DJ, Producer & Melbourne Cool Kid, Olly Davis
"Groovy , Bassy , Jackin , tribal, funky , Tech house... yes please."
DJ, Producer & Melbourne Cool Kid, Olly Davis
"Groovy , Bassy , Jackin , tribal, funky , Tech house... yes please."
DJ, Producer & Melbourne Cool Kid, Olly Davis
"Groovy , Bassy , Jackin , tribal, funky , Tech house... yes please."
We caught up wth Olly Davis to chat about his influences, his label Rawsum & upcoming gigs in Melbourne, Australia.
From a young age Northern Ireland born Olly Davis had a fascination with rhythm and grew up playing the Irish Bodhran Drum. Getting older, he soon discovered electronic music and his love of percussion translated well into the sequenced loop of a drum machine.
Picking up DJ Residencies and playing for nights such as Defected In The House, Cream, and Ministry Of Sound, Olly has supported some of the world’s biggest DJ’s including Carl Cox who has signed him to Intec after spotting his talent both behind the decks and in the studio.
"Groovy , Bassy , Jackin , tribal, funky , Tech house 🏠 yes please."
The greatest suburb in the greatest city , Elwood, Melbourne.
How long have you been playing music?
I started playing music with my dad when I was about 10 or 11, I was getting bodhran ( traditional Irish drum) lessons after school then jamming with my dad at the local pub on a Saturday night, my first set of decks arrived when I was 14 or 15 year old,I had a set of Kam belt drive made to fades first then shortly after I got my beautiful Technic 1210s which I still have today and just recently shipped them from Ireland to Melbourne, I guess the short answer would be 20 years! Wow where has that time gone?
Did you study?
Mostly in my bedroom and every nightclub I could get into in my teens, The Met Armagh, Kelly’s Portrush, Thompsons Garage, Belfast, absolute institutions! I’m still studying, I’ve done a heap of online courses on music production, sonic academy , point blank, fader pro, even YouTube! The content available for free now is nuts! I did a School of Synthesis masterclass with Davide Carbone a few years back, would highly recommend, Davide has a wealth of Knowledge and is a great teacher, I’ve had some great mentors along the way learning from outstanding producers like Dave Lievense, Greame Laverty and Danny Bonichi, Continuing to look for new ways to learn and grow as an artist, it never ends...
Would you say you have a particular style or genre of music that defines you?
I haven’t come up for a name for it it yet but I’m working on it, basically it goes like Groovy , Bassy , Jackin , tribal, funky , Tech house 🏠 yes please.
Who are are your biggest musical influences?
So many over the years and still collecting here’s a few In no particular order, Queen, Carl Cox, Van Morrison, Aretha Franklin, Timmy Davis, Gleave Dobbin, Josh Butler, jamiroquai, Ray Charles, Supernova, Derrick Carter, Sebastian Ledger, Jay Lumen, Dale Howard, Kerrie Chandler, Frankie Knuckles, Prince, Earth Wind and Fire, The Blues Brothers.
What are you listening to at the moment?
Queens greatest hits, it was the first CD I had as a kid and could pretty much Mime every track as I danced around the house thinking I was Freddie Mercury , Since the movie just came out I’ve had the Bohemian Rhapsody soundtrack on repeat! Love it.
Best gig you you've been to lately?
I might be a little biased here as it was our label party, but Josh Butler took the roof off Revolver last Saturday morning 🔥
Do you have any regular gigs at venues?
Yes, Revolver Upstairs , Pawn & Co , Thick As Thieves.
Who are some other DJ's or Producers you think are killing it at the moment?
These guys are slaying! Anotr, Joeski, Supernova, Kreature, Andrew Azara, Brian Fantana, JPA, James Winter, Fell Reis, did I mention Josh Bulter 💪🏼.
What's your favourite venue to play?
It’s a no brainer - Revolver Upstairs, the hard question is the back bar or the band stage 🤔 both rooms are so much fun to play, if it’s 4am and you have a full room on the band stage it’s pretty flarn filth town! But if it’s 7am and you drop Man with the red face as the sun comes up, holy Fark!
Where do you go out to party?
I haven’t been partying enough recently to be honest as I’ve been training for The Fred Hollows 60km coast trek run, all this trying to be all sensible and stuff, it’s kind of boring, I doubt it will last I’ll be back In amongst it soon, most likely Revolver Upstairs for a slam dunking Thick As Thieves winter party! 😆 ps. I’m serious about the 60km and it’s for a great cause, so please sponsor me, 🙏 every $25 donated restores some ones eyesight 🙏. https://www.coastrek.com.au/fundraisers/thickasthieves
Where can we catch you soon?
Looking forward to a B2B Jam with my bro Gav Whitehouse at Eat the Beat on the 27th followed by Day Spa at Pawn & Co the 28th and really really really excited about the Thick as Thieves 10th Birthday celebrations coming up in June, keep an eye out for the line ups, oh yeah and have you seen that Queen are touring Australia next year in Feb! That will be epic.
Sounds like it's going to be an epic few weeks. Thanks for stopping by Hipland, Olly!