Endowing the electronic music industry dutifully, Melbourne’s Lucille Croft is one of the fastest rising stars in Australia’s electronic music scene. The DJ, producer and ardent fashion icon sees her profile as the house savant behind the decks, earning herself an active calendar in Australia and across the seas. Owning her esteemed musical authority, Lucille has amassed a dedicated following and support from dance legends like Tiesto, Will Sparks, Black Tiger Sex Machine and more. We caught up with Lucille to discuss productions, influences, gaming and more!
Building the reputation of a queen both in-studio and on the stage, you have been busy touring all over Australia and internationally and proving to be an upcoming force in the international realm of bass music. Can you take us back to the beginning, how did you get into the electronic music scene?
For me – it started with techno. Before I discovered techno, I wasn’t that interested in electronic music. I LOVED rock and metal mainly. When I started going out to clubs, I soon found myself at the darker, more underground places, and that’s’ where it all began. I discovered Nina Kraviz. Sven Vath. Marcel Dettman. Boys Noize. Gesaffelstein. I’d never once thought of being a DJ until I really started falling in love with electronic music for the first time, and after watching DJs at clubs for a few weeks I decided I had to do it. I wanted to curate music, to set the mood in a club, to make people dance and escape for a short period of time. That didn’t really satisfy me though. I started wanting to dissect music – to learn about each sound, how it was made, why it sounded like that, and how it all came together to form a complete song. I’ve had some incredible music mentors along the way who have taught me so much, as well as spent countless hours on Youtube and just messing around with plug-ins and hoping for the best. I still feel like I have no idea what I’m doing, I wing things a LOT.
Fast-forward; these past 18 months have been impressive. Two releases on Kannibalen Records, a Spinnin release next week, as well as a bunch of releases across Pinnacle Colective and Bourne Recordings too. You have worked with the likes of TMRRW, Micah Martin, Swarm and Nukid, can you tell us what it was like working together?
Collaborations are a funny thing. You’re essentially combining your art and their art, to create something new and exciting. I’ve been lucky enough to have only worked with rad people so far – Swarm is now actually one of my close friends now too! I’m very careful about who I choose to work with, my creations feel kind of sacred to me, so if I’m going to have someone on-board I want to make sure we have a similar vision. In saying that, I don’t really have a standard for who I work with. The artist can have 50 or 5 million followers – if I hear something I believe in, I’ll do it.
We’ve noticed your tracks channel a very unique, darker yet energetic sound, almost a Nine Inch Nails vibe to it. Which artists have influenced you over the years and where do you draw inspiration?
Well, Nine Inch Nails are my favourite band, and Trent Reznor is one of my biggest influences, so perhaps that’s why. I’ve always been heavily inspired by artists like Marilyn Manson, NIN, Hans Zimmer, Gesaffelstein… as well as of course electronic artists like Porter Robinson, Skrillex, Rezz, Kayzo etc. The darker energy you can hear in my music? That comes from my heart and soul – we all have a dark side; I embrace mine and use it to influence my art.
Your tracks have seen plenty of support from industry heavyweights like Tiesto, Black Tiger Sex Machine and Matroda to name a few. What’s it like to see this kind of love for your tracks?
Seeing any single person at all enjoy my music is the best fucking feeling in the world. Seeing artists who inspire me, and I look up to, fuck with my music? I don’t even think there’s words in the English language for that feeling. Every single person who shows love to my music and what I do, means the absolute world to me. This industry is brutal, and there’s been times where I feel like giving up, and then someone will randomly send me a DM on Instagram saying they really love my music, or it inspired them, or made them feel good, and that’s all I need to keep pushing forward.
Can you tell us what you have in store for the rest of 2019?
In no particular order:
- National tour in August with ShockOne, Dirty Audio and Bear Grillz
- Releasing a VERY cool collab with my clothing label This Is Bad Wolf
- Releasing my debut EP (I’m so excited and nervous about this I could cry)
- Exciting tour around my EP release
- More tattoos (sorry mum)
- Hitting LA for exciting and fun things that’ll be revealed soon (again, sorry mum)
When it comes to touring, your calendar is pretty jam-packed. You’ve covered majority of Australia with headline shows at HQ Complex, The Met, Ministry of Sound Club and Marquee to name a few. Where is your favourite spot to play in Australia?
Australia is damn amazing. There’s so many sick venues around the country that I truly love playing. The most special one for me so far has been Chinese Laundry in Sydney. It’s dark, it’s sweaty, it’s intimate, and every single person is there for the music.
You’ve also played Singapore’s ‘It’s the Ship’ festival; we’ve heard that’s a crazy time!
Yeah it’s honestly WILD. A 3-day music festival on a cruise ship, well it’s exactly what you’d imagine (if you have a wild imagination). I won’t say too much – what happens on the ship, stays on the ship, however I’m going back this year to play, and it’s been one of the greatest experiences of my life. On the ship, I’ve broken a foot, made life-long friends, surprisingly didn’t fall overboard, and had some wild times.
We’ll finish off with five quick questions.
Australia’s churned out a number of big names in dance music. From MaRLo, Will Sparks and Flume, to What So Not, Timmy Trumpet and Tigerlily, what are five up-and-coming acts we need to watch out for (besides yourself)?
SO MANY. I’ll try to stick to artists that are still mainly based here:
Made By Tsuki
Enschway
Hotcaller
Luceo
Nyxen
What’s something you’re secretly good at?
Eye-rolling. You wouldn’t think it’s an art til you see me do it. I’m also an deadly assassin on COD MW2 in multiplayer with a shovel – I usually get more kills than every player with guns.
Where is your dream gig?
I’m not entirely sure yet. I dream of playing festivals like EDC, Ultra (I played Australia this year which was incredible!), Tomorrowland… I hope to one day be doing my own ticketed shows – to create my own little world, this crazy experience that’ll be like an insight into my mind, where I can also bring out live singers, drummers, guitarists etc too!
If you could collaborate with any two artists, who would they be and why?
Damn I always struggle so hard with this question. Right now, I’d kill to collaborate with Oliver Sykes (singer of Bring Me The Horizon), and Sullivan King – this rad bass/dubstep artist who sings, screams, and shreds guitar at his shows. I’ve actually used a lot of his sample pack sounds in my productions. There’s a whole list of electronic artists I’d really love to work with, I actually will have ticked two off by the end of the year…
Favourite food?
Reeses pieces
Thank you for your time!