Words by Hannah Powell. Images by Javi Wilde and Frances Scrimgeour.

Imagine a weekend where grassroots meets electronic music. Regardless of your identity, there’s space for everyone to belong. A place where you dance all night, wake up slow, have a nice hot shower, rinse, and repeat. A location, 25 minutes outside of Christchurch, where the birds sing in the trees, and the ocean roar can be heard only a few hundred metres away…

Imagine going to Twominds Festival, where for two whole days, you’re all on the same team. From 15th to 17th of March, Spencer Park was alive with the sound of electronic dance music. From disco to house to doof to techno, over 60 artists from Aotearoa and beyond spun the decks over a heart-warming two-day event. The Twominds team covered all bases, from a diverse and inclusive lineup to a campground, designated transport, and a variety of well-being spaces, zones, and activities.

Five stages made way for five themed spaces, small enough to find your friends, and large enough to get lost in the high-quality sound system. This was not the team’s first rodeo, and the term ‘sophomore’ showed. From London headliners Chaos in the CBD and SHERELLE to local and emerging DJ talent, the weekend celebrated a genre of music that never fails to bring the people together. Twominds know who they are, and their hope and confidence in their vision glowed. Musical limits were pushed, creative boundaries broken, and innovation outdid itself for a well-rounded and original festival experience that left you feeling good.

During our stay, we talked to four DJs about their experience at Twominds Festival. From the sultry set of Kédu Carlö, the funk and disco of KATE.LAND and DONNA LEE, to the potluck techno of Eden Burns (you never know what he’ll turn up with), all these artists shared a common thread: fire and passion for music, community, and playing a banging set.

Kédu Carlö

Interviewed before their set, Saturday at 1 pm. Carly and Jess are outside of their cabin in the sun, sipping tea.

This is your first time playing at the festival, how are you feeling?

Jess: It’s such a nice vibe. We’ve always loved the Twominds boys so it’s just nice to be a part of it this year.

Carly: Yeah, and the people around them are really wonderful. We were here a couple of weekends ago for Electric Avenue…it was very opposite to this small space. Lots of people, big production, very cool. But here at Twominds we’ve got nature, culture, and community building from the ground up. We can feel the heart and love. That’s cool.

What set do you have in store for this evening?

Carly: It’ll be a constant flow of feel-good KC vibes from over the years.

Jess: Yeah, it kind of sounds like our first EP and second EP and our most recent album, so lots of deep cuts in there.

Carly: I’m excited to showcase our own vibe and kind of honour that and embrace that. It’ll flow like a DJ set, but formative, swapping out to vocals and drums constantly which is kind of fun, and probably something different compared to the general DJ perspective.

Once the set is over, when can we get our next Kédu Carlö fix?

Carly: Although we’re about to part ways [overseas], we’re still planning for the year ahead. I guess it will be like a long-distance relationship…in different parts of the world, what can happen while we’re overseas, and what opportunities can occur near and far?

Jess: Look out for some of our releases coming up. We’re planning something special for our one-year anniversary of Space Girl Finds Cash, so yeah, more on that later.

Carly: The work will just keep rolling because that’s what we do.

KATE. LAND (Left) and DONNA LEE (Right).

KATE.LAND b2b DONNA LEE

Interviewed just after their set, Saturday at 3 pm. Caitlin (KATE.LAND) and Liam (DONNA LEE) sit at a picnic table in the Flux stage ‘green room’, wearing gorg pastels and hot pink.

You two are both trailblazers in the queer DJ and nightlife space, how did you begin your DJ journey?

Caitlin: I’m really passionate about nightlife and music in general, and I see it as a way to present my emotions and my feeling of community. That’s why I like to play disco today with Liam at the start of the festival to represent love, happiness, joy, sparkles, and fun and get people in the mood to be in love.

Liam: Yeah, I think that’s a great way to start a festival. How did I become a DJ? Well, it’s really because I work in the music industry, and I’m surrounded by musicians. Long term I just fell into DJing, it wasn’t something I planned to do. I came in at the right time because definitely in the last couple of years the culture around nightlife has diversified in Christchurch.

Tell me more, what have you noticed?

Liam: I’ve been here since I was six years old, and it’s quite dramatic how much has changed. I just felt comfortable, like, I really don’t know how to DJ but I felt comfortable I guess giving it a go. There’s a growing kind of queer representation, but also just silly and fun as well.

Considering Twominds prides itself on diversity and inclusivity, how do you feel they have represented this in its second festival?

Caitlin: Diversity is a kind of hot topic, it’s a checkbox. But for me, I focus on inclusivity and equity. What Twominds have done is they’ve brought in a lot of different collectives to host a couple of hours at a time of these three stages. So yeah, it’s been nice to have these people be able to project their full vision, because inside each bubble there’s diversity, too.

The equity side of that is us feeling empowered to actually really express ourselves and do what we want, and then handing over the control to say, we trust that you’re going to do something amazing. I do think this festival has done a really good job in just having lots of different voices involved and letting them speak quite loudly within their own context. That means audiences engage really genuinely with that.

EDEN BURNS

Interviewed before his set, sometime around 5 pm. We didn’t plan this interview: instead, I accidentally sat down beside him with my drink, and waiting for my friend, struck up a convo about music.

Oh, hi Eden Burns! How did you get into the DJ industry?

Eden Burns: Well, I’m from Dunedin, went to school in Christchurch, and I’ve been living in Wellington until just recently - I moved to Melbourne only a few weeks ago. I’ve been DJing since I was 15 and now, I’m 26.

When I first started DJing at a cocktail bar in Dunedin I was doing sort of background music guided by this guy who was a bit of an asshole, but like, in a good way. He was just very direct, and said, “don’t make it about yourself, you’re doing a service”.

Do you think most DJs now think that way?
Eden Burns: I think most people who get into it now are maybe thinking too much about themselves and putting on a show, but also, I don’t
know. It’s cool.

What can people expect from your set?
Eden Burns: Actually, I’m not too sure [he laughs]. I kind of just wing it, really. I’m feeling good, [and the festival] looks great.

We couldn’t agree more. Enough said! See you all next year.

Twominds Festival: interviews on the fly