top of page

DJ Comrade Interview


Today we introduce one of our youngest OneSeventy residents. James aka Comrade, use to be a raver who attended every single hardcore event. He then contributed to OneSeventy and became a promoter and now is a talented Dj and up and coming producer. We predict big things from Comrade and there is no doubt in our minds that Comrade will be a known dj in the coming years!

Dj Comrade - Interviewed by Ben Hayes 1. What is your opinion of the current state of the Sydney/Australia UK Hardcore scene? The scene has enjoyed a resurgence overseas and this has been reflected in Australia, the frequency of UK raves in Sydney hasn’t been this good in a long time and has attracted newer (and younger) faces to the music. Having an early rave/happy hardcore stage at Defqon 1 Australia 2014 and the international UK bookings at recent HSU events have helped bring the music to the mainstream Sydney rave crowd although this hasn’t necessarily encouraged attendance at local parties. The challenge for the scene now is too maintain the growth that has been achieved and keep drawing newer ravers to the wonderful world of hardcore.

2. How did you get into DJing?

I had stumbled across one of DJ Ravine's old happy hard YouTube mixes and immediately thought that was something I wanted to do. Soon after I bought my first decks and made it my goal to eventually play hardcore live.

3. You recently started producing, how is that going?

Excellent as I am soon to release my first ever track on Executive Records in collaboration with legendary Aussie producer Haze. A daunting enterprise for me at first, I’m happy I have taken the next steps to further my own career as a performer and in doing so help to expand the Sydney UK scene in the process.

4. What's your 5 favorite tunes at the moment?

Ganar – Bomb Da Bass

Darwin & 3star – Like Fire

Fracus & Darwin – No Dark Clouds

Jason UFO & Keileigh MacDonald - Untouchable (Scott Brown Remix)

Dougal & Gammer – The World

5. Whom are your top 3 producers and why?

Scott Brown – Some of the very first tracks I ever heard were his so you could say his style hooked me onto hardcore and would have to say most of my all-time favourites belong to him.

Klubfiller – Simply because I’ve enjoyed basically all the tracks he’s released, particularly love his use of piano.

Re-con – As a writer and a vocalist Re-con is absolutely one of the best in hardcore history and is responsible for so many of my favourite tunes both old and new.

6. What does Oneseventy mean to you?

Oneseventy is named after the tempo UK hardcore is traditionally made at, and from that you can tell that it’s a party dedicated to the genre. For me, it’s been a consistent delivery of amazing events that I’ve come to as a raver, promoter and eventually resident DJ, being a huge part of my life in the rave scene. Oneseventy is a brand that’s simply been getting better and better with each edition and I know has a lot more incredible experiences in store.

7. What other genres of music are you into?

Alternative rock, French house and jungle/dnb stuff would be the other main genres.

8. Where can we see you play next?

At the time of writing this, NekoScience Round 2 of Neko Nation Sat 9th May.

9. If you had one major goal to accomplish this year what would it be?

Putting out some original tracks

10. How can we improve the Sydney/Australia UK Hardcore scene?

The sound of UK hardcore is changing and in my opinion if the scene is going to have a wider interest a wider variety of the upfront tunes should be played, with less of a dependency on the classic anthems which I feel the scene is over-characterized by.

Recent Posts
bottom of page