The Mix 046: Bianca Oblivion

Happy New Year! How was your 2024?

2024 was busy! I was touring a lot and working on the EP. It was a year full of shows in cities I’d never been to before. I did the main stage at Bass Coast again, which was a really pleasant surprise being asked back. There were a lot of high notes – I’m really happy with how last year went overall. So now, I’m just seeing what comes this year after the release of my EP.

You’ve said before that you started going out to clubs young with a fake ID, was that common practice in your early clubbing years? What were your first club experiences like in LA?

I was actually late to the game with that ID – I was 17 at the time, and an older friend of mine gave me her old ID, so I was able to get into places. But other kids I knew had been going out to bars and clubs at 15 or 16. Back then, you could just buy a fake ID pretty easily, I think it was a lot easier at that time. But even before that, I wasn’t going out to nightclubs, I was going to all-ages clubs for bands. That was my early exposure to music events.

There were a lot of all-ages venues at that time, and a lot of younger bands playing, teenage bands mostly, but also some established acts touring. It was a really special moment, because those venues don’t exist anymore. It was a nice time for kids to be able to do something that didn’t involve just going to a mall or a movie and spending money, it was an activity outside of that. We could enjoy music and meet other people who liked the same music, or if you had friends from your school who had a band, you could go see them play. It was a really incredible time, and I’m talking about middle school — we were like 12, 13, 14 years old. I think the act of going out at that age set everything in motion. Even though the music itself changed and the types of acts did too, just going out to see live music was very pivotal.

What kind of music were you into at the time?

I was into everything. I was open to rock music, electronic, hip hop. I was really into anything, which I still am, but I was less discerning in my taste back then – I just wanted to experience everything. The bands I was seeing were mostly kid rock bands, but they were really talented. A lot of the kids I went to see had been doing music for years already. I went to an arts middle and high school, so the kids there were really passionate about art and music. When they formed bands, they’d invite all the kids in their grade to come and see the show. Even if I didn’t necessarily care for the songs, it was just fun being around.

I guess LA is inherently a pretty musical city, there’s always something going on…

Yeah, it’s hard to avoid that scene. You know, you’ve got kids whose parents are already in the industry, so they’re just surrounded by that environment, we all were. I was once invited to go see this band called Kara’s Flowers, who later grew into Maroon 5!

In a past Mixmag feature where you wrote about LA’s rave scene, you mentioned these wild punk raves under bridges and in parking lots – do you feel like the party scene in Los Angeles has almost reverted back to this anarchic era where there’s less focus on high-end clubbing? How have you seen it change over the years?

Yeah, those parties have always been here and I think with the decline of clubs and the whole transition of club closures, there are more barriers to throwing events. Drink prices are so high, rent costs to book venues are high, and you’re locked into this 9:PM until 2:AM slot where the venue owners are like: ‘This is how much money you have to make during that time’. You want to book the artists you like, but even when people come, the bar minimum is so expensive. It’s hard to make it work in the clubs. At least with underground events and warehouse parties, you have more control over the music. You can play later into the night, which is what people want – they wanna rave until 4 or 5:AM. It’s illegal to have club events past 2:AM in LA, and it’s illegal to serve alcohol anywhere past 2:AM too. Some clubs occasionally stay open later, but that’s not very common.

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Is that something you’ve struggled with when throwing your Warp Mode events?

Yeah, all of the events we’ve done have been underground, warehouse-type parties. We’ve maybe had one or two that were at more conventional venues, but mostly in underground spaces. Once it was finally safe to go out again after the pandemic, people really needed that release, but the only real option at that time were these warehouse parties. Even then, it didn’t always feel like the right time to go out, but as people got more comfortable and COVID numbers went down, it felt okay again.

Many clubs closed during the pandemic and never came back, so we were left with a pretty bleak party landscape. Some promoters also gave up after the pandemic, so there was a whole new wave of promoters and fresh events, and this combination of factors really helped rejuvenate the underground scene. Since COVID, it feels like there have been more promoters and one-off parties popping up, rather than clubs just opening regularly. I guess with the cost of living crisis, this trend makes sense.

Can you tell us more about Warp Mode, how has it been going?

To be honest, we tried to organise some events last year, but due to clashes in our touring schedules, we couldn’t make it work. But we did host a production workshop last year, so even though we weren’t able to host any underground events, we still wanted to give back to that community. We did some demos ourselves, and then had someone from Ableton come down and do one using the new Version 12. We had a solid 50 people come through and filled the room, it was really special. We want to continue that, so I think we’re going to properly plan something this year. We don’t know on what scale just yet, but we want to host a day party and expand what it is that we do, because ultimately, we still want to keep queer, POC, women, and non-binary artists at the core of it.

When we first started throwing those parties, no one was really booking artists from the UK in the soundsystem music events that we enjoyed. There were several artists that we put on early like Introspekt, and we hosted the first Keep Hush event in the United States. So we’re always trying to just reach out and put people on who don’t usually have the opportunity, but even though the underground scene here is thriving, it’s just hard to make that jump if you’re not doing it as regularly. Booking venues and bringing in a whole soundsystem is still very expensive. The LA underground scene is now so focused on these warehouse events, and there’s a lot of risk in those getting shut down by the cops and losing all your money on the party, so it’s risky. But ultimately, we’re still around and trying to plan things.