Liam O'Donovan, aka 'Dono', is a relatively new name in Melbourne's dance music scene.
When and how did you get involved with music?
I found my love for electronic dance music when I first started going out to bars and clubs, where I often stood right by the DJ booth, watching how they mixed music. I began recording DJ mixes myself, attempting to imitate the DJs I’d seen live, and reached out to local DJs to have a listen and give feedback. From there, a couple of local promoters who had heard my music began to recognise me at events and soon started to offer me gigs, starting with smaller day events and moving up to slightly larger club events.
What does your creative process look like?
In terms of DJing, I love the concept of the art form being more focused on the selection of music the DJ plays than the technical side of actually mixing, which effectively means that a lot of my creative process is basically spending hours scrolling through spotify, bandcamp and soundcloud in search of those unique hidden gems. As for the actual mixing, I have quite a versatile taste in music, ranging from dancefloor ‘bangers’ through to more experimental electronic music and even world music, so the more technical side of my creative process is finding ways to bring this variety of styles together into a cohesive set.
Who are your musical influences?
In terms of DJing, I listen to a lot of DJs like Ben UFO, Objekt and Pearson Sound, who all have unique ways of seamlessly stitching different genres together, so I’d probably cite them as my biggest influences. Production wise, I often try to emulate the signature sounds of labels such as Swamp81 and Hessle Audio.
What’s it like coming up as an artist from the west of Melbourne? What makes it
different?
I think the western suburbs has a very lively grassroots music scene, with an emphasis on showcasing local talent over larger acts. While the western suburbs doesn’t have as many
venues that constantly host international and touring headliners (the substation might be the
main exception), I feel like this opens opportunities for upcoming local artists to take the spotlight at the many great westside venues.
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