Percussionist, producer, DJ, host on FBI radio and a fellow Flying Out Records fan; Reenie lives and breathes music. Sets™ director Emily had the pleasure of connecting with Reenie to deep dive into her journey, inspirations, hot takes, hangover cures and more. Shout out to AI for transcribing our yap, enjoy!
So the first question is, tell us about yourself. How did you get started and who/what inspired you to start DJing?
So I'm a DJ and producer from Eora/Sydney. I started off in music as a drummer. I played in a couple of indie bands, I still do, and I was passionate about electronic music, but unsure how I was meant to get more involved. After playing gigs I started getting asked to DJ as the band representative - I bought a crappy controller and figured out how to cue things up. With mixing/beatmatching/phrasing, I think it came easier to me coming from the drumming background.
I started playing a lot of indie dance parties. That was what I did for a really long time. But in terms of learning to DJ, I've got a friend, Barney Kato, who's from Sydney, and he was DJing a lot at the time and he's the person I would consider to be playing the most serious music. And I was playing very like, unserious music, <laugh> And you know what it was? He was like, you should start playing songs without words. That was the quote. And I was like, oh, but then that's boring… everyone wants to hear some of the words. And then I just started going into The Record Store and buying more ‘serious’ dance music. I bought so many records it became a matter of okay, well let's organize this together.
I started doing a lot of practice during Covid, and I got turntables. In terms of producers and DJs that inspire me, it definitely changes. Even month to month, it kinda changes and shifts. I'm definitely a big fan of a lot of Aussie artists and I always sort of talk about them… they know that I'm kind of obsessed with them a little bit.
Like who?
Definitely Dreems, Andras, Sampology, Eden Burns and when I saw, um, oh my God, what's his name? Also on Public Possession?
Bell Towers?
Bell Towers, yes. I just like that the music doesn't take itself too seriously all the time. You are in those gig scenarios where sometimes you're at a warehouse or something and you can't just play something fun or stupid or random here, <laugh> but I really like that as a concept, I love it when DJs do that.
Yeah. When it's done right, it's great.
I also just like fun, and silly tunes. Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip has this amazing edit which I just managed to get my hands on. It’s a version of ‘Don't You Want Me’ by the Human League, but all the lyrics are, ‘you were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar’ <laugh> and I'm like, this is great. It's playing the banger, but it's like you're sort of laughing at the same time.
Yeah, it still slaps.
About 90% of the time no one gets it. People are looking at each other like, what's going on? But the 10% go, this is the funny, I'm obsessed.
I was just gonna say, well the next question we've kind of answered already, how did you learn to DJ on vinyl and what kind of drew you to vinyls?
Oh, yeah. I guess I've just been buying records since I was a kid. I used to go into Red Eye Records in Sydney after school most Fridays. I'm still someone who's super passionate about ‘the album’, that's how I started buying records. And I'm very passionate about finding new music. There used to be little free print music magazines around like The Brag and The Music around Sydney. I would read the whole thing top to tail and I would literally Google every song/artist in them until I found something I liked. I was buying so much Australian music and band merch, but I wasn't 18 yet, so I couldn’t go to any of the gigs. The other thing I used to do is I'd browse the ‘Aus Indie’ section and if the cover looked cool, I would look it up.
Yeah. I feel like half the joy of buying records is sometimes you just get drawn to a cover and you don't know why, and then you take a listen and you’re like, this is sick. You know?
Yeah. I have a collection of shit records but the cover’s really cool. And I keep them all in a little section here, I don't know why. I keep them here in case I need to sample them or something like that.
Speaking of records, what’s three favourites right now, or three that you've been DJing a lot?
Three at the moment… Okay. The new Warm Dushersher album is really good. That came out a few days ago.
How do you spell that?
W-A-R-M-D-U-S-C-H-E-R. They're a London punk band, but they're very funny, does that make sense? I’m a real sucker for a Mutado Pintado vocal. Oh, and I've been rinsing a tune by Superpitcher called Lapdance at the club recently. I heard Decius play it in London last year, and I've been obsessed with it since.
Super Picture.
It came out in 2011 on Kompakt. I love Superpitcher so much.
Okay, cool. Sick. I just typed Lap Dance Super Picture into Google and it came up with some pretty suss imagery <laugh>
Oh make sure it's Superpitcher. Like if you've gotta pitch a ball
Oh! <laugh> Okay.
Um, you know what there's a really, really beautiful chill record called Sad About The Times, and it's a compilation of 70s North American, country adjacent, soul tunes. It's all kind of melancholy, it's bittersweet music, but really beautiful. It's on Anthology Recordings. I’ve been loving this record, I keep sprinkling various tracks into my radio mixes.
Perfect. I'm in my winter arc right now. It's literally snowing in London, so that’s perfect.
It's a good, relaxed listen, but it's kind of got an uplifting sadness to it.
I also like just fun, silly music. About 90% of the time no one gets it. People are looking at each other like, what's going on? But the 10% go, this is the funny, I'm obsessed.
So the next question is, tell us more about the Australia/Sydney scene. What's happening there now and what's special about it?
There's a couple of great bands floating up at the moment – The Melodrones, Straight Arrows, and ARSE to name a few. Even though there's a shortage of venues and there’s a ticket sale struggle going on, the quality of the music and the small scene that's been moving up is really good. I feel as though sometimes the band space is more supportive than the DJ sphere. In a room full of exclusively DJs, it's way more cliquey, I guess you’re struggling to separate yourself. That community is a bit more stand-off-ish towards newcomers too, picking up DJing has never been easier. In a band it's like, “oh hey you don't make any money? Neither do I! Let’s be friends and make tunes together just for the fun of it.”
Also, I’ve got a controversial take but I'm so sick of everybody facing the DJ on the dancefloor as the main focus. I think things like Boiler Room and the rise of Tik Tok Techno are perpetuating a certain stereotype about how a DJ is meant to look and sound. The reality is though it’s not actually about the DJ most of the time. Just relax have a boogie, direction is useless. Because I'm playing records, I'm like, oh, dude, don't look at me like, I'm so stressed and I'm concentrating and I'm not moving much. And then I start panicking, I'm like, oh, I should be moving or reacting 'cause these people are watching me mix, I should be putting on a show. But I'm just trying to transition one song into the next one in a fun way… it’s not really a performance, turn to your mates and have a boogie, try to disconnect from the idea of being perceived.
Yeah. I one hundred percent agree.
Like in the seventies, the DJ booth would be in the corner or even above the dancefloor, and it would just be the DJ and his girlfriend in there, and he's just probably sitting down smoking ciggies and throwing tunes on. I like to hide behind the gear a little bit. As a drummer, you're sort of hidden too, at least I mostly am anyway.
Every time a venue or a gig is like, ‘do you have some videos of you DJing?’ I'm like, yeah, kind of, but I’m not doing much. I feel like if all you see online is promo footage of these big drops and these crazy moments, you're gonna go to the club wanting that all the time. No one’s dancing much then it's a big drop and woo... two seconds, phone's out. It's so weird. You're just perpetuating this moment that's only like 10 seconds of the night, you know? It's so bizarre.
For me, it's about the lineup rather than anything else. I'll go to any festival, I'll go to any venue, but it depends on what I'm going to hear when I'm there.
Quick fire questions before we wrap up. Dream Festival or Stage to Play?
Oh, that's a good question. It would obviously be cool to play at something like Glastonbury, but I don't know. There's always gonna be something new and fun that I don't know about yet. And even then, festivals and stages to me are about the lineup more than anything else. I'll go to any festival, I'll go to any venue, but it depends on what I'm going to hear when I'm there. I'd like to play just a really small shitty room somewhere and it just be a good vibe. For all I care I’d go see Optimo Espacio play a club bathroom cubicle. Opening the main stage will look good on a resume but tearing the roof off a side tent is magic.
So true. Okay, Best Hangover Cure? <laugh>
Hydralytes make icy poles, which people don't know.
Oh my God. That's genius. That's a good one for Aussie summer.
So you can keep them in the freezer and when you wake up, hung over, you can just suck on a Hydralyte.
You should trademark that <laugh>.
Okay, last and final question. Where do you wanna see Sets stocked at in Aus?
It’d be mad if you could get them in the vending machines at warehouse parties! It's normally water and Red Bull, and I don't know, some chips or something like that. But Sets would be awesome. I got really excited when you hit me up because I would go as far as to say I am the biggest hearing protection enthusiast in Sydney. My dad's a GP and he's a big earplugs guy so I've been wearing earplugs to everything since I was a kid.
Good, good, good!
I generally have very sensitive ears, so I wear earplugs all the time. And it's something that's not talked about enough because clubs have gotten louder.
Yeah, honestly. And there's no decibel level in the club. So people don't know how loud it is.
I think about bar staff, that's who I empathise the most with. I think that they're the most at risk.
Yeah. Well, they're down there being exposed the longest.
Yeah, they're literally down there for the longest… for hours! And damage is obviously not a sound thing, it's a time thing. You know, a little bit for a short amount of time is not the end of the world, but for a whole shift?
Yeah, we need to help the hospo community more.
I am so happy to advocate for this. This is great, and I feel passionately about this.
Same, that's why we started the business as well, 'cause I was DJing and I was just constantly feeling like a broken record, begging at my friends being like, please buy earplugs! So, yeah, we started a business and I'm like, well now you have to buy them, if you love me <laugh> But yeah. It's been so fun to chat to you. Thank you so much.
Oh I really, really enjoyed chatting to you.
