October 01 2023
St. Louis might not be the first place that comes to mind when thinking of underground parties, but when Bianca Oblivion says STL can go head-to-head with LA, she means it.
Known for her global club sound combining baile funk, East Coast club, and UK garage, Bianca Oblivion has seen and played parties around the world. The Sunday after her Materia set, we met at Forest Park and talked underground scenes, the origin of her collective Warp Mode, and why parties like Materia are just as important as bigger ones.
Interview Billie Huang
Photos Billie Huang
Edit Esther Brandwein
Special thanks Pajmon and Lex
BIANCA: Everything was incredible. The excitement and the vibes were off the chain, popping, every adjective possible. I loved everyone being open to anything I played. I jump around a lot, and the party was popping off at 175 bpm at like 10PM. I was like, all right, St. Louis. People love it fast, there was no warm-up, I went right in.
That energy and underground feel, the space, everything about Materia was really top. More so than any other party I've gone to this year. I've been to a lot of raves in LA and all over the world. Well, I'd say more clubs in some other places. But as far as raves go, last night was peak. Even compared to the ones that I throw. A lot of stuff on the West Coast still has the raw energy, but there's still a little bit of an element of coolness. It was rowdy as hell last night, and I loved it in the best way.
What did you expect from the crowd?
I came in not expecting anything, no preconceived notions except that it was going to be really fun. Pajmon told me how it pops off.
What's really cool is that Materia is 18+. A lot of the parties we throw in LA are 21+, so that brought a whole other element that I don't always get to experience. I think that’s where a lot of the excitement comes from.
How would you describe the genres you mix, produce, and play?
I guess the term people use now is ‘global club’. That encapsulates so many things. I'll play stuff from Afro Diaspora, a lot of Latin music, South America, Brazilian, Dembow, and Dancehall. Then US club music, Jersey, Juke, Ballroom, rap in any form, whether it's an original or an edit, remix, whatever. I'm very rooted in that culture, so I love to blend it all. I also love the sounds of the UK. Sound System music, Jungle, UK funk, grime, really into mixing that. In my own productions, I try to blend those as well.
I saw you played Keep Hush. Do you change what you play depending on location or crowd, or do you always play what you want?
I like to play different sets for different environments and crowds. It also depends on if it’s filmed or if it’s a balls-to-the-wall rave like last night. But every set I play is still true to myself and an expression of who I am as an artist. I like to change it up every time, you're not gonna get the same set twice.
That Keep Hush is actually one that my crew, Warp Mode, threw. It was the first one that they ever had in the US. After the first set, which was Introspekt, our camera got messed up. We only had CCTV footage from the back security camera, which was so devastating. But it is what it is. Not every filmed set is gonna be glossy, that's just the nature of things. Now all these clubs and people are having these recorded sets, which is great, but this is real life, and sometimes the recording isn't going to be that cute. Back in the day, you just had to be there, be in that moment.
The Keep Hush video quality was so grainy and bad, but we loved it. Now we can say that we are the only Keep Hush with security camera footage. That’s punk as fuck.
How would you describe the LA scene and where it's going?
Since the pandemic, a lot of younger DJs came through and started throwing parties. That was really cool and gave the scene a dose of freshness and excitement. A lot of parties being thrown are warehouse parties. The scene right now in LA is mainly the underground. That vibe is spilling over into the club scene as well. I’d say for the sounds that my friends and I play, our spaces are in the underground, in the warehouses. After hours type things.
But of course, a lot of other parties are doing more of that global vibe, SoundCloud energy. Those parties are popping off, too. There's a nice balance of above-ground parties and below-ground parties, whatever you're looking for.
There's a lot of diversity and so many artists coming through and touring LA. It's been putting LA on the map more. Most of the time when people are talking about US Club culture and music, they're focusing on New York, maybe sprinkling in Miami, maybe the Bay Area. LA gets left out of the equation a lot. It’s a shame because there are so many dope artists and DJs there. I see a lot of articles, interviews, and media in general being centered around the New York and East Coast scene. I don't think it's fair, especially to cities like St. Louis and other smaller cities that throw these parties. There are a lot of amazing artists getting overlooked that should be addressed. After touring different places and meeting new people, I want to raise awareness about amazing things happening in other places. New York isn’t the center of the world. There’s other shit going down that’s popping, and you guys are late.
How does your identity and upbringing play a part in your work?
I grew up in LA. My parents moved to LA from Mexico when they were very young. I feel like a product of LA, generation after generation, like this mix of cultures and different identities. My family grew up in Venice Beach. Surfers and skaters, you know? They're also Mexican, so I have that influence of the Latin culture. But also the punk surf skater culture.
I grew up in the 80s and 90s. Obviously, there's that dance music that heavily influenced me. And then the blog house era, which I came up on when I started DJing. Every kind of phase I had in LA and just growing up has played some part in this sort of musical tapestry that is now who I am as an artist.
I'm still inspired all the time by being in LA and going to parties and meeting people. I guess I'm becoming kind of a figure for other artists, producers, DJs, women, and people of color. It's really important for me to have this visibility and for people to see that we can come up, we can do this. I want more of those people in those communities playing music, making music, just doing it, becoming the artist they want to be.
You have a collective – Warp Mode, with AK Sports and Star Eyes. How did that come about?
Towards the end of lockdown, Star Eyes moved to LA from New York, although she's originally from LA. And AK Sports and I had linked, they had moved from Australia. We all came together and were vibing on this mix of UK sound system music and US club music. We talked about how there’s not really a party that's doing that and I was like do you guys want to start something? And they were like, yeah, let's do it. And I was down because I've been wanting to do this for so long, but the time was never right.
I kind of tried a few things and they just weren’t hitting. After the pandemic, it felt like the slate was wiped clean, for better or worse. It was sad to see some parties go, but it had also opened up space for others to start something. I think during the pandemic, when people had nothing else to do but watch people's streams and explore the internet for different sounds, it opened up people's minds to hearing different kinds of music.
So once parties started again and people were hungry for anything, we started our party. It went well and we were like all right, this is cool, let's keep doing it. Then we just kept throwing it and started to develop this kind of aesthetic and a following. Then we had Keep Hush, and then earlier this year, we had our Boiler Room. I think that really solidified us as a crew, even though we don’t throw parties that often because we’re all working and touring and everything. When we do, it’s a really special time. I think together and individually, we’re really strong artists. When we come together, it's really great energy. It’s been great having a crew to come home to.
You guys play at warehouses? Are you able to find spots at clubs who will give a platform to the underground scene?
We primarily throw our parties at warehouses. We've been guest-doing B3Bs at this one club, Rhonda. We curated a room there. We had Aisha and Miley Serious. But yeah, primarily all of our things are underground. It's just the way we do it, it’s in the nature of our music. It doesn’t really have a place in the club scene. They're going to charge us a lot of money. They're going to give us this limit of 2am and we have to make a certain amount of bar sales. A lot of our people aren’t even drinking, we’re not trying to force anyone to drink. That’s not our vibe. We just want people to be there and have fun, however they want to have fun.
So we don't necessarily like the pressure and the constraints of the venues in LA. And like I said, we like to go late. We like to have massive sound systems, which is not always an option in a lot of the clubs. I like to have the control of the warehouse parties and really be able to curate the space the way we want. So, yeah, that's why we kind of just do it all underground.
As three women, how do you see yourselves fitting in the scene? Do you ever feel disrespected or underestimated by men in a male-dominated industry?
Honestly, we don't even think about it. If they are disrespecting us, or if it’s something shady, we don't even give them time. At this point, we don't need to work with you, and if we get a bad vibe or if some shit happens, like, cool, bye. That's it. You know what I mean?
I think a few years back, there were a lot of discussions about representation of women and this inequity, and those conversations were important. It was great that we were having them, but at this point, I feel like we need to move past them. Like, okay, let's focus on all the good shit that is happening right now. And those discussions are once again, important. But we need to be asking more questions and different questions and bring the conversation to other things, like how can we find more spaces for these communities? How can we get people paid? How can we diversify things on a greater level?
In this era of tokenism, it was addressing that we see no women on the bill, we need to have more women. But it’s not just about putting women on the bill. The problems are much deeper and much more systemic. Let’s get more people of color, women of color, non binary people of color in positions of power, like managers, agents promoters. That’s what we need to do. We throw the parties right, and that’s what Materia is all about. It’s not who you’re throwing up on a lineup. At the end of the day, it could be some white dudes throwing parties and throwing on the token person. It’s about people building their own communities and doing something separate from all the other stuff. And that’s where the power is.
I watched Videodrome about a year ago, but my friends watched it recently. After watching it, they told me there’s a character named Bianca Oblivion in it. Is that where you get your name from?
It is where I got my name from, yeah.
Are you a film junkie?
I do love films. I haven't watched a lot lately that I've been crazy about, but growing up, I was super into films, watching old stuff, art films, everything.
And when I first saw [Videodrome], I was like, what? No way. So I made that my MySpace name. Then that became my DJ name. At certain points in my career, I was like, I need to change this, this isn't gonna work. I can't have my DJ name be this character from a movie. I'm never gonna get booked, this is so corny. Then at a certain point I was like, this is me. I'm gonna accept it. And this is who I am, forevermore now.
I sent my friend your Boiler Room set. He's Indian and liked the Nancy Ajram edit. Was that your own?
The Ya Tabtab? No. In fact, I was going to play it last night at Materia, but I ran out of time. But that’s an edit from a friend of mine in LA, Habibi. He has a party called Habibi House. He started at a smaller club, and slowly grew and grew. I played his party, it was amazing. And then soon enough he had to up the scale to a bigger venue, then he scaled up to like a humongous venue, and now he's taking the party on tour. Right now he's in Detroit, and he was in Montreal. It's incredible to see because he's representing global club music, but with a focus on SWANA. It’s beautiful to see what he's created and the communities that he's brought together.
Do you have advice for St. Louis and other growing scenes, or what DJs and party goers can do?
Just keep doing what you're doing. Honestly, I'm serious. Other cities can learn from you guys.