Melbourne’s trance scene has grown considerably in the past year, thanks to massive parties like Godskitchen, Armin Only, Stereosonic and the hugely anticipated Trance Energy next month. But while the major events have been stirring the trance pot in Melbs, smaller crews have also seen this as a chance to flourish, putting on strong all-local lineups for the trance heads on a monthly or so basis. Nexus is one such party that has in it’s first year, come a long way, rapidly building a solid following within the scene and showcasing some fantastic Melbourne DJ/ producers.

ITM’s Katrina Loughrey spoke with the boys behind the Nexus name, Justin Edbrooke and Mike Dutkowski, about their views on trance in Melbourne, trance domination and of course, their upcoming first birthday…

Nexus are still relatively new kids on the block in the Melbourne scene but has been slowly building a well-respected name in the trance scene. Tell me, whose idea was it to start Nexus? Did something personally happen to you guys that inspired the idea to run your own night?

I was actually only involved as a DJ at the first event. A mutual friend got us in touch and Mike booked me to DJ but at the end of the night I noticed the potential that Nexus had. So I spoke to Mike afterwards and took an active role in helping organise the parties from then on. At the time there weren’t many options for going to a trance night (apart from the usual 3D, etc) and apart from that there were events/festivals that happen every few months, not satisfying the trance hunger! So from there the Nexus idea was born, to deliver quality tunes with a quality crowd.

What do you believe is the motto of Nexus?

The aim for every party is to create a friendly and familiar atmosphere where likeminded good people get together to enjoy the best styles of trance our Melbourne locals have to offer. I’m also very adamant about combining some of the best established DJs out there in the scene right now with some of the talented bedroom-banger DJs who really are good enough to get out there and play at clubs – it’s the best way for them to hone their skills and show off what they can do! That way we can reach a broader audience, give the newcomers a chance to strut their stuff and build a bigger and better scene around Melbourne as a result.

Who is Nexus aimed at? Describe your sound.

We’d like to say we don’t pigeon-hole ourselves into one genre but the majority of our sound at the moment is all things trance. We currently have four residents with James Brooke, Denham Jay, James Mac and Justin Edbrooke, each who have different genres that are their favourites from progressive trance, tech-trance, melodic/uplifting trance and even psytrance. Last Nexus at Wah Wah Lounge for our Christmas event, we even opened with some tech-house and in the future will be broadening even more to cover a wider range of sounds.

You’ve had some venue changes in your first year, where are you hoping to settle now?

Well the trance scene in Melbourne has seen ups and downs over the years but from speaking to fellow organisers of other trance events, one constant issue is venues. trance can sometimes still be seen or heard as a dirty word in the eyes of venue managers and bookers but the kind of vibe we’re trying to get across is that we want Nexus to be almost seen as a fun houseparty at a mates place – only difference is, it’s held in a club. We want people to come and see familiar faces, catch up with friends, feel relaxed and have a great time dancing to good music but we don’t want have to play the same generic commercialised electro-pop shit that’s force fed into most clubbers around town in order for venues to host us.

We like trance and that’s the music we want to play at our night – simple as that. I mean, just because its trance that doesn’t have to mean a crowd that most uneducated people associate trance with. If someone comes to Nexus wearing reflective clothing and candy, then great – it’s who they are and how they feel comfortable. We don’t discriminate at all as long as they are nice people who have come to Nexus to have fun but because there’s limited venues around town who fit our needs and are willing to host a trance party, we’re still on the lookout for the perfect venue. We’d like to keep using Roxanne Parlour as our home, it has a mind blowing system (both audio and lighting), great adaptable size (up to 1000+), smoking area and great staff.

Who do you guys admire in the trance scene both locally and internationally?

There are a heap of artists out there who are doing great things in trance – both locally and internationally. Locally the frontrunners like Trent McDermott and Mike Nichol are doing great and are awesome guys as well! They always have the time of day to chat as mates and then a week later you see them standing on stage with a crowd of thousands at their fingertips – it’s admirable. Internationally there’s too many to mention, but we’re looking to bring out our very first international artist by the end of the year! Having said that, we’d like to stick to our fresh-blood idea and bring over someone who Australia hasn’t seen yet and has been itching to get a taste of. I won’t say who just yet but we’re in discussions with a number of options at the moment.

Where do you see the future of trance in Melbs? Is Nexus seeking trance domination in Melbourne?

Haha, there’s that domination word again – you’ve been spying on our meetings haven’t you? Nexus has one very big rule regarding our place in the Melbourne trance scene: we aren’t out to fight and compete with the other trance nights out there. I mean, we’re all out to achieve the same thing we are so why bother working against one another? Speaking to a couple of the organisers of the other nights, some collaboration/versus nights may be on the cards down the track, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Celebrate Nexus’ first birthday this Friday 27 March at Roxanne Parlour.