INTERVIEW: Regularfantasy
We go deep with Regularfantasy…
A purveyor of emotionally charged prime time chuggers. A connoisseur of peak time belters. A true creative chameleon dedicated to the grind that is the underground music scene. Her friends call her Olivia Meek. The world calls her Regularfantasy. I call her a bloody genius.
I first heard about Regularfantasy two years ago, hearing her track ‘Party Girl Theme’ in a Boiler Room mix by a Dublin artist called EMA. I did that thing you aren’t really supposed to do: I DM’d EMA. Something cool, calm, and collected, of course. Something like: ‘EMA I NEEEED TO KNOW WHO THIS IS BY!’. EMA got back to me: ‘Forthcoming track from Regularfantasy’. Huge. Packed to the brim with chunky analog percussion, a phat bassline, and an undeniably fun sensibility, I’d come to learn that aesthetic is somewhat of a sonic signature for Olivia. My subsequent deep dive into her archive taught me that A) she’s truly one of the most versatile producers currently within the scene, B) She has a seemingly endless list of impressive accolades to her name, and C) I’m pretty fucking LATE to the party because it turns out THE WHOLE WORLD knows Regularfantasy. Particularly the people in Melbourne. With strong ties to our sweet ‘burn city, Olivia has bequeathed her artistry at tasteful events at Skydiver and A Weekend With in recent years.
On a global scale, she’s appeared on lineups alongside Omar S, Marcellus Pittmann, Hieroglyphic Being, and Roza Terenzi. Some describe her music aptly as “21st-century petroleum-based culture”. Others describe it simply with a cheeky “tuuuune” or “looove this” commented on her Soundcloud mixes. But if you had to boil down her work into just one core ethos, it’s the kind of work that consistently hits that sweet spot of having a playful fun pop sensibility to it, that carries the grit and guts of any late-night chugger. Almost like sweet and salty popcorn. Delicious.
So it’s been two years of obsessing over Olivia Meek since that first Boiler Room introduction. Following a string of epic releases, and fresh from contributing her track ‘Life Is A Delight’ to CC:DISCO!’s latest compilation, I was very excited to be given a chance to speak to my music production girl crush IRL. Here’s how that went…
Hey Liv! It’s been a while since you visited Australia, obviously due to the world completely shutting down… how did you cope during lockdown, and what did you do to pass the time?
’Hey friends! Glad I got my Australian tour in before the pandemic. It was so nice to come down there and I can’t wait to be back.
It’s hard to tell the difference between passing the time and living at this point. Being in lockdown gave me a lot of extra time to consider options that I wasn’t able to because of constant touring and playing shows. I enrolled in an Electroacoustics program at a local university and threw myself into learning all about music, sound art, editing, modular synths, recording, composition and analysis. It’s been so valuable being able to learn more about sound and music. Being in school was difficult but it occupied my mind. To obsess and freak out over something was necessary during the desolate Covidian Canadian winter in Montreal.
I also got a cool loft studio here to hang out at—Le Chateau. My friend Kristian North and I signed a lease right when people started moving out of shared spaces and boy, am I glad I took the risk. It’s been so nice having somewhere to go! We share the studio with some other friends. You will definitely be listening to some music made there. I worked on many remixes this past year, including my friends Ramzi, Mousse (on Pelvis), Alpen Glow, Kristian North, and Slashed Tires. I also watched all 6 seasons of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and started showering twice a day. I got really into working out from home for a while, but now summer is here and curfew lifted so I’m excited to watch the sunsets outside, free and breezy. I also painted about 50 paintings, one of which is in the photo above (follow @sweet__escapes on Instagram for more).’
‘Inspiration can be hard to get these days with lockdown life…. It’s probably this weird pandemic energy. But I’m starting to feel alive again now that things are changing.’
2. So you’re originally from Victoria, Canada, and I am from Victoria, Australia. So from one Victorian to another, what makes your Victoria better than mine? I’ll go first. We have a good-looking thing called The Great Ocean Road, and reaaaally good coffee.
I really enjoyed Australia’s Victoria, and I don’t think that my Victoria is better BUT some could say Victoria, BC is better because...
Regularfantasy: Feeling pretty good about Victoria, BC…
It’s haunted AF.
It’s got a good vegetarian restaurant called Green Cuisine, and an amazing natural product store called Nezza Naturals that makes everything smell good.
Lots of other good hippie things, like access to smaller islands and forests.
My friend Robbie (Co-collaborator for Ciao and @voidmirror) and my friend Caitlin (she makes stained glass as @_onislandtime_) live there, and of course my family.
There are so many gorgeous cherry blossom trees.
You have to spend an hour and a half on the ocean and take a ferry if you want to leave.
Parking is free on Sundays.
Weed is legal.
There are lots of flowers all over the city which smell so beautiful.
3. You’re now living in Montreal, which can undoubtedly be considered a creative capital. How does the city inspire you?
For me, Montreal is a liberating city. There's an inclusive vibe in the art scene which I feel lucky to be a part of it. There are so many creative people here. Scheduling work meetings are redundant. You casually bump into folks that you were supposed to meet with on the street or in the park, which makes it a lot easier to get the ideas flowing. The parks are really nice in the summer with picnics and sunsets. Even though the winter is freezing and everyone is forced inside, it can be a good creative time to cozy down and hone in on your craft.
4. You wear many different masks through your creativity, working not only under Regularfantasy but also Ciao, DJ Silk, and Plush Managements Inc to name a few. Is the distinction between your different alias’ an easy one to make, or does it sometimes take a while for you to work out which track or mix belongs to which alias?
As a solo artist, collaboration is important for me because it can allow me to explore many ideas, genres, and styles. For Ciao, I collab with my friend Robbie Pierson (Void Mirror). He’s a vintage gear collector and I think we get inspiration from our shared love of Italo house and a vintage sound. DJ Silk has been retired for a while, but it’s a more “techno-ey” sound, so I might bring her back. Plush Managements Inc. is with Sophie Sweetland (D. Tiffany), and that project is usually the place for my more brazen and clubby tracks. My new project Rendezvous, with Kristian North is a disco edit vibe, while Magic Helper, with DJ Donini, leans more towards progressive house.
I have different musical interests, and I love collaborating with people who align with me. Keep an ear out for exciting collabs with the incredible Cecile Believe and Priori for my forthcoming EP with Canadian label, Specials.
5. Your mixes and original productions strike that really unique balance between fun late-night chuggers, charged with emotional sentimentality in the form of your own vocals. Considering you grew up playing in bands, how did you meld your singing and live instrumentation into a dance music context?
When I was younger, in my scene at the time, dance music was looked down upon or misunderstood. There was an obvious divide between electronic and rock music. Genres seem to merge and diverge over the decades. I was greatly influenced by rock bands that used samplers and synths and had a jammy live element to the shows. When the genres diverged, I wanted to go to dance parties because they were just more fun as a solo dancer. I took an interest in music for body movement, I didn’t want to just watch music with my arms crossed on a weekend night.
I think I was trying to make dance music and it just came out that way. I was really into house and was genuinely trying to make tracks, but then they ended up being more like songs. I’m trying to go back into this direction of songwriting/dancefloor melange. It didn’t really fit in at the time (2010), but I’m realizing now that it’s a nice vibe. I think it’s a good sign when you can’t describe your music as a specific genre.
‘I like to follow my bad ideas and see what happens. Sometimes production is not fun, especially with technical difficulties, but hopefully, the idea behind it is fun enough to push you through…’
Liv’s studio set-up.
6. What is your current studio setup?
Studio set up right now has a few moving parts. I’ve been sampling a lot of synths and drum machines into Ableton—and I even brought back the MPC1000 as a MIDI sequencer. So the rotating cast is the Roland D50, Korg Electribe RMK2, Microkorg, Yamaha DX7, Rhodes, Roland TR-606, Roland TR-505, and my newest member, the ELKA OMB 5—and samples of course.
7. As a regular collaborator with D.Tiffany, do you find it’s a really special and easy collaboration process the two of you share, or do you find collaborating easy to do with anyone?
Sophie and I have been long-time friends and collaborators, so it’s easy to communicate and share a vibe. I think we inspire each other for certain tracks. We haven’t been able to work together this past year, but hopefully I can get over to Berlin soon and we can work on some new Plush tracks for our label, Plush Records. I’m working on ‘Plush 003’ right now, and ‘Plush 002’ is coming out soon.
I do really like collaborating with people—it’s one of the benefits of being a solo artist—but I also find that I don’t really like making music on my own so much anymore. I like to share inspiration and ideas with people and go from there. Inspiration can be hard to get these days with lockdown life. I feel like I used to go home with lots of ideas about things, but lately, I haven’t had as many solo revelations. It’s probably this weird pandemic energy. But I’m starting to feel alive again now that things are changing.
Liv in her beat lab.
8. From a production standpoint, what is one rule that you tend to live by?
I think it’s nice to have a balance of soft and hard elements and a little bit of dissonance. If you’re going to go hard, you need something sweet to level it out. But if you’re going to go sweet, you need some harder drums or a bassline to crunch it up. I like to follow my bad ideas and see what happens. Sometimes production is not fun, especially with technical difficulties, but hopefully, the idea behind it is fun enough to push you through.
CC:DISCO!’s latest compilation release, featuring Regularfantasy + more.
9. You’ve just contributed to Cc:Disco!’s First Light Vol II compilation. Tell us about your track ‘Life Is A Delight’, what element did you start with first?
I wanted to make something faster and harder because I hadn’t in a while, and my recent DJ tour made me realize that folks don’t want 123 BPM anymore, they want 137! I liked the conga loop pitched up and down, it added some chaotic energy. I was inspired by Danny Tenaglia’s deep and delicious remixes, so I was going for a progressive techy sound. I also had some 303 samples, which gave me that Danny T. bass growl. I had just gotten back from tour, so I think I was feeling the doof/rave/Europarty sound CC Disco asked me for a track and gave me a pat on the rump to finish it. I’m happy to be a part of the compilation. Actually, this track was originally titled “Europarty”, and then one night I was DJing and my friend and I were experimenting with positive sayings and I guess we decided that “Life is a Delight” was a good saying.
10. And finally when the world finally conquers Covid-19, where is the first place you hope to go?
Australia! I’d love to come back and see everyone, play bush raves, eat gluten-free ramen, and drink third-wave coffee (And visit my friend’s ofc, shoutout to Daydreams, Mark, Emma, Maxwell and Chris!).