“THE highlight of 2012 was breaking my ribs in a jet-ski accident,” laughs Dragan Roganovic, better known as Dirty South, down the phone. “I was celebrating ‘City Of Dreams’ being No.1 on Beatport and that led to me jumping on jet-skis, going crazy and breaking a couple of ribs in Miami. I’m actually still very sore right now.” It’s not just the success of his Alesso- featuring roof-raiser helping to ease his pain, though. “This year’s been awesome,” says the Melbourne-based DJ and producer. “I’ve been touring non-stop and doing lots of music. I produced three
SWASTED PENGUINZ
tyle: “Hardstyle.” Best known for: “Our track ‘Melancholia’ and drinking lots of beer.” Tune of 2012: “Jordy Dazz ‘OMG’.” Breakthrough DJ/producer of 2012: “Code Black.”
WASTED Penguinz describe hardstyle as “150bpm pure euphoria”, and with their motto of ‘Get Wasted N’ Do It’, they are clearly out to have a good time. “We’re actually very serious with our music and our goals and what we want to achieve,” they tell DJ Mag, “but would you prefer watching your favourite DJ stand completely still behind the decks waving his hands in the air one time when the climax drops, or would you prefer two crazy guys drinking beer, jumping, using the mic, taking in the energy from the crowd and trying to give our own energy back to make the best of it?”
The exuberant duo has big ambitions for their own sound, which they dub “euphoric hardstyle”. “We always want a specific feeling for each track. Putting our emotions into the track is very important. It has to have an epic melody and an epic atmosphere overall.”
2012 has been a busy one and 2013 looks like taking things further. “Gigs doubled for us this year and we got heaps of new tracks and collabs done. Next year will be even better. We’re currently working on our first album. Good things to come!” DAVID MCCARTHY
If you were a superhero, what would your superpower be? “Flying for sure. Imagine if you could fly yourself to gigs?” Should you play to the crowd or for yourself? “We play our own stuff and what we like. You can’t please everybody all the time.” What does EDM mean to you? “It’s a way to express your feelings.” Should celebrities be DJs? “Do they need to?” Have you ever been thrown off the decks? “No, got pissed [off] though af- ter they cut the sound too early, so we went off stage.” Are you a DJ if you don’t beat match? “In our opinion, no.” Where’s the next dance music capital? “Sydney, Australia.”
tyle: “Emotional house music.” Best known for: “Right now? Eating a lot of
Nutella! That’s all I do.” Tune of 2012: “Dirty South ‘City Of Dreams’, because it means a lot to me.” Breakthrough DJ/producer of 2012: “Michael Brun.”
tracks for Example’s new album and also have a side project that I’ve just finished called Ruben Haze. “The busier I keep, the happier I am,” he admits. Let’s just hope any future successes are celebrated without breaking any more bones. IAN ROULLIER
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If you were a superhero, what would your superpower be? “Superman has got the best power because he flies. I wouldn’t have to catch any flights.” Should you play to the crowd or for yourself? “I think it’s a mixture of playing new stuff, your stuff and stuff people know. You need to be able to mix it up.” What does EDM mean to you? “They’re just trying to wrap a lot of electronic music up and put it under one umbrella so people can understand what it is. It’s not a bad thing.” Should celebrities be DJs? “If they’re good DJs and they know what they’re doing, sure.” Have you ever been thrown off the decks? “I wouldn’t say thrown off; I was asked to finish earlier because it was a VIP club and they’d brought in a celebrity!” Are you a DJ if you don’t beat match? “Beat matching is not as important now, but still, it’s the basis of things. You need to understand beats so it all makes sense.” Where’s the next dance mu- sic capital? “The internet, because it’s everywhere. It really doesn’t matter where you are.”