For over a decade, Proxy has been a force to be reckoned with in club music. The Russian producer stamped his name in the electronic music history books with timeless, techno-driven anthems such as Raven and Dance In Dark, and still today he is churning out the heavy hitters.

Off the back of his new EP, Language Barrier that is out now via This Ain’t Bristol, local legend Hood Rich caught up with Proxy to shoot the shit on the topic of new music, live streaming, Fortnite and more.

Stoney Roads: Is there anything you particularly miss about Australia or look forward to doing while your back?

Proxy: This could sound funny but I got kind of tradition while I’m there: I really love Australian summer clothes, like I’m usually buying some exclusive pants and t-shirts which you cannot get anywhere else.​ Maybe I’ll get more Proxy sunglasses which are Australian.​

SR: What artists or labels will always remain an influence for your production?

P: I can mention the one and only XL Recordings which is ​in this game for 30 years and it’s still discovering massive talents from around the planet. Think their key words are “different and unique”, which I’m trying to put into my music as well!

SR: What have you been listening to outside of club music?

P: Very different stuff, from oldskool rap to rock and even movie soundtracks.

SR: I read in an interview that you like playing “online shooters”; are you still gaming and if so what’s your favourite games currently?

P: Wish I have more time to play but yeah I’m still gaming. Really love some of the VR games on my Vive and I’m a big fan of Fortnite on PC currently.

SR: What drew you towards labels such as This Ain’t Bristol & Night Bass?

P: These labels have their own sound which I really like and I can feel really strong family vibes inside these labels and I think the family is more important than just releasing music.

SR: What can we expect from Proxy in 2018?

P: Lots of new music, new experiments, live streams from the studio and many more interesting stuff.

SR: Your adaption of the Hammer & Sickle for branding is quite prominent, do you have this as esoteric reference for Russia or are you putting political meaning behind your music?

P: I’m not in the politics at all and I’m actually stepped away from this hummer and sickle logo I’ve used for years to avoid this political sub-sense and I just liked that design of old soviet propaganda posters etc so that’s why this was used by me.

SR: I recently spend some time with Volac and they mentioned you have quite a bit of hardware, what’s your favourite piece of equipment for bass sounds?

P: My favourite piece of equipment is my studio, coz some stuff I use today, some tomorrow, everything is good for bass house actually 🙂

SR: What are three processing plugins that are a staple of your sound & how do you use them?

P: I use Fabfilter Pro-L 2 for limiting and basically using it in my master chain, default Logic Pro’s Compressor which I have on every channel in sequencer and Plugin Alliance Passeq is my mastering equalizer which is also I’m having on every single track I’m working on.

SR: What’s a piece of equipment you have always whats to obtain and why?

P: I guess it’s 2 of them: Roland SH-101 which I’ve used on my track Raven. It is so simple and friendly, always funny to work with. And maybe Roland V-Synth which I always coming back to whatever I have ideas or not… Like its weird synth and you never know where you end up while making sounds.

Listen to Proxy’s new EP Language Barrier below, and be sure to catch him in Aus this coming August.

Tour Dates

Aug 17 – Impala, Auckland
Aug 18 – Chinese Laundry, Sydney
Aug 24 – The Met, Brisbane
Aug 25 – HQ Complex, Adelaide