Hey missledz! Let’s start with how you got your DJ/producer name missledz.
It’s actually a bit of a silly story! My original artist name was Ledz, which I suppose links in with my “raving” background. I was 18 and wanted something cool, so thought L.E.D lights, and I’ll add a Z to be edgy (haha). Around five years later, I thought it wasn’t feminine enough so I added miss and was Miss Ledz for a while and then eventually merged it together to one word – missledz.. I’m still not sure how I feel about my artist name, I sometimes wish I had just stuck with Ledz!
From what I have gathered when talking to you, you are originally from Australia and moved to London, right? How did you end up in the UK?
That’s right. I’m from South Australia. My mother was born in England and I had always wanted to visit or potentially live here. I’d got to a point where I was happy with what I’d achieved with DJing/music in Australia and was in contact with a few people running labels/radio in the UK, so thought it might be time to actually make the move and see what I can do over here. I had started producing, but wanted to really throw myself into it professionally and I thought there would be no better place than where drum & bass originated, the UK!
Are you happy you moved to the UK? How do you think your music career would look like if you hadn’t?
I definitely think I would have regretted it if I didn’t give it a shot. I feel like being surrounded by creatives here has motivated and inspired me a lot. I don’t think I would have pushed myself this much being back home. If I had stayed in Adelaide I would probably still be co-hosting the radio show, The Ones and Twos on Fresh92.7, and continuing to play events and make music, but the process of improving in my production would potentially have been a lot slower. Difficult to say really! But I think it’s good I stepped out of my comfort zone and made the move. I do miss home a lot. It is difficult being away from my family and friends.
How long have you been djing and producing and how did that happen?
I’ve been DJing for about 14 years now. My boyfriend at the time was into drum&bass and is responsible for introducing me to it. We bought our first set of belt driven turntables together and started learning how to mix. I fell in love with mixing and soon after this was playing out in clubs.
Production took a bit longer for me to get into. I dabbled when I first started DJing, but didn’t really take it seriously until around 4 years ago (I think). It’s hard to specify how long because I was so on/off with it but I’ve been trying to work on music regularly since I moved to England in July 2017.
You’re also a raver – do you remember your first dnb night?
I do, yes! I come from a punk/metal background and didn’t really start listening to drum & bass until I was 18. My first rave involving drum & bass was Stardust at The Shores in Adelaide. Andy C and Carl Cox played. I have to admit though, I wasn’t sold on the genre yet at that time, and spent a lot of the event listening to Slipknot and Mudvayne in my headphones (oops)! It was still a lot of fun though. We had some awesome multi-genre festivals back then!
How’s the Aussie dnb scene?
Everyone always asks me this and I find it a bit difficult to answer now that I don’t live there. I think the scene is quite strong though, and (as far as I’m aware) there’s a drum & bass community in every state. In Adelaide, there have been periods where it has been quiet but from what I can see it’s really healthy now, which is great. Perth and Melbourne also have really strong scenes and host some really big lineups. It’s been great seeing promoters working together too.
How would you describe your music?
Dark, techy and weird.
What do you enjoy the most; DJ or to produce?
Hmm DJing I think. I do love making tunes though! One of my dreams is to play main stage Let it Roll. I think that would be the most exhilirating experience!
Where do you get your inspiration from?
A lot of places! Other artists, nature, anything really. My first inspirations drum&bass wise were artists like Ed Rush & Optical, Audio, Current Value.. heavy stuff! I love techstep and neuro from the 2005 – 2010(ish) era! I have tried to make neuro but I struggle.. I think my tunes are quite minimal but with a tech influence.
What’s your production set up/studio?
I have a really old and slow laptop, Yamaha HS7s, Scarlett Focusrite 2i2, Novation Launchkey 61 and a Launchpad mk2 (however I’ve not even used the Launchpad yet!). Oh, and I use Ableton.
Best tip for people interested in producing music?
Download a trial of the DAW you’re thinking of using and try to learn as much about that before you start looking at external plug ins. Watch tutorials on Youtube for like 6 months solidly. There’s a great one for beginners on Ableton called “Your First 30 Minutes in Ableton Live 9”. I always recommend that to people starting out on Ableton.
There are a lot of fantastic resources out there now to assist learning, like Sample Genie tutorials, Computer Music magazine, Education & Bass, workshops.. etc.. it’s about just taking that first step and throwing yourself into it!
Do you prefer to produce by yourself or collaborate?
Probably by myself. I enjoy collaborating too, but I prefer collabs in person which can be quite difficult. A lot of my friends don’t live near me so we need to send stems back and forth and I take forever to work on collabs like that.
You recently arranged a charity EP for Red Cross Australia – wicked idea and great cause – what can you tell us about that?
Thank you! I’m really pleased with the support for the release. It came about as I felt quite helpless being on the other side of the world whilst my country was going through such an extreme crisis. I wanted to help and thought a collaborative drum & bass release would be a positive way I could use my music to raise some money!
I put a call out on Facebook for potential contributors to the project and was overwhelmed with the response. I had over 50 track submissions which was amazing, but a bit unmanageable. So, with some help, chose 20 tracks for the release.
The money raised is going directly to Red Cross Australia, who provide support for those affected by events like severe bushfires.
I’m really proud of everyone involved and I think it’s a really strong, diverse compilation. The release is available to download via Play it Forward.
Do you produce other genres too?
My focus is predominantly drum & bass but I do like experimenting with other genres for creative purposes. I’d like to make some downtempo/dubstep kind of stuff eventually.
What’s next for missledz?
I had a pretty busy start to the year with releases so I want to keep up that momentum.. but I need to finish some more tunes first!
I’ve just recorded a guest mix for one of my favourite drum & bass radio shows, and have guest mixes coming out this year for Noxious Records, Ransaked Records and Strictly Rollers. I also have a tune coming out soon on Bare Necessity Records.
I’m working on a two track single at the moment and one of the tracks features Matt Freeman on vocals. I’m got quite a few collabs in the works at the moment as well – with Dilemma, Incus, Sam Harris, Soligen and Commit.
I’ve recently moved to Bristol and I’ll be playing at an event here next month called I Love Hard Beats. And also playing at a festival in Europe in August, which is super exciting!
Any famous last words?
I’d love to do a shout out to some of my lovely fellow artists over here – Dilemma, Blu and False Relation, along with Salzone MC and Ari (Sistym) back home. And to the Strictly Deep DNB, Boey Audio and Inbound Records crews. They have all been incredibly supportive of me through my journey and are amazing friends!
Also, to my family back home because I love them and they put up with me playing drum & bass back home for years when they didn’t really like it. :)
And much love and respect to anyone else supporting me and my music! I appreciate you all so much <3
Finally, a big thank you to Drum+Basics for your time and the interview! :)
You can follow Missledz on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & SoundCloud.
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