THIS week we speak with man about town, Bendigo DJ Steve Tonkin.<\/p>\n
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How did you first get into Djing?<\/strong><\/p>\n I have always had a strong interest in music and started leaning towards the more electronic side into my teenage years. In 2017 I met my friend Jayden in maths class and we started sharing an iPod together. He noticed that I liked a lot of dance music and he invited me over to have a crack at DJing on his decks. From then I started tagging along to Jayden’s gigs to learn the ropes and eventually got a few gigs of my own around Bendigo.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What do you think is more important in Djing – technical ability or track selection?<\/strong><\/p>\n Track selection will always be important; if you play something and the crowd isn’t vibing it, then you aren’t going to have a good gig. But having the technical ability to turn a song that everyone knows into something extra special is a talent that I feel only the best of the best DJs have.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Can you describe your style? <\/strong><\/p>\n My DJ style has evolved over the years and has kind of reflected the type of music that I have been playing. From being more of an open format DJ for a large amount of my 15-year DJ career I learnt many tricks and fast cuts to keep the crowd interested and dancing. I used to use a Native Instruments \u2018Maschine\u2019 with my DJ sets, with which I could play live melodies and samples while DJing, which gave that live element to my sets. My style now is more disco\/house\/tech inspired, so I like a lot of live scratching and sampling. This isn’t very common in these kind of DJ sets, so I feel it sets me apart and makes my sets unique.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Which electronic artists inspire you? <\/strong><\/p>\n I have always had a soft spot for Daft Punk; they are just kings of the electronic genre.<\/p>\n Claude VonStroke is another favourite of mine. Making and playing music that is not mainstream but memorable has always clicked with me.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n