The Just Checking In Podcast

Behind The Decks - Jafunk - Part 3

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In this episode of Behind The Decks we checked back in for a third time with Australian DJ and producer, Jafunk. 

Lachy was the very first special guest on Behind The Decks when we launched the series all the way back in June 2020! 

Lachy then came back on again in May 2023, and three years later he has joined the esteemed group of guests who have checked in for a hat trick of appearances!

Since we last checked in, Jafunk’s career has continued to go from strength to strength. At time of recording, he has amassed over 197,000 followers on Instagram and over 103,000 followers on TikTok! 

He has also released two EPs, ‘Disco Nights’ in 2024 and ‘Classic’ in 2025, toured with Australian peers Cosmo’s Midnight, supported another Australian peer and huge artist Young Franco, refreshed his brand identity, launched his own record label AND published his first book called ‘The Independent Artist’s Playbook’ in 2025!

In this episode we discuss this chapter in his musical journey, establishing himself as one of the biggest and most respected disco producers in the scene right now, evolving his sound from Dance-R&B to Disco and Funk, and the two massive achievements of publishing the book and launching his own record label. 

We also discuss the tragic deaths of two producers and DJs in the music scene in the last few years, DJ titan Jackmaster’s death in October 2024 and Roche Musique label owner Kartell in March 2025. We discuss these deaths solely in the context of how they impacted Jafunk and how they shaped his attitude towards life, music and his career.

For Lachy’s continued mental health journey, we discuss burnout from making social media content, and finding the right balance between music and social media when both are his livelihood now. 

We also discuss the proud moment of having his parents come to a hometown show back in Australia.

We finish with a special section where Lachy checks in with our Founder Freddie about his journey and their relationship over the last six years!

As always, #itsokaytovent

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SPEAKER_01

Hi Venters, welcome back to another episode of Behind the Decks. This is a music podcast series hosted by me, Freddie Cocker, as part of the Just Checking In podcast and presented to you by Vent. Vent is a place where everyone, but especially men and boys, can open up about their mental health issues, break down stigmas, and start conversations. In each episode of Behind the Decks, I check in with DJs and producers from the UK and beyond. We talk all about their musical journeys, their artistry, and most importantly, the person behind the decks. My special guest for this episode of Behind the Decks is a legend of a man who is one of the biggest reasons why I could even do this series in the first place. Lockie, aka Jarfunk, was the very first special guest on Behind the Decks when I launched the series all the way back in June 2020. Lockie then came back on again in May 2023, and three years later we are here again for him to join the esteemed group of guests who have checked in for a hat-trick of appearances. Since we last checked in, Jarfunk's career has gone from strength to strength. At time of recording, he has amassed over 197,000 followers on Instagram and over 103,000 followers on TikTok. He has also released two EPs, Disco Night in 2024 and Classic in 2025. He has toured with one of my favourite artists and Australian peers, Cosmos Midnight, on their world tour of their 2024 album Stop Thinking, Start Feeling, which I saw him perform live for Cosmo's London show. He supported another Australian peer and now massive artist, Young Franco, for several of his shows. He's refreshed his brand identity, launched his own record label, and published his first book called The Independent Artist Playbook in 2025. But apart from that, not too busy. In this episode, we discussed this chapter in his musical journey, what he's learned along the way, establishing himself as one of the biggest and most respected disco producers in the scene right now, evolving his sound from dance RB to disco and funk, and the two massive achievements of the book and his own record label. We also discussed the tragic deaths of some big producers and DJs in the music scene in the last few years, with DJ Titan Jack Master's death in October 2024, and Rush musique label owner Cartel tragically dying in March 2025 through the context of how they impacted Jarfunk and shaping his attitude towards life, music and his career. For Locke's continued mental health journey, we discussed burnout from social media content creation and finding the right balance between music and social media when both are his livelihood now. We also discussed the benefits he's had from taking up golf as a hobby in 2025 and the proud moment of having his parents come to one of his hometown shows in Australia. We finished with a special section where Lockie checks in with me about my journey and our relationship over the last six years. So get yourself comfy and have a listen as I go back behind the decks for a third time with Jarfunk. Lockie, welcome back to Behind the Decks, mate. You have joined an esteemed club of special guests as you are making your hat-trick appearance and joining my friend Snowdream in the Behind the Decks Hat Trick Club. It's been three years since we last checked in, mate. Where has that time gone? How are you on this Saturday morning, brother?

SPEAKER_00

Crazy how time flies. Yeah, thanks for having me again, by the way, man. Really appreciate you having me on the show. Yeah, lots has happened since then. What was that? 2023. It was kind of just before the start of this new persona, you know, this new part of my music career. So it'll be interesting to talk about the journey since then up until now. I feel like I'm at another kind of crossroads in terms of my career. So there'll be some interesting topics to cover today.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, mate, we've got so much time to talk about all of that. And what's been really amazing is that from 2020 to 2026, I've been able to watch your journey as well. It's been so incredible. And I think it's testament to your hard work, your dedication, and your innovation that you've got to where you are today. And it probably feels a long time since I interviewed as a young little seal pup. You were the first ever guest on Behind the Decks. I'll always be grateful to you for that, mate. And you were very patient with me, just absolutely fanboying all over the gaff. So without further delay, are you ready to start the show and talk all about this next chapter in your journey? Let's do it. Let's start the pod as we always do on Behind the Decks, mate, by talking about your music journey once more. So there's loads to discuss, as we've already just mentioned, but I want to start with how you've built your social media following from when we last checked in to now, as the growth has been absolutely mind-blowing and incredible. Chart that progress for me and how have you evolved and innovated to get your social media content to where it is now? For sure.

SPEAKER_00

So yeah, 2023, I was in the what I would call the what would I say? It's like the rebirth of Jarfunk in many ways. I was on a certain pathway with a certain sound. I was sitting in this world of like trying to do something in this mid-tempo ctrinata, like RB crossword dance music world. And I'd had some success with that. I think at that point I was already at a couple of hundred thousand monthly listeners on Spotify. I'd had some decent streams on some tracks, but my socials were hovering around 10,000 on Instagram and like a couple of thousand on TikTok. I hadn't really dived in on TikTok yet. But yeah, it hadn't really taken off to the point where, you know, I had a strong following and it was a very niche following. I certainly had some fans in that world. But that's kind of where I was. I also felt for a long time this disconnect between, you know, the music that I was making and then the music that I was DJing out when I was doing my live shows. I would end up having to play a lot faster, a lot more housey stuff, which I still love that music, but the music that I was making was a lot slower and a lot more mid-tempo, and it like it did well on Spotify. You know, it's nice to have that sort of stuff streaming and people listen to it in their everyday lives. But yeah, there was this disconnect there. So I felt that I needed to re-evaluate what I was doing and try to make things just a bit more cohesive in general. And I'd say that was the first stage of the process, like just kind of stopping. I didn't release music for about a year. Also, just what I was listening to and what kind of music was exciting me at the time. I thought about that and I was like, okay, well, I'm listening to a lot of disco music, a lot of funk stuff, and not remixes or reddits, like the original funk and disco stuff. And I just thought, yeah, like what am I actually getting excited about the most in music right now? And it was those styles of music. So I picked up guitar and bass during COVID as well. So I'd already kind of begun to learn those instruments and use them in my music. But yeah, I really wanted to develop a new look and and I had to like reinvent myself, I feel, in order to go down this route. So I gathered a lot of inspiration. I like got a bunch of old 70s and 80s album covers together and you know, had this folder of these funny, you know, all the covers back then were like the artist is just kind of doing a funny pose in a suit with a big cheesy grin on their face. And yeah, it was really kind of funny to me. So I thought, you know, I'm I'm gonna do this. I like to have fun with my music as well. I don't want it to be this super serious thing. So yeah, I went out and bought like a vintage suit from just like an op shop in Perth. I did a photo shoot. I'd also spent the last year or two experimenting making proper disco music with like more live drums, me playing the bass and the guitar and the keys and all that kind of stuff. But really trying to nail that sound and hone in on that. So there was like this development period where I had to get a lot better at instruments, I had to not relearn but really adjust the way I produce the music too. Like I had to go way more live and not so locked into this dance music grid type of style of producing. And so, yeah, there was a long time where I was just figuring it out and experimenting and testing stuff, which I think every artist needs at some point. And it's quite tricky though, because you know, we're obviously under a lot of pressure too to just keep putting stuff out there and just keep churning out songs, keep churning out content. But that period was really important for me to just get my head together and get my music together to go on this new journey.

SPEAKER_01

Before we talk about the evolution of the music and the two EPs you put out the brilliant two new EPs, I should say. From about May to October 2024, you went from 14,000 followers to a hundred thousand followers. What was key, do you think, to that looking back?

SPEAKER_00

First of all, that developmental period was really key, just to do that thinking and like, okay, what look is going to match up with the music? Like what kind of audience am I targeting? And yeah, what do I like? Like, what is cohesive with who I am as a person and as a musician, producer, artist? All of those things. And so that was really important. And then the next thing was just consistency, pumping out content. I I really committed for that six months to doing like four to five posts a week on Instagram and every day on TikTok. It was just all the same stuff copied over, but with maybe a few extra, just really easy things thrown in. So that was another thing. And the amount that I just learned through doing in that process was crazy. Like just from committing to actually doing that and to pumping out that amount of content, you start to notice, like, oh, this type of video is working or this type of video is not working. So I'm gonna stop doing that and I'm gonna focus on this new style. And particularly in the beginning, I found that quite interesting because the first maybe three weeks of that period where I went from whatever it was 14k to 100, I felt like, you know, nothing had changed about the music. The music was exactly the same. But then as soon as I changed the content style and the way that it was presented, like I started doing a lot more videos that are like right up in my face so people can see my expressions and meme content as well. Yeah, yeah, like a lot quicker cuts between the frames or the sections of the video so it felt more fast-paced and like the zooming in kind of feature, which is like a form of attention hacking. All of those things started to then really connect, and that's when it started to take off, and I was like, wow, so sometimes as an artist you get quite downy stuff, and you're like, oh, maybe my music's not that good, or maybe I don't know, my look isn't right, or whatever. But sometimes it's literally just the packaging of the music that makes all the difference. And that was a real like mind-blown moment where I was like, okay, wow, if I just experiment more and and try stuff that I can see as working on Instagram while still staying true to who I am and what my music's about, then it can really connect. And so I'd say those were the keys, just consistency in posting, learning on the fly from what works and what doesn't, authenticity, just staying true to what you're about and but at the same time developing and innovating. One more thing which I would add to that too, in terms of what helped it, is that at the time it was kind of it was new because I hadn't done that thing. I hadn't done the suit thing before. I hadn't been making straight up disco and funk music. So when I came out with that, it was like this new thing. That's something I'm gonna try to do again now that I've been doing that for two to three years. It's like you've got to innovate again, you've got to change, and you've got to adapt and you've got to grow. So those few factors there I think were really the key to it.

SPEAKER_01

Well, maybe I'll see you in some uh very brightly coloured flares soon instead of a sequel. Who knows?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, well, I've got to go through that development stage again now. So we'll see. Who knows where it could end up?

SPEAKER_01

I want to move on to a really big moment for you, May, which came in 2024, and it's when you launched your very own record label, Lucky Star Records. So, how did that come about? What did you want to achieve with it? And what was the inspiration behind the name as well?

SPEAKER_00

So, how did it come about? I was working up until that point with a record label called Unity Records, doing the dancey, more Catronata and House style stuff, and they'd been really good. Like we'd done a bunch of streams together. I I got my project off the ground to a level where it was, you know, something. But I felt like if I was going to go down that disco route, I needed to be with another label or someone that's, you know, more cohesive to this style of music. To concretize it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And I didn't feel there was a lot of people out there who were doing that. And then kind of by chance, a deal came across, a distribution deal with Believe, who I'm still with now, that came across the table and that felt really good. Like they offered a decent amount of money to fund this new project and get things done, and they had good connections to Spotify. So I was able to get some playlisting support and just some back-end support on a lot of these releases. So yeah, I was like, okay, well, this is the perfect time now to launch my own thing. And again, I think through launching my own thing, I could really be in control of the music that I was putting out. I didn't have anyone saying, oh, well, this style doesn't really work, or, you know, we don't think this song's quite right for release. I was my own boss type of thing, and I could say, like, yeah, I love this song, so I'm just gonna put it out there. And that was the thing. And I'd always wanted to start a record label and do my own thing, but I just never thought it was really possible until I partnered with Believe and had a bit more infrastructure behind me with them. So yeah, started Lucky Star, and I mean the name was inspired by a few things. Number one, I just looked up, you know, a lot of the terminology used back in those 70s and 80s disco eras is around space. Like there was, you know, there's like Galactic Funk or like Fantastic Four years.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, Fantastic Four and all that, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, like 60s with the moon, you know, the moon landing and or people were maybe just obsessed with space back then. So there's a lot of space terminology, which is I guess where the star comes from and the lyrics in the songs too. But then the name actually came from this like a flyer I saw in a cafe near where I used to live out in Carcaveluj in Lisbon. And yeah, I was I was in this process of figuring out a name for my label, and I saw this flyer for a dog, I think it was like a missing dog or something like that, and its name was Lucky. And I was like, my name's Lucky, my nickname, so it kind of sounds like that. And it was also spelled the way that my record label is spelled, which is L-U-C-K-I-E. And I liked that. So yeah, that's how it came about.

SPEAKER_01

I want to talk about shows now and touring, because in the last three years you've been DJing across Lisbon, obviously, where you live, as well as Australia and Europe. However, you got a huge opportunity when you were asked to support Australian disco stars, one of my favourite artists as well, Cosmos Midnight, on their world tour of their third album. It allowed me to see you in the flesh for the first time as well. And uh, because you were doing the DJ supports a lot. How did that come about and what was that experience like just going around the world with them for a bit?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it was amazing. They'd also been my heroes from back in the like the SoundCloud days when I came up around 2016, 2015 to 16. Obviously, knew about them, loved their music. Polarized some massive bangers, yeah, yeah. Yeah, some great stuff like Walk With Me, Kutchka, that track, there was all this stuff. And yeah, I was blown away that they A, just like knew about me and you know, had noticed what I'd been doing. But yeah, it was such an awesome experience to see because they were doing the live thing, not the full live thing with drums and and that, but sort of halfway in between that, where it's like bass singing, keys and and then guitar. And I'd never been on tour, like a proper tour like that, where it's you know, bunch of cities in a very short amount of time, like we're traveling around in the van, show one day, van to the next city, and then you do another show. And it was a real like amazing insight into what that life is about and how they managed it. It was just awesome. The shows were really fun. Like the London one that you came to is probably one of the better ones too, because it was like a bit bigger venue. London's always like amazing turnout. Yeah, I just love that tour. And even just to hang out with the guys, you know, some of the most fun parts of the tour were just driving in the van and showing each other music, telling stories, music stories, and yeah, just getting to know the guys outside of what I know of them as artists and what I know about their music. So that was really fun.

SPEAKER_01

Another artist who's done a similar transition to you, mate, and to Cosmos Binot, actually, where you've all kind of moved from dance RB and that SoundCloud era to like disco funk, and he's done it in a different direction as well, which is young Franco. He is a fucking huge now. Like, I remember listening to him like with you on those dance RB days. Now he's got Rick Hodan and General Levy on features, he's doing stuff all over the gaff. I remember seeing him in a late and aurent shirt, like my local team, and then he was on like a boat in the middle of London, like he's doing all sorts of stuff now, like he is taking over the world, Franco. And you got the chance to do some more support slots with him. So obviously, you've known him for quite a long time. How has that been to see like a fellow countryman not just do what you're doing and transition away from dancer and be in a positive way, but also just helping each other thrive, really, because you're all doing great stuff in Australia right now.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, like you said, I've known him for quite a while, probably again around like 2014, 2015, we met for the first time through SoundCloud. It's actually amazing how many friendships I have in music now from just DMing each other on SoundCloud. It was it was really an amazing little petri dish, if you could call it that back then. But yeah, he's one of my biggest inspirations in music to be able to know someone like that and see them go from where he was in Australia, where he had a little bit of a buzz going around the time that I met him. He was doing like Australia tours to now, doing tours in the States, like doing Europe tours, and you know, his music has done really well too. There's a few things I think about when I think of Joey as his name. He works incredibly hard. You know, I don't know many people in music who are just constantly on it. Like he's constantly working on music, he's putting stuff out, he's doing shows, he's like, yeah, he's a really hard worker, and I think that's something that a lot of people don't see because online I think he comes across as this. He's a bit of a loof, he's just very funny, like doesn't take himself too seriously type of character, but he is working really hard and he makes some really smart moves as well, like the collaborations that he does, how he goes about booking these tours and doing shows like there is definitely some clever stuff happening behind the scenes. So that's been really interesting. And then also just his development as an artist, too. Like I talked about this, you know, being able to reinvent, he's very aware of what's working because I think he's very inspired too by what works in clubs and what people who are clubbing like listen to, and then the culture behind that. So, you know, he started off same as me in this Catronata type of vibe, and then he moved to more he's doing like UK garage now and jungle, yeah, and all this kind of stuff. Yeah, he's very clever at like reinventing himself, yeah, just always innovating.

SPEAKER_01

I want to talk about disography now because your two big achievements in the last three years have been launching these two EPs, so Disco Nights in 2024 and Classic in 2025. Tell me about Disco Nights First, it's obvious in the name, but how has it provided this launch pad for your new sound? And and how proud of an achievement was it for you given kind of all we've discussed so far about kind of reinventing yourself and evolving from dance RB to here?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I'm immensely proud of that EP. It was the first one of this new disco funk vibe. And it was a bit of a risk in many ways too, because it it was a departure from, you know, I still had elements of funk in my music before that, but this was really like it was a different sound to what I'd been doing before. So it was a bit of a risk because I wasn't sure if people were going to like it and how it would go down, and also, you know, moving away from the record label system, doing my own independent thing, it felt like I was taking quite a lot of risks and doing quite a lot of new things. So, you know, I'm very lucky that it took off and that it did work. You know, the social media following grew and the music streamed really well. Definitely very thankful for that because it could easily have not done that too, had it just not have landed for whatever reason. But yeah, I'm just proud that I really trusted in myself and did something that I believed in. I definitely wasn't basing the decision to go down that route off the back of like, oh, I think other people might like this. It was just, I love this, I believe in this, so I'm gonna do it and I'm gonna work really hard at doing the content, finishing the songs, and developing this new look. So, you know, like I did a vinyl as well. I I tried to do vinyl runs before, but never really had the demand there to sell enough copies to like get a pre-order going and to fund a project. So to have that take off and now like because I only did like uh a hundred copies of that vinyl. I wasn't sure how many people would want it, but I think there's some copies on Discogs going for like 200 euros or something like that, because people really do want that vinyl. So yeah, I just feel very lucky that that happened. And then the second EP Classic was just like an evolution of that. Like, since that I wanted to go even more into this live sound and have more like live drums on that than I did on Classic, which had a a bit more program stuff in there. Yeah, that was also great. Too just like a continuation and a slight evolution. Like my musical ability improved a little bit between those EPs, guitar and bass, songwriting, I guess, as well. And then I got some nice features on that EP2, like High Life Supreme from the States. He's an awesome artist. Stefan Mahendra, as well from the UK, who he worked with me on disco nights on a couple of tracks. So yeah, very happy that both of those have streamed well and that I just kind of did that. You know, I did the music that I truly wanted to do. I felt like I executed my vision the way that I saw it. That's the thing that I'm probably most proud of. You know, I'm obviously very thankful that it did do well and it streamed well, but I'm just happy that artistically I did what I wanted to do and I saw my vision through in the way that I envisioned it from the start.

SPEAKER_01

Before we talk about the book, I think in the scene more widely, the countries which are producing the best disco and funk right now are sort of the UK, France, Belgium, or the Netherlands, and Australia. So, like in Australia, you've got yourself, you've obviously got Franco who's doing different things as well. You've got parcels who just put out an absolute 10 out of 10 album. I went to see that Wembley Arena, just absolutely magical. And then you've got someone like De Boul in France, who's like one of my absolute favourite artists right now. I'm going to see him again this year at time of recording. I saw him last year, it's still in my top five gigs of all time. Like, how much inspiration are you taking from the wider scene in whatever new music you're going to put out next? And how much inspiration are you taking from completely other genres in what might come next to?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you're right. There is definitely, particularly in Europe, this disco, it's just in the clubs that you go out to. Like one of my favourite DJs right now is Kirillus, who's a guy from the UK, and he's just playing like boogie funk, funk, disco stuff, like some house as well. And yeah, there's a demand for it here in in the clubs, which is something I didn't see in Australia. And then, yeah, like you said, like Dabou, he's a guy that I definitely respect too. Like, you know, the look and the image that he's crafted is amazing. The live show puts out Unreal. Yeah, I really got to see that live show too.

SPEAKER_01

When I went to see him, yeah, I don't think his English is like amazing. So like all he kind of really did was just go sexy chocolate, just to all of his band members, like on and off all the time. And that's it.

SPEAKER_00

I love that. I love that the energy still comes across no matter what, you know. But yeah, I'm definitely looking at those guys and I listen to their music, obviously. I love it. I feel like I'm looking at a slightly different era. Like I feel Debo, he's like 80s with that more drum machine kind of feel. Parcels are probably more in the realm that I'm in where it's like, you know, more live drums and it's probably a bit more 70s sounding, but then they've got this whole indie sound to their music too. It's like indie bee gees almost. That's like they're trying to go for yeah. Yeah. But then yeah, the kind of music that I look to for inspiration is from the late 70s, like it's it's more jazzy, it's maybe not as poppy. Even like Jamaicoir, I'm influenced by a lot the whole thing. Saw him last year as well. Yeah, amazing. Wow, amazing. So yeah, that's the stuff that I'm inspired by the most at the moment is like late 70s disco and funk stuff, and definitely acid jazz as well.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, a lot of Royers in there, some Patrice Russian, that sort of vibe, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I'm loving it. Yeah, exactly. Like Sheik, Niall Rogers, Brothers Johnson, Michael Jackson, obviously. Yeah, lots of people.

SPEAKER_01

Another huge achievement for you, mate, was the publication of your first ever book. It was called The Independent Artist Playbook in 2025. So again, how did this come about? And what did you want to achieve with it too?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I kind of never thought that I I would write a book, but I'm really proud that I put that out. And in terms of what kind of book it is, it's a more like a guidebook or a playbook rather than a, you know, a novel or something, you know, a life story type of thing. It obviously incorporates lots of stuff about my life and my journey as an artist, but it's more something that other independent artists could maybe read and learn from if they wanted to go down the same route as me, as like, you know, independent artist making a living from music. It came about mostly because I'd never really found that there was a book out there for people like me who are like maybe music producers and haven't come from a musical background, they don't really have an awareness of what the industry is like or just how you can make a living in this game. Like there was a lot of guesswork and a lot of trial and error for me when I started out, and I wasn't really sure how it was going to work, but I just kind of gave it a shot and figured it out along the way, which I guess is what everyone has to do anyway. Like someone can lay out a blueprint of how they've done it, but your career is always gonna maybe be a little bit unique. But yeah, I just wanted to put something out there that up-and-coming producers could learn from, they could take some things from it and apply it to their own careers and see, you know, just get that inspiration to believe that even if you are, you know, someone like me who's had no musical background up until the age of 18, that it's still possible to do and you can make a career out of it. It's not just a dream, you know, like I was just a yeah, like a kid from Perth who loved music, and then somehow 15 years later, it I've managed to turn it into my full-time thing. So my goal was just to share that experience and and hopefully inspire some other people to follow their dreams and their passion and show that they can do it too.

SPEAKER_01

I've had so many conversations with independent and grassroots artists on this pod, mate, where they all say there's no handbook, right? For the music industry, and that's exactly what you've said. And I remember you did a post with a breakdown of your income from music, and I was surprised to learn that sample packs made up about 60%. But I think your fans will be surprised, not me, because I know the insides and outs of the music industry now, well, most of it anyway, to see how little streaming makes up your income. You know, it's like a Charles Dickens novel where they're paying you in shillings and all them, man. How do we educate more music fans so they know how and where to support their favourite artists outside of streams and also educate the artists themselves so they know exactly what they need to do going in if they want to make a real success of it like you have?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I think if I remember correctly, the the pie chart you're talking about, my I think streaming was maybe about 40%. Uh sorry, sample packs were about 40%. That was it. Streaming was maybe 20, 30%. And then there was like publishing royalties, was another part of that, and then a bunch of other little tiny slices like remixes, some social media stuff. The most important thing to realize for artists who are coming into this is that the way you earn money in music is different to what it used to be because when you know there were actual physical record sales, records, CDs, cassettes, whatever, there was a lot more money in the recorded music industry. And you probably could make a living from just releasing albums and touring. Like that was sort of the playbook for artists back then. But now in in this new streaming age, you have to be a lot more diverse in what you do. Like you still need the music. The music's probably the most important part of it because you do earn a little bit of income from it if you get it right, but it's also the advertisement for everything else that you can do in your business. Like, that's how I see it. It's like, you know, it's the songs. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's like my songs show other producers out there, like, oh, this is the type of music that he's capable of making. And if they like that music, they're gonna be more keen to listen to what I have to say about how to produce that type of music. And then the streaming and all of the numbers kind of shows that okay, wow, he does know how to market his music, he knows how to get streams, like that's another part of the advertisement of it, if you can say that. And then with that, you can then say, like, okay, well, I can do the music, I can get the streams. Like, here's some sample packs, here are the tools that I use to make my music. And so that's another thing that you can make money from. And then there's also like remixes, because again, your music shows other artists out there, like, this is what you can do. So we'll get him to do a remix and you know, we'll pay him some money to do that. Then there's shows, obviously. Shows add up to a little bit of income as well. And then, yeah, the social media stuff is really powerful, obviously, too. If you can build a following there, and it's like very difficult to get it off the ground. It took me 10 years, really, to have any sort of activity there in the social media department. So it's a it's a grind for sure. Same mate.

SPEAKER_01

I'm still almost at a thousand followers on Instagram, and I've been doing this almost 10 years.

SPEAKER_00

It's really it's really hard, and everyone's trying to do it as well, so it's very saturated. But if you can get it right, it opens doors to another thing of my business now, is like affiliate deals where I will make a video about a music program, like a plug-in or something that producers can use. And then if people buy it through my link, then I get a small cut, and that's another income stream. So, and like paid posts obviously are another revenue stream there for social media. But yeah, as an artist, you've just got to try lots of things. Like I didn't know that the sample packs was gonna be such a major income source. I just kind of tried it back in the day when Splice was just starting. I I gave it a go and turns out that it does make money. So, okay, I'm gonna do some more of that now. And so there's a lot of trial and error there. So I I guess to summarize for artists out there, just try stuff until you find something that works for you and what you do, and just give it a go. And then in terms of what fans can do to support artists, I think streaming's obviously still very important. So, like stream your favorite artist songs, go to their shows, buy their merch as well, like vinyl and shirts and stuff, that kind of thing really does help. I think that's about it. I think the most important thing is just for artists though to realize that you've got to be a bit more diverse in what you do than just make, you can't just make music, you have to market yourself, you have to learn how to create an image and create a look and all these things outside of the music if you really want it to work. And it was something that I avoided for a long, long time. Like I always was adamant that, like, no, my music is gonna be so good that it's just gonna cut through and people are gonna listen to it. And I think the reality is that no matter how good your music is, you still need to market it and you still need to develop an image because as I was saying before, with in the social media thing, you know, it's the packaging of the music which is equally as important as the music itself.

SPEAKER_01

I've actually had uh a couple of podcast guests on this series who have told me that they've downloaded and bought your sample packs as well, mate. So there you go.

SPEAKER_00

Nice. Amazing. It's amazing how I've heard a lot of people say that they use them. It's kind of interesting too that it doesn't cross over into fans or like, you know, more streams or listeners. Maybe it does a little bit, but there's a lot of people who use my sample packs who then have never heard of me as an artist and as a like a live act. So they're kind of independent worlds, but it still helps the bigger picture in general.

SPEAKER_01

That's very interesting. Before we reflect, I want to talk about two horrible events which happened in the last three years in the DJ world, which has been the deaths of two very big DJs and producers in their own right in different music scenes. So Jack Master, I think I've seen him live 10 times. He died tragically in October 2024, and then Roche musique label owner Cartel also tragically died in March 2025. Now we're not going to discuss their deaths or any of those details out of respect for them. However, what I do want to discuss is how did those deaths impact you personally, whether it comes to your attitude on life, your values, maybe your attitude towards music and the music you create, and how you just reflected on those as well, mate.

SPEAKER_00

Now, that's a good question. Cartel was one who I followed really closely, loved his music, especially when I started out as a producer. Like I loved Roche music, I loved their whole vibe, and particularly Cartel. It was like him, FKJ, Darius. Yeah, those three guys were like some. The bull as well, actually. I think he's on he was on Roche, yeah, yeah. Yeah. But yeah, particularly when I heard about Cartel, I was my immediate thought was just like, wow, life is just so short. You never know when you know your time is going to come. So you can't waste time if you want to do something like you have to do it now. You know, I'm obviously happy for Cartel that he put out all this music and he shared his passion and the things that he loved. Like he was able to share that with everyone and inspire people like me and others out there. So that was my initial thought was just like, fuck man, you gotta do what you love. You know, that you can't wait around and go, oh, when I get this, just when this is right and when all these things are in place, then I'll have a go at my eyes. Like, no, you gotta do it right now because you never know when your time's gonna be up. So I think that was my initial thought. And then that was probably the main thought that I had. Jack Master, I definitely listened to a few of his DJ sets over the years. He was a DJ's DJ, wasn't he? Really? He was one of the ghosts. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, there was that DJ set with um it was like a boiler room that he did with it was with another, maybe it was with Scream. Was it Scream?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, probably Scream.

SPEAKER_00

I love that set. But yeah, it's just Yeah, it's really sad. Yeah. They live their dream and and they did all the things that I'm sure many of the things that they set out to do. So I was kind of like they were able to do that and inspire people at the same time, but also, yeah, very tragic. Another thing with I watched the Michael Jackson film the other day, and I had a similar takeaway, which was that there's always this sense that the work isn't finished and that the full potential has never been quite realized, even with someone like Michael Jackson, who's obviously probably the most successful artist of all time, but I'm sure it felt the same way with Cartel and Jack Master. It's like there's always this sense of, you know, you could do more, or there's more to the story there. But I think it's also important to realize that we should be proud of the things that we have achieved. And, you know, sometimes what you've done is enough. I think it's important to be become content too and proud of the work that you have done and not always be thinking of like, oh well, I haven't done this, I haven't done that. Look at what you have done too and be proud of that.

SPEAKER_01

Let's reflect on your continued music journey, mate. So in the last three years, what has this chapter taught you about yourself?

SPEAKER_00

That's a good question. I think the first thing is when I really give it a hundred percent, I can achieve things that even I didn't believe were possible. Like, you know, with the social media, I definitely didn't anticipate it growing to the level that it has done now. And I can really look back on that, particularly like 2024. That year I gave it my all. Like I genuinely can say that I tried my hardest. You know, I put the music out there, I stuck to my content plan, and I really gave it everything. And so I think everyone can come to the same conclusion. Like we obviously put limitations on ourselves to what we think's possible, but I think if you really give it your all and and just see what happens, then we can we can all achieve a lot. So that was one of the takeaways. But what's another thing? I am probably more resilient than I thought. You know, like it's hard some days, especially with content. Like, I don't love producing and editing video. If I had it my way, I would probably just make music and do shows. But I think sometimes, especially like I guess with any job, you have to do things that you don't like in order, you know, as a sacrifice for the bigger goal and the bigger dream. So I think sometimes you just got to knuckle down and do things, and and often the most growth is in those things that you don't want to do. Like I avoided social music for so uh social music, social media for so long. Your music is social music, mate. Yeah, yeah. I guess all music is in a way. Yeah, I really avoid it. I hated it, like I didn't want to do it. I thought it was really cringe, but as soon as I bit the bullet and did it, it was like, okay, wow, there's so much potential here for my music to, you know, to go to those places that I envisioned that it would. And so that was a big lesson too. It's just like there's the most growth is often in things that you least want to do. So that was another one. And then, yeah, a lesson which I've been learning currently as we speak over the last few months is that you do need to continually grow because just when you think you figured it out and that you've got the formula, like right now, I feel I felt like I was in that category for a while that I'd, you know, I'd cracked the code, my content was working, my music was working, and now all of a sudden I'm finding that like, okay, it's slowing down a bit now. I'm not growing as much on social media anymore. The music's also feeling a little bit stale. I still love it, of course, but I feel that I'm at a point now where it's time again to grow as a human and evolve, like not just musically, but as a person. And yeah, I guess progress and happiness and success are things that require constant change. Like you can't just sit still. And so, yeah, obviously when you do crack the formula, like hammer it until it stops working. And I feel like I've done that, but I feel like, yeah, now's the time to grow again and I need to evolve. That was another realization. I might reference the Michael movie a few times here because I just watched it last week, but that was another takeaway from there is like he was constantly evolving and all these different errors where it was like the off-the-wall error and then the thriller era. You can see him as a person and as an artist, he's evolving and is he's constantly improving. And that was something I resonated with at the moment is that I need to do that, I need to evolve, I need to update like my look, I need to change the music a bit. And also try to be maybe more cohesive to again who I am as a person now. Because back when I started, I was 18, I was 20, I was going out to clubs, I was going out to shows, I love DJing, I love DJs. And now I'm 34 years old, I've probably been out to a club like twice in the last two years. You know, that's just not who I am anymore. Same mates, yeah. Yeah. So like I can still love that music, dance music and house music, but I think for me as an artist, if I ask myself, who am I now as a person and what do I like to do? It's like, well, okay, now I like listening to music at home. You know, I like playing instruments. I would prefer to go to a show that's at like 7 p.m. and be home by 10. You know what I'm saying? So I think what I'm kind of feeling like is the right pathway for me right now is to more go down this live music route where I'm gonna, I'm gonna start a band. That's the biggest thing that's on the horizon now. Yeah, that that just feels a lot more natural and a lot more exciting to me than doing DJ sets again and trying to appeal to people who are in that exclusively in that, you know, sort of 18 to 24 range. Like I want to do the thing which is cohesive to me and is real to me, which is is the band thing. And so I think again, it's like it's the question of who is the authentic me, who is the authentic ja funk as an artist, and so yeah, this is this is where I'm at now.

SPEAKER_01

After our part two off air, we were talking about music, and you recommended Mad Honey to me, now known as another taste, and they are going great guns right now. So who knows, mate, when you start this band, it could be in that sort of world because that music is so timeless, and like it's for every demographic, it's for every age range, like it's not limited, it's not confined. So who knows, mate? We're manifesting it on this one.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, exactly. I love those guys. Shout out to Another Taste and Bass Grapes Records as well. I love what they're doing, like they're doing it the old school way, recording to tape, doing the live band thing, and they're just nailing it. So I would love to do something like that.

SPEAKER_01

We've talked about your continued music journey, Lockie. Let's go behind the decks and talk once more about your continued mental health journey for a third time. So, firstly, easy question. How do you reflect on your part two and your evolution and growth from part one? What feedback did you get to part two, for example? And who's the Lockie we meet now? Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So I feel like that initial period there that I was in. I guess I'll start with the music and then I'll bring it around to the mental health side of things. Is that, you know, musically I was very much on a growth arc, like I was figuring a lot of things out. It was a lot of trial and error, a lot of experimentation, and not as much responsibility on like a personal front as well. You know, I was single, I was young, time was definitely a luxury. And yeah, I I had the freedom to sort of travel around, fully devote myself into the music. And yeah, I feel like that was an experimental period as well as like, yeah, all right, you gotta work hard and try to get something off the ground. You know, there were challenges within that, like from a mental health perspective of like uncertainty. You don't know if this is gonna work. It's definitely a risky pathway. So learning to manage that and learning how to be okay with uncertainty and sort of just keep pushing forward without the I guess we all go through that. We all attempt things and we all try things and we don't know what the outcome is going to be. That definitely developed a lot of resilience within me to say, like, okay, you're never going to be a hundred percent certain of what the outcome is, but you've just got to try. And so I'm kind of thankful I was able to develop that resilience. But now I feel like the game is. A bit different. Yeah, I'm 34 years old. I've kind of built a little bit of a name for myself with my music. And so there's a bit more responsibility on the horizon. Like I've got a partner now, she's amazing. Jazz, shout out to her. And, you know, those things that I want to do in life, like, you know, potentially want to start a family one day, have kids, that suddenly means that okay, you're going to have a bit more responsibility in the future. You've got to be able to support your family. You've got to be able to support your kids and do this. So putting yourself in a position to do that is something I've been thinking about while still trying to balance my goals and dreams at the same time. You know, like I still want to be an artist, but I've also got to be aware that, yeah, you've got to do some things which are more money focused, and that's okay too. Because if you want to have those things in life, then you're going to have to have some money, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01

Secure the bag. Yeah, you've got to do it. Yes. Exactly. It's a tough world out there, mate. Yeah. You spoke there about balance. And like you've said, you've amassed this great social media following. You were posting four or five times a week at one point, you were getting a little bit burnt out from that. So now you've got the foundation. You don't need to hustle as intensely, but you don't want to get complacent either, I imagine. So at the same time, you still need a life outside of music and you still need to have that work-life balance. How have you created that? Is it still a work in progress or have you found a good place yet?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I've definitely evened things out and balanced them a bit more than what it was. Like back in 2024, it was just a pretty much a hundred percent music. I went to the gym and I kept fit and that was really important. But now I do have a few more things. Like I play golf, which is one of my other passions, something that I love doing and gives me a lot of joy. So I'm trying to do things like that, or even just spend some time at the beach, you know, do things on my own, have some alone time. Yeah, I feel like I've done a bit better at incorporating those things into my life because if you don't have any of those things which you do purely just for joy and for fun, I felt like I in particular, there were some periods where I felt unhappy, even at the same time as having all this success on social media and and the music going well. It was like, well, I don't have much of a social life. I'm not seeing many of my friends. I'm not, yeah. It's so important to have that. And it's something I still am trying to find the right balance on. Like it's it's also changing, right? Like there's times where like over the last six months, I've definitely probably more in the the enjoyment side of things. I haven't been going as hard as music. So now I'm kind of swinging it back and focusing on music a little bit more. It's something that, again, it's it's never static. And there's never like, oh, you should spend two days or like a certain amount of hours having fun every week. But yeah, I think it's a game of balance, but it's also a game of defending. Like, you know, it's a very attacking game. This is something I heard Gordon Ramsay talk about when he was pursuing his, you know, his first Michelin star and then retaining the three stars more towards the end of his career. But like I feel it's the same way in in music. Like initially it's attacking, it's trial and error, it's trying all this stuff, going at it really hard and just trying to get something to work. But now that something is working, it's a bit more of a game of defense. Like you've got to keep doing what is true to you and what you love, but at the same time, you have to evolve and you have to innovate. So it's slightly different, but you still have to keep progressing. But yeah, also the burnout thing is really real, especially I find with the social media side, like you talked about. Like it's hard to meet that volume of content that's required these days. Like to do five posts a week is not easy. Like five good posts that are engaging and that, you know, are entertaining. It's really hard. And like I have to dedicate a whole day to filming and then maybe an hour plus a day to edit from Monday to Friday. So that really does burn me out. Yeah, that's why the other stuff like the golf and and the beach and you know, seeing friends and just going out is really important because that really calms me down, gets me out of my own head, and just stops me thinking about music stuff for a while so that I can have longevity in this game because that's something I want too. I don't want to just go really hard now and then be so sick of it after a few years that then I don't make any music. So that's why I do all those things, is because I do want to have a long-term career in this, and yeah, that really helps me to stay positive, say happy, motivated at work, and so it's really important.

SPEAKER_01

In part one, we talked about how your parents didn't quite have the best reaction when you told them you wanted to do music as a career. However, there was a good ending to this because both of them came around when they knew you were serious, you wanted to make it actually viable, you showed them the dream, the vision, shall we say. So, how have you seen that improve and change over the years in supporting you? And also, they still live in Australia, but you managed to get them to come to one of your shows in Adelaide when you came back last year. So, how special was that as well?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that was amazing because there was definitely a few years there at the beginning where, you know, there was, I guess, a lot of fear there from them because, you know, no one in my family had ever done anything arts related, no music, no artists, no nothing. My mum's a physio, my dad's in the Navy, both of them went to university, dad later on in his life, but mum went to uni, got the job, and followed that pathway, which was really successful for both of them. And so to have a child go down a pathway that is really uncertain and risky, I could imagine was very scary. So I can understand from their perspective why they would be scared for me and not really know what to do. So I can understand why they had that reaction. But you know, me as an 18-year-old, you obviously like you don't understand it to that level back then.

SPEAKER_01

It's Dals RB, mum, come on. Don't you know who a Veach is, Mum? Catron Odd is massive.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. There was years there where we weren't really seeing eye to eye on things like they didn't understand my vision. I couldn't understand the fact that they couldn't understand it. So, you know, for them to see me to work at it for so many years and for it to not just be, you know, they might have thought as well, like, oh yeah, you want to do this while he's 18 and, you know, in his own.

SPEAKER_01

But then it'll phase out. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

It'll phase out. But for them to see me now, like 15 years later, still going hard and still having success and still enjoying it, and also probably just to see how happy I am as a person that I have followed my dream and have managed to make it work, I think they've realized like, okay, yeah, this was his pathway and he made the right choice. And also thank God that I have had some success and you know, made a living out of it, because it could easily have not gone that way, and I could be in a very difficult position right now. So I always thought too, even in my early 20s, that I would be so disappointed in myself if I had not just tried and given it a go. Let's say I, you know, failed is an interesting word, but let's say it hadn't have worked out to this level of success. I would have still been happy that I had spent my time doing what I love. I met so many amazing people through music, made some great friends, and really loved my life in my 20s. So that was kind of my cushion. It was like, well, I can always go back to tennis coaching if I really need to just, you know, make some money or I'm sure I could do something else. There wasn't really that fear there of like, I'm gonna be in a difficult position because I'd always just believe that I could make it work somehow. But yeah, for them to then accept it and go, okay, this is his pathway, let's support him. You know, they always post on social media now like my releases and anything that happens, they're you know, they're posting it on Facebook. And they did come to a show in Adelaide. I had a like a headline show there a couple of years ago and mum and dad flew across from Canberra to Adelaide and you know, we spent the weekend in Adelaide. They came to the club and were dancing and you know, had a great time. That was really awesome for me to see and to have your parents supporting you. It really felt gave me a lot of like confidence and really uplifted me because, you know, when the people who, you know, your family are supporting you like that, you feel just so confident in yourself and you really feel that love. So it's definitely turned around and I'm so happy that they have been able to accept that and uh yeah, accept who I am, even though it's something that they might not understand. Did it feel like a full circle moment for you then? Yeah, definitely. Yeah, exactly. Like to turn around and for it to be, you know, we weren't speaking for many months at the beginning. You know, I'd moved to the UK as well, I just left the country, so I was, you know, just doing my own thing for a while there. But to have it fully come around like that and for them to be on board, it does feel amazing, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I've just got a picture in my head of you like DJing or doing like a live set and them like kind of dancing as if they're like in a sort of ballroom. Like I just got that sort of picture in my head. It was just great.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, they're a they're a little bit more cool than that. They were behind the decks and and dancing. There's some videos out.

SPEAKER_01

Oh no, you're a backup dancers. All right. Love that. Before we reflect, mate, when we spoke off air, you were keen to have a little bit of a two-way conversation here and ask me a couple questions about you know my journey in the last three years or even two years. I've not prepared anything for this, so I'm just gonna give you the floor and we'll see where this goes. Amazing.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, love it. Yeah, so like my main question was gonna be about you know your mental health journey. You'd spoken to me, maybe if not the second podcast, but the first one that we did about how you had come a long way, and you know, you essentially went through this almost hypnotherapy type of thing. Yeah, EMDR. And so I was just wondering, yeah, like you seem to be in quite a good place then when I spoke to you, and I was wondering how things have just evolved for you in general over these last two or three years and and how you're doing.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, man, it's a good question because there's a lot a lot's happened. So I did, you're right, did that EMDR, which was life-changing for me, life-saving for me in many ways. And then what's happening in the last two years? So I went through some very and I've spoken about this on a previous podcast with my best mate James. I had a couple of quite big health scares in some uh sensitive areas, shall we say, where I had to have a couple of surgeries. I thought I had cancer in that year as well. So I thought I had cancer, and it turned out to be a very large cyst. So then that was treated, and then I had an abscess which had to be treated as well with emergency surgery, and then I had another surgery after that. So then that all happened. So yeah, but lots of ups and downs, mate.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, wow. Do you find it as you get older easier or harder to deal with things that may pop up? Because in some ways I feel more resilient as a person, the fact that I have been through and and come through difficult moments, but then at the same time, it can often feel quite frustrating again, you know, when life hits you with a new problem and you know, just when you think you've figured it out, it's like, oh no, hold on, you gotta deal with this. So, yeah, how does that feel for you?

SPEAKER_01

Do you know what? I think you're spot on there because I do feel like I'm better at bouncing back, but then also you do have that frustration. It's like, well, I kind of want to crack on now, I kind of want to do all these things that some of my peers are doing, you know, kids, family, whatever it is. And you do think, oh fucking hell, like I'm like this is frustrating again now. And and I think the fact that I've got diagnosed with ADHD last year and I got diagnosed with autism in 2024, I think those have really helped me understand my brain and why I do get those feelings of frustration. So there's a lot of like increased self-awareness, but I do absolutely agree. Like the older you get, I think almost like the more frustrated you do sometimes feel with like little things that pop up because you just kind of want to crack on and don't lose any time. So I think time becomes much more pertinent to you. I'm much more grateful for everything I have in life now, but I'm also maybe a bit more anxious about how quickly time is going too. And I know you know my older listeners will kind of be lambasting me in the background somewhere because I'm still 32. But I always say to people, Kalang, like post-27, time is just going like that now. Yeah. Like every year just feels like a sneeze. Whereas kind of before that period, like I do feel time was going a bit slowly for me. Like I can remember a six-month internship I did when I was like 22, and I can always remember like every single day of it. Whereas like now I'm like six months? What the hell was that? Like, what the when did that when did that happen?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's very true. Your your awareness of it certainly becomes heightened. Yeah. And then I guess another question I had was going to be about music. What's your relationship with music like now and what does music mean to you? Because it certainly has changed for me over the years as uh, you know, from my early 20s to now my mid-30s, my relationship like to music as a producer and as just someone who listens to music has certainly changed. But I'd be interesting to hear what you yeah, like what kind of music do you like at the moment? How does it sort of help you in your life or or any thoughts you have?

SPEAKER_01

My music taste has definitely evolved. I listen to loads more country now. Like I got obsessed with country maybe like a year and a half ago. I'm such a basic lad when it comes to country. Like I just like hearing about God, women, beer, church, trucks. Like, I'm such a basic guy, but I just like how simplistic it is, but still complex. I always like the contrast between like I listen to so much pop punk still. Like, I've listened to pop punk when I'm 75, you know what I mean? But I always love how like in pop punk the theme is like leaving your hometown and like getting out, whereas like in country it's like how much they love their hometown and like how much they love their friends in the local pub. So I always like those contrasts. Still listen to a lot of disco, but more modern disco, I think. Now I don't listen to as much like 70s. My playlist is still like 900 songs long for my disco master library, but yeah, definitely more modern disco, more funk now, more modern funk. Still love alt pop, still bang alt pop, you know, weekly. I'd say since I discovered the 1975 in like 2012, 13. I've been listening to all pop like pretty non-stop. Less rap now, I would say. I'm pretty kind of like not apathetic about rap, but like I don't think rap's in a majorly good place personally. I think the UK scene's still good. I don't listen to as much drill anymore.

SPEAKER_00

What do you feel? Is it why do you gravitate towards these styles of music now? And like, why is your taste the way it is now? Do you think it's just the way your life is now and and the way you feel in general about things is sort of allows you to gravitate towards those styles that you can maybe relate to a bit more, or is it something else?

SPEAKER_01

I think maybe, mate. I think becoming an an uncle to five nephews has definitely changed a little bit of that. I think getting older naturally, I think you maybe become a bit more skeptical of like kind of basic pop music. Although I actually do listen to loads of pop music, you know, everyone will know how obsessed I am with the Jonas brothers. I think they put out bangers after bangers at the moment. I listen to a lot of Bieber, I think Bieber's the absolute goat. His last two albums were amazing. So I'd listen to like really great pop music, but I think I'm just a bit more skeptical about like the cookie-cutter pop music. And I think I've become maybe more appreciative of like this music just isn't for me, you know? Whereas some pop music which is for the kids does still appeal to me. You know, I'll still listen to a Sabrina Carpenter song, or I'll still listen to something like that, but some of the other stuff maybe I won't listen to as much. Like I do like certain elements of glitch rap and some glitch rap artists, but then there's other glitch rap artists which are like purely Gen Z, and I'm like, yeah, that's really for them. That's not for me. I think I am because of all the interviews that I've done and like all the music I've listened to over the years and like all the gigs that I've been to, I think I am more appreciative of like a really great live show, and I think I am quite a big advocate for like how the kids do need great live acts too. I think when you're younger, you kind of just like go to a gig and just the magic and awe of it all, you don't really appreciate how good an artist maybe is live. And I think a lot of the young artists are sort of getting away with it in inverted commas. I think some of them just aren't great live acts, and I don't think that's great for the kids either. They deserve great music, they deserve great films. They haven't really got a lot of great films for them at the moment, sadly. I think you're right. I think it is about how getting older, it's about how your music taste evolves. I think country is fresh as well. I always love listening to like something that sounds fresh, like country as a genre isn't fresh, but just that whole new wave of country for me was always quite fresh for me. So any like new genre is always like amazing for me. Like my ADHD in autism just like explodes. It'll buy every single album, it'll read books, and then it'll kind of like put that on the shelf and then move on to the next genre. So yeah, yeah, man. It's a long-winded dance, but that's kind of like where I'm at.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, no, I like that. I like um I guess that resonated with me too when you talked about simplicity and how I'm finding more and more too that I get older, like especially having had some success, is like, you know, what's really important in life are the everyday simple things, you know, like being able to go for a walk with your partner or like meet up with your friends and have a laugh, you know, go play golf and you know, not take it too seriously and just enjoy being out there in the, you know, in nature and in the sunshine, like these are the things which more and more I'm I'm learning to appreciate. And even, you know, seeing your parents get older is another thing too. Like I'm certainly an awareness of time and you know, how often will we be able to go for a hike and take the dogs for a walk up there and like just talk shit and have a laugh as well. It's like these are the things I think which, you know, it's funny, the things that money can't buy are the things that you value the most, and all the other stuff like Instagram followers, like even though I'm still very appreciative of that and you know, the opportunities that it gives me, it's like these things don't matter that much. So if I lose 10,000 followers the next day, well, that's all right. I've got my family, I've got my friends, I've got things in my life which I love, and this is what it's really about for me. So again, that's why the balance thing is, you know, because if I were to only care about the music and was so hungry for that outcome of like, well, I need to have 10 million streams, I need to have a million followers, and then yeah, it just blinds you to all the other things which are really important.

SPEAKER_01

You're completely spot on, mate. You know, it's always important to have goals and ambitions, and I still do have them for vent, but I'm sort of I'm not as wedded to them now. I really appreciate what you said about gratitude because you know, for my parents, you know, yes, I've had issues with my parents. We've done a lot of work and a lot of difficult work to kind of reconcile those issues now, and now I'm grateful for every day I've got with them. You know, my dad's 73 now, you know, I'm very aware of how much time I've got left with him, obviously touch wood and everything else, but like he's had health issues in the past, and you know, I'm seeing them today after this, I'm seeing them tomorrow. I'm very lucky in that I live 10 minutes away from them, so I can go see them every day if I wanted to, and I can see my nephews whenever I want. So I'm very grateful of that, and I'm also very aware that some people don't have that, a lot of people don't have that, you know. We live in quite an atomized world right now. Some people don't get on with their parents, some people are forced to kind of move away, like yourself, you know, halfway around the world, so they don't get to see their parents very often. So I'm very aware of that, I'm very respectful of that, and I try just to be as present as I can for every moment. You know, I remember my best mate Hannah said to me when I did the first vent just checking in live, like all those years ago. I remember sitting there where everyone was dancing. As you said, Fred, just take a moment, just like realise you did all this. So since then, I've tried to like be as present as I can for those big moments, as stressful as every show has been for me to do, and all that other stuff. Just try and be present and maximize every moment that I can that's positive. And then also if it is a negative, just try and learn from it. You know, I I think in the past I've been quite hard on myself, and I think that's a bullying scar, you know, whether that's falling out with people or you know, just growing apart from people or whatever it is, I think I'm quite hard on myself, and I think I've gotten a lot better at just detaching from that, not instantly, but kind of quite quickly, which is really good. I think that's a big growth for me that if I have fallen out with people, I'm not ruminating about it for like six months. I'm kind of like really sad for maybe like a week or a few days, and I just move on. And, you know, a close friend of mine at work, she's a close friend in general, anyway. She said, you know, friends are here for like a season or a reason. That's the kind of mantra I try and have now with friends. Like, you've been in my life since 2020, mate. That's uh that's a big part of both our lives, bro. Like I've seen you grow from this dance RB artist that I love to this really successful, multi-talented, multi-genre artist now. And I hope that the podcasts have helped you, and I hope that they'll continue to help you and whatever next stage of your music growth and evolution is, mate. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, appreciate that. Thank you so much. I'm happy to be a part of them. And I mean, they've even just helped me from a point of like, yeah, to stop and reflect on things because you often, you know, you're going so hard at trying to achieve the next thing that you know it's not often that you just stop and go, Oh, yeah, I did do all that stuff, and that was cool. So that's been a great thing. But yeah, I think you're right. It's uh it is important to enjoy all those things and to again to have balance because also, yes, obviously like having friends and spending time with family is really important too, but you can't at the same time ignore your own goals and your dreams and desires and the things that you want to do professionally or personally. So yeah, it's all just a part of the balance.

SPEAKER_01

I think that's a really good way to wrap up, mate. So final question before we finish, which is similar to the first topic, what has this continued mental health journey taught you about yourself?

SPEAKER_00

That's a good question. Um I think the first thing is that I guess you've got to be prepared for curveballs in life too, like things that you don't expect. It's probably not realistic to expect that life, you know, let's say you've worked on a certain aspect in your life or something that's been bugging you and you figured it out. It's wrong to think that, okay, everything's gonna be perfect from now on. This is probably a very obvious thing to say, but like life finds ways to surprise you and it's it's important to just be ready to accept those challenges and and not think you're a complete product because that can be very dangerous and there's a lot of ego involved in that. And like I think it doesn't allow you to deal with things very well if you think that you've completed life, you know. So just having a sort of humbleness and ability to say, yeah, okay, like I'm not perfect, you know, there's going to be challenges that come up, things that I need to work on, and that's fine, that's all a part of it. That's definitely something I've noticed through being in a relationship, too. It's it's often the strongest mirror. You have someone who lives with you and is with you every day and they see all the flaws that you probably aren't looking at. So that's been a big learning experience too, just to like, yeah, I'm not a perfect person. I've I've got things that I need to work on, and it's okay. Often it's not a personal attack. If someone says, hey, like this is kind of bugging me, can you work on this? It's not like suddenly you're a bad person. It's just that you, you know, you are a person. You have things that you need to work on, and that's totally fine. So that's been a big thing too, learning how to function in a relationship and how to not be so self-centered too, which is another thing that's if you're an artist, often it is extremely self-centered. You know, it's all about you. You've you've got to constantly promote yourself, you're constantly harping on on social media about what you've got going on or like your next thing which you have to do. Yeah, that's something that doesn't translate very well to relationships or friendships or, you know, those types of more personal spaces. So yeah, those are a few things. And I guess another key point from today has been trying to continually evolve. Like the second you think you've cracked it and you get complacent is probably the moment that you need to evolve and like change again. So that's been a big lesson over the last couple of years, too.

SPEAKER_01

That is a great way to end it on Lockie. I'm so excited for your next chapter whenever that comes, and I'll be supporting it all the way with Vent and the podcast as well. Thank you so much for coming on behind the decks for a third time and talking to me, brother. Thanks for having me. Well, I think that's all we've got time for on this episode of Behind the Decks. I want to say a big thank you to Lockie, aka Jarfunk, for being my special guest on this episode and letting me go back behind the decks with him for a third time. I'll put all of Jarfunk's streaming and social media links in the show notes, as well as where you can listen to part one and part two of his journey too. Thank you to all the ventors who checked into this episode. I'll sign us off by saying remember if you've liked what you've heard, give it a share on social media, tagging us at VentHelpuk, tell your friends, family, or work colleagues about us, write us a review or give us a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, support our Patreon at patreon.com slash venthelpuk, or make a one-off donation to our PayPal, both those links on our link tree. That's linktr.ee slash vent helpuk. Stay tuned for the next episode of Behind the Decks. And remember guys, it is always okay to veteran.

Contributor

Freddie Cocker

Host