Sweet Talks with iCandy & soratora

Article by iCandy

iCandy: What kind of music and which artists are you currently listening to?

soratora: Leftfield bass, but if I’m on transit, dumb pop music. My friend showed me the Addison Rae “Headphones-On” song. It’s so white-girl dancing, I want to put my hands over my ears, feel the music in my body, and there’s no worries in the world. Headphones on, pain OUT. Give me a cigarette! Addison Rae understood the assignment.

iCandy: Who is the most underrated artist, band or DJ?

soratora: I’m gonna shout out to my friends Malik Abouzeod, a producer and DJ, and Veron Xio. Their artist name is x/o. When I first got into underground raving in Vancouver, I would see their names on posters. I would go to their shows, and I would f*ck with their music and vibe. They’re sweet people. I’m grateful that we’ve become close friends. Malik put out a track recently, and on Main Street, by (formerly) Nesters Market, they have an art piece showing on a screen.

iCandy: Very cool. So we got connected through DJs that I knew in Vancouver, who put me in touch with you when I was visiting Montreal. How long have you been in Montreal, and why did you move there?

soratora: I just celebrated one year in Montreal on April 8th. It was the day of the eclipse, so it was a big thing for everybody. It was a very intense collective energy. I only chose that day because it’s the cheapest day to fly in. I made the move to Montreal because I just wanted to f*ck around a little bit.

I always knew that I’m an artistic and creative person, and I was definitely not well supported by my family to pursue an artistic career, which is why I found myself in email marketing. I was six years into my career working at Aritzia’s head office doing their email marketing, and I was like, yo, this is not providing me enough happiness in life. I’m not moving forward in the ways that I wish I was. I was honestly just miserable. I want to collaborate with people and it’s just not as readily available in Vancouver. I’m trying to avoid a quarter life crisis. I felt stuck, so I went to Toronto and Montreal for a week, trying to decide which city I want to move to. I loved Montreal’s energy, and it’s super friendly and really welcoming. I love the music I heard there. I didn’t really have a lot of connection, but I was like, yeah, I feel like I can make friends easily there. So I just quit my job!

iCandy: How did you feel about moving? Was the process harder or easier than you thought?

soratora: I think it was pretty easy in terms of feeling a sense of release. I was at that point where I grew up in Vancouver, and there’s a whole f*cking world out there, and I should go explore it. I was in French immersion from K to 12 and might as well use the French that I know. I think in that way, it was easy. I also had to pack all my sh*t and say goodbye to everyone. That was definitely hard. Sometimes staying in the same place where your whole life happened means that there’s not a lot of opportunity for growth.

iCandy: What are the differences between Vancouver and Montreal’s DJ scene?

soratora: There’s so many, but I think the big one is the sense of community. Everyone in Montreal is a DJ. If you think everyone in Vancouver is a DJ, no, everyone in Montreal is a DJ. There’s not this hierarchical pyramid. I felt that a lot more in Vancouver. When I first started exploring the scene, I had friends saying, “Don’t take pictures of those DJs, don’t talk to those DJs, they’re above us”– that kind of energy. And I’m like, what?

In Montreal, everyone’s really collaborative. People genuinely love music– Not that people don’t love music here, but I feel like because it’s so expensive to live here, people are stressed out and feel that competitiveness.

Around two years ago, there was a lot of fighting within the DJ scene. There were so many call-out posts and a cancel culture vibe. I know that exists in Montreal too, but I haven’t seen it on the same level. In Vancouver, people have a scarcity mindset.

If three people are throwing a show on the same day, they need to compete for sales because there’s only so many people who are going to come to our show, whereas in Montreal, there’s six shows happening every weekend. Anyone’s going to come. Throwing a show in Vancouver costs so much money, whereas in Montreal, I definitely noticed a lot of smaller collectives working together to throw a show, and a lot of people know each other from many different scenes.

Also, one big thing that I noticed was that queer people and straight people really coexist together in Montreal.

I’m with my girlfriend, some man is definitely going to come up to us, and they say “Dance with me,” and I’m like, “I’m literally dancing with this lovely lady right here. Get away from me.” They’re like, “I can change your mind,” and I’m like, “You really can’t.” It doesn’t work that way. Stuff like that has never happened to me in Montreal.

iCandy: That’s awful! I also noticed the differences between the music scene in Montreal versus Vancouver when I visited too. Are there any special DJ spaces or venues that you would recommend for people to check out in Montreal?

soratora: I recommend people check out Cyberlove Garden. It’s a great collective studio space run by really sweet people. You can purchase a membership, and this gives you access to the studio and join their board. They do a lot of open decks and host events with other collectives. My friend recently started this collective for Asian people in Montreal. It’s called Eastmount. They do underground raves. You know how we have Forest Raves here? They have abandoned building raves, or raves by the water.

iCandy: Can you tell me about the most recent event that you hosted in Vancouver?

soratora: A DIY Raves 4/20 Park Sale! I’ve been doing park sales for quite a while now. It wasjust chill vibes with friends. We all have clothes we need to get rid of, so we set up at Clark Park and do a park sale. I don’t even know how many I’ve done. At least ten at this point. It’s really fun to recycle clothes. All my friends are baddies, and wear really cute clothes.

I know we all have an overflowing closet and are constantly complaining about needing to get rid of clothes. I just wanted to have a space where everyone could gather. I also have a big free bin where if there’s cute sh*t that you want to get rid of, and you just want it out of your life, you can put it in there. It’s definitely DIY. People contributed proper speakers and there was a huge turnout, like 50 to 60 people. We’re always really respectful of our neighbors, and most of the time, the neighbors come and check out anyways. I’m like, come hang out. Come dance with us!

We need more open decks that are friendly for beginners and for people who don’t really play in front of a crowd, because there’s so many bedroom DJs who are really, really good at DJing. For instance, Dj VioletNoise.

Their first time playing in front of people was at my open decks for my clothing sale. It was so crazy because I was like, who the f*ck is this person, they’re so good at DJing. I said, “Where the f*ck have you been DJing?” and they’re like, “I’m a twitch live streamer. This is actually my first time playing.” It was crazy. I am honored that they felt safe enough to come play here.

iCandy: What was your most memorable experience as a DJ?

It’s so trash, but I still keep it up there because I need to stay humble. You need to see where I came from.

It was a really chaotic lead up to my set time because the person who was supposed to play before me got into a car accident. I was like, “Oh sh*t, are they okay?” The organizer said, “I know, just go play!” I didn’t have headphones because I was borrowing them from someone else. I ended up playing an extra hour. This is when I was a super baby DJ and I didn’t have a lot of tracks downloaded on my USB. Two hours is a lot of time. It was so stressful, but all my friends were there, so it was really cute. Afterwards, I felt all the stress and anxiety leave my body.

iCandy: Do you have advice for new DJs?

soratora: After my Camp Normie set, I was talking to all my friends who’ve been DJing for a while. They said I definitely learned all of the hard lessons like you should have extra music, have your gear prepared, and be prepared for any change up in the schedule. Part of being a DJ is to be flexible, and you have to be okay with sh*t happening.

iCandy: What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a DJ?

soratora: I think the biggest challenge was simply getting noticed. I was known as a partygoer. There’s a lot of partygoers that become DJs. If you’re just bedroom DJing, it’s hard to get booked.

There weren’t as many open decks in the scene. Open decks really popped off in the past year and a half or so, which is why I was like, f*ck it, imma just throw my own show. Social media helps with exposure. I needed to un-private my Instagram. I need to stop being scared of the world because it really does hold you back from a lot of opportunities. You do need to promote yourself a lot, and that can be kind of cringe.

I know some people hate having to ask their friends to repost their events, and I’m like, why? Why are you embarrassed? Don’t you want friends around you who want to support you and want to see you winning? And even just straight up DM people and say, “Here’s a mix, I f*ck with your sh*t. I’ve been to your parties. I had a lot of fun. I’d love to DJ for them.”

You just need to shoot your shot and get comfortable with the fact that you’re gonna get rejected. That’s okay. Not everyone’s gonna like your sound. Chances are, if they don’t f*ck with your sh*t, you probably don’t f*ck with their sh*t as much as you think. You’re not as aligned, and that’s okay. There are other places to play.

A lot of DJs also talk about men always getting the platform, especially white guys. I definitely think that is true, but I also think that I just don’t run in those circles. I met someone this weekend and he was name dropping all of these DJs in this whole other scene that I am so completely removed from in Vancouver. I’m half-white and I know I have some privileges there. However, the white guy DJ scene is not where I play. That’s not where I’m interested in playing either, and I don’t want to acquire new fans from this scene if all they do is go to this type of show. I think there is a lot of conversation in Vancouver about making sure to book POC artists. Make sure to book queer artists.

I’ve been able to stay focused on where I want to play and who I want to play for. I don’t need to get greedy and need to play every show. I want to play at shows where I will feel comfortable and safe. I want to play at shows where I would probably make new friends. I don’t want a fan, I want to connect with the people.

And whether you like it or not, like, there’s going to be a gay person in the room. We’re everywhere, and I don’t understand why there is that kind of segregation in Vancouver. Respectfully, a lot of people here don’t know how to act, and they have weird vibes. I do think that people need to come together and be powerful together. Let’s unite under one force and support each other through music. I also think people need to be more decisive about where they’re playing. It’s so fair to want to play at these mainstream clubs. I want to play at Fortune so badly!

iCandy: I was just thinking about that today! I want to wear a mesh dragon-printed something and play at Fortune! Moving forward, what are your hopes and dreams in DJing and in life?

However, Nalule is doing really cool shows. She is doing a series called Neptune 7, and it’s all jungle breaks and footwork.

iCandy: Do you have any upcoming events?

soratora: I’m really excited to play at the Dome in Montreal. I’m really excited! I’m playing on the opening night.

iCandy: Congrats! What would you want our Bored in Vancouver readers to know?

soratora: Get into DJing! Honestly, this applies to anything. If there’s something that you are passionate about or you’re scared to do it, just try it. The chances are that there are people in the city who are more than happy to support you and teach you. If it has to do with DJing, hit me up, slide into my DMs. I’ll send you resources that I can if you’re visiting Montreal. I know it can be really intimidating. I know there’s a lot of fear of failure and a lot of procrastination. You’re doing yourself a disservice by not pursuing it and not even trying. Release the cringe, let yourself do the thing. You just gotta take the leap of faith.