AK's Outta The House
Outta The House, a celebration of Melbourne’s freedom after one of the biggest lockdown periods in the world, is happening on the 1st of January. This Urban Festival will usher in 2022 with great music , fun activities and yummy food which hopefully sets the tone for the rest of the year. DJ AK will feature on the indoor stage and will be joined by a range of RNB, HipHop, Funk, Afrobeat & Reggae artists gracing this two stage festival in Port Melbourne so when we jumped at the opportunity to ask her about the Outta The House event, ego’s at festivals and her love for Tupac, Mariah and Michael Bolton.
You have been announced as one of the Artists to perform at OUTTA THE HOUSE, happening in Melbourne on NYD are you excited to be a part of this celebration of freedom and a new year?
I'm beyond excited just to be back playing festivals and shows again after the last 2 years is such a blessing, I personally have realised how much I took my job for granted pre pandemic and am so happy to be playing in my hometown on the first day of 2022!
“After the 2 years we’ve had, just to be out and socialising and making new friends and memories is what festivals are all about.”
How do you prepare yourself for an event like OUTTA THE HOUSE?
To be honest, prior to Covid, I barely prepared, is that bad haha, I guess cos I was playing shows week in and week out I already had my music kind of set and would add songs gradually. I’ve never been a massive planner when it comes to my sets just because I really feel like you can’t gauge what the crowd is going to want and what the vibe is until when you get there and really feel it. Now after Covid with things just easing in I'm definitely planning sets it's so weird cos you’re kind of stuck in this time warp music wise and don't know what people want to hear out if that makes sense. Music aside I’m flying in from my NYE gig in Bundaberg and will literally drive home and have an hour to get ready and jump back into it Outta The House, but I love it!
What can we expect from your upcoming performance at this New Year’s Day event?
High vibes, good energy, genuine feeling of gratefulness to be back on stage and performing again and just like I'm one of the girls out in the crowd with you cos I'm up there having just as much fun as the crowd most of the time!
Apart from your own, which set are you most looking forward to seeing play at OUTTA THE HOUSE?
I’m looking forward to everyone's sets and just a fun day but super keen to hear Dj Total Eclipse, I always love hearing DJ’s from overseas playing cos they have a different vibe, different flavour and it's always cool to see what’s trending on the other side of the world.
If you could collaborate with any artist from the OTH line-up, who would it be and why?
I have so much love for Aron and Lord Peso. We go way back with them MC’ing so many of my sets and it just being so much fun on stage together I think a collab with them would just be so much fun that the track would be a vibe.
What are the best and worst parts of being on a multi artist bill? Do egos ever get in the way?
Haha good question, yes 100% they do. The best part would be that half the time you get to be on stage with a bunch of your friends and it's so much more fun then when you go to a show as the headline and then after your show you don't know anyone and you're trying to mingle and make friends. The worst part is as you mentioned Ego’s and everyone trying to outdo each other and even worse then that is a DJ who burns the next or the headline DJ - for those that don’t know that is when the opening dj or dj playing before you plays all the hottest tracks and basically leaves you nothing new to play.
Are you keen for OTH with its Urban audience and atmosphere in a festival environment? Are you excited to be able to share your music with people who may not be familiar with AK?
Absolutely! Urban festivals are few and far between these days so I'm always so excited and grateful to be on the lineup. it's always fun being on a urban lineup too cos it means that you can push the music a bit more into the realm of hip hop and RnB whereas on mainstream lineups you have to be a bit more commercial so I'm excited about that and hope the festival goers come with open minds and ears!
“Urban festivals are few and far between these days so I’m always so excited and grateful to be on the lineup”
OUTTA THE HOUSE is set to deliver an ‘urban experience like no other’, besides great music what else can the punters expect?
A fun day out with friends hopefully Melbourne holds up and gives us good weather, as I mentioned before after the 2 years we’ve had, just to be out and socialising and making new friends and memories is what festivals are all about.
Do you enjoy playing festivals and being a part of that festival scene and atmosphere?
Yes I love it so much! I play nightclubs week in and week out so it's so much fun to be doing day gigs on massive stages and experiencing a whole different vibe
Small intimate club style gigs and big park/stadium events are obviously quite different in the energy and audiences, which is easier to engage in with great crowd participation? Which do you prefer? Clubs or Stadiums?
Oh I love both it's great to do festival and stadium gigs as I mentioned in the last question cos it is different and I don't get to do it so often. But to be honest the most important thing is the vibe and energy off the crowd. I absolutely feed off it, if the crowd gives me good energy regardless of if there’s 100 people or 10,000 people then I just get this high and perform with so much more energy it’s really an indescribable feeling.
For those that haven’t heard your music before, how would you describe your sound?
High energy, interactive with the crowd and the mic, boss bitch energy, and a combination of new and old basically anything that's going to give a great energy based on the crowd I'm working with. Think Nicki Minaj, Beyonce, Mariah mixed in with Kanye, Jay Z, Tupac, Pop Smoke and any and everything in between.
How did you get your start in music?
I was always super passionate about music, when I fell in love with an artist or a song I was obsessed with. My parents had no idea where it came from as they were new to the country and couldn’t tell you the first thing about the music in the western world. I played piano and keyboard as a child and really loved performing arts and acting in high school. I knew I wanted to do something in that field and as I was pursuing acting I kind of fell into DJ’ing a friend of mine was a DJ and I was so fascinated by it I lived in the clubs and thought how cool that I could get paid for what I already love doing. The rest as they say is history!
Who do you credit as your musical influences?
So everyone who knows me or anything about me, all my peers know I love Tupac and Mariah and they heavily influenced me as a teen, what I never really talk about (you're getting the exclusive haha) is that the first artist I fell in love with at 3 years old was Michael Bolton when I tell you I was obsessed I really was and now that I look back and his music is so Rhythm and Blues and Soul and I guess I was into him from such a young age he must’ve had an impact on my musical style in some way haha. Not sure if I could get away with playing him in my sets though..
Where was your first gig? Was it a success or flop?
My very first gig was at The Long Room (which is now known as The George) they let me play at like 8pm before the doors opened I was so so bad and so so not ready to be playing out haha but I was only playing to like the bartenders, and I did heaps of those gigs to start out, I also did a few of them at Star Bar. I wasn’t getting paid and it was just for experience and it was such good practice even just getting to learn to set up and play on club equipment cos every club can have a different setup. My first official paid gig was at Watermark at the height of their success, I got booked with my pic on the flyer as a headline and I was BEYOND excited. When I got there the DJ who played before me got their headphone jack stuck in the mixer and they couldn’t take it out so Bobby Love ended up having to play in the main room while they swapped me to the side room. I was devastated at the time but all my friends came and vibed and it was actually a massive success and things just rolled from there. It was such a different time when I started till now feels like a lifetime ago.
You have worked with some massive names, such as Craig David, Rhianna, T-Pain, and The legend himself, Snoop Dogg. What’s been the highlight in your career so far personally? And why?
Oh that is such a hard question there’s been so many amazing career highlights! I'd say probably DJ’ing at not one but two of the hottest clubs in New York like that was such a massive tick off my list. You know what they say if you can make it there you can make it anywhere! That was honestly amazing. I've loved working with and opening up for all the artists it's always such an honour but to achieve something yourself is a whole different type of goal achieved in my opinion.
Who in your crew or team deserves a shout out but never gets one? And what is it they do that keeps your world turning?
To be honest my husband, I don't really talk about him and I keep my relationship really private but he’s been there since almost day 1 and he keeps me going. The thing about this industry is there’s a lot of set backs and let downs and there’s been so many times I've wanted to give up but he's always believed in me, kept me going and reminded me who I am and what I've achieved cos it's easy to forget. Also gigs don’t keep ticking without my amazing fam at Catch, Benny is a legend of an agent and after floating around a few different agencies I can definitely say Catch is home for me.
What’s happening for AK next year, what can we expect from you with 2022 almost here?
I'd love to go back to LA now that borders are open and work on some things over there, I was meant to go for 3 months in 2020 but we all know how that played out. Also lots of shows I’ve got so many shows that had to be postponed in the last 2 years so making my way back around to all of them.
Thanks to everyone for the support and thanks for the interview x
Interview by Michelle Symes
December 2021