For years now Melbourne’s Felix Hamer, aka Sugar, has been tearing it up on the dancefloors of Trance parties throughout Australia with his funky uplifting trance. His unique and breathtaking live performances have gained him a well respected reputation and have led him to numerous releases on labels around the country, as well as the release of his brilliant album ‘Urban Hipster’. Another notch on the belt of Sugar, which has earnt him a notorious following, is his involvement as co-creator of the legendary Green Ant Full Moon and Rainbow Serpent trance parties. ITM’s PiNKe chats to Sugar, the Urban Hipster.

At the age of 30, Felix Hamer has achieved a dream and has become an inspiration to DJs, producers and promoters alike. His passion for electronic music began at the young age of 8 years old. “I’ve always been into electronic music since I heard Popcorn, Jean Michel Jarre- Oxygene, when I was 8 years old”. In 1985, Felix began djing, using his bedroom as a studio, where he would play records on two home stereos through a guitar amp. But by this stage Felix had already started producing his own music. “My parents and I bought my first keyboard when I was twelve, which took a lot of pocket money!” This was the beginning of a budding talent and career, but at such a young age his performance name had not yet been determined, so I asked Felix how the name ‘Sugar’ came about. “I needed a name before a gig and I read it on a sign in a coffee shop, it’s stuck ever since!”

For anyone who has witnessed one of Sugar’s live performances or heard his remarkable album, one would know that his sound is always fresh, funky and spirited, drawing inspiration from the likes of Pink Floyd, Jean Michel Jarre, disco and 80s electronic. Felix can be seen playing only a couple of gigs per month in order to keep his sound fresh and interesting. “I don’t generally do residencies because I like doing 1-2 gigs a month. I can’t write the tracks fast enough to maintain a fresh set.” Considering he plays predominantly live Felix’s approach to any given performance varies a great deal. “I have a seperate keyboard system for live sets, which makes life a lot easier. This way I’m not worried about missing leads and things like that.” For myself, watching an artist perform is not just about the music they deliver, but also about the way they interact with their audience; so I’m always interested in finding out how different artists communicate with and respond to their crowd. “I love them- it brings a big smile to my face when I see them going off. I like to make a lot of eye contact and interaction with the crowd, it’s a lot of fun.”

For Felix Hamer, the highlight of his career has thus far been the launch of his album ‘Urban Hipster’ in 2000; an album which he had been working on for his entire career and was representative of a collection of the music he’d been working on for the last six years mainly. An absolute masterpiece of an album, which features numerous quirky samples throughout a number of tracks. “I can’t take anything seriously, I like to have a laugh! A lot of the vocal samples were from movies.”

Evidently his schedule is quite hectic; to date playing at most events in Melbourne including Aurora, Every Picture Tells a Story, Earthcore, Rainbow Serpent, Cybertrek, Brunswick and St. Kilda Street festivals and Kryal Castle- just to name a few- “and I love them all!” Amongst all this Felix still manages to remain an important figure in the running of Green Ant. “Frank, Krusty and myself decided it would be cool to put on our own parties and to run a record label, because it’s very hard to find an outlet for releasing music in Australia. I am the studio engineer and event manager for the parties and I organize mainly the logistics, such as the stage design, sound and lighting and making sure the event runs smoothly.”

So what does the future hold for this Urban Hipster? “Well Green Ant this year are looking to release three cd’s, so I’m busy working on oue next trance compilation. And myself, I’d like to travel overseas and maybe even work on an ambient/funky cd.”

In closing, the talented, inspirational and spirited character of Felix Hamer exited with some words for aspiring DJs and producers: “Hang in there and don’t ever let anyone tell you to stop!”

Gratitude and Respect for Felix for taking the time to be participate in this interview- PiNKe