NOTION stays busy.
In the past year alone, the Bristol-based DJ and producer has brought his cult-favourite Dance Dubs tour through the UK, dropped a handful of singles including the most recent THINK ABOUT U and secured upwards of 47 million streams on Spotify.
He finished off 2023 with a buzzy b2b with Conducta at Beyond The Valley’s Dance Dome (you had to be there), before ringing in the New Year at Brisbane’s Wildlands.
Renowned for his signature concoction of earth-shattering bass, ultra-catchy melodies and beats you can feel in your bones, it’s no wonder Australian EDM heads have been getting amongst it. We caught up with NOTION to chat about his musical beginnings, his top artist recs and what he thinks of our fair country.
NOTION Australia Tour:
- Dec 29 – Beyond The Valley Festival, Victoria
- Dec 31 – Wildlands, Brisbane
- Jan 1 – Field Day, Sydney
- Jan 5 – Divide, Adelaide
- Jan 6 –Wildlands, Perth
Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
Hey NOTION! Thanks for chatting with us. How is your day going so far?
It’s going good thank you, I’ve spent all day in the studio so no complaints!
To start off, describe your sound to our readers.
I don’t really like putting a label on my music but if I had to I’d say it’s somewhere in between garage, house and bassline but I get inspired by so much different music that it’s kind of hard to pin myself down to one thing sometimes.
What first got you into making music? Was there a specific moment?
I’ve made music since I was about nine or 10 years old. I used to make little demo tapes of myself writing songs on drums and guitar on this little eight-track recorder that my dad bought me and then take them into school. They were so bad but I used to spend hours making them.
My actual ‘music production’ journey started because I really wanted to be in a band in high school and none of my friends were that serious about it (obviously because we were like 13) so I had to find ways to make music on my own.
Around that time I also got really into drum and bass, grime and all the early dubstep stuff and realised you don’t need other people to make that kind of music so I thought I’d try doing it myself and it just grew from there.
Okay, here’s a tough one for you: if you had to listen to only three artists for the rest of your life, who would they be and why?
Probably my least favourite question of all time cause my answer changes weekly so I’m just gonna say three artists I’ve got on repeat at the moment: MIKE, YN Jay and Overmono.
What’s your work process like? Do you work on new music steadily, or does inspiration come all at once?
I feel like it comes and goes. I’ll have months where I’m super inspired and constantly writing new stuff and then months where I sit there for hours and nothing happens but I think that’s just part of the process.
Who would be your dream artist to do a b2b with?
I’m not really super bothered about going b2b with any huge international artists or anything cause I think the most exciting things happening in dance music right now for me are coming from all my friends and the people around me in the scene and I’ve already played sets with a lot of them. Someone that I haven’t been b2b with that I really love to though is Salute.
You’re kind of a festival mainstay and I’m sure you’ve seen some wild things. Do you have any tales for us?
Probably more embarrassing than wild but I managed to break my ankle and simultaneously knock myself out on stage in front of 3000 people in like 2017 or something. It was halfway through a three-hour b2b and the biggest crowd I’d ever played to at the time. Still managed to finish the set though so silver linings…
What do you do to keep yourself entertained when you’re on the road all the time?
I love exploring new places so when I came to Aus for the first time earlier this year, every new city I was in I just picked a direction and walked until I was lost. I love food too and I found so many sick little spots/bars that way. Other than that just meet new people, sleep off late nights, the usual tour stuff.
Your biggest fan base outside of the UK is in Australia. What do you think the Aussie and UK dance music scenes have in common, and what sets them apart?
I know that’s mental, big up you lot!
I’ve only been to Australia one other time before this tour so this might be a bit of an uneducated answer but I love how fun the dance music scene is here. I got the vibe that you guys don’t take yourselves too seriously when it comes to raving and everyone just wants to let loose which is sick. I absolutely love the UK scene to bits but sometimes it can be a bit too cool for its own good.
Who are your favourite Aussie artists?
I’m a big fan of Mall Grab, Skin on Skin and the rest of the Steel City Dance Disks crew at the moment!
To keep up with NOTION, head here.
