With a return to Australia for a set penned at this years Return To Rio alongside Soul Clap, Simon Caldwell and more and just prior to this weekends Burning Man, San Francisco sonic shaman Atish opened up on the often murky going on’s of the desert festival.

Having played every year since 2010 he’s certainly seen it all, from “mutant vehicles” to anti-commercialisation and even “shirtcocking” (more on that later) it seems like Burning Man is somehow exactly what every individuals wildest dreams are.

With promises of giant kaleidoscope and even a moving, full-sized 747 we can’t even begin to imagine what its going to be like hence why we picked the brains of Atish and tried to find out fact from fiction!

SR: Any stand out years of Burning Man and why?

Atish: Nothing will match the first year I attended Burning Man in 2010. Going into my first burn, I was excited, but also concerned that it was overhyped. Some of my close friends had been going on and on talking it up about how it will blow my mind, there’s nothing else like it in the world, and so on. I vividly remember riding my bike out of my camp onto the open playa that first night, and I was happy to learn that my friends were 100% correct in the hype – this whole festival is absolutely insane and cannot be put into words.

That first year, everything was fresh for me: the scale, the art installations, the mutant vehicles, the weirdness, the friendliness, the boundary-pushing, the dance parties, the costumes, the gifting, the anti-commercialism. It changed my perspective on a lot of things back in the real world. I have still been blown away every year since 2010, but nothing will replace that first time I saw what this whole thing was really about.

SR: What place do DJs have at Burning Man?

Atish: This is a great question, and one that I frequently think about. It’s pretty clear that from the organisation’s perspective, this is not a festival about dance music. For instance, artists are given grants for art installations, but camps are not given grants for their elaborate dance floors with high end soundsystems, fancy lighting installations, and pyrotechnics. The Burning Man Org has explicitly communicated that they prefer that art cars and sound camps not publish their DJ lineups too early or preferably, not publish them at all. Many people I’ve talked to agree with the organisation’s stance, and many others disagree.

On a personal level, despite the fact that I’m a DJ who frequently performs at Burning Man, I generally align with the Burning Man Org’s stance since I don’t want to see the festival turn into an EDM show. I do think that Burning Man would be a significantly worse experience for me if there weren’t any DJs performing, but I don’t think any individual DJ out of the thousands of other talented DJs is particularly important. I prefer not publicly publishing my gigs and set times since I believe the festival is not about me as a DJ, but rather, the festival is about something bigger that I’m a small part of. Unfortunately, I think there’s a fair amount of “DJ chasing” on the playa rather than living in the moment and listening and experiencing everything with a fully open mind, so seeing that aspect makes me critically think about how DJs fit in the bigger picture of the festival.

SR: Any strange run ins with other DJs or celebrities?

Atish: I can’t name names here, but I have a DJ friend who lost himself so far away from reality that he convinced himself that he was a Chinese orphan working in a paddy field who thought he was in a long jump competition (for context, this unnamed DJ is not Chinese). He proceeded to actually do a running long jump, and twisted his ankle. To this day we still sometimes lovingly refer to him as “Long Jump.”

Last year when I was playing Robot Heart, someone pointed to an art car parked on the dance floor and told me that P Diddy was hanging out on there. Oh also, one time a guy had a tuba that would blow fire out of its horn which was really cool, and it turned out he was one of the creators of The Simpsons.

SR: What are some rumours that you’ve heard over the years abut Burning Man that you can dispel?

Atish: Oh, “playa rumors” are half the fun of Burning Man, and some of them recur every year, so it would be a shame for me to be the jerk to dispel them! It’s pretty amazing how fast word spreads across the playa and how easily ideas get distorted. It’s like one giant game of human telephone since (thankfully) most people are not on the internet or using cell phones. Your whole concept of reality is already so far gone from normalcy, so it’s easy to believe anything you hear, regardless of how ridiculous it is.

That being said, I have heard a few non-burners tell me they are no longer interested in attending Burning Man because they’ve heard that it’s become too mainstream. Admittedly, there is a degree of truth as it has attracted the attention of the big news outlets and magazines (in the US at least). I think it’s important to think about the bigger picture, so I’d like to dispel the rumor that Burning Man has been ruined by getting too popular: the festival is still absolutely positively insane and unique. I think anyone will still be blown away by what they experience, regardless of how much their grannie has heard about it on Fox News.

SR: What are some myths that are actually true ie orgy tent

Atish: There’s definitely a fair amount of nudity out there out in the open (including the dreaded “shirtcocking” – google that one, but not at work), so if that makes you uncomfortable, I wouldn’t recommend this festival. Sex camps (straight, gay, polyamorous, and many other flavors) do exist, but you have to do some work to find them as they aren’t out in the open (so I’m told). It’s true that there are undercover cops dressed as ravers asking for drugs, and there are cops with nightvision goggles looking for people smoking doobies.

Also, people talk about how gruelling the conditions are out there, and this is also true. The days are brutally hot and the nights are frigid. And it’s filthy. While I still consider brushing my teeth and wearing deodorant to be reasonably good investments of resources, I do see showering as just a waste of water. No matter how much you try to keep yourself clean, you will be a filthy dusty mess. Or at least I keep telling myself that every year so I can live like an animal.

SR: Any similar parties to Burning Man happening around the world?

Atish: I must be pedantic in pointing out that Burning Man isn’t specifically a party – it’s much much more. I can’t think of any other events I’ve been to that match what Burning Man does in scale and vibe, though if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know as I’d love to attend!

That being said, I did attend AfrikaBurn a couple years back, which is an officially sponsored “satellite burn” just outside of Cape Town. There were definitely some aspects that were very similar to Burning Man and I had a wonderful time overall, but it was only a fraction the size of the actual Burning Man (7,000 compared to 70,000), so it really didn’t come close to the real thing. I don’t think anything ever will.

Atish will play this years Return To Rio with a raft of international and local buddies in November, full lineup and ticket details here.