Having primarily established ourselves in a metaverse for DJing, it came as no surprise that there were so many alternative DJs that also thrived in the online communities. Many had very prominent audiences and had built themselves up from the ground up. So as Sound Gallery developed, we were stoked to be able to learn about the Virtual Reality (VR) community and their connection to musical entertainment as we know it.
So how did we find out? By our monthly DJ: Bionic Blue.
A very sweet, down to earth DJ who represents a lot of what we can fully relate to as a woman who is enamored with the drive for music. So with that token in mind, we decided that it was time to delve into the realm of one of our kindest DJs, Bionic Blue.
Hello Blue! Welcome in to the Sound Gallery interview! We’ve been waiting some time to get a feature of you here. Can you give us a little information about yourself? Introduce who you are and where you hail from?
Hoi! My name’s Zoe (BionicBlue / BlueRogue / Blu) and I hail from Alberta, Canada!
I currently work as an exterior sider’s helper, but most notably owned a head shop here from 2007 – 2018. I love spending time with people inside the music communities in VRChat, playing and listening to all kinds of music. Outside of that, I practice Motobu-ryu karate, as often as my body will allow.
Another Canadian- we certainly have quite the growing family of DJs from up north. And Motobu-ryu karate?! Sounds like you’ve had a lot of dedication and passion hobbies in your life, music included. What inspired you to DJ? And how long have you DJ’d for?
Well I suppose I got inspired to DJ from my beginnings in music altogether. I played French horn in Band for nearly 10 years, and over spring break, forgot my horn at school. I decided to pick up guitar… Same thing mirrored when I moved out, and into an apartment- loud noises were a no-no, so after having spent a number of weekends in the local afterhours club, I decided I wanted to make my own ‘mixtapes’.
French horn is not an easy instrument from what I’ve heard and ten years of it, we can certainly relate. I’d imagine having roots in classically trained music helped with learning a lot of the keys and bpms for DJing. With such a broad versing in musical background, would you say that there are any musicians that you look up to? And if so, why?
I would say a major inspiration and early supporter of mine would be Benjamin Leung (Somna / Rodi Style). One of Ben’s visits to the city included his friend Chris Wan; together they are Leung & Wan. They played an awesome set, which they permitted me to peek behind the booth (to record and take photos.) The bar owner allowed me to stay and give compliments / ask questions. Ben then proceeded to sing into the mic, while Chris chopped up, delayed and echoed his voice. Ben said “can you stop? I’m trying to serenade her!” We became fast friends and stayed in touch. I inquired about what software to get for my first setup, and it heavily influenced my purchase of a Numark Stealth Pro. That was late 2010.
Being granted that behind the scenes look on the music process from a DJ pair had to be rather impressionable. Especially that one-on-one glimpse into the art and being able to make those type of valuable connections. With your friends into Somna / Rodi Style, would you say that you developed a preference to a specific genre?
My preference has basically always been DnB, for spinning, at least. I flirted with the idea of spinning Hard Dance, thanks to early influences (Rodi Style, Andy Whitby, TIDY Boys / Girls) but felt that Drum and bass covered a wider variety of my musical palette.
Drum and Bass certainly wins a lot of hearts over. The upbeat rhythm, the energy – all of it really culminates into a great listening time for both yourself and your audience. With having been so involved in the music community, have you produced any music or considered it?
I don’t yet, personally. The most I’ve done is provide vocal stems for a duo (no longer together) but they encouraged me to become a SOCAN (registered Canadian) artist. I do plan on producing something, hopefully with more freedom of time in the near future!
Oh wow!! Okay, so they certainly helped convince you to set the stage for the next step in your music career. When you start dappling, you’ll have to let us know for a behind-the-scenes peek!
Production does take up time and for a lot of our DJs, becomes a full time career, or at least a very time-dedicated hobby. Is DJing your full time career? And how do you balance work and DJing?
Sadly, and also happily no, it’s not. I got offered to be a resident DJ at a bar once, and decided it might be the death of the art for me if I did… seeing how many bar DJs at the time either burn out from trying to keep things fresh, or get so laid back and lazy that it felt far from ‘fun’ or ‘art’. Under my own terms, i might reconsider- but that’s why I love twitch and VRC!
I balance it by trying to listen to my body, and not taking on too much. It also helps that I have great support and companionship within (and without) the community.
Burnout can be a very, very real issue. Especially when it comes to trying to play music that is crowd pleasing and less of what makes you excited. At that point, it becomes about the entertainment value and less about the musical journey. We can fully empathize with your decision to stay under your own terms.
With having the ability to recognize that making a move to being a resident at a venue might not be entirely the right move for you, it sounds like you have a lot of self awareness. How would you describe your stage personality?
My stage personality? Hmm.. I try to keep things fun and light, but I’m still me, as genuine as I can be when emitting bassfaces and minding my nearly middle-aged gut on the mixer XD
And this is exactly why we love you so much – just bringing authenticity and energy, while maintaining a very genuine atmosphere. Too many DJs succumb to a façade and it’s refreshing to know that there are still some down-to-earth artists out there.
What would you consider to be your strengths and weaknesses at this point?
Gosh, is this a job interview? HAHA no, but really- I would say humor and levity would be a strength, especially when trying to be kind to myself during times of ‘impostor syndrome’ or just heavily judging past mixes / choices. [Weakness = indecision and slips of self-esteem.]
Ha!! If we all could earn a paycheck for this, sign me up! ( Don’t let our attorney read this ). But in all jesting aside, you make a valuable point. Imposter syndrome can be incredibly difficult to deal with in this industry. With so many musicians who want to be seen and liked, it’s hard not to compare yourself to others and to securitize what may be their ‘wow’ factor in comparison. Being able to admit that, too, would be a strength in and of itself.
With the topic of popularity, what would you say your approach is toward reading the crowd?
A crowd? Where?! hahaha
Honestly I’m terrible at reading crowds, so I don’t. It’s especially difficult for me to do so in VRC, since I’m not usually paying attention to that tabbed screen while mixing. Either url or irl, I try my best to play a set that sounds good to me, and hope others catch the vibe!
To be fair, reading your audience via Twitch is infinitely harder than seeing people in person. You have to depend on emoting, chatting, and interaction to be able to understand if you’re going the right direction with your set. But it sounds like you stick true to you and don’t focus on the metrics, which is a great mindset to have.
And here we are, our last question… Do you have any advice for those who might be starting DJing?
Play what you love, ask questions to those you look up to, and listen to your own mixes! Figure out what you liked and didn’t without self beratement, and learn from it! That’s been super helpful for me, at least!
And here we are folks, a true-(Bionic)Blu representation in our community of what being authentic to who you are really looks like. Many, many thank you’s to Blu for the interview for this month. Again, a wildly perfect example of what Sound Gallery loves to promote within our community and representation of what being honest to yourself, and your audience, looks like.
For those of you who are interested in learning more about BionicBlue and her music, please visit our bi-weekly raid series or directly at her Twitch for more on her sets.