The Doof Life
… as much as this crazy Doof Life is full of glitter and lights, not everything is glitz and glamour.”
The Doof life down under in Australia is an eclectic mix of crazy people having a good time. But for me this recent tour to Australia was a mixed bag of experiences…
Travelling for your craft is always an adventure. I feel that life is not always about the destination, but the lessons we learn along the way; that is the true journey.
So although my recent trip to Australia was epic and a really good experience it didn’t all go down according to plan. My one gig got cancelled last minute, which affected my budget badly, my first club gig wasn’t that well attended, but nothing loads of tequila didn’t help smooth over.
Then my gig with Symbolic at a Melbourne Club, which was a great night out, but it could have also been a bit better attended, leaving the club’s energy a little low. But we still made it work and were literally dragged off the decks at 6am as the sun was already up.
Earth Core festival is one of Australia’s biggest Bush Doof events.
They call psytrance parties –BUSH DOOFS in Australia. It was situated somewhere in Melbourne on a huge farm. it looked a bit like Malmsbury with patches of trees on the hills, but the area was pretty much just barren grass and sand which made the dust storms mid party.
[youtube_sc url=”oRYSdsUOS7o”]The layout of the festival stretched between the 4 big stages, the Hydra stage (mainly trance) and the Main Stage which was predominantly Techno and Progressive, deep house and minimal. Over the hill there was a small techno/ chill stage.
Everyone everywhere was totally dressed up and it felt like psytrance meets Afrikaburn. I actually felt so underdressed to be honest; the general look was Steampunk meets tank girl psy gypsy and it was so creative and colourful, both girls and boys. There was so much to see everywhere; art instillations and different tents with art galleries, and cinema, it was an absolute assault on the senses. I loved it. The stall area was huge, taking the festival shopping part of the experience as it is in Europe, I wish I could have gone crazy, but I had minimal dollars to spend. The village and symbiosis of the events was beautiful to see and there was so much happening all the time. I was travelling with my fellow 24/7 artist – Paddy (DJ Pakman). When we arrived I was so surprised to see that in the camping area people were allowed and encouraged to make their own themed camps, (like at Afrikaburn) but this at a psytrance/techno party!!! So imagine this; one corner there was a little dancefloor with psytrance playing, then another Gazeebo with dudes playing dark psy, then another group next to that playing Prog, everyone just doing their own thing, basically the whole festival layout was a platform to let your creative spirit alive.
I was fortunate enough to camp with an amazing crew; they showed me how to party Oz style!! I can’t go into more details than that, except to say I had the best time of my life with these guys.
Not all glamour and glitz
Now for the hard part, as much as this crazy Doof Life is full of glitter and lights, not everything is glitz and glamour. My set was booked on the Hydra stage at 10 am on the Sunday, so I knew it was probably going to rock as this is a really good time back home, as set times go. Alas I was placed the same time as Coming Soon and Infected Mushroom, so when I got to my set, I had lost the whole party to the main stage, who were waiting for the Progressive beats. I will be honest with you and tell you my heart broke right there. I am not going to lie to you and say my set was the best I ever had, I’m not gonna sugar coat it to make myself sound amazing, cause that just wasn’t true.
The truth is I was bummed; I had just travelled around the world and put everything I have into this trip, for this very moment. So WTF do you do in that situation? You can’t cry about it, no one gives a shit! This is life! Not everything is bells and whistles! Touring is hardcore when you leave your comfort of your home town. I have worked hard to build my brand at home in South Africa, but once one leaves home, you are a small fish again. So I got up on that stage, and did what I do best… I played my heart out. I managed to build a dancefloor by I keeping my beatz solid and I held back from blasting them as I didn’t want anyone to run away. By the end of my set I had a decent dance floor going with plenty of smiles and cheers so in a way I accomplished what I came to do, and that was to spread the South African energy and love.
When I stepped off the stage, I did feel very conflicted, as to why did this happen, with all the energy and support I received, why would I fly halfway across the world and then have this half empty floor? I spoke to a few of my producer friends and they have also experienced this level of disappointment with some gigs so I guess that is just life.
For me, I feel that perhaps the rest of the world doesn’t really know who we are here at the bottom of Africa; perhaps we need to push SA as a brand, so we are noticed and taken seriously? The only thing one can think of when life is tough and you get knocked down, is to get back up and fight harder!
Tune Raiders December Gig Guide
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What I’m listening to:
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/232740759″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]Catch Symbolic for Origin Festival in January
