TĀMAKI MAKAURAU - AUCKLAND
DJ, PROMOTER/BOOKER
HOUSE, TECHNO, BREAKS
How did you end up as a part of the music industry?
I've been an avid music fan from an early age and growing up in Tāmaki Makaurau gave me lots of opportunities to attend all-ages shows which is where my obsession with live music started so it's not surprising to me that I ended up working in this industry! One of the major and important changes I've seen is the ongoing conversation that's been happening around the lack of diversity on lineups. Over the past few years, it's been amazing to see more wāhine on stage. While we can see our lineups are becoming more gender diverse it's important to recognise how whitewashed our industry is and start taking the steps to change that.
Tell us about your sound...
I work in all facets of the music industry here in Aotearoa. I work at an independent label and events company full time, I DJ on the weekends and I also run events and tours under my promotions company Moments. As someone who doesn't make electronic music but loves it, djing has been a huge outlet for me in that sense. I'd say my sound is high energy dance music that weaves between house, techno, breaks and bass with some shameless bangers thrown in for good measure. My promotions company Moments is something I set up in 2017 after seeing the lack of diversity on lineups and also behind the scenes, I felt especially inspired by DISCWOMAN's work in New York. Under Moments I've done everything from small club shows, a multi-venue New Year's festival, curated stages and toured local and international artists including DISCWOMAN - full circle baby!
I really enjoy being a part of the community here, it's so small yet filled with some incredibly talented people who are doing some amazing work.
Do you have any new work coming out that you'd like to tell us about?
I recently recorded a mix for my friends show APEX on Dublab which I'm really proud of! I'm currently working on a couple of other mixes for some great mix series and will soon be announcing a bi-monthly club residency as well as a big summer of festivals ahead.
We're currently Naarm/Melbourne based, and as it stands we don't have too many WIP Project members based in Aotearoa ... yet! Are you able to share some fellow industry professionals that should be on our radar?
People, parties and labels you should follow in NZ: k2k, Peach Milk, Jess Fu, BBYFACEKILLA, Native Bush, Half.Queen, Hurricane Emily, Scarlett, Vanessa Worm, FILTH, Friendly Potential and Related Articles.
How do you practice self-care?
Trash TV in bed.
What’s your favourite record at the moment?
Maara - Ultimate Reward because bangers.
What or who inspires you?
Sorry to be cheesy lol but my friends around me inspire me every damn day to do and be better!
What are your predictions for the future of dance music and the industry? Any changes you would like to see?
The dance music scene here is continuously growing and it's great to see so many artists pop up around the place and hopefully we can see more artists from Aotearoa receive international recognition. I'd also like to see more venues, safer spaces and more diverse lineups - especially for the more mainstream events + festivals.
What does an ideal dance music industry look like to you in the future? What would you like to see?
I would really like to see more diversity in the non-audience facing facets of the industry. We have made some great advances in lineup diversity, but there doesn’t seem to be the same push in the production and engineering spheres. There are so many wonderfully talented fem and GNC producer-engineers, it would be amazing to see more initiative being taken to help them crack into this very male-dominated corner of the music community.
Check out Emma's WIP Profile Page for more!