Bexta: The Golden Child.

Bexta plays the Family First Birthday Celebration on Friday. Mixology Gold is in stores now.

Australian NRG babe Bexta has certainly made something of a career for herself in the dance scene. Starting life as a live artist, she’s taken up the role of the DJ, now turning in storming Progressive and Hard Trance sets. She’s just turned in a wicked two CD set for Bang On, with the first CD slowly warming up on the Progressive tip, and CD two banging from start to finish. It’s titled Mixology Gold, and is in stores this week. Bexta is also headlining the Family’s first birthday this Friday night, alongside Nick Skitz. We caught up for a brief chat last week.

“Yeah, I’ve played Family once before. It’s a great club really, It reminds me very much of a Sydney club, kinda like a miniature version of Home. I play up there every six weeks or so, and it’s always been great, the crowds really dig it.”

“It’s the DJ set this Friday. What I do with DJing really depends on the venue and people. At the big raves where I only get an hour or so it’s really just time for the big hits that everyone digs. So I just slam every track in and go for a full party vibe. At a show like this one at Family I’ve got a lot more time to do what I want and take people on a journey. You need to start somewhere and end in a completely different place, and hopefully the crowd will be the better for it.

“I’ve really tried to do this with the CD. The first CD is progressive and funky, and leads nicely into the second CD, which is hard banging trance. Most of the time when I play out I play like the second CD, a lot more banging. I didn’t see the point in doing two CD’s that where slight variations on each other, so I went for a different approach with the first one.”

So what do you think of the future holds for progressive. Is it going to take over the trance scene as many people overseas are suggesting?

“A lot of people from the UK are actually saying that the whole prog thing is over. But I have noticed that the record companies here are getting more interested in the prog sound, but I really think the hared trance can exist next to progressive, and I love them both so I’m going to keep playing both.”

You studied up here at the Griffith Conservatorium of Music. Has that helped you at all with your music?

“Totally. I learnt a lot of the recording and engineering side of the industry, and that has been invaluable to my career. It trained my ear while I was there to do mixes and to bet a good EQ balance. It helped me heaps, especially when I first started gigging, and then I was getting the most out of the course as I had a firm direction to head in.”

When did you decide to become a DJ as well?

“I didn’t really decide at any one point, it was a lot more like something that was meant to happen naturally. My housemate at the time was into it, and had decks, so I just started to practice with his records, and eventually started buying my own. And once you start buying records you just can’t stop. Some weeks are terrible, I’ll blow up to $300 on tracks that I’ve just got to have. Most weeks are Ok though, but it’s definitely an addiction that’s good for you…”