Don’t call me commercial, baby
An interview with DJ Bexta. 
Most people strive to be commercially successful in what they do, but for DJ/producer Rebecca Poulsen commercial is almost a dirty word.
There’s no denying that Bexta is successful, she plays a weekly hard house/hard trance residency at Sydney club Plastic, plays at most of Sydney’s big parties, she regularly tours the country, she’s signed to Sony Music’s S3 label and she’s had a pretty successful live EP, Skirmish, and single, Make it Phunkee .
So what’s wrong with that?
“It bothers me that people try to categorise commercial versus underground,” says Bexta.
“Commercial people see me as underground but underground people see me as commercial. S3 is at the bottom of a big food chain. We’re all struggling artists.”
Ain’t it the truth that we all love to cut down our rising stars. We can’t get enough of visiting overseas DJs but as soon as our own talent gets a name, it’s commercial and below us.
Well get over it Sydney. Be very happy that Bexta lives here. She rocks. Here’s what she had to say to a few questions from inthemix.
What do you do, Bexta?
“I’m a DJ/producer or a “mixologist”. I mix records, live tracks and a mean vodka lime and soda.”
“I DJ a lot around Sydney and do live shows for the bigger events. I play hard house and energetic hard trance – not the doof style trance, more along the lines of energy trance”.
How often does music you’ve produced end up in your set?
“About 5 new Bexta tracks ended up in my sets in the first couple of months this year. One of these will be the new single.” Bexta gets a piece of vinyl out about twice a year.
When did you become a DJ?
Bexta was a live musician long before she started DJing. Here’s a run down of how she got started.
‘92 – bought equipment – keyboard, computer, etc.
‘93 – first gig (live performance) and recording contract
‘97 – started DJing then 6 months later got first club gig.
“Plastic was my first residency as a DJ”
What do you think of other DJs?
“I like Australian DJs. I’ve seen a lot of DJs who come out to Australia and they just don’t cut it here. We have a lot of great people here on our own shores. I like DJs like Pee Wee, Shaun Quinn, Abel.
“I really enjoyed watching Fat Boy Slim. The visuals are an important element of a show too. At the other end of the showman scale, I saw Oliver Lieb in Germany and he was musically fantastic. I’d like to see him in Australia. Underworld in Melbourne was fantastic too.”
Melbourne vs Sydney
“I like the difference between Melbourne and Sydney. I can’t believe how big Melbourne is getting [for techno]. A lot of time Sydney misses out [on big internationals who tour] because there’s really nowhere for it here, whereas Melbourne is just perfect. If you like that music, there’s lots of it in Melbourne.
I like the musical diversity of Sydney. And I love Plastic! It’s more intimate than a lot of clubs and you get to know the regulars – I like that.”
How do you keep your live shows interesting?
“It’s hard when you’re the only person on stage. It can get a bit boring after a while, so I wanted to bring a bit of energy to it. The Soopa Doopa dancers come on a couple of times during my shows. They used to dance a lot at Field of Dreams and I like the energy they bring.”
There’s also Bexta-cam which is a little camera which sees everything that Bexta sees. The footage gets mixed with visuals and everyone can see things from Bexta’s perspective.
A day in the life of Bexta.
Bexta pretty much keeps her hours to suit the weekends. She plays Plastic every Friday night from 4am to 6am so the week days usually end up being pretty much the same.
“Little routines tend to happen, like record shopping day – I spend about half of every Thursday shopping for records, and sometimes Tuesdays too”. She buys about 5 to 10 records a week. “The rest of the day is usually spent in the studio – but it just depends what else is on. Sometimes you have to go with the flow”.
“The good thing about having your studio at home is that you can keep your own hours and work whenever you want”.
What’s your favourite?
Favourite track: too hard to pick one
Favourite website (other than in-the-mix ;-)) G-Shock because it’s cool, Jonathan Cainer for my horoscopes and Overdrive to follow all the bitching and stuff. It’s a great place for Sydney raving people.
Favourite shop: de Louvre (Chinatown) sells all these little one-off outfits. They’re great.
Favourite movie: Romeo and Juliet – I love the old text in a modern theme, and I’m actually related to Shakesphere.
Favourite soundtrack: Last Temptation of Christ
Favourite book: A series I’m reading at the moment by Raymond E Feist. The first one is called Magician. It’s total dungeons and dragons and fantasy.
What’s next for Bexta?
“I’m trying to put an album together. I’ve got some tracks together and there will be a single before that. I’ll just take it as it comes. You can’t really plan past an album musically. I’m currently compiling a DJ mix CD which will be out mid year,
and always working on the album, which I’m getting a big push to do.”
And on the DJing front?
“I’ll just keep going with that. I’m going overseas to Asia in the next couple of months. I think we’ll see a lot of Australian DJs playing in Asia. It’s just so close.”
You can hear (and see) Bexta in Sydney every Friday night at Plastic at the Palladium in Kings Cross. She plays Brisbane every 6 weeks or so, Perth a few times a year and usually a monthly residency in Melbourne as well.
See Also:
beXta’s Official Web Site
