On this episode of the DJ Sessions, host Darran interviews Dr. Fresch about his Raves Anatomy Tour. Dr. Fresch discusses the tour’s North American leg and announces upcoming shows in Australia and New Zealand. The tour will hit Sydney, Brisbane, Central Coast, Perth, Auckland, and Electric Circus in Adelaide. Darran also asks about the size of Australia in comparison to the US. The interview takes place in the mobile studio of the DJ Sessions.
[00:00:49] Raves Anatomy Tour.
[00:04:19] Immersive dance floor experiences.
[00:06:11] Live art and sweetest fan.
[00:11:37] VR Nightclub Launch.
[00:12:58] Augmented Reality and Karma Points.
Darran – Welcome back to the DJ Sessions where we feature the best DJs, producers, and industry professionals from around the world. I’m your host, Darran , and right now we’re standing in the back of the ITV. Wow, that was a blast from the past. The DJ Sessions mobile studio. ITV used to be our previous show that we used to do before we gave the DJ Sessions. And we’re standing here with none other than Dr. Fresch . How’s it going, doctor?
Dr. Fresch – Darran, I’m doing great, man. It’s fantastic to finally be here in the truck in Seattle.
Darran – Absolutely. I mean, I remember when I showed you it backstage at Decadence and your eyes just popped and you said, I want to get in that truck. And I said, yeah, we’ll give you an interview in the truck. You’re like, no, I want to play the truck. I’m like, damn. And like, OK, when you come to Seattle, like, I can’t tell you about I got this tour. Don’t talk about it. Don’t tell anyone about it. And we’re going to talk about the tour, the Raves Anatomy Tour. You’re just kind of wrapping up, but it sounds like it’s going to keep going a little bit longer, correct?
Dr. Fresch – That’s correct. We’re wrapping up the North American portion, but we just announced last night that we’re going to Australia and New Zealand, man. So, yeah. What part of Australia? Man, so we’re doing six shows. You’re going to be doing Sydney, Brisbane, Central Coast, Perth and Auckland. Wow. I’m forgetting. Oh, excuse me. Electric Circus in Adelaide, one of my favorite clubs in the world. That’s the tour.
Darran – You know, a couple of my friends, good friends, just moved down to Melbourne, but she’s from Perth. Nice. When you look at how far Perth is from Melbourne. It’s like, I think, isn’t Australia bigger in land size than in the US?
Dr. Fresch – You know, I think you’re correct.
Darran – Four and a half hours, five hour flight to get from one end to the other.
Dr. Fresch – When I’ve done that flight, it’s pretty similar to the East Coast, West Coast flight here. It is a massive continent, dude. Yeah, it’s huge. It is wild, yeah.
Darran – So, you know, you’re wrapping up the tour, continuing the tour a little bit longer, but tonight you’re in Seattle. You’re playing Q Nightclub. Now, I’ve been watching you and following you online on this tour. Is every club you’re playing sold out?
Dr. Fresch – I mean, pretty much sold out. I will say there are more sellouts on this tour than I’ve ever had. We’ve exceeded all expectations. We’re selling out, you know, the majority of the venues at this point, and I’m grateful for that. Absolutely.
Darran – And this is your first tour in four years, correct?
Dr. Fresch – First tour since 2019.
Darran – Wow. 2019, wow.
Dr. Fresch – Waited until the right time after the pandemic to do it proper, and it has been.
Darran – Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, as things were coming back, it was uncertain. Some states were doing stuff. Some states weren’t doing stuff. It took a little bit of time to come back, but it feels like things are really back into full swing. You hit it right at the right time. It’s just awesome. It’s great. You know, when you’re on stage, do you become a different person on stage or are you a different person off stage? Or is there Dr. Fresch on stage and Tony off stage?
Dr. Fresch – Yeah, I’d say, well, you know, to me, it’s not so much of a persona. It’s like an attitude. I’m definitely the same guy that is in his bedroom dancing to dance music behind the decks. Like, Darran, I would say that Tony is Dr. Fresch , but I got into this state and it’s, you know, you know, it’s that dreamlike state where, you know, you’re doing your favorite thing. That’s how I explain it. It’s like if you’ve ever played sports, you know, it’s like you’re in the game and, you know, a whole quarter will go by like that.
Darran – I was in the store the other day shopping for a rooftop party tomorrow and Michael Jackson, old school Michael Jackson comes on like pre-Off The Wall and I just start dancing in the aisle and I make a little video of it and I throw it up online and I like, if you know the lyrics to this song, dance along with me. You can barely hear him, but I’m just like, when you dance, you have to move and you’re in that zone. You’re in the zone.
Dr. Fresch – You are, man.
Darran – Do you prefer, now you play large scale festivals, you play kind of intimate smaller clubs. Do you have a preference or is there a different energy that you feel when you’re at either or? I mean,
Dr. Fresch – Totally.
Darran – I hear a lot about this word connection.
Dr. Fresch – That would be probably the most direct way to talk about it. It’s being in proximity to the fans is the first thing and, you know, that’s kind of people’s biggest gripe with big festivals because of the production. They have to be 40, 50, 60 feet away and a club like Q is awesome because you can literally reach out and touch the Seattleites or Seattleans, you know, like you’re right there in it. And I think this is a great example of that. And a lot of what I’ve been trying to do on the tour with the smaller venues, trying to bring the stage to the booth to the dance floor.
Darran – Yes. Yes. Tell us about that booth to the dance floor. How’s that been working out?
Dr. Fresch – Man, I take inspiration from a lot of the great parties out there in the last 10, 20 years that have done this. Boiler Room, Deaf Atlanta that I most recently played. The 360 immersive experience is becoming popular for a lot of reasons. But I think one of them is because social media is showing us through the lens just how much more fun that is. And in a way, it’s like it brings you back to that connection, right? At the end of the day, you know, that’s what the dance community is about fundamentally. And the good thing that our phones can lead us to is creating cooler environments. So let’s embrace the positive things that our phones bring us to. I love that.
Darran – Absolutely. You know, if you could create your dream event, name five things that would be a must have at that event. You would want to have Black American Express Card. There’s no limit on the budget.
Dr. Fresch – Five things you’d want. I would say we’re talking about a festival here. For me, it would be a small, perhaps camping festival, if not, you know, out in the wilderness. So nature is important. Number one, whether it’s a forest or a desert, some sort of environment like that. That’s number one. Number two is having that what we just talked about, the connected environment, whether it’s a 360 stage or an immersive stage. The third one is I’d love to have the record label crew there, man. Like, have that be a big part of it. The fourth one, off the wall. I’d love to have a stage that has nothing to do with what we do. Like, for instance, like a left field base stage, man. Have deep, dark and dangerous hacks. Something like this. Alex Perez, EEPROM. And then the fifth would be I’d love to have some immersive art there, whether that’s like, it could be something like, you know, live painting or live fire dancing. You know, one of my favorite sets ever I saw Tipper and Android Jones. Tipper was DJing Android Jones’ painting. Burning Man expose. Very cool event.
Darran – You know, we used to have live art at our rooftop parties a few years back in the 18, 19. And it was a hit. I mean, people just love the fact that the artist is there, they’re grooving with the music, they’re painting something right there off the top of their head. And it was just really awesome to combine that artwork and music experience for our fans and people there. Speaking of fans, what’s the sweetest thing a fan has ever made for you?
Dr. Fresch – Oh, my God. I got to say, it’s truly a painting of me that I now have in my mom’s house. And it is a painting of me from when I performed in Victoria, British Columbia about five years ago. And it’s just this kind of pose for me. I’m wearing track pants and a shirt that she has edited. It’s a lowrider. It’s like a 64’ Impala instead of whatever I had on there. So it’s just kind of like a nod to the West Coast Hip Hop scene. It’s really cute. Nice. That was incredible.
Darran – Changing gears here just a little bit. Tell us about Bricks.
Dr. Fresch – Oh, my God. OK, so I just dropped a song today. No, I know. Mid tempo G house electro hybrid. This one’s fun. I went for my kind of core sound, but I sampled. I took inspiration from the funk scene, you know, this kind of Russia popularized this scene that really is just Memphis hip hop. It’s like it’s straight up DJ Paul, three, six mafia, you know, cowbell sampling. That’s what funk is. So I just kind of like threw that on a little bit like a pinch of that into what I’m doing. And that’s the track I dropped today. So I’m excited to play for you.
Darran – Yeah, I’m super excited. I mean, ever since, like I said, when I sit on the couch, literally I have no setup. Feedback was on my phone. The last time I thought I fell in love with Feedback. I know I’m going to fall in love with this. I know the audience is going to fall in love with it. The city is going to fall in love with it. Q is going to fall in love with it. Everyone’s right on the tour is falling in love with it. You know, that’s awesome. But when’s the weirdest moment you’ve ever heard one of your tracks play?
Dr. Fresch – Oh, my God. Great question. I’ll say most recently, I was in Mexico a year ago with Rachel and we were traveling around. I was doing a spring break event in Puerto Vallarta. We went down to Salulita before and we were walking down the streets of Salulita. And it wasn’t at a bar. It was out of the back of a golf cart. Somebody was carrying just like, you know, like a ghetto blaster. And they were bumping Feedback.
Darran – Nice!!!
Dr. Fresch – And they had the aux hooked up. And I walked up. It’s clear. It became clear right away that it was like a wedding party. And they were like, oh, my God, it’s Dr. Fresch . And they looked at their phone and they’re like, you know, we host one of the camps at a Panky Rang camp at Electric Forest. So I would say that, you know, that was probably the craziest coincidence I’ve ever met somebody. Music,
Darran – Awesome. You know, who’s been the biggest influence when it comes to your career and why?
Dr. Fresch – Single hand like one person single handedly.
Darran – One person gotta pick them.
Dr. Fresch – Oh, my God. It has an influence. Ah, it’s a great question. You know, I’ll bring it back to it initially. Steve Aoki and Dim Mak Records is what led me to move to L.A. I ended up interning for him. And that label model and the party model is what inspired me in every way to build the structure for House Call and what I do. And at the core, when Steve was doing more the electro blog house thing, that was the sound that I was going for, too. As things progressed, you know, he’s doing everything from big room to hip hop love and what he did with the projects. Amazing. The beginning of Dim Mak in the beginning of House Call. You know, I tried to model my label after what he did. And what I do is Dr. Fresch after how he started Steve Aoki. So in a way, you know, that would probably be the biggest tip of the hat. It was my first gig in L.A. too. I’m driving the Dim Mak van around Hollywood in 2010. I was the guy behind the wheel. So I would say that those are my formative years. Biggest inspiration there.
Darran – OK. Two letters…V.R. Have you thought about doing anything in VR? Have you done anything in VR? Are you developing anything in VR? What’s your take on VR?
Dr. Fresch – I’ve never developed anything in VR, but I have a great example of this is over the pandemic. Guys like Cyboy, who was doing a lot of my art in the beginning of House Call before he became a full time techno DJ again. Cyboy was trying to get me to do exactly this and a lot of A.R. too. So just like deep, not even just DJing in virtual reality. I myself haven’t done anything really. I’ve done a couple different festivals and one of them was in tandem with. Oh, geez. Darran.
Darran – Don’t worry about it.
Dr. Fresch – I’ve been living in 3D, man.
Darran – Exactly. No, no, I bring it up because we just launched our first VR nightclub in VRChat.
Dr. Fresch – Tell me all about it.
Darran – We call the club Beta Nightclub and we had it in Altspace, but unfortunately Microsoft dropped alt space like a bad habit. I was like, we’re getting ready to launch and boom. So we had to quickly migrate over to VRChat. We’re super excited. Our world just got approved. It’s gaining momentum. We’re getting ready to put our schedule up. We’d love to have you come by. Check it out. I’ll just give you a tour sometime.
Dr. Fresch – Absolutely.
Darran – And check it out. We call it Beta because it isn’t our first, it isn’t version one yet. I love it. You know, and then we’re going to have version two because when we look at VR, people are going to have to acclimate to it. So some people have said, why do you have pillars in your VR nightclub? There’s no gravity. So what’s it holding up? And I’m like, okay, you got to remember people are coming into this for the first time. So we still keep the ceiling, the floor, the pillar, like you’re walking around a regular room until they get advanced so they can start flying. I was in Second Life back in the day.
Dr. Fresch – Oh, wow. So you’re an OG.
Darran – You fly through the params and you do all this crazy stuff. Oh, my God. People thought it was a video game and you got to change that mindset of it’s not a video game. It’s a virtual world. And these virtual worlds are there to come up with concert shows. I mean, you’ve heard what Marshmello and Travis Scott and all them did on Fortnite and 12 million people or whatever. And it’s like, okay. So we just see that. We always like to be a front runner, a forerunner to the new technology, just like live streaming when we jumped on board and started using that and doing a DJ show. So we see VR being the next thing, but AR is a huge one, too.
Dr. Fresch – Totally.
Darran – And I have a strategic partnership that I’m working on with a company that should go through. I don’t know if you’ve heard about them yet, but they are called Unitea. Tell me about them. U-N-I-T-E-A. Okay. And they have Claude VonStroke on board. What they do is you go around and you use this app and you kind of, please Unitea team, do not murder me if I describe this wrong. But basically you go around and you do stuff and you use like, like Shaq has an AR thing. You use that, you make it, but you can only get the AR inside of the Unitea app. And then you share that. Then you get karma points. Then you can cash your karma points in for things like backstage passes or meet and greets or shirts or merchandise and things like that. They’re developing in a few cities and we’re proud to announce we should hopefully be doing something here in Seattle with it as well with our events and getting that karma points going with special DJ AR stuff.
Dr. Fresch – You guys are ahead of the curve. I’m excited to jump into the, I can’t even say 2D space, but yeah, it’s going to be sick.
Darran – Yeah, AR, VR, XR, it’s all going to be there. And if you’re not involved in it, get involved in it now.
Dr. Fresch – Don’t sleep.
Darran – Don’t sleep. All right. Well, we’re going to get to this exclusive mix in the back of the DJ Sessions mobile studio. Is there anything else you want to let our DJ Sessions fans know about before we let you go?
Dr. Fresch – You know, thankful to be back here in Seattle after a few years. I will see you tonight Q nightclub. Thanks for the love everywhere on Raves Anatomy. It’s been a pleasure. Darran, thanks for having me.
Darran – Yeah.
Dr. Fresch – Where can people find out more information about you? Everything on every socials is D-R-F-R-E-S-C-H. That’s forward slash Dr. Fresch everywhere. Thank you all.
Darran – Everywhere. Right on. Thank you so much, Doc, for coming on the show. Don’t forget to go to our website, thedjsessions.com. Find us on TikTok, Twitter, Twitch, Facebook, everywhere. The metaverse, the DJ Sessions. But if you go to our website, thedjsessions.com, you’ll find it all right there. 600 news stories, exclusive mixes, interviews with guys like this. You know, and more fun stuff. And our event series coming up soon in contests, giveaways, memberships. It’s all there at thedjsessions.com. This is Dr. Fresch and I’m Darran coming to you from the back of the Mobile Sessions studios in Seattle, Washington. And remember on the DJ Sessions, the music never stops.
