Interview: Music First & Darklight present RESONATE ft. JNETT (AUS), Borrowed CS, Psychic Glands

RESONATE is multi-zone dance party and immersive light and colour experience, taking over both levels of Brad's Warehouse in Tāmaki Makaurau's CBD this coming Saturday 3rd May. A meeting of minds between club connoisseurs Music First and multi-media artists Angus Muir and Dan Move — whose Darklight: A Descent Into Colour installation runs in the space from 2nd to 4th May (details HERE) — attendees will be treated to sets by Naarm club icon DJ JNETT, Pōneke's Borrowed CS aka Cory Champion (Clear Path Ensemble) playing hardware-only, 95bFM sonic voyager Psychic Glands, and MF residents Frank Booker and Sam Harmony. We caught up with Harmony himself, who graciously entertained my probing questions about RESONATE, Music First, and the commandments of a good party...

Music First & Darklight present
RESONATE
Featuring... JNETT (AUS), Borrowed CS, Psychic Glands, Music First DJs
Saturday 3rd May - Brad's Warehouse, Auckland (runs 7.30pm to midnight)
Tickets on sale HERE via UTR

Chris Cudby: Kia ora Sam! What sparked the idea for RESONATE? How did you link up with Darklight artists Angus Muir and Dan Move?

Sam Harmony (Music First): Kia ora Chris! Well Angus Muir hit me up earlier this year and explained what him and Dan were about to undertake with Darklight — he’d seen what we’d been doing with Music First and wondered whether there might be an opportunity for us to collaborate on a musical programme element to the Darklight project, which we really jumped at. If you’ve been on a festival site in the last decade in Aotearoa you’ve probably seen Angus’ work. I was super lucky to get to work with him on Beacon Festival for a few years, it was a true collaboration and I felt like with that event we’d managed to produce a truly world class event. My partner in Music First, the venerable Frank Booker, has known Dan for a long time as well so in a sense it was a very natural sort of partnership.
 

What can attendees look forward to experiencing at RESONATE — there'll be a three zone light installation?

Yeh so this iteration of Darklight, I guess it’s probably best to call a pilot event, sort of a taste test or probably better thought of a delicious morsel. Angus and Dan have invited a bunch of incredibly talented lighting / installation artists that they’ve worked with across the years to kind of go nuts - you know like do their dream install - which is kind of the fantasy brief but would never happen in a concert setting.

One of my commandments of a good party is you have to have different zones you know, active dancing space, chill space, conversation space, etc. Cause it’s a social event people need to relate in different ways but everyone is still at the party. The installation and testing has already started and I just got a message from Angus saying that it’s really going to take people to another place, which really when you’re throwing a party / event of any kind that’s the intention. I can’t really say anything about the lights, I believe in never revealing too much, but it will be mind blowing and I think well worth the ticket price. No one is making mega bucks but this is really a creative passion project for some incredibly talented people. I reckon if you wanted to take the family to an earlier session or come to the Resonate programme it’ll really be a worthwhile experience.

What were your priorities when curating the lineup for RESONATE?

I guess again acknowledging the different modes of the party: the warm up, the build up, release and, of course, banging and clanging haha. Aaron Yap's (Psychic Glands) set early in the shed on the second day of our ill-fated two day festival still lingers in my memory as a transportive experience. It was just really really wonderful and I think what he’s done with that show for literally decades is quite remarkable and I think the perfect fit to kick off this show. We’re in there to kind of bring in the first chill kick drum just to warm the room up for JNETT. With JNETT — I mean this is no exaggeration — she’s an absolutely TOP level DJ who’s breadth of musical knowledge is really next level and always mind blowing, so really a special treat to have her be a part of it. With Borrowed CS, he’s just a weapon and I think criminally slept on. I’ve been trying to put this version of his live show on for a minute so it’s nice to find kind of the perfect fit for that too.

The venue itself Brad's Warehouse looks cool — as a punter it'll be good to head along to a different space than usual in the central city. What do you look for in a good venue for parties?

The ability to have those different zones is a major — with this one, they’re super accomodating and into the idea so it’s almost like they’re a partner in it too. We’ve got a pretty extended pack in, etc, if it was all being done at a commercial rate then it’d never get off the ground. The other one is capacity, so it’s a nice size to make the thing work really well. And then finally, location and general layout. With this one the two stories and ability to black out the windows is obviously a big plus. Being in the city is a bonus, but somewhat ironically is also why it ends at 12:30am as they’ve had some noise issues in the past. I think for this one it’s a perfect fit.

The diversity and adventurousness of the bill, plus unique occasion of the installation & site reminds me of your work with Friendly Potential curating the Catacombs festival.

Yeh tbh it does for me too haha. I like so much music of all different types and I’m a true Optimo disciple, it’s all dance music if you’re a good enough DJ. It’s really nice to be able to programme this one a little differently from what we’ve been building with Music First. Also to be able to DJ some music that I’m not really playing out that much, cause it’s not really a good fit for some of the rooms I play in at the moment.

Who are Music First, plus what's on the horizon for Music First in 2025?

It's me and Frank Booker’s baby. I’ve known Frank since I produced his radio show with Recloose on George when I was 20 — nearly two decades ago — so it’s nice to work with an old friend and someone I consider a mentor. It sort of grew organically from helping him put on his House Of Booker shows, then getting offered some acts that we both love. Yeh that’s been the last 18 months really, it’s been going really well, so pumped to keep the good momentum going. We’ve got some internationals booked for later in the year and would love to turn this pilot Resonate event into something that was a little bigger like we managed with Catacombs. And then who knows, but you know we’re excited about the next 12 months for sure.

What challenges are currently facing adventurously-minded club event facilitators / organisers / promoters in Tāmaki Makaurau? Any local DJs you're currently excited about?

Oh man you want an interview or a novel lol. Cost of living is a major major one for all events. It’s a luxury to spend money on tickets, especially being a young person in all of Aotearoa is incredibly financially stressful, but even moreso here in Tāmaki. Post-covid there was an influx of creatives back to NZ all working here and spending here and some were digital nomads etc. I felt like the average door price was like comfortably $20 / $25 for a locals show and people could afford that, but that’s well and truly over. Everyone has been really pressed these last two to three years, but hopefully there’s a little dawn of relief coming maybe... you have to be mindful that even if people want to support they’re not always able to.

In terms of the macro stuff, I would also say that I feel like the cost of new records has become so prohibitive and kind of led to a dearth of record labels being able to release new music. I really felt like my entry into this world was through record labels first and foremost and I really feel like even though it’s super easy to release digital music now, the labels provided a great filter / quality control. Also that hard copy matters you know, I’m still discovering people that I never knew existed in the bins at Real Groovy. You can sort of approximate that on Bandcamp but I dunno, it’s way harder for me to dig that way.

The death of the tiny labels is a major bummer and a challenge for all night life, cause you’ve got to be a true nerd to believe in music so much that you’ll put it on record and ship it out everywhere. In that respect got to say shout out to Sunreturn for what they’ve achieved over the last little while, really incredible work. There’s tons of wicked energy out there at the moment in terms of other promoters — I’ve played a party down in Otāutahi with the Craiglist dudes and it was absolutely popping so shout out to them. Feel like there’s some great energy down there with what Port Noise and HAVEN and Tender Buttons are doing.

In Auckland I think the FILTH crew have really blazed a new trail and started a legacy of their own there. Otherwise I dunno, tbh I never leave the house if I’m not running the party, so probably not the best person to ask ha. That’s part of the reason why I keep doing it, cause I’d hate to lose it. I do truly love music and its ability to bring people together and lift them up.