tyDi
He’s 22 years old. He picked up an IDMA for ‘Best Breakthrough DJ’ at the Miami Winter Music Conference this year. He plays to thousands of people at home and abroad and has been voted Australia’s number 1 DJ two years running and he’s touring nationally for Creamfields in May. tYDi took some time out of his busy schedule to have a chat with us.
TL: I was talking to my friend Kea a couple of years ago and she was talking about ‘tyDi’ and how she was very proud that you made it to Number 1 in the entire country for the In The Mix DJ Poll. It was very good for a trance DJ, considering past winners were mainly House & Electro DJ’s. Has it felt like a bit of a rollercoaster ride?
TyDi: Yeah it definitely has been. It’s been a very crazy adventure. It’s quite surreal for me going from playing tunes in my living room to doing what I do now. Yeah, I’ve been very fortunate to have such a strong fanbase who have been very supportive along the way, they’ve always been there and the shows have been getting bigger and better and it’s been really good. There’s not a day that goes past where I’m not thankful for my position.
TL: That’s awesome. Where your family quite supportive through the process?
TyDi: Kind of and no. My parents didn’t want me to be a DJ at first. They wanted me to be a scientist or something like that. I just decided that I wanted to be a DJ and just stuck with it. It’s only recently that my parents that my parents have become a bit more accepting of the job and they’re now telling me they’re proud. Back then I remember they bought me a drum kit because I really wanted to play drums in a rock band and it wasn’t long until I sold the drum kit to buy turntables, so they weren’t very happy about that (laughs). I think now they can see that I stuck with it and did what I wanted to do.
TL: Have they been to one of your gigs yet?
TyDi: Yeah, mum’s been to see me play before. She’s come to a show. It was funny bringing mum along to a gig (laughs) and no my dad hasn’t seen me play yet.
TL: What did your mum think of all those crazy people, considering there were 42,000 of them at Sensation in Melbourne for example.
TyDi: Yeah, mum fits right in. She really likes the clubbers and she says ‘Oh darling that was such a good show, they all really enjoyed you and everybody’s just so friendly’ (laughs) ‘ I was just talking to everybody and they’re just so nice’ and I’m like yeah I know, people in clubs they are really nice aren’t they mum (laughs)
TL: What a nice mum! Now, getting back to the award that you won at the Winter Music Conference IDMA’s ‘Best Breakthrough DJ’. I have to ask, What was it like to have the award presented by Tiesto?
TyDi: That was really cool. I mean, when anyone that was getting into dance music back when I was around fifteen EVERYONE had heard of Tiesto! Tiesto was like the king of dance music and so to now be 22 and having him present the award, that was a very career defining moment for me. It was certainly one of those goose bumps moments.
TL: What was the atmosphere like at the Winter Music Conference?
TyDi: Miami is a very beautiful city and the atmosphere around the time of the Winter Music Conference, it’s just electric. Every big DJ and producer in the world, they’re all in Miami for one week. Everywhere you look there are cool parties and there’s different DJs playing on the beach and planes flying over with banners just to advertise people’s albums. It’s really quite an amazing thing! The actual award night, the International Dance Music Awards was really well done and I guess it was kinda like the Oscars. It was really classy and the venue was amazing with chandeliers and every person you could name in the dance music industry was all in that room. It was a pretty cool night!
TL: Did you get to hang out with some cool people?
TyDi: Yeah definitely! I met a lot of people like….. David Guetta, Deadmau5 & Tiesto. I got to go backstage and have a chat to those guys and there were also a lot of familiar faces and producers that I had worked with that I hadn’t met in person. They were all there. It was a very productive week for me.
TL: Your album ‘Look Closer’ went to Number 2 on the Australian Dance Albums Chart. As a result you scored a record deal with Armin Van Buuren’s Armada label. Is that correct?
TyDi: You're right, the album got to number 2 in the charts but I was actually signed to Armada back when I was 17, which is when I did my first track. I had been with Armada for a long time and the album was a separate project where some of my tracks that went to Armada came out on that album. So yeah, I have been releasing tracks on Armada for quite a number of years.
TL: Have you met the man himself?
Tydi: Mr Van Buuren? Yeah, I’ve met him a few times. I’ve had the pleasure of playing for him and supporting him in a lot of shows. I was actually hanging out with him over in Amsterdam when I was there for Trance Energy. He’s a good guy. It’s really great to be a part of his record label.
TL: What was it like working with artists like Audrey Gallagher? She’s got an amazing voice!
TyDi: Yeah Audrey’s got an outstanding voice! She’s a really cool girl. I heard her music when she did a track with Agnelli & Nelson called ‘Holding Onto Nothing’ and then I heard her recent stuff when she did ‘Big Sky’ with John O’Callaghan and was just blown away so I contacted Audrey to do a track and the result was ‘You Walk Away’, which has turned out to be one of my most successful records so far, so I have a lot to thank for Audrey’s amazing voice. She’s really cool! I brought her over to Australia for 10 days to come on tour and we did a couple of shows in each city around the country and she was outstanding as a live vocalist as well as a lot of fun
tyDi plays at Creamfields in Sydney, Melbourne & Brisbane May 2010
Interview by Tim Little
Author: Tim Little (29/4/10)