Part 2

How would you describe the relationship between your choices and goals as a DJ and the expectations, desires and feedback of the audience? Is there a sense of collaboration between you and the dancers?

There is an extreme variety of audiences. For DJs who work mostly within a very defined scene, the collaboration and exchange of feelings can be as intimate as those in a family. And on big events the energy bomb drops on you in a magical flow.

However, as DJing is also a job, it is not always possible to find the perfectly matching audience, and, at the same time, it's necessary to communicate with them somehow, otherwise the performance fails. I don't like very much the sentence "I am an artist I do my thing, it's their fault if they don't like it, they do not understand me" that is very common nowadays, when a DJ meets a non-collaborating dancefloor. Until we are no big sacred monsters sculptured in stone, and even if we are, we cannot divide ourselves so selfishly from the public. If we are not able to find a proper language to communicate with them through music, it is better to develop a better sense of discernment and be able to choose which event fits our mood and style.

Learn to say no to some gigs instead, otherwise it's, more often, our fault if we refuse to find a communication channel with the public.

In a song or classical composition, the building blocks are notes, but in a DJ set the building blocks are entire songs and their combinatory potential. Can you tell me a bit about how your work as a DJ has influenced your view of music, your way of listening and perhaps also, if applicable, your work as a producer?

There are some consequences of working as a DJ, and a different way of listening to music is a part of them.

For example, in those years of my life when I was working more intensely (not the last 2 years LOL), I could listen to music all the time, even when having a shower or cooking. I actually had to do that to select tracks for my sets. This means, I could focus on only that kind of electronic music that was matching my research for sets and all the rest was forgotten. Also when going out, if you are part of an electronic music scene, inevitably you just take part in similar events.

This caused me some suffering over the years and lately, when I started DJing less and focusing more on music production, I could experience a "music listener rebirth" and take back all I left behind, that is also nurturing the producer's work.

Another side-effect of DJ work on music listening is the mental deconstruction of tracks, and the habit to skip the track to check the various parts. Also, some modalities of music production become very predictable. This causes the loss of a bit of the poetry indeed.

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please. Do you have a fixed schedule? How do music and other aspects of your life feed back into each other - do you separate them or instead try to make them blend seamlessly?

Sometimes I have a fixed schedule, sometimes not, and it's a rollercoaster. This is changing constantly over time.

At times, I spent hours, days and nights in my studio without having food, sleep or contact with reality. At other times, I worked a defined amount of hours in the morning every day like a perfect music-employee. Sometimes it's frustrating to have inspiration come while being busy with material life matters. Sometimes life challenges make the music work very hard, but I learned with time, it's always very important to stay some time in the studio, even when inspiration is not there. Sit, listen to old incomplete works, play randomly with sounds with no conclusion or purpose.

This apparently meaningless practice has a reason. Often it happens that our artistic expression emisphere awakens and anything (beautiful) may arrive.

Can you talk about a breakthrough DJ set or performance in your career? Why does it feel special to you? When, why and how did you start working on it, what were some of the motivations and ideas behind it?

A very special one was more than 10 years ago, when, together with my old crew Drastic Beat, I organized my biggest one-night event ever, the highest moment of our long activity, with more than 5,000 people, openair in a big squat in Rome. The air was full of energy, it was no commercial event, very underground, all the people present were ready to explode with the highest power. Banditos, a french live hard techno duo, were the special guests. They are legendary in the history of European free parties. It was a very special night.

When my turn came to go on stage, I felt for the first time the sensation of impacting such a big energy bomb from the public. You can actually feel it on your skin and in your internal organs, it's not just an impression. Only those who performed in front of a very big amount of people can understand. You can literally dissolve in it.

Music and sounds can heal, but they can also hurt. Do you personally have experiences with either or both of these? Where do you personally see the biggest need and potential for music as a tool for healing?

I can say music literally saved my life. It gave me a new life. Music contains a big esoteric power. It's alchemy. Frequencies can modify our brain waves, together with rhythm they can modify our state of consciousness. Music can transform humans, and set them free. No one should live without music.

There is a fine line between cultural exchange and appropriation. What are your thoughts on the limits of copying, using cultural signs and symbols and the cultural/social/gender specificity of art?

Copying is not my cup of tea. Even if there are a lot of people that find it natural and even educational for humans, and I don't condemn them for this, I find it very disturbing. I found my ideas copied many times, especially event concepts, and I suffered from this because of the context. Even if I believe in sharing, I think inspiration and copying are two totally different things. The border may be a thin, however.

Finding inspiration from external sources is very important, it happens when the inputs melt into a new creation, a new conclusion, a new way. Also adopting "flags" and specificities is nowadays more a marketing practice than a natural act of identity affirmation.

But, fortunately, genuine situations still exist. It's important to activate consciousness to distinguish them.

Art can be a purpose in its own right, but it can also directly feed back into everyday life, take on a social and political role and lead to more engagement. Can you describe your approach to art and being an artist?

I live the fact of being a music artist and an event organizer as a big responsibility. Art can influence people and people with strong ideas can change their reality. This is the reason why, in the last few years, I am focusing on the growth of the Witches Are Back project.

Witches Are Back is an international multidisciplinary artists collective that puts a lot of effort on transfeminist activism and esoteric research. A complex creature developing like a family tree around Europe since 2010.

Once, this may have sounded like a weird idea, but now we recognise that the seeds of our long activity became beautiful plants and inspired many artists and collectives on the way. This mixture of esoterism, art and feminism is nowadays a new current of identification for many people and we are proud of being the very first ones. Now nobody considers us weirdos anymore (LOL).  

We mostly organize events, some of them were huge and we even counted about 100 performing artists and thousands of participants. We gathered in Italy from North to South, in Leipzig and Berlin, and 2 times in Prague, where we expanded our beautiful network to the farthest East of Europe. Since the 2020 lockdowns, we also have a music label and a radio broadcast.

What can music express about life and death which words alone may not?

The infinite cycle of life, death and rebirth, where joy and sorrow make sense only when they're together. Overcoming this cycle, overcoming death, touching infinity.

Music is actually all about infinity, all about spirit.