London Calling

Australia’s Nikki S has made a huge name for herself in London’s trance scene through promoting clubnights and building her own rep behind the turntables. She’s back in town for the Elevation gig so we thought we should catch her for a chat.

So how does an Australian girl find herself in London as one of the leading DJs of the psychedelic trance scene? I went to London for a two year traveling holiday back in '99 and after going out to a lot of parties like Frantic I gradually became more involved in the scene through running my own club nights (Endorphin, Innovate, Release, Extreme Euphoria etc) at some of London's top venues (the Fridge, Heaven, Shepherd’s Bush Empire). At one point I was promoting several club nights and tours around the UK, managing the largest hard dance roster in the world, running a record label, DJing and producing my own tracks. By 2007, after eight years of hard work, I had landed gigs playing alongside the top names like Astrix and Infected Mushroom.

How's your debut artist album coming along?

It’s getting close now, but it’s taken me a while as I've used it as a learning tool for production skills. I thought the best way was to start a project.

Style, sound-wise, what can we expect from this release?

It’s on the psy-trance vibe. There are some tracks with a tough prog element to them moving right up through the spectrum to the more high-energy and tranced-up psy-trance. It's my mission for every track to have a killer groove!

You're returning to Australia, and Brisbane, for the Elevation show - what sorta tunes are you packing for the trip?

The Elevation set will be on the deeper tip as I'm playing before Nick Sentience whose headlining. So I'll be testing some of my new tunes alongside some fat, groovy psy-trance.

When it comes to playing away from the UK, do you approach your sets differently to cater for the local scene?

I have found that the sounds from the psychedelic scene translate well all over the world. It's a very globally united sound even though there are so many sub genres. What goes down well in the UK goes down well in Oz or even Brazil. People go to these parties all over the world with an open-minded and adventurous spirit.

Nikki S plays at Elevation at The Step Inn on July 4. Also playing are Nick Sentience, Simon Qudos, JFrantik, DJ Fez and many more.