Project Description
Q&A With:
BONKA
Interviewer: Kelsey Hentschel
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Queensland’s Bonka are a dynamic duo made up of Lachlan and Connor, two flamingly excited DJ/Producers who have been known to tear down walls in clubs. On the road with a fully loaded tour schedule, the aficionados set fire to venues across the globe! From stages Australia wide to clubs and festivals across the deep. These two legends are set to embark on their month long tour across Australia.
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How did you first get into music? How did your career first begin? What inspired you to start DJing?
Well it all started back in high school when we were djing house parties and we were playing in someone’s backyard one night, we stopped and said something along the lines of “we could do this” and from there we haven’t played apart since and BONKA as we know it was born.
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How do you find the balance between your everyday life and your musical one?
The balance is a hard one to find, on one hand on the weekend you’re playing in front of hundreds or thousands of different people and then having to bring yourself back to reality during the days off that you get during the week!
It can be difficult and the busier we get the better we have to be at doing it! However we rely on each other a lot to keep one another grounded and make sure we have our heads screwed on straight, so that when the next weekend or tour comes around we are ready to give the best performance we can!
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You’re about to release a new track ‘Be Alive’. How do you feel about the release of that?
Honestly, we are so excited and nervous at the same time! Seeing as it’s the first time we have really taken on the commercial market in terms of music that we have released. Ultimately, we as artists and our team are super proud of the record and we hope it will do well, the waiting to see how it is received by our fans and the general public is the nerve racking part!
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How was it working with Luciana?
Working with her was a dream! The whole process from getting to know here, to then working on the record with her and then together presenting the finished product has been a dream come true. She is a consummate professional, extremely talented and would gladly work with her again if she’ll have us!
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What can fans expect from your upcoming National Tour, which kicks off June 9?
The fans can expect a completely immersive clubbing experience where we intend to make every show we play a really personal experience for everyone. We want to deliver the best show we can by combining as many different songs from as many different genres as we can!
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Are there any shows you’re particularly excited for?
We are excited for all the shows, especially the ones we haven’t played before but we would be lying if we didn’t say we were keen to get back to our home club Eaton’s Hill. Eaton’s hosts our Brisbane ‘Project Bonka’ shows, in which we get the opportunity to curate and throw our own parties! We throw crazy amounts of production into them as well as tons of props, dancers, theming and basically deck the whole venue out with Bonka vibes. It’s pretty epic and we always look forward to the next one!
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What are your plans for the remainder of 2018?
We actually have a lot of goals and milestones that by years end we will have hopefully ticked off the list! But to name a few, we have our biggest tour yet, the release of “Be Alive”, a few other tracks as well and just working on growing our brand to a household name hopefully!
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Your podcast ‘Let’s Go Bonkas’, is the #1 iTunes Dance Podcast in Australia. How do you go about producing the pod?
Well the podcast is a reflection of music that we have been playing or really digging during that past month! We like to show our fans not only music that they love but music that we have found which we hope they will love listening to when we mix it!
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If you could pick absolutely anyone to bring on tour with you, who would you pick? (Dead or Alive)
Sean William Scottt (Stiffler) for the soul reason that we think if you needed someone to party with, not many people could go past the stiff man!
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Are there any venues or locations you aspire to play in the future? Any major goals or milestones?
Well we aspire to play at the major festivals and clubs in Europe and USA but also venture out into Asia and try and build our names in the region as its really blossoming at the moment! But there is no place like home, so we just would also love to build our brand to the likes of a Timmy Trumpet in regards to Australia!
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How do you see your sound progressing in the future? Who are your inspirations?
Well the future is such a hard thing to predict, but we only hope that we can keep growing and working on ourselves so that when the opportunity comes to jump to the next level arises we can grab it with both hands! In terms of inspirations for us we can’t really go past Timmy, we really look up to him and respect him for what he has done in recent years, but also admire his dedication to this industry for the many years he has spent grinding and the effort he has put in to be where he is today
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What kind of music did you grow up on?
Radio and country music ironically! However, our music taste has changed quite dramatically and I think our fans would be happy to hear that!
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If someone had never listened to Bonka before, what song of yours would you recommend them to start with?
Well I would recommend they start with “Can’t Stop” as it was our first release and listen to them in order from there, as our story and what we have accomplished sets the tone for where we are now.
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Do you find there is a fan favourite of all your songs, if so which song is it. And do you see this favourite changing with new music in time?
Our recent release KILLA which we released with our good friend J-Trick was actually really well received by our fans. We would love their favourite to become Be Alive, but we suppose only time will tell, fingers crossed though!
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FOLLOW BONKA
OFFICIAL WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM
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AMNPLIFY – KH
Studying a Bachelor of Business, specialising in Music Industry! At just 24, Kelsey has years of experience across multiple sectors of the music industry, gaining valuable insight into this world! Kelsey joined the AMNplify team upon returning to Australia from her time living in London. While abroad, Kelsey collaborated with Sony Music UK, and an array of independent artists. Kelsey has been globetrotting since the age of ten, coming up on twenty-four countries, and counting! It’s been a struggle for us to keep her in one place! Kelsey has a vast passion for music. As she would say, “Music commands ever facet of personality”!
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