An Exclusive Interview with SIPPY at HARD Summer 2021
SIPPY is a Sydney-based bass artist who always brings the energy on and off stage. Her most recent releases include her single “Going Insane” on the Dead Beats label. She has also collaborated with artists such as Bear Grillz, Marshmello, and ZÍA. She offers a unique sound to the dubstep community and is definitely a force to be reckoned with. While trying to stay away from the scorching San Bernardino heat at HARD Summer, I was able to sit down and talk to the bass queen herself.
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EDM Maniac: All righty! You just got off stage after performing here at HARD Summer, just a couple of hours ago. How was it?
SIPPY: It was awesome! It was really good! It was definitely an amazing experience. Definitely, a cool one to be a part of. I haven’t played in an Insomniac festival yet. I haven’t really seen or been to one. So like, really the whole time, I was just like WOW, this is incredible… And it was really cool to see people coming out and supporting me and knowing my music and, you know, coming in dancing and raging, just jam out to it.
EDM Maniac: How does it feel coming back to festivals in general?
SIPPY: It’s so nice! I think during COVID I just felt like there was a part of me missing. Now I’m back here and I feel so much more like myself and back at home. I kept busy. I was writing music and doing all that stuff. But it’s not the same. You know that there’s something missing. So it’s so great to feel the energy and experiencing stuff with other people.
EDM Maniac: How does it feel to be able to do tours around the US?
SIPPY: Honestly, it’s so crazy because this is so far away from home. I’m from Australia and I come out here and obviously, I’m just like no one would know about me… I don’t know if anyone would know me and then I show up to random cities and there are people who know my music and who are supporting me and like, honestly, it’s the most incredible feeling and humbling feeling. Like, wow people out here like you and really connect with what you’re doing. It really gives me the motivation to go, okay, I love writing music myself, but there are so many people who love it and connect with it. And again, I have no idea what to expect. I will know nothing about this city and then I’ll get there and all these people come to party and listen to my music!
EDM Maniac: Yeah that’s so sick! Do you get homesick at all though?
SIPPY: Yeah, I haven’t this trip. I haven’t yet. I guess because I’m out here like playing shows doing all this stuff. Back in Australia in lockdown. So there’s a part of me that’s like, Oh, I don’t miss that. But I’m really close to my family and friends. So I miss them a lot, always. But I FaceTime them all the time we try and like keep connected and a lot of stuff. I think the hardest thing will be the longer it goes. I can’t just go on whenever I want. They’ve got really strict COVID laws. So like, when I came here, I had to decide that I was not going back… That’s probably the hardest thing in terms of being homesick. But yeah, it’s still early. I’ve only been here for like a few weeks. So I’m sure celebrating the high… I definitely miss my family friends so much. It’s really hard not having come around and it feels like a different world. And I hate that I don’t get to experience that with them. But they’re really supportive. I send them videos and I FaceTime them sometimes randomly at shows.
EDM Maniac: You FaceTime your family in the middle of the shows?!
SIPPY: Haha, yeah! Exactly!
EDM Maniac: You’re also playing at Lost Lands this upcoming September! What can we expect from your set there? And how will it be different from your set here at HARD Summer?
SIPPY: I think today I was sort of testing some things on my set I had planned and then when I actually got up on stage with everything that was going on, I ended up changing a lot of it just on the spot because of a whole heap of factors like the sun. I couldn’t really see if certain things were happening. So I just kind of skipped over it, took some songs out, put some others in… That was kind of this set today. But I think for Lost Lands I will probably be playing a lot more of my unreleased. I have quite a few unreleased tunes. I was wanting to play a lot of them today, but I only managed to play two of them today. But I have a whole heap of them. I mean, some of them will be released by then but I’m hoping to kind of stack up a lot of those… And my set time is pretty good, like, a pretty good set time in terms of everyone’s gonna be keen to just go off. So I’m ready for high energy out there.
EDM Maniac: Can’t wait for your set at Lost Lands! I will definitely put it on the list of go-sees! How did you get into producing dubstep?
SIPPY: I wanted to produce music just in general and I was having a friend try to teach me, but I sort of didn’t know a lot about electronic music. So they were like, why don’t you just learn to DJ first so that you can understand music and all this kind of music more, and then you can start producing. And when I started DJing, I literally just went on SoundCloud and went through every genre to see what I liked. I was listening to dubstep and I was like oh, my God. I absolutely love it. I love the shock value of it. I love how it’s kind of cheeky and sometimes angry. So I got into it! That’s sort of what drew me into it… My earliest memory of dubstep is hearing Zeds Dead’s “Eyes On Fire”. When I heard that, I was like, wow, I really want to create this. Also, another reason why I got into producing it is that I found it really, really hard. I was kind of more comfortable writing different genres like house and was like yeah, this is fun! But with dubstep, I was like, this is really difficult and really challenging. I wanted to challenge myself and try to produce it.
EDM Maniac: What were you doing before you were a DJ?
SIPPY: I was studying at university, studying for an applied science degree. It was exercise and sports science. I wanted to do conditioning for elite athletes… I was trying to train elite athletes to do stuff. So I was studying at uni for that and halfway through is when I started DJing. And it just kind of started snowballing and going really well. So when I finished uni, instead of doing that I ended up opening a couple of DJ schools. So I have three of them! In Aus, I made this competition called Your Shot. And that was essentially my full-time job, running these three DJ schools. And on the side, I was doing all my own music… Until eventually, the music just flowed and I didn’t need that anymore.
EDM Maniac: And you recently released a song with Marshmello not that long ago! Candy Kid! What was your experience like working with Marshmello?
SIPPY: Yeah! It was really awesome! We became friends years ago when he came to Sydney. Sometimes when artists come to Sydney, it’s a smaller pond, and they reach out if they want to hang out. So we met that way and remained friends after that. And I was only just learning then. I don’t really push any collabs on [artists] or anything… If they think I’m at the point that they want to collab with me, then yeah. So during COVID, he just out of the blue FaceTimed me and was like, ‘Hey, we’ve grown up a little bit… I’m writing an album, I’d love to collab with you on a track’. And the process was great! I sent him over a couple of ideas. One in particular that I thought would be really good, and that’s the one that we went with! He took it to the next level and I could see him throwing in his sort of spice. After we finished it, I hadn’t heard anything for a while. So I was like, oh maybe it’s not happening. And then literally he was like, we’re putting the song out! He’s amazing. He’s so supportive and it’s really nice to have people who have seen you from the start who, from day one, are supportive.
EDM Maniac: That’s great! We love people who love to see others grow. So everyone has someone that they consider their festival buddy. Who would you consider your festie bestie?
SIPPY: It’s funny, because it’s different now that I’m here in the States because I haven’t really had festivals and stuff. And back in Aus, my festie buddies are probably not what other people would have. I take my parents and my sister. And like one of my best friends, she comes to all of my shows in Aus. Over here, it’s been different. I’ve only played three shows. And I haven’t really had those experiences yet. It’s probably two people I go to shows with a lot. One is PhaseOne. Because we were over in Aus. He’s a legend. So we would do things together there and also here, whenever we get an opportunity. He was actually meant to come today, but he missed his flight. So we all need to give him sh*t for that. Another I just recently met… at Red Rocks. His name’s Heyz. He was playing the weekend at Dead Rocks. We knew each other online, but we met and like the whole weekend we’re like, ‘Yeah, let’s go here! Let’s go here! Let’s party, let’s dance’! Like, just one of those people that you just instantly connect with.
EDM Maniac: Do you have any other fun projects that you’re working on now?
SIPPY: I definitely, I’ve got a lot of cool music that I’m working on at the moment… I’ve got this collab, like a feature with Virus Syndicate, which was a really fun one to write. I think at the moment, I’m mostly releasing, my own singles, and that sort of stuff. Which is fun! Keeping busy.
EDM Maniac: Busy is good! Can’t wait for those to come out! Could you tell us three facts that you don’t think your fans know about? It could be weird, like a sixth toe.
SIPPY: I have 15 toes. Haha, um well one is that my lung collapsed. When I was about 20 years old, out of the blue. I wasn’t a smoker or anything like that. And I ended up in hospital twice and had a big operation for it. So when people ask like ‘Do you smoke weed?’ I literally can’t. If I do I will go back to the hospital. And then the other one is when I was younger, I was pretty serious with ballet dancing. Now when you see me dance, it’s just uncoordinated, like a gremlin or something. But I danced from three years old until I was 18 and was a part of the Australian ballet. And danced in the Opera House in Australia. Then my last one, um, I don’t know if people know, but I lived at home with my family up until now.
EDM Maniac: I think I saw on you Tweeting about toilet cleaner not too long ago–
SIPPY: Oh, yeah! Doing proper adult stuff. And dryer sheets! We don’t have those in Australia, so that’s a new thing to me. Just random adult stuff like oh, I better buy toilet cleaner. How often am I meant to clean my toilet? What are the rules and regulations? After five times? Every four hours? I don’t know.
EDM Maniac: Haha, honestly the world may never know. If you could tell your fans one message right now, what would it be?
SIPPY: I really appreciate the support a lot. Well, I mean, I know that my fans can see that. I appreciate it. But like, I just can’t believe the amount of support that I’m getting from everyone, fans but also other artists, managers, and agents. Like Insomniac, for example, or all these promoters… the support is incredible. Just seeing people happy to see me and the success that I’m having. It’s just a really amazing experience and I want to tell everyone that it doesn’t go unnoticed. It’s my livelihood and my life. It keeps me going.
EDM Maniac: Well you are absolutely killing it! Thank you for taking the time to catch up and talk with me! Hope to chat again at Lost Lands!
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Be sure to check out SIPPY’s music and don’t forget to catch her upcoming set at Lost Lands 2021!
