Sunshine
has been a fixture of the Melbourne scene for almost 10 years. Earning
her stripes in a myriad of different spaces around town, she’s created a
sound that is truly her own. What gives her the edge is sheer
versatility – you’re just as likely to hear bleeding-edge techno
alongside underground R&B or soul ‘n’ jazz in the space of one beer.
It’s hard to categorise, but it sure ain’t coming from anyone else.
As
a teenager growing up in Perth, Sunshine first tapped into the illegal
rave scene to nurture a growing interest in dance music. Several years
on the dancefloor led to her first vinyl purchase, exploring the worlds
of hip hop, jazz, funk, soul, disco, house and techno. By the time she
moved to Melbourne in 1998, she’d amassed her first crate and a dream to
DJ. Within a year she’d garnered her first gig, at a small party in
Port Melbourne. Naturally, she started playing bars around town,
eventually working her way up to sets in the side rooms of the bigger
parties such as 33 & 1/3.
An ongoing love affair with
Revolver began around this time as well, when she started playing
Wednesday nights. It’s fair to say that DJs earn their money at mid-week
gigs – the punters aren’t up for a big one, so they’re constantly
fighting just to get them on the floor, let alone keep ‘em there. It was
here that Sunshine honed her craft, mastering the art of building sets
all the way from downtempo jam to undisputed banger and back again.
2001
saw the start of OREO, a monthly club night run by Sunshine, 8Bit and
Ladyboy. Essentially an R&B night for the not-so-R&B crowd, it
attracted a diverse group of people to Alia, all of them keen to get
their funk on. OREO tapped into the trends of the time, when names such
as Missy Elliot, Outkast and The Neptunes were pushing the boundaries of
hip hop and in the process, drawing the attention of kids outside the
usual urban spectrum. Success brought the chance to do several big
one-offs at the Public Office, with crowds of up to 1000 people showing
up.
By 2003, Sunshine had turned enough heads to be offered
Saturday mornings at Revolver, a reasonably prestigious set in the grand
scheme of things. She grabbed the chance with both hands and made it
her own. Hell, any morning set at Revolver is bound to be rather
monumental, but to this day she’s brought a sense of humour to her work,
proving she was one of the punters rather than a superstar on raised
platform. Not many DJs would have the sheer nerve to stop while the club
is rammed, stand on the turntables and start belting out a rendition of
The Gossip (as she did the morning after Daft Punk’s Melbourne show).
As regular visitors will confirm – you walk in for “just one drink” and
end up rolling out the door a la Andrew O’Keefe several hours later.
With
gigs as large as the Big Day Out under her belt, the future seems
bright for this talented spinner. Catch her before her career takes off
and she’s playing festivals overseas - you heard it here first.
Current
Residencies
Revolver Saturday mornings
Sorry Grandma
Saturday nights
YELLOW saturday nights
Acts Supported
2many
DJ's, nic fanciulli, don diablo, the juan maclean, Josh wink, jamie
jones ,LCD Soundsystem, Radioslave, Stacey Pullen, Claude Von Stroke,
Vitalic, Booka Shade, Carl Cox, Tocadisco, Style of Eye, Alex Kid, Jason
Herd, Barbra Tucker, The Presets, Ritchie Hawtin, Brett Johnson, Mike
Monday, Chromeo, Stephan Bodzin, Kraftwerk, Felix Da Housecat, Zoo
Brazil, Eric Laville, Sven Vath, Black Eyed Peas, LTJ Bukem
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