Always a 169% ahead, the speedy club sensation spills the spiciest of secrets, to our mutual pleasure.
Partiboi69 features in our new series featuring creatives operating in the shadows, behind the decks, curtains and scenes. It’s time for the most exciting DJs, producers and directors to take the front seat they deserve. Right under the spotlight.
Welcome to the Church of 69, leaden by the club scene’s most enigmatic figure. A fashion icon and sex guru by day, cult leader and beat dealer by night. He’s the sleekest of spies summoned here to sabotage the most pretentious of raves. Like a rider of Apocalypse, Partiboi69 dons his speedy sunnies, slips into signature New Balance chains and gallops into the orange-tanned sky.
Partiboi69 was born in 2018 in Melbourne straight-up as an all-rounded entertainer and a house, Miami bass and K-tech master. Spending years touring with bands – in his previous incarnation, obviously – one day he popped up on our Spotify radar with the atrocious hit ‘Can I Vape in Here?’. Nobody dared to refuse. Quickly, we’ve learned everything about his ketamine dreams, always keeping it 69 techniques and constant booty flow.
Recently self-promoted to a CEO of Mutual Pleasure Records, Partiboi69 preaches the art of both-sided satisfaction, pursuing his passion by making other artists’ release dreams come true. While he’s cooking up others’ cookies, give a listen to his hot new single ‘No Place Like Home’ out on Signal Supply. It might seem homely but it’s a daring jump from the performer’s trademark style.
In the face of an ever-spreading pandemic of coolness, Partiboi69’s piss-take preaching is salvation to our stiff souls. No other prophet is as inspiring to set ourselves really loose as this head-piece-dildo wearing and fooling around 69 altars fantastic freak. So today, we’re horsin’ around with the fastest rider in town, Partiboi69. Yee-haw!
You have recently released a new mixtape ‘Mutual Pleasure 002’, can you tell me a bit about it and the concept behind it?
It’s a collection of the tracks that I’ve been working on over the past years. A bunch of tracks have been sitting on for ages. Everything was just fun. Tongue-in-cheek stuff, like ‘K on my D + C’, my favourite number. Just some fun record, you know, some shit with ridiculous lyrical content, and it’s just like a nice way to launch the label.
Can you tell me about the label as well, since it’s a new project? It seems very exciting.
Mutual Pleasure, I launched it recently. I wanted to start my own label to start showcasing a lot of the artists that I play. I do a lot of streams and obviously, I’m playing live a lot so there’s lots of new music that I’m coming across. Plus, I have a really strong online following with my YouTube and stuff, so I wanted to create a platform where I could start showcasing up-and coming-producers and talent that I’m really into. I guess having a label is a really great way to be able to do that. It’s been nice working on that and working with people from all over the world that I’ve got to know just through DJing and producing. I’ve got some really exciting releases coming out over the next year. So, it’s really cool. It’s really exciting.
Talking about just starting artists, do you remember when you’ve created the Partiboi69 persona where the concept came from?
The Partiboi69 persona has just always been a part of me and it comes out when I perform. I’ve been an entertainer and a performer for years and years and years, and that sort of personality is always inside of me. It just comes out when I get on stage. I just have a sort of a passion for entertaining people, a passion for doing things that are a little bit different and creating memorable, unique experiences for people in a performance realm. That’s the ethos of this whole project. What Partiboi69 loves to do is entertain and create unique environments for people, whether it’s taking the piss and having fun. It’s the whole ethos of just having fun and not taking yourself too seriously. Really, that’s the whole thing.
If you were going to introduce that persona, let’s say to your mate, what would you say?
Partiboi69 is a bit of an enigma that just likes just fucking full, full… I don’t know how to really answer that. Let me, let me… Partiboi69 is just gonna 69 your senses. Partiboi69 is an all-rounded entertainer.
That’s the best way to put it. I feel like that’s something we all really need. The music industry can be so serious. Too serious. How do you manage to balance it out and stay above all that?
There is a very serious side to the global techno and dance music community. People really responded to me because I’m a bit of the antithesis to that. I have a very tongue-in-cheek, bit of a piss-take approach to the whole thing. I do everything seriously, but my passion is doing things a bit differently and having fun with it. When I hit the scene, it definitely ruffled a lot of feathers, people who hold to what their perfect little dance community should be, stay the same and have the same approach for everyone. It was quite funny watching that unfold, watching how much my different approach piss people off. It’s still funny to watch, and I don’t really get it. People just want everyone to do the same thing. They’re not so keen to see someone else just come in and have a bit of fun with it and a bit of piss-take and create fun energy instead of the same serious techno energy. I just do what I do and I love it. People love having a bit of fun and not having to take it so seriously that create environments that are more welcoming than a lot of serious techno scenes. That’s the feedback I’ve gotten from a lot of people at shows over the years. They were a bit jaded by rocking up to shows and maybe not always feeling all that welcomed and comfortable in the spaces they were in because they didn’t necessarily know the music and people would be just standing around and not dancing and not going crazy. Whereas my whole thing is like as soon as my set starts, it’s high energy. I’m throwing everything on the table. Once I start jumping, the whole crowd starts to go.
That’s important especially since the techno scene can be so pretentious and exclusive. It’s should be something completely opposite but sometimes it’s not.
Yeah, exactly. It’s funny because a lot of those big techno scenes publicly they’re like ‘we’re so inclusive and we’re so open’ but most of the time when you go out and you’re actually amongst it, it’s not that way at all. It’s not. If you don’t fit in the mould, you’re not cool enough and you’re not acting cool enough, you’re not dressed cool enough, they’re a bit standoffish and they don’t actually welcome you in. My whole thing is about fun for everyone. It’s meant to be approachable for anyone and everyone. Anyone can come to my show and express themselves in any way they see fit and they can go crazy without anyone judging them. That’s the whole thing because I’m usually the one making the biggest fool of myself so it makes everyone feel comfortable just to act any way they want and feel comfortable and really expressing themselves.
That’s how it should be like. Being cool is boring. Like, let’s be fun for a change.
Exactly. I know. It’s so true. Everyone’s trying to be cool but it’s more fun to be a bit different. Be a bit weird. Be a bit weird. Weirdos are what makes the world go round.
I couldn’t agree more. Also being in the room, playing the set and letting yourself and everyone else to let the energy out, how does it feel to have that power over the crowd?
Look, it’s a great feeling. That’s what I do it for, really. That’s what always attracted me so much to performing and being someone who’s a bit of a front person and interacting with crowds, giving stuff back to the crowds. I’ve been a musician since I was a young kid. My dad’s a musician. My dad always of told me growing up that performing, when you’re on stage, you have the crowd in your hands and they want something from performers. When you’re on stage, they want something from you. Once I got comfortable enough, after performing for long enough, you start to realize how true that is. You really can have a crowd eating out your hand when you’re up there. It’s a great feeling when you can be on stage and have that control over people. It’s cool. It’s what I really feed off.
You do have a few aesthetic elements that are key to your character. Some phrases, sunglasses and I’ve seen a lot of pictures with horses on your Instagram. Can you tell me a bit about that?
About the horses: what do they say? They say that the eyes of the window to the soul. I don’t want to anyone seeing inside of my soul. There’s a lot of embarrassing shit in that. That’s why I wear glasses. It separates me, the person behind the character, from the rest of the world. The horses. I grew up with horses. I grew up riding horses. I used to compete. I was an equestrian, doing show jumping, dressage. I was a Pony Club boy growing up as a young lad. I’ve had a passion for horses my whole life. I have grown up with them. My mum had horses so that’s where my love for horses has come from. Just because I spent every day riding them for so long. And I guess, in some way it also ties in with the whole ketamine thing. That’s where it all came together.
What’s your trick and advice to keep it always 69?
Well, 69 is all about mutual pleasure and selflessness. That’s the key to it. It’s about giving. Being prepared to give it as well as you take it. Mutual pleasure. Selflessness. That’s kind of a whole ethos behind it. Not being selfish, being prepared to give as much as you take. And that’s like how I approach my shows. I get on stage and I give my crowds 169 per cent every single show.
Talking about clubs, what was your weirdest rave experience, whether you’ve been in the crowd or you’ve been playing? Is there anything that stands out?
Definitely, a lot of them probably happen in Berghain. A lot of things that I have witnessed or done at Berghain are pretty fucking weird. I was playing somewhere recently. It was not a hugely busy night and this guy jumped on stage, looked at me and he went like ‘Woo!’, and then he turned around and launched off the stage, crowd surfed, and the whole crowd just moved out of the way. This guy’s head just went… He went headfirst straight to the ground. I could hear his head hit the ground over the music. I turned the music off and I went to the front of the stage and I was like ‘Oh, is that guy all right?’ and his friends were like ‘No, he’s not cool’. I don’t even know what happened to that guy. I kept going after that. That was fucking wild, man. He probably knocked all his teeth out and, I don’t know, maybe he knocked himself out. That was pretty ridiculous.
He’s gonna remember this set until the rest of his life. That’s something.
Yeah. I used to throw these wild parties back in this little dive bar called Yah Yah’s in Melbourne for years. They were unique Partiboi69 parties. We always did some wild shit, we used to do there. A lot of it is buried under the rug.
I guess you can’t spill any tea on that?
Oh no, I’m not going to speak. I’m not going to speak any further on some of those things. That was some good times. Shoutout to Yah Yah’s.
Some things are meant to stay a mystery.
That’s it. You had to be there.
About mysteries, what are you working on right now, any plan for the near future?
I’m working on two EPs at the moment. One that’s a faster, harder, ghetto housy kind of vibe. Then something that’s a bit more musical. Still pretty hard-hitting dance music, but a little bit more musical. No tongue-in-cheek lyrics. Something more serious. Me and my manager are trying to write a great new series that we want to try and get into production next year as well. Stay tuned for that. That’s going to be a funny one.
What does more serious mean for you and the aesthetic?
The aesthetic is still the same, I just wanted to write more musically and showcased more of my ability, a bit of a different side to the project and a different side to my production style. Something that’s a little bit more musical, a lot more arrangements. I’m working with a lot of vocalists and working on a lot of collaborations at the moment. There are some exciting things in the works.
What is your dream location to play in? What’s on your must-do list?
I love playing in Eastern Europe. I love playing in Poland. I love playing in Ukraine. There’s a new club called K41 in Ukraine that I’ve heard is fucking amazing. I’d love to play there. I’ve been there actually. I’ve been there, just to party. It’s fucking incredible. In terms of things that I want to do, coming up and new sort of performance aspects to my performance, I’m writing a lot of live stuff as well at the moment. Like that track that I put out last year called ‘Bathe With Me’, which was more of like an ’80s inspired copy-track. I’m writing more music like that so the plan is to maybe at end of the next year/early 2023 to have a whole record worth of that sort of music. I want to tour it with a band so it won’t be DJ sets. It’ll be like the band, me singing, maybe playing some keyboards. That’s the plot of the plan in the future as well. I want to have like another side to the project that’s live, working with other live musicians again because that’s my background, that’s my past. I’ve spent years touring with bands and playing in bands. I definitely miss that aspect of things a little bit. I’d love to create another side to the project where I’m able to dive back into that world again.
About new stuff and combining things, who are your favourite musicians or DJs at the moment, have got anyone that inspires you?
A bunch of great up-and-coming people, people who are well established. I’ve been listening to heaps of stuff at the moment from Ross From Friends to Joy Orbison and DJ Seinfeld, plus all the OG ghetto guys, like Godfather. And then, my homies like DJ Mell G or DJ Spit. There’s a really great crew of DJs and producers in Berlin. I was living in Berlin for a while, so I’m tight with them. What else have I been listening to? To tell you the truth. My effort that goes into listening to music lately has been fucking abysmal way. I have barely been listening to any music just because I’ve been working on so much music. Usually, when I’m working on music, I just can’t be fucking listening to music.
Makes sense because then you can get overwhelmed, influenced easily. It’s a bit of a mess.
Yeah, I listen to a very wide range of music because obviously, I work on a lot of stuff as well as the DJ stuff. I listen to a lot of soul and disco and jazz. I used to be a disco DJ. I used to play big disco bands. I’ve got a real love for the disco. Then, hip hop as well. I listen to everything.
Very eclectic.
I can never answer this question because my listening to music is always… I’m always so sporadic when I’m listening to music. Right now, lately, I haven’t been listening to much music.
Fair enough. If you’re making music, that’s an excuse good enough. Now, a bit random but: if Partiboi69 was on dating apps, what would his bio say?
Business on the streets and pleasure in the sheets. Would I get a few swipes right for that one?
