INTERVIEW: Ego

One part DJ, one part videographer, EGO is turning music on its head with his multi-sensory live show and video productions. Splicing club-rocking tunes with pop-culture visuals, it's an all-out party for the eyes and ears. He has rocked audiences around Australia including wowing crowds at this year’s Splendour in the Grass Festival, catch him at FIELD DAY in Sydney on NYD. We sat him down for a lovely chat about how his particular brand of performance works and where his inspiration as an artist and live video technician has come from...

Your live shows are unique in that they incorporate visual as well as  audio elements. What creative freedom does this enable you?

I guess as a DJ it creates limits rather than freedom, cos I can’t just play what I want, I have to think visually and put time into creating a visual for each track, but that’s where I can kind of let loose and create whatever I want, so yeah there’s heaps of freedom in that I can do whatever I like with the visual side of things. And cos the artform is so new I feel like I can try whatever I like, there's no real rules yet.

What is your favourite aspect of production – audio or visual?

Visually, I love exploring new techniques and playing around with concepts, I love starting with one idea and ending up with something completely different that is 10 times better. The evolution from idea to production is my favourite thing I guess.

Looking at the film aspects of your production, where do you find the most inspiration? Is it internal (moods, thoughts & feelings) or the external environment?

I think I find it in the song. The thing I love about music is that it conjures up pictures in your head and that’s where the audio visual thing works so well, it lets me paint that picture for people. So yeah I guess it’s a mood thing for me.

Are there any film makers who you particularly admire?

I love all the standard guys like Kubrick and Lynch and Wes Anderson.

In the Watch Your Ego video mixtape, there are a lot of supernatural themes, including cut-and-paste scenes from Spielberg's ET, recent comedy Bridesmaids, dated war films and meerkats with laser beams shooting out of their eyes. And that's just in the first 10 minutes! Is there a story or message you try to convey in any given piece?

Nah I wish there was it might make more sense. I guess I'm a DJ first so I put together sets based on music, the visuals come next and so often they don't really meet up from track to track but that's I guess some of the fun in that anything goes, you never know what's coming up next. So I don't try and convey a message, rather a loose association between the screen and the sound, to try and enhance the music.

How does it change the atmosphere in the crowd to have sounds accompanied by visuals? Do people get distracted from dancing and stand transfixed by the film?

Yeah that's a real danger, and one of the biggest challenges, you want to be clever enough that you get people engaged but not so clever that they're stopped the whole time to gawk at the screen. That's the challenge. But when you get the balance right it's awesome, you can kinda see people's brains explode, they're frothing out on the music while transfixed on the visuals - it's like a double rainbow!

Have you ever thought of offering your services to iTunes Visualiser?

Ha, no but I've thought about sampling iTunes visualiser in my sets.

On your website you have a brilliant Donnie Darko edit. Is this a favourite film of yours? If so, what about the filmography inspires you?

Yeah it is one of my faves. And that edit is one of my favourites too, that's a perfect example of the music and the visuals and the movie samples all working together to make something which just pops in a club or at a festival. Donnie Darko is one of those films that I think just sits with you, it's bitter sweet, it's got a dark humour, and you can look at it as deeply or as shallowly as you like, there's layers. But mostly I like it cos it's original - not much Hollywood stuff is.

As for the music you remix, are you restricted in the genres you sample or does pretty much anything get a guernsey?

I actually suck at audio production so none of my remixes or originals have ever seen the light of day. But DJ-wise I like to play everything. I don't like to stick to one genre or sound, there's too much awesome music across the board to rule stuff out like that. I guess with the video thing I've got the luxury of not having to stick to one style, I can let the visuals tie it all together.

How is your solo production different to what you did with Mr Nice? Will there be more from Nice and Ego in 2013 or is it just Ego from here on out?

It's really quite similar, I'm just pushing ahead solo with what Mr Nice and I were working on together now that he's moved back home overseas. We're kind of open to see what'll happen, basically investing effort in our solo things for now and yeah we'll see if our paths cross again in future.

Words by Rebecca McCann

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