeah. Well, so cool that we actually grew up around the same people. We had mutual friends. We used to go down Glenferrey Makers when we were still in high school. That's when we first met. So we all knew the same sort of people. He was from Ivanhoe or something. And yeah, he ended up being a rapper. And I was making music. And one of our both of us had a best mate, that we were both best mates with Ricky. He linked us up to work together. And I sent him a beat, the chemical energy beat. And within like three days, he sent me back the vocal. Fuck. And I could not believe what we had created. It was that sick because I'm like, I think we were the first people to ever do Aussie hip hop with a Melbourne beat. Yeah, I'd say so, yeah. I think so. Yeah. If you were trying to put people down at C and spell, like that was the third. Like an Aussie one? Yeah, but it was the first one that didn't get wrenched. Yeah, people took serious. So there might have been other ones beforehand that didn't really like, you know, make the cup. But that was the first one people like, fuck, this is good. This is dope. Yeah. When he did it, like he's a genius, flee. And it just matched perfectly. I guess because I sent him the timestamps of where to do his verses. And even the weird stuff like, you really hurt my ears, bro. Yeah, yeah. That wasn't meant to be in there. That was him recording. And I used it because he sent me the whole vocal of the recording. He got weeded in one take. He just skits. Yeah, I've sent him a live. I've sent him to do that stuff live. He's a nut. Anyway, we actually did a follow up and it was even just as good I think. But like, it was real druggy. Like, chemical engineer was druggy. He went to another level. I was like, bro, I don't think I can say. Have that. But he would have loved it. Oh, I wish I still had it somewhere in my bank. Anyway, once we did it and it got so big, I was playing it cloud nine. And I remember playing the song and once it came on, you couldn't actually hear the song on the speakers because people were screaming it. That is the moment. I've got goose bumps now thinking about it because that is the peak moment of my career. Knowing that I had something huge. And when we started playing it live, that's when we started getting paid. I remember I was getting paid $1,000 cash to have flea perform live with me. And without flea, I was at 500. But it's crazy going from 50 bucks, DJing to 100 bucks that Luke used to give all DJs. Shout out to Luke Ydoravik for looking after the young guys that were just there to play. Give us 100. And I remember asking, I think, Damon Walsh at while. I was like, "Hey, Damon, I'm getting paid $100 bucks at billboards, so I want $100 at wowa." And he lost his shit. He rinsed me for six. Like, I was, he belittled every part of me. I couldn't believe how strongly he was against me asking for an extra 50 bucks. And then later on, I think he had to pay me 500, like three weeks later. But that was because I gave all my bookings over to Luke, who runs billboard. And he'd just started an agency running it with, I think Joel and Heath were on it. And I asked him to do my bookings. And he took them on in the minute. That happened. That's when chemical energy happened. And he just started going $1,000. If anyone wants them live together and we were getting booked flat out. Yeah. And then you did the idea thing. So like, you're, so you tell me the time stamps were time period in this. But it's like, Raxiddy, you're playing every recovery in Melbourne. Chemical energy comes out. All of a sudden you become like a semi-head line or we've not had line it in the Melbourne saying, "I hear comes out and it hits a new strategy." Right? So I've got a yarn which you've told you before. But I remember the first time, I knew every time I saw you, I'd watch you dance around and stuff. And there was, you had you ooze an aura that I had not seen before. And it was a confidence that, it didn't matter. There was five people. There was fucking five thousand people. You still perform the same. I actually talk about there's lots of people when they ask me about you. And I remember seeing the moment that I was like, "This is going to be fucking huge. We're about to go to the next level." Was, I booked you on a Tuesday night at Orange Whip. And you just dropped out here. So this was the next thing. So we may have paid, you know, five hundred bucks, six hundred bucks. You were still like a headline of fee at the time. And there was 800 kids there. So we launched this Tuesday and normally we were doing like a hundred and 150. And there was that many kids when you were playing. And I remember you doing the eagle, you doing all your famous dance moves. And then there was kids physically grabbing onto the booth and they were pulling the plastic off. And we had guards there trying to stop them from grabbing you. And at that point I was like, "That is the best one hundred bucks I've ever seen in my life." And we never did those numbers again. But never again. Never again. Now, like I think a close very much later. And then as soon as you learned all the kids followed you, so it was quick. Like was it, it was a month, it was months, right? It had to have been just months. Yeah. Of making those songs and then performing. And I started to perform. When I'd make the music at home, I had this mirror in the corner of my room. And as cringes it is, I used to jump around in the mirror and do the moves that I was going to do to the song that I just made, which is like, "Wak." But. No, but like I said. It didn't work. Well, for me watching you, I remember watching it, I mean like, "Fuck, yeah." He's got some moves. Yeah, but I didn't know you were practicing him. Yeah. Yeah. I had a full practicing. Like I was got, because I get so into the music, I had to dance. I'm sitting there. But it made you stand out. Yeah. And so obviously you're backing up with music, but it was like, "No one was doing your combination of both." But at the same time, it's like from the early days, like playing a tramp, you know, in the morning at 7am, there might have been 30 people there still doing that stuff. I was like, "Okay, it was hard to ignore." Even before I year came out and you went to that next stratosphere, right? For sure. So, yeah, I feel like, because Melbourne DJs, they would never jump around and do what I. He did? He did? Yeah, he was only one, yeah. The chest. Oh, fuck. He was like, "I was going to punch on him with the crowd." He was like, "DJ." Little on the person, he's going back to back with. He gets so jeated up with me, like head buttony chal, I loved it, just sweating all over each other. I'm going to yarn. I remember he was like 4am in the morning, he was playing his club. I was watching him in this podcast, like a plastic podcast. He just goes, "Bombs, comes him in there?" Oh, no. And then he just turns him into his dance like, "Oh, fuck was that?" He's trying to punch out with like 15 people who's left in the club. See, I believe you, because I've seen him do that before too at Trump. We were playing together, and there was this guy just off his head, just annoying us, kept annoying us. He was got so fed up, he walks around. I just remember him grabbing him so perfectly in the Adam's apple and just put him against the wall and he's like, "Shut the fuck up!" And I'm on the deck, like, "Oh, fuck." But he's my bro, though. He's the absolute OG. Yeah, 100%. Legend. Love him so much. So you make our year and everything changes. You go from a Melbourne institutional DJ, you know, potential headline at all local clubs and you blow up, you start playing around Australia, playing around the world. So how does that sort of start? How cook it is a go? And, you know, when you made it, did you know it was a banger? I knew it was a banger. I loved it. I was over the moon with it. And when I put the teaser up on SoundCloud, we put just the teaser and come in and fade out. That's when my messages started blowing up, needing this record. I had it up for three months before it actually got released. It was the most wanted song, I think, in Australia. It became in those three months and only I had it. And that's when I started getting booked off just the SoundCloud link. I got my first ever interstate show at HQ in Adelaide off I. Yeah, that wasn't even out yet. And they paid me like £1200, I think. And I'm pretty sure Tom Gantley made $200,000 that night. That's what he told me later on. So that's great. I've never seen a line that big in my life. It was about five people length and just all the way down Highland, Australia or wherever it was. Once it finally got signed by this random label in Sydney. Do you remember the name? The Starfuckers. Oh yeah, yeah. No, it wasn't Starfuckers. I don't know who you're talking about. Cookie. Yeah, yeah. No, it was Starfuckers. It was their label. Are you on Starfuckers? Yes. Oh, well, I don't know that. Yeah, and then I got bought by, I think, the industry. Yeah, of course. Yeah. And that's when the I/S. So what came on with and why I only put the vocal on it. But when it got released, there were David Guetta played it at Ultra. And it was in the recorded set. David Guetta, fucking played my song, dude. No, and then Labak Luke, Madion. And I think they were the biggest headhorn chose playing the song. And that's when Melbourne Bounce started to get known around the world. And I'm pretty taken back that Australia or just like, I know the media. They don't know anything or they don't really show how much this sound is done. Yes. It's gone across the world and been presented by millions of people. But not only that's uniquely Australian. It is. Like it's something that started here. It grew up in the underground for six, seven years and dingy little basements and was taken by yourself and your peers across the world, played by some of the most reputable DJs in the whole entire world. Has it been celebrated worldwide? Don't reckon there's been one hero in San Alacol. No, not one. Yeah. So like, that's where I went. Wow. It's incredible that it hasn't been put on a pedestal. If that's the word, but anyway, I. Or celebrate it. Celebrate it. Yeah. Completely. Because it's such an incredible thing that happened just in our city. It's an interesting thing, right? So the reason why I think, obviously, this is what I'm doing. I'm sort of trying to show you guys. I love what you're doing. I appreciate that. Yeah. But it's like a big thing for me is I'm trying to hear our industry because we've always been kind of stuffed in the corner with dark people think of violence, I think of drugs, I think of like a horrible subculture when they think of dance music or nightclubs. And it's just not the reality. There's people like you must myself and yourself who have changed their lives and changed the trajectory of other people's paws and you played around the world. And I've got to travel the world doing all this amazing stuff. It's like, yeah, there is this small component of something that maybe is just tasteful to the media or the wider public. But the other side of it is so fucking beautiful. It's a beautiful music. And that's what I'm trying to do. Yeah, and I'm just trying to showcase that. And I love what you're doing, man. And when I saw your videos of you going through the streets and all the knowledge, you're even teaching me things before my time. So like, it's so cool that it's got a platform now to tell everyone how this started. But you know, going back to how it went around the world, when Deoro got onto our sound and he put his Dutch stuff with it, it made it even bigger. And his first ever gig was in Melbourne, at Billboard. Correct. First ever gig. And then TjR started doing his stuff. He also came to Melbourne. Yeah, so I did the tour and I remember he was listening to a trend in the booth. And he was like, I need some CDs. So the day after he was leaving, and I got all these CDs from like Stephen Mayn, Keith and I had all those boys, Mark Metro, just gave him to him. And then we were at the football, this that trip, right? This is a crazy story. But he did Oh, Toy as you remember. Yeah. And everyone was yelling. So we're watching Colin Wood, S and with Lamana. And then he's like, man, it sounds like ACDC like, oh, oh, it comes back. Oh, it's a fucking first Melbourne sound song he does. That blows up alongside with, you know, the same time as I hear, there's these Dutch elements, American elements. And it just goes fucking mental. And these guys, there's people from overseas who've visited Melbourne, who made money off it. Yeah, it's not even just like people that lived here and were a part of the subculture. There's people that visited, were inspired by it, had their own trajectory careers and they've dominated. You know, like I say, it's insane. And the biggest, the best part about my job is when people come up to me and say, you've actually changed my life and you've made my life worth living again. Like, does that not like? Bro, you've inspired so many though. Like, you know, like you went on and did all these amazing things off the back of something that was again, like we talked about with some of the, you jumped the fence to listen to. Yeah. And then I reckon per capita, Melbourne has to have the most producers in the world. I bet it's half to half to. There's so many DJs now in Melbourne and producers coming out of it. There's not enough clubs to cater for everyone. And there will be, like I said all the time, there'll be other wheel sparks, like in the sense of different music genres because we feed it. And that's why it's not celebrated, which makes it shit. But it's like, we feed it because you were inspired by the people before you, like orchestrating Heathrow and they were inspired by others before them. And then people were inspired by you and it continues on and on and on. It's like, it's such a healthy culture here. Yeah, it is. It's amazing and I am so proud to be able to be from here and inspire others and especially Especially those ones that tell me how I'm their idol. It's like, it's so easy for me to just acknowledge them too, because all I ever wanted as a kid was to talk to my idols and get advice. Sure. From how the beginnings are. Yeah, so if I ever meet someone on the street, or, and I'm so happy to talk to them about anything that they want. And, but yeah, the fact that my music, which is high energy, high adrenaline, people are telling me I saved them, that's enough for me to be like, I did enough in this world and I'll continue to go. Yeah. Keep going. So, I go, goes out, blows up around the world. You go from playing clubs and then you start traveling in the world circuit, right? So, run us through like, how that happened, you know, your first thing to start the international gig and then like, how you dealt with it. And no one had run that part yet. So, know what you couldn't, you know, lean to someone and say, hey, you know, when you did this, what did it look like? You had to do it yourself. Definitely. I had to learn everything as I went and same with Luke, my manager. We went to Hong Kong, first ever international show. It was pretty random, you know, at a bottle service club. But it was fun. It was, everything was really exciting because it was all new. I didn't realise what I was in for for the next 12, 13 years now because it is tough. It is rough, especially those shows that are back to back to back in different cities, different countries. Like I do, I think it was 180 to 200 flights a year. And people always ask me, how do you do it? And I have to just say, look, the human body is able to move from A to B. That's it. I don't see anything. Yeah. Really? I just go, and I have to be awake. The amount of times I've had to wake up after napping or something, you know what it's like a disco now. And then go home, play and come home and then get another two hours to catch the next flight, which is at 7am. But when I first started touring the world, we did this Europe tour as well. And Luke and I would, like Luke did three months with me to start. And we worked a few things out and we found a tour manager who was like an agent at the same time. That was bad, but we got some shows done. Real dingy, dude. I was playing in every corner of every country town in Europe, in Italy, to France and all these random places. I think that was a good experience. I got to see the weird rural spots around the world. Anyway, I had to stay in some rough joints. That's a good thing to touch on, right? Like, you know, we're watching from Melbourne, going, "Fuck, we was traveling the world." We don't know that you're staying in two-star hotels. And that's the beginning, right? Even though everything looks so glorious from maybe the outside. No, I couldn't afford shit. I had two flights to pay so me in the tour manager and all these hotels which were the shit of shit hotels. That's the only way I could get by, especially in America, because it was really expensive. And I didn't realize how expensive it is to be a touring artist. So for those listening at home, I may get a fee of this, but I probably end up getting about 15, 20% of it after all expenses. And it depends on how many people you have on your team. Your wages, everything else, what flight costs are to make it in time for that show, because some flights are more expensive than others, but you have to get that flight to make it. Do you mind breaking that down, right? Because it's a thing again, going back to talking about when things look glamorous and then potentially not. To say, like, for argument sake, let's talk of 10,000, right? Which I know is not your favourite. So, let's talk of 10,000. People would look at them and go, "Oh, wow. We'll get to the whole amount." "What are the actual costs that break down when you are touring and challenging that ends up saying you end up seeing the 15 or 20% out of?" Okay. So industry standard, 10 to 15% is agency, depending on your deal. And then 10 to 20% is your management commission, depending on your deal. So if you had the shit of both, which is 20 plus 15, which is what I was on at the start, too, because. Everybody is. Yeah, because when you first start, you're getting a shitty fee. It needs to be worthwhile for the manager and agency to be working with you because they need some money to keep going. So that's 35% straight off the froth of the top. So whatever that is, off 10 grand, 75. Very half thousand. Yeah. That's why I'm a DJ and not a mathematician. Every time we have these conversations with numbers, with artists or promoters. Six and a half grand. It's left over, yeah, yeah. Six and a half grand left over. And then you have to pay a few flights, whatever they are. Let's say. Because most deals are landed, which means it will have to be at that place. They don't want to pay for transfers. I don't want to pay for a accommodation. I pay for transfers. I pay for flights to comm. So some note. Not always, but yeah. A comm is usually covered for the one night, not for the week that we're staying there if it's interstate or international. So yeah, a thousand bucks, I guess, off flights. They're probably 500 for two people. And then that's what I'm left with. But that's. General expenses, I'm assuming. You've probably got like legal and accounting fees. There's all kinds of options. Oh, there's so much more that comes into it. So business managers, bank managers. Business managers have to pay all your people, get invoiced all the clubs, make sure the money comes in, and then they get paid as well for their work. What else? Videographers, photographers. Yeah, well, let's keep going then, because that's where I'm at now. So videographers, lighting, audio technicians, tool manager, logistic people that do the logistics. So actually book my flights and accommodations, the rowdings. I'm lucky to only have two guys on my team who have about ten jobs, Vinny, Cochlear and Joe, and Cam Lights from Adelaide. He does all the visual and audio while I'm playing on the show. And he does the time coding of the lights. And Vinny does, wow, he does pretty much everything from photography to editing to social media. To God, just my day-to-day schedule, even content for brand deals. And he films them and edits them. He talks to the people that do logistics to tell them that we want these flights and these hotels. So he's tool managing as well. And when we're touring on the road, he's the one looking at the flights where we're going. Just like strutting. Being the creative. Yeah, so they're on wages and they're doing well, so I mean. It takes a village. Yeah, it takes a lot. And there's so much behind the scenes with the management company. And it's just, I don't want it's to bore people, but yeah, you get to about 20% of what you earned of that 10 grand for the year, you know? Yeah, for sure. And I always try to press on this stuff because I want to show all sides, right? And then it kind of goes back to this other thing you're traveling around in Europe and you're staying in these shit hotels. No one really knows because you're working on a budget because you're trying to build your brand. That's it. It's no different than any other business, right? Lost money over and over again, too. And so was it challenging and like, oscillating when you were doing that, like when you were on the come-up, obviously now, no doubt you can afford better accommodations and flights to the year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I still do skimp out sometimes because the end of the day, we're doing it so much. So I can't fly business all the time because I do 200 flights a year. If I did business every time, I'd be well broke. Yeah. So it was disartening because I'm like, man, I'm doing so well apparently, you know? Why am I not getting paid? Well, I remember the managers got paid more than me one tour and I was like, what the fuck? And luckily, because Luke and Neil at the time, they were good people and they paid me some out of their car. So I was still able to live, you know? Wow, hey. It's crazy. Yeah. I need to have such good people around. And thanks to Neil, he got me out of the ultra deal, which I was in for. So I signed a deal to ultra music and they didn't want to release my music because it wasn't commercial enough. And that was a million dollar deal. For me to get out of that, I had to pay a million. Wow. But in America, there's always someone that owes someone something and I got out of that. Thanks to Neil who was good friends with him and he owed him a favour. I guess I can say it now, but I was so lucky not to sign a long term deal even when I did. I went off track there. Yeah, but what do they call the word? It's like, I kind of know the way they call it, but they close it. You or there's some term they use. They give you a big advance fee. It's like, yeah, have a hundred grand. And then we'll do 17 albums and you'll get a million dollars after those 10 albums or whatever. And then they're not unusual that they'll have an artist who blows up. They'll use them and then they go, now we don't like this music. And they leave them in the deal and just put them put them aside. I remember the actual term is shelving is the term. There we go. Shelving? Yeah, shelving. There's a different term that shelving involved in. Shelfting. That shelving shot probably both. Yeah, you're getting sharded. So. Oh, I just feel for those people that locked into those deals because what they do is they go, yep, let's, here's all the money. And then they will go, no, we don't like that. No, we don't like that. And we're like, mate, I just spent two weeks making this record. I love it. I'm not going to release it. No, we're not. Yeah, not for us. They're trying to get back their money that they've given you in that event. Exactly. Yeah. So it's a sad, sad industry sometimes because young kids get taken advantage of it. And I've got a really good yarn, as you'd say. When I first, when I released, oh yeah, Chris Lake hit me up. And he goes, yo, love your music, love what you're doing. I'm pretty sure TJR hooked me up with him somehow. I got my details. I'm on Skype. This is how long ago this was because we need, let's do a Skype call. I work for, I think it'll be fine. was the agency that does Deadmouse, what is it, 360? - Yep, yep. - CEO of 360 and me and Chris Lake had a call. I was like, wow, what's this about? Got on the call and I answered, and such a young Aussie idiot, I had my shirt off. I was in my bedroom with my shirt off 'cause mom never put the air on on us, middle of summer in Australia. And I'm sitting there shirtless, and I was like, get out guys, how you doin'? So innocent, they're like, wow. You don't even have a shirt on, I was like, oh yeah, I don't know. Thinking back, what was I doing? I'm meeting up with some of the biggest heads in the industry. I'm like, love your song, are you? We're gonna make it the biggest thing in the world. Now I'm like, okay, so they're throwing some stuff out there saying it's gonna be amazing, and I knew it was sick. But we need you to be our artist, we wanna manage you. And I was like, okay, what's the deal then? They're like, oh, easy, 50/50 split. We take 50% management fee. Wow, yeah. And I was 18 at the time. And I went, that seems pretty, you know, that's a bit much. And he was like, oh well, let's make it 60/40 then. Because he just easily switched like that, I went. That's wrong. - You don't seem right. - That doesn't seem right, I can smell a rat. And I said, all good guys, I don't wanna, I think I just hung up and said I'd speak to them. I spoke to Luke, and how's this? Luke was like, I want you to have the best career. If you wanna move on with them, that's fine. - That's crazy. - And when Luke said that to me, I was like, you have every part of my trust. And I haven't left Luke since 14 years on. - Which is very rare. - Yeah, this is very rare. So we've been together since day of dot. I could have made that horrible deal, which would have been the same as a VG's, on 50% with Ash, Prenary. And it depends on what they would have provided. Maybe they would have made my career bigger than what it is. I don't know. But I'm so happy in content where I am. And I just think 50% was way too much and getting taken advantage of. - Yeah. So you talk about all these challenges, man, which I love. Right, we're talking about, you know, normally this is whole story of how you start and how fantastic and awesome it is, which we're gonna get to. But this is, we're going through these challenges that people don't know, right? And I fucking love that we're opening that door in. We're exposing people who are probably looking up to, you know, wanting to live their lifestyle. There's one other one I want to touch on too before we get into their fun stuff, right? So you've gone over to Europe and you're traveling. And what happened in Melbourne, and it's just a strange thing, which is called "Tool Poppy." And I remember this pretty profusely. And I was actually talking to James Favre, not just the other day, right? Which is Dom Dulles' manager, which is the "Don't Know." And we were discussing you off the topic of this "Tool Poppy" thing. But basically what had happened is you've gone blown up around the world, you know, and there was people who were stoked for you. There were so many people who were stoked for you. But at the same time, I would almost say there was just the same amount of people who were not stoked for you. So you probably, in my opinion, which is something that we've never discussed before, but you dealt with "Tool Poppy" probably worse than anybody that I've seen or had seen at the time. How was that for you? Like, and it wasn't just from like your peers, it was also from some, you know, just random people, you might have known, or your community, or whatever. Like, how did you deal with that? Yeah, I got heckle pretty bad. I got some bad hate. And I remember it happening. The way I put it is thinking back to those moments where I'd get so much hate online, I genuinely thought they just didn't get it. And I was like, well, everyone's got their own, you know, I don't love everything either. But I didn't realize at the time that they were just projecting their own hatred. True, jealousy. From jealousy. And like, if you don't like something, just don't say anything at all. That's how I've been brought up. Always have respects, no matter what. And it's on you the way you react. So I dealt with it fine. It did get to me. I remember Stony Rhodes did some pretty terrible articles about me, which is sad because they're a legitimate. Mutual publication. We're back then, yeah. So it was really tough to handle and navigate. And I'd have rage moments. And I had people telling me to kill myself. And this one guy said on a Facebook post, please do us all the favor and keys. So we don't have to listen to your shit ever again. And my sister, when on his profile, found out where he worked, showed his work, the comment, and he got fired. Good. Yeah. So I guess that was lesson learned for him. And for anyone at home that wants to put something out there online, because you're in the public. People know where you are. And know where you work if you put stuff up like that. So yeah, I copped it pretty bad. And on the tall poppy thing, I remember I won the in the mix awards. And I think-- Quick. Hey? Because the thing that happened with you was everything was quick. It was like bomb after bomb after-- Bang, bang, bang. Yeah, exactly. It was all happening so quickly. But looking back, I'm so proud of myself as that young kid getting up on a stage and speaking out about tall poppy syndrome. I'm pretty sure it was-- what was that? It was during in the mix. It was a conference. It still goes on now. The music conference-- it's like electronic music conference. This is AMC. AMC, it's still going. I know. No, it stopped. Yeah. And I got up at the conference and did a speech about tall poppy. It was either then or in the mix. Anyway, whatever. When I did it, I remember Nick Coleman in the crowd jumped up and said, fuck yeah. I was like, oh my god, that's really-- there's something I hit an herb there with him. He's dealt with it too. And I kept going on in this speech. I don't remember exactly what I said. But I was like, hey, we're all friends. We're all mates. Why don't we all build each other up? This is Australia. We're known to be the small guys in the corner. But we're the most talented. So if we all build each other up and celebrate our craft and get around each other, we were fucking powerhouse. Because we just didn't get why we'd want to bring each other down. And so I really voiced that in that speech I did off the bat. Like I didn't prepare it or anything. And so maybe after that, that's when our genres weren't-- we weren't hating each other. Because genres just to hate each other. They did, yeah. They were separated. They were. But not even that promoter's clubs. It was a thing. It's getting less bad. But people still will try to rip you down. Like, I've had some incidents recently myself. Really? Yeah, it's shit going, but it is what it is. But it's getting fewer and further between. Definitely. You were at that peak of it. Because the internet is just blown up. You were the first really successful international artist from Australia. Five years beforehand, no one would have access to tell you to kill yourself online. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But all of a sudden, they could. And so you were really thrust into the deep end. At the same time, I had a bit of a staunch outlook as well. I'd be like, I didn't give a fuck. Come on, come say it to my face. I'd actually get into some pretty heated-- I remember. You do? I'd staunch people in person because they'd say it online. And this one night, I still remember his name, Peter. Peter was his name. And he was rinsing me on the hour with Facebook statuses. I was playing at Alex Millaanovich's Hidden Forest. And downstairs was where I was playing. And Peter was playing upstairs at the same time. And we got there just before I was meant to go on. And Peter already started. And I went in and downstairs was so packed, you couldn't even get in. It was flooding out the door. And then the stairs to go upstairs were there. So I went up the stairs to go have a look at Peter's level. Two people on the dance floor. I don't even think there was a bartender up in the bar. It was that dead. And he's just standing there playing tunes. And I went straight over to him and had a little confrontation. Conversation. And I actually gave him a black eye, but we won't probably put that in. He was playing with Bo Johnson. And yeah, Bo split us up. I just said, you ever say another thing? Whatever. I stood up for myself. You know, yeah. And it's not good to get violent. But I needed to stand some sort of ground. And then I went back downstairs and played to a thousand people and ripped the ass out of it. To exactly. Yeah. I had to go borrow the story. People talk. And the people talk that day with their feet. And exactly. So if you want to say something, you better be able to back it up in person. Yeah. So then the good stuff, right? Yeah. You go around the world. You're traveling. You're doing all this amazing stuff. Tell us in peak moments, like some peak moments of your career thus far, where you've just sat there and gone, what the actual fuck? Well, I played to 50,000 people in, or might have been 80 in Mexico, 80 C. That was early on. That was in Melbourne, Bounce was peaking like, oh, yeah, I was playing. That was a pinch myself moment. Then I was playing in America at this place near Seattle. It's like these little visions that come back to me of me thinking, how the fuck did I get here? Sometimes even today, I'll look down at the decks. They're playing. It's just, and there's that cue button. And I'm playing in front of 50,000 people. And I think to myself, well, I'm playing. I'm like, I could just click that cue and fuck everything up. I could just, that's it. It's like the moment when you're driving, you just go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you just roll and just kill yourself. It's terrible to be like that. There, the pinch yourself moments when you're playing a brand new song and you've killed the mix and you see the wave just going like that. But these are all things I already thought about when I was 15, 16 in my bed at night listening to music in my headphones, pretending that I was playing in front of thousands of people. I did it every single night because back then we didn't have Netflix soon. I mean we had other crap like video games, but I didn't like playing video games. I liked to imagine things because I'd get the same thrill inside when I'd think about it. So I'd play one of my favorite songs, close my eyes, pretend they're all in front of me, and I couldn't sleep for like five hours because I had to all this adrenaline pumping through me imagining it. So I think if you imagine things they become reality, if you really feel the way it feels like in your head. And does it? Yeah. It feels exactly the same. It's exactly the same. That's crazy. So tonight, going. I don't know if I'm going to get the chance to play in front of 50,000 people to compare though. But if you just imagine it, it's the same. Yeah. But yeah, obviously when you're actually doing it, it's just another level. And it's a daunting, like, are you nervous? Like, you know, I've seen some of these things that happen and you're playing in front of them and you're jumping around, you're putting on this massive show. Are you nervous? Not at all. That's wild to me. I am the most confident performer I've ever met. I walk up there, especially when you know you got something good and you go, welcome. Come watch it. Come watch me kill it for you. And I think that confidence really got me through to it because there's no doubts. I'm always like coming to the table with something new, different to anyone else on that line up. And I know I'm going to bring as much energy as possible because I was always the kid that was. had the most endurance in cross-country. I was the. I don't know. In 40, I'd always go. Do you do things in halves? I'd go the hardest. I would be at 100% with everything I did. So even with performing, it takes a lot of energy. And I know that my energy is going to surpass anyone, probably Barti and me trumpet. He's a lunatic when it comes to his energy, but I know I can put on a show. And if you have any doubts, you're already going backwards. You have to be 100% with everything you do. And that's why even with music, I'd put stuff up. People get worried about putting things out. I'm like, just put it out. And they're like, I don't know if it's any good and I'm like, well, make it good. Make it to what you think is the best because if you love it, then someone else is going to love it. That's how I always used to think. Yeah, wow. That's so cool. So your favourite gig would be that EDC that you played in Mexico? No. Definitely not. A favourite gig. It's so hard to say there's so many, but I get really euphoric moments at EOS in FHR, at FHR at each club. I always mention it, especially when the sun's coming down. Everyone's just on a high, you're on a Greek island. That's the best. I had some pretty big nights at Paradise Club in Mikanos back in the day. It's no longer around, but dude, my peak moments. You're probably like tramp and circus and wow, our upstairs. Nothing beats that. Because it was fresh, it was neutral. Special. I mean, I guess it was when I first started out, so because now I've done it so long, I'm not over it in a sense, but it drags on sometimes. I'm usually looking forward to getting home. Yeah. I go really struggle on the road sometimes mentally because I'm alone. I don't have much of a community. I got my two guys and they struggle too. We during the week from Monday to Friday, I'm not talking to anybody. I'm not seeing anybody. I'm on my own. I'm waking up, going down the street to the gym, wherever, cooking my meals, coming home, going back to bed. It's a dead time ride. Like you're just sitting in a hotel, either waiting for a bus or getting dropped off by a bus, chilling out, just waiting for the next movement. Yeah. And I'm trying to fill my day up and luckily producing really fills you down if you are on. I go and touch the music for about a month, six weeks now because I just don't have that drive. I mean, it goes through waves. And then one week I'll make five records in a week and I'll finish them and I'll play them that week. And lucky when I played at Peruqavil, probably one of the best gigs too. Peruqavil this year, I didn't have much new stuff. Because I was under pressure, I'm like, fuck, I'm going to make some new shit for this set because it's getting recorded, live stream. I made five records in that week, so that was lucky. So where's your studio? Like I know you're traveling around the world all the time. You're riding a musical all the time. Where is this studio? It's a laptop. A laptop. And a pair of beats, mixers, mixes by Gawetah, who which got discontinued about ten years ago and I keep buying them on eBay. I can't change. Can you just hotel rooms or like, where are you riding? Kitchen, hotel room, just a lounge room. That's crazy. On the couch. So some of your biggest songs have been written in those places. My biggest songs have been written on a plane like T-Rex like this with old mate next to me drooling on my shoulder on overnight flights, you know? That's mad. Yeah, dude. That is so cool. You don't need a big, you can do it with the bare minimum. I do sometimes get help by engineers when it comes to mixing down. I get it nearly there and most of the time I do just master and mix myself but when it's like I can't get it there I send it off to some guys and they're awesome. Helping me. Crazy tour story. Can you hit me with one? So I was in Sweden, you know, really random little city town and I played this gig and I ended up getting bastard that night. Like I was on one. Oh yeah, I was steaming and got to about 6am and I'm in the apartment like the hotel and I put my feet up on this heater, like a steam heater off the wall because it's so cold there and I remember it just like broke off and just started hanging off the wall and I'm like, oh, whatever. I'm still like just off my head talking to people on FaceTime and then I had a glass of red wine and I spilled it all over my computer which wasn't backed up and I'm like, oh, whatever would be all right, tipped it upside down and I just left it there. That's when I thought it's time to call it, right? Went to bed and I had to wake up about two hours later to get to the next city. Yeah. The room times. The crib hours. Yeah, demons. [laughter] And I get out of bed and I'm like, I gotta go take one step out of the bed and my ankle was in water. It was this high in my hotel room. The whole thing was flooded. And I'm freaking out. I'm like, what the fuck? How did this happen? I'm looking out the window. The window is like, am I just raining or something? Stupid. I didn't realize that that heater had a pipe attached to it and it was filling up my whole hotel room. Kidding. Yeah, dude. So I got out of there. I freaked out and didn't tell anyone. I should have told someone. But I didn't. I left it like that. So I ended up. Ruining four hotel rooms below me. What? Because it just kept going. I booted to the next city. We got a call and they said you've ruined our hotel and I did about 300,000 euros worth of damage. Fuck. And my, I lost everything on my computer as well on the same day because of the red wine spill. What was worse? Don't know. [laughter] But, thank God I had travel insurance that covered most of it. That's a world story, dude. Guess what? The best part is I'm not allowed within 10 kilometers of that hotel. Yeah, what? So I've played it at shows in cities nearby and I wasn't allowed to stay there. That's a drive out of it. It's well forever? Yeah. Forever Ben. On that, right? You're talking about our controversial tour moments. There was recently one where you were playing at festival, you were straight after hard well. And there was a big controversy that kind of went viral online. Can you run us through that story and what it was like following that up being the artist after that moment? That was a, that was a J up, to be honest, because when I saw that happen, one I was pretty upset for Robert because he was obviously not happy. But on the other hand, I was like, well, I'm here to save the day. I was like, I'm going to save this fucking shit. So I went over to the production managers and the stage managers and I'm like, team meeting. I didn't even know them. Like, everyone coming in, I was like, are we going to fucking kill this and save the day? Or are we just going to turn over and lie down and just let it go? Because he cracked it 20 minutes in. I wasn't on for another 40 minutes. Yeah. Half the crowd had left. And so I was like, let's give these people what they paid money for. So there's a full 40 minute gap. But I got on, I think only 20 minutes later, and played the extra. And I ended up smashing it and not a single problem for me because they fixed the problem. And that was like the day saved. But it was funny. I spoke to Hardwell straight after it all happened. And he was kind of, he was kind of like, what the fuck man, he's playing. So I just, they couldn't work it out. And I was like, okay, and that's when I went up and, yeah, I feel, I don't know, because they mentioned my name in their statement. Yeah, did, yeah. Yeah, and they're like, nothing was wrong with Will Sparks. And I was like, yeah. But that's not on, that's not on Hardwell. It's just the fact they changed the mixer and it was all sweet. So when something like that happens in live music, you have to just improvise. And it happened at ultra music Melbourne recently. Someone threw a massive can of whatever. Someone threw a drink onto the front of house, touch screen, audio system, stuffed everything up and stuff. stop the music. So what did I do? Got up on the mic, I came out the front and I started doing a big speech, jean up Melbourne, how this is the mecca, how it all started here, and I did that for five minutes, while they fixed everything up and I let the stage managers do their thing and I'm on the mic, jean people up and then I'm going like this to them, going, is it ready? We're good, we're going to do this and then sort of doing two things at once and that's what real showmanship is, showing up, saving the day if anything goes wrong because things happen. People are paid to see you too, right? Exactly and these tech guys, they can't control everything, sometimes things just fuck up and you've got to be the professional about it and go, yeah, but I guess there's been some long term things that happened with Hardwell's situation, they didn't pay him and they hadn't paid him before and so he's fed up. Yeah, I get it. But this is ultra music and I want to get on the main stage of Miami. Yeah, if you're listening. Yes. First festival you played in Melbourne, I was luckily enough to be able to come along and it was by default. So I'd actually been bennering the day before at a festival called Venn. You went all the way through. Now I had a little bit of sleep in not much and I went and met you guys at Crown and then I was taken away in a limo. So my first real backstage, not experienced I've been backstage in million times but like within artists was with you and I remember it was fucking crazy to me because again, you were from this kid from Melbourne. You were being managed by one of my best mates at the time and we jumped in the car. We got to go, you know, whisked to the stereo sony. They took us to the back area and the crazy part was we were always told to stay away from the artists areas when we had backstage classes. So yeah, we can watch people from the side of stage but I got to be involved in that. For you, right, growing up and watching these guys on this world stage, like how fucking crazy was that for you being next to you know, David Gwetter or calling Hardwell Robert? Like how has that been meeting your titles? It's been surprising how nice and open and cool they are. Like Tiesto, Calvin Harris, they've all been so open and same with Armand van Buren. He's always asking about how you're going with your mental health. Like he's a big unfigured of that for DJs behind the scenes. Like he doesn't tell everyone about it. And that was, that's the coolest thing. Going in having a shot with Tiesto, these are moments I'll never forget and just having honest, normal conversations because they're all human just like us. But and yeah, I guess that's shows that most successful people are pretty good people. But getting the treatment back, especially in my home city is funny because I'm from here. So I think at the start, Stereo and Future are like, here's this guy. He's just from Melbourne, you know. We don't have to give him towels on his stage sort of thing. I reckon I'll be guilty of that too. I'm like, I just remember him. I'll give him the car. You can drive his mom's, you know. Anyway, I've had a few of those moments, but most of the time it's been like when I played Stereo Sonic the first time I got booked in the side stage going back to back with Sam and James. And I said to Luke, I'm like, they don't understand. This little room is going to be jammed. There's going to be way more people that want to come in. I was right. It turned out that there was 5,000 people trying to get into this tiny room side stage at Stereo because it only held like a couple hundred people. And I went outside and there was this big stage next to me. No on there. And some guy playing from Germany or some shit. So these are all the times I had to prove myself to him. Yeah, and you did a lot. Yeah. Yeah. I got booked at room as headline in the side room. I ended up having to get air lifted by people like security guards actually held me up and carried me from the side room to the main stage because people were trying too hard to jump into the side room. Happened at James bar, Billboard. So there's all these times where I've had to, yeah, prove that I'm worthy of a good time slot. Yeah, for sure. And I remember even again, it was future music. So we used to have down the back. We school. There's the loud bowl, but it was like the little everything off the back of the stage at some of the days or future music. And it cleared out. And I was like, where the fuck the crago? So I started like following people. And you were playing like a ball like this phone pit. I like in front of a car. I remember that. There was 5,000 kids out of the time Snoop Dogg was on and there was more people I reckon watching you than there was Snoop Dogg. You're kidding. I mean, I remember it's like, what the fuck? And you were just like, put up above this car in this like little red bull stage thing and there was just swarms of people every day. But they're the coolest moments. Like from all the artists that I've got to see blow up from Dom Fischer, all these different artists yourself. It's like the best part is that bit. Yeah. Like when they are like earning their stripes and their book for a show and people think they're worth this, but they're they're they can bring double the amount of people and stuff like I'd say there's some of the biggest highlights in my career is watching those explosions because it's fucking exciting. It is. And they're the moments that you have to go through to get to where you are. You just have to earn your stripes as you said. Yeah. I don't normally do this, but I have to be due because as I said, you're one of my most requested guests and no doubt people want me to ask these questions. So normally I don't do this because it's more of like an intel thing. But for up and coming, you were trying to like change the face of a general or you know, be a part of an industry or do something different or be a trailblazer. Fuck me, Danny. Or be a trailblazer. What's some advice from you to them? But someone who's done it. Yeah. Okay. This is a good one. And I'm glad you asked that question. Close your eyes and imagine you're in the middle of a dance floor at your favourite festival in the world, even if you haven't been there, if it's tomorrow and and just think, what would you want to hear? And that's what I've always done. I've gone, what do I want to hear? What do I want? And I actually make the song up in my head before I make it. So I don't listen to anyone else's music. I don't try to be anyone else. As far, I'll only go as far as comparing quality of sound. But to be unique, you just have to be yourself. My real name is Will Sparks. Which is wild to me. It's wild to a lot of people. Best stage name. See, it just was it. I didn't need to think I did too hard. I didn't need to force anything. Don't force it. At the same time, don't give a fuck. Who gives a shit what anyone thinks. And I know it's easy said and done, but you don't have to take advice from Joe Blow down the road about your music that you've just started making. Work harder to be obsessed with it. Be as particular as you possibly can to make it just perfect and just right for you. You do not need to please anybody. I had my eyes to make music at my mom's room and she would come in going, "This sounds like shit. What is that sound? Sounds like it's off the radio, Will. What is that? It hurts my ears and I go, "Mom, you don't give it. You don't know what you're talking about. This is the sickest shit gone." So just back yourself is what I'm saying. And don't be like anyone else. You are who you are and you are unique to you. That's why you are born on this earth. So that's it. Stand out. And once you get those few people that like what you're doing, snowball. Don't force it. Just make it. And you will make it and believe. If you don't believe, you're nothing. If you want to go back to your day job, that's what you believe you're all worthy of. Then you're going to be worthy of that. I love it, man. Thank you. That's so good. And I hope people get what they can live at one tenth of what you've done and by following some of that advice and it's completely inspiring to see your journey from the sidelines. Being a part of it has been a blessing and also it's been fucking humbling to watch you grow as a person too and full swing come back and sit across from me. Thank you. Yeah. It's been amazing to see how far you've come as well of known each other a long time and it's crazy we're sitting here talking about everything but I'm so proud of what you do and what we've done and Melbourne is always the place. How good is fucking Melbourne? It's so good. You don't get it. If you weren't here for Lady Luckineth, there's Friday night. Friday, yeah. Or fake tits, Danny's night on a Friday as well. It was also on Friday, yeah. Or jungle on a Sunday morning or wow, Saturday night, upstairs or Jane's bar on a Saturday. Like there's so corroborate 6am. I used to walk out that place at 9am and I'd never regretted a single time. Disgustingly beautiful. Disgusting. Yeah. Oh, bright daylight. Crast. So lastly, a little bit of housekeeping will, I've got to do this obviously because without these brands and these people supporting me, I can get the keep the lights on. So firstly, WP shots available, lick land, first choice and all good independence around Australia and that's for you, Bill. So you get to keep that one. Really? Oh, I've never put these shots since 2011. They're back in flavour. And then second to that is Estilio the Label. These boys are actually local promoters. So Borscht is one of them. No doubt you know him. Get around them. The quality of their threads is fucking unbelievable. I can guarantee you if you buy a t-shirt and you don't like it, I'll give you your money back. That's how much I back it. Last but not least, Triple 8 Digital. If you're looking to upscale your events or hero your festivals or hospitality business, Carlo from Laptain 2, Mr. Pajuano, he is your man to do so. He's got great track record and gets great results. So go check them out at Triple 8 Digital.com.au. Dude, Carlo P. Carlo P, baby. He is. One of the OGs where I shout out to Carlo P. He was there in the trenches when I was very, very young. He was the booker when you were sort of cutting your teeth, right? And he was the nicest guy in that whole complex. Still it's a reckon. So I have a lot of time and respect for what he used to do for me back in the day, yeah. He's a good friend of mine and a great person. Yeah, definitely. Alright, man. Thank you so much for coming to the end today. As I said, I've been so fucking pumped to do this one. I know it's been, you know, there's been hurdles and challenges to get you here. but I really appreciate you sitting down. I appreciate the nice things you said about me because that's not what I was expecting, but I fucking love that. And then second to that dude, keep fucking killing it 'cause everyone's watching from Melbourne, back from back home and where we're celebrating you and without people like you, the next generation can't do it, yeah. And thank you for sharing your story with me today. - I appreciate that. I needed that kick. I gotta keep going and it's a constant grind, so. - But for the finish, when do you go back on tour? - Tomorrow. - Okay, and hopefully maybe you can come back and call Melbourne home again. - Yeah, one day. Thank you. Thanks, Danny.