EDMNZ : Hey Holly, Thank you for having a chat with us! How’s life treating you across the ditch?

Holly - J : Hi ! Happy to be joining you! I love living over in Melbourne thanks, there’s never a dull moment!

 

EDMNZ:  How does it feel to be back in NZ after 2 and a half years, are you excited to meet old friends and see family?

Holly - J: It’s quite surreal, doesn’t really feel that long since my last trip home, crazy how time flies. And it’s been lovely to see everyone again! It’s bloody cold though, I mean Melbourne is pretty similar temperature wise, but I definitely didn’t pack enough warm shit this trip!

 

EDMNZ: Your record label, Wahzoo Records, tell us more about it and what we can expect from it?

 

Holly - J: Well it’s a reasonably small label that I’ve started alongside a club in Melbourne called Wah Wah Lounge. We’ve got some really cool records lined up over the next few months, most are ‘Melbourne Bounce’ genre, but I like to make sure the remix packages have something for everyone’s different style preferences, so with most of our releases we’ll have remixes of all different genres to round out each package.

 

EDMNZ:  We know you’re a busy woman, besides juggling between gigs & managing a record label, what do you like to do in your free time?

 

Holly - J: Well I’d have to say that most my time during the week I spend in the studio working on new tunes or edits, but I guess that still counts as work… as far as non music related stuff goes I love travelling & experiencing new places, so I can’t wait to plan my next trip with my partner. I don’t really watch tele, but love downloading a good series like Suits, Game Of Thrones or Good Wife, I actually bought the Game Of Thrones books to read, I’ll have to make some time to read them eventually.

 

EDMNZ: When producing a track, do you look to specific artists for inspiration and go from there, or do you prefer to just go with whatever                 comes to you?

 

Holly - J: That really depends on what style I’m planning on making. Most of the time I’ll have an idea or a riff in mind & have a crack, if there is something similar to it I’ll use it as a reference. I don’t agree with people flat out copying another song though, but I think using another song as a reference can be very helpful to flick back & forth to check that the song structure is similar & that I’m not missing any elements.

 

EDMNZ: Since your last visit, do you think Dance Music has grown in New Zealand? And if so, how has it changed?

Holly - J: Last trip I literally played the whole night of edits & remixes of what would now be classed as ‘old school Melbourne bounce’ which is a lot more minimal sounding than it is now, & they mostly have rap & rock vocals over the top. And although the crowd didn’t really know the base music, they knew the vocals & danced their arses off! Was really cool to be able to introduce them to a completely different style than they were used to & have them respond so well to it! Let’s hope it’s the same this time round, I will have to let you know my answer on that once I’ve played the gigs here!

 

EDMNZ: You’ve recently released a free tune with Ryan Enzed called “Get With It”, with a bootleg of “Smack My Bitch Up” coming out soon. What do you like the most about collaborating with other artists?

 

Holly - J: I love collabs, I have about 6 that I’m working on at the moment with different people all over the place. Most of us are self-taught,   so everyone seems to have figured out different ways to do things, & sometimes the person you’re working with has a quicker or better way to do something! So my advice to any artist that hasn’t collabed yet, is to get one cracking, because they are the best way to learn new techniques & can be a lot of fun! I think Ryan & I are going to try & smash out another collab together while I’m up with him next week.