Setting up in one of Australia’s most picturesque national parks next February, the Grampians Music Festival (GMF) is bringing the Valley Stage back to the stunning paddock location in Halls Gap in 2019 from February 15 to 17.
With a passion for discovering new music, the Grampians have revived the Regional Electronic Producer and DJ Competition for 2019. In partnership with Victorian youth music organisation, The Push, this is an opportunity for emerging electronic producers and DJs from regional score themselves a spot on the line up alongside some of the country’s best new musical talent.
We chat to last years winners, Jules and Daz from Ballarat’s Sweat Dreams DJ’s who will be returning to the GMF stage next year.
Hey guys thanks for chatting to Forte! Congrats on winning the 2018 Grampians DJ comp! Can you tell us a bit about the process you went through to win?
Thanks Forte! Late in 2017 a couple of mates tagged us in a Facebook post about the Grampians Music Fest DJ competition. We submitted a ten minute set we recorded in our lounge room which was shared to the GMF Facebook page. We campaigned pretty hard and won the most number of votes so we got the gig at the festival in February this year.
What encouraged/drew you in to enter this comp?
We had been playing together as Sweat Dreams DJs for just over a year and were playing gigs at parties and a couple of Ballarat venues like Karova & The Mallow. The electronic music scene hadn’t really taken off in Ballarat and there are limited opportunities for regionally based DJs so we saw this as a great chance to get some exposure.
What comes from winning the comp? What did it do for your music career?
As winners we were given the opportunity to play the closing set on the opening night of GMF 2018 and also played in between bands on the Saturday and Sunday. We were a bit daunted to be playing after some great bands and didn’t know how our brand of housey disco would be received but people were soon up and dancing.
The fab GMF team obviously liked what we did because we’ve been invited back to play a couple of sets for GMF 2019. In the months following our gig at the festival we were offered some incredible gigs like supporting Yacht Club DJs at The Night Cat in Melbourne and supporting one of our favourite DJs CC:DISCO! The festival has given us great exposure and hopefully more great gigs continue to come our way.
Had you ever attended the festival before, or that region?
No we hadn’t attended it before, but we both love the Grampians and have been bushwalking there a few times. The festival site is in an incredible location surrounded by mountain ranges and we felt pretty blessed to play on stage in such a beautiful setting. The crowd are super friendly and the locals often stopped us in the street for a chat. We’re looking forward to heading back to such a warm and welcoming community in an iconic setting.
Any artists you’re looking forward to seeing at the festival this year?
Of course we’re looking forward to seeing Sampa the Great. Slum Sociable and Batts are on our must see list too. What we love about the festival is that it exposes us to musicians we might not otherwise discover and are very proud to be part of a festival that showcases a lot of female Aussie talent.
Looking back, can you give us a little background of how you come to be a DJ duo?
Daz has been a DJ for around fifteen years. We’re also a couple in real life and when we started dating a few years ago Jules decided to learn how to DJ. We spent Friday nights having loungeroom discos (and still do) and then stated to venture out of our loungeroom to some Ballarat venues.
How will you be preparing for the gig?
We constantly have an ear out for new and old music that fits our eclectic style. We get inspiration from everywhere – from Boiler Room DJs sets through to Coles radio. We’ll be playing as many gigs as we can over the coming months as practice for the festival.
Thanks for chatting! To finish up, what can people expect from your performance?
A lot of dancing behind the decks – neither of us can stay still. We take our gigs seriously, but we don’t take ourselves seriously. You can expect a few tongue-in-check guilty pleasures, some house and disco tunes you can dance to and most likely a kaftan and some sequins. We look forward to dancing with you!
The DJ competition is now open until Friday 28th December. The winner will be announced along with the festival set times. To enter you must reside in one of the 48 Local Government Authorities in Regional Victoria.
Visit grampiansmusicfestival.com/ for all the deets.