When I started I was just like this small
girl going hard to like five people in a room.
No one would really take her seriously whether
it was radio, record labels.
There was a lot of rejection but
I was doing all of this because I loved it.
My upbringing was solitary.
I was not a kid that was
fitting in at school.
I picked up the cello and
I took to it like a fish to water.
I was spending hours a day playing
cello, and practicing, and that was like my
friend was music.
Then I went to Europe to study.
But that's when I think I fell out of love
with classical music because you know you're
playing your heart and soul out to someone
and like these people are sitting in the front
row and it is considered polite to not make any
sounds. So there was never really any
interaction between like the crowd and me.
So I broke up with the cello
and it really felt like I was going through a
breakup because it was the only comfort I'd
really had.
So I was running this nightclub in Sydney
where I first met Alex slash
Alison. She'd had an office job but she was
terrible at it. So she was the door girl at the
club.
He was like "oh, why don't you just like start
DJing?" and gave me my first DJ lesson.
Probably, I think the second week after that she
was like playing shows.
After that first show.
I didn't sleep.
My adrenaline was so high from just
feeling this energy between like even 30 people
and myself. Something very primal and
raw.
It was like a huge outlet for me.
There was like this this club in Sydney called
Ruby Rabbit and like there was a VIP room that
everyone would talk about and there would be like
stories about like the mafia being up
there. Very early in my career I got offered to
play to the upstairs VIP area.
I get onstage and there's like
10 like older fat guys like drinking
but I was like DJing and I was like headbanging
and Garth being like "you move around
a lot," and I was like I don't know Garth that's
just me like I can't change it.
She's one of those people who's very captivating
because she's a little crazy.
Back then being a girl there wasn't really anyone
doing what I was doing.
There was a macho scene of guys
and girls just weren't involved.
I remember feeling very very inadequate
in terms of like the way people were treating me
or speaking to me.
There's this energy that males have when they
group together which they don't even realize they
have but it is very intimidating to women.
They'd have like all the male DJs like standing
around me when I play with their arms crossed
like kinda like looking.
I wasn't getting taken seriously as an artist.
It can be really easy to get lost in that and to
doubt yourself.
She's always needed expression
when she goes through a tough time and that
genuinely helps her.
So I saved up and I bought a laptop
and I just made ****.
I think we were driving and she's like "what you
think of this?"
I was like this is really good I really like it,
not realizing it was her.
I just fell in love with it.
It was truly me.
Producing is so introverted and like
DJing is such an extroverted thing for me that I
feel like it's completely two different parts of
my mind.
She gets a lot of therapy from writing
and sharing with people and I think that's why I
feel resonate with it so much because it's really
personal.
I feel like it's quite cleansing, made me happy,
I felt like it made me ignore everything
and not try to be anyone else.
That's why I was always in her oversized t-shirt.
I never wanted it to be about anything but the
music.
She started doing tours.
She was going by herself with a suitcase with a
lighting rig and a smoke machine.
I was on like a greyhound bus like alone.
I had no tour manager.
Walking into ****** little pubs in the middle of
nowhere playing to 50 people.
There was no bathroom in like a couple of those
rooms.
And she did two hundred and something shows in
one year.
I learned so much from ******* up
and like being alone and like making mistakes
and taking risks.
Looking back at it that sounds like an absolute
nightmare. But those shows did get
her you know just 40 fans in every town
in Australia.
Think I've seen her grow as an artist into
someone that has really pulled together all
of their talents.
She's a classically trained cellist, and
she sang, and she's been a DJ for
a really long time, and these three separate
worlds that now have all come together in this
like amazing thing.
She'd signed a record deal, put out an EP, and
I think it created this world of intrigue outside
of Australia. Then we signed with a broker
who managed to get Coachella to
agree to do her first ever show in the US.
And there is a lot of self-doubt when you are
making art. But I had to like dig
deep into myself as a person
and not be scared to do that.
I was like **** this, watch me school you.
She has paved the way for a lot of younger
females to rise up and not
be looked out for your gender but just for your
craft.
It is impressive that she's got to where
she is without ever having to sell
out, essentially.
She just plays good shows. Wins people over.
Is herself.
I don't think I'll ever be able to stop like I
joke I'm gonna to be like 70 like still doing
this. Like I hope I am, it's going to be sick if
I do.
