“I’m just happy to be where I am. I can’t believe it – I’m just lucky I guess” These are truly the words of a modest man. Along with modesty, local Canberra DJ, Mikah Freeman, embodies many other admirable qualities, one of which is the ability to wow the crowds with his skills as a DJ as well as his eclectic style. Whether it is techy, funky, tribal, deep, or broken, Mikah Freeman will deliver his sounds with great enthusiasm and cater to the needs of a hungry mob. So with much anticipation, ITM’s palu chews the fat with one of Canberra’s most valuable DJs, promoter and all round sweet guy.



With his recent rise to stardom in the nation’s capital, Mikah Freeman reminisces about how it all began. “I started drumming at about the age of 9, and I was in the school of music. Then at about the age of 17 and a half I decided to sell my drum kit and start DJing and basically I became bedroom DJ after that. Then about six months ago I gave some demos out to a few friends and I also won the Nubreed DJ competition. Paul from Friction decided to give me a go. It has been pretty full on since then. It’s been pretty cool actually”



‘Cool’ would be an understated way of portraying Mikah’s recent success. Looking back on Mikah Freeman’s ‘DJ resume’ over the past few months, one cannot help but be impressed. He’s supported some of the finest interstate and internationals, but what has been his best gig? “Honestly, the most important gig I’ve played at would have been with Rennie Pilgrim because I guess he was the biggest DJ. But the best vibe as in crowd reaction would’ve been the Fuse gigs. There’s something special about being so personal with everyone there. You can’t get any better then that. And any gig with Phil K is excellent as well. You know that a gig with Phil K is always going to be good.”



Fuse has been a tremendous success in Canberra establishing a reputation as being the club night with the best vibe, but how did it all began and what is its secret? “Basically, me and a couple of friends were sort of bedroom banger DJs and we really wanted to break out into the scene. Instead of walking up to a promoter and saying “I’m this, I’m that, I can do this and I can do that”, we thought it would be more fun to maybe get together with a few friends, including Jenny, my girlfriend and start our own club night. It’s all about having a good time with your friends, so maybe that’s where the good vibes come from. It’s gone pretty nuts since then actually.”



Fuse is one of many independent club nights that are starting to surface into the local scene. This is fantastic news for Canberra’s nightlife, however whether there is too many events being put on is another question. Mikah Freeman shares his views. “In Canberra, every single clubber is into the music and I think that’s awesome because you know you can always have this personal connection with the crowd. Everyone’s so cool. And you just want to know everyone. It’s really personal and friendly and you can’t get that anywhere else. I’ve actually heard a lot DJs say the same thing when they come down to Canberra. For example when Ben Korbel and Kid Kenobi came down for Frictions 1st, they were telling me that they haven’t had such a good gig like this in a long time and they play to thousand and thousands of people every weekend. The Canberra scene rocks if you ask me. The only bad side is that there is too much shit going on, and people are really starting to compete with each other. For example, we intended to have our Fuse nights every six weeks, but because of all other things going on, we’ve had to postpone it for the next three months. I think all these promoters need to get together and figure something out. We used to be lucky to get an international every six months, and now we seem to be getting them every weekend and I don’t really know if people would pay 100 dollars a month just to go out.”



It is evident that Mikah has an extremely versatile style, playing anything, ranging from tech house to tribal to breaks, but what is his underlying motive when playing? Mikah Freeman describes his own style. “I try to play really emotional music. I feel break beats is very moody and it really causes an emotion, whilst tribal is just so insanely danceable. You just can’t stop moving to tribal drums and percussions. I also try to play music that really appeals to people and myself. I’d even play drum n bass if it fits. You’ve got to really not stick to genres of music, you’ve got to play music that appeals to the people and this way, it works. I always try to rock up an hour before every gig and try to read the crowd and see what they might like and see how the nights going and talk to other DJs and see where they’re are at. To me, Djing is about playing music for someone, not just playing music for yourself and if you look at it this way, then you’ll always appeal to that crowd. You really shouldn’t restrict yourself.”



So there you have it, a free lesson with Mikah Freeman. With all this success, Mikah has recently adopted the reputation of being Canberra’s newest super star DJ. How does he feel about this? “I think that’s way too overwhelming. I’m honestly just really glad that people love the music that I play, that to me is the best thing you could ever have out of the whole thing and I’m glad I’m friends with the guys who have been established for a while. I was honestly scared that when I got booked, I was jumping on the established DJs turf but I talked to them all about, and they’re all really happy that I’m doing well, and I must admit that I get very nervous every time I play out. I’m glad that everyone loves the stuff that I do. That to me is the best prize out of everything.”



The established DJs that Mikah speaks about also happen to be the people that he looks up to for inspiration.”I think Nash T (Bluephaze) is doing such awesome things with his production work, it’s truly amazing. But another DJ that really inspires me is Milkbar Nick. I really look up to that guy, he’s a fucking unreal DJ and a legend. He’d be my favorite Canberra DJ. When playing with him, I just look up to him hard core and I know a lot of people who think the same. He’s like the true progressive DJ in Canberra, fully.”



Coincidentally, you can actually catch Mikah Freeman, Milkbar Nick and Nash T aka Bluephaze playing a versus set at Raw Groove on the 25th of May at b.bar in Kingston, Canberra.