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Press Play’s Rueben Heenan and Brad Smit
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It’s a pretty big deal, with both festivals expected to draw well over 50,000 punters, although Heenan’s pretty chilled about the whole thing.
“The reaction was mainly of gratitude and appreciation, such a privilege to be involved with such big scale music festivals and working with the best of the best,” he says.
Five years ago, Heenan and Smit were just like hundreds of other local teenagers with a love of dance music.
Deciding to take it to the next level, Heenan began DJing at friends parties, before landing his first residency at Star Bar every Thursday night, which led to a regular slot at Hyper Nightclub, then Huha – a place he’s called home for the past three years.
“I was inspired from my first couple of nightclub experiences,” Heenan remembers.
“I was engaged in the whole vibe and atmosphere and naturally fell in love with the music.
“I watched what the DJs did and studied the music until I decided to make the moves towards becoming a DJ myself.”
Originally from Echuca, Smit bought his first set of decks from Heenan in late 2007, so an early bond was formed over the folding stuff. He began his DJ education in an Echuca club called OPT.
Like Heenan, he too scored a residency at Huha, via the Universal Nightclub.
“It took about a year of Djing once a week in a nightclub to feel comfortable behind the decks,” Smit says.
For Heenan, setting himself up was a costly exercise, but the investment is beginning to pay dividends.
“The first setup I purchased were very basic, I also didn’t have anyone teaching me so it took me a good six months to even get my head around the equipment,” he says.
“Not as easy as it looks!”
The origins of Press Play can be traced back to October 9 last year, when Heenan and Smith faced off in a “verses set”, at the first ever Huha Day After Party.
“We discovered it also allowed us to bounce ideas off each other and for our different styles to come together, we decided a duo was in store,” Heenan says.
Encompassing a range of styles, from minimal, hip hop remixes, electro to commercial house, and inspired by the likes of Calvin Harris and Afrojack, Press Play have built a strong following.
“We pride ourselves on our versatility and our ability to perform to any crowd,” Heenan says.
“We’ve been working heavily in the Melbourne scene lately and the ‘Melbourne sound’ is definitely one of our favourite genres.
“Melbourne music is generally slightly more minimalistic with a clean, driving bassline.
“It’s hard to describe Melbourne music properly but it’s basically music from Melbourne producers... they say that Orkestrated are the pioneers of Melbourne music.”
Orkestrated, along with Slice N Dice and Stevie Mink, are some of the out-of-towners that Heenan believes have helped raise the bar of the local dance scene in Bendigo, with Huha making a point of bringing top new DJs to Bendigo, week in, week out.
And with the addition of Top Floor Fridays in January, Heenan believes Bendigo clubbers are getting a greater exposure to broader range of dance music styles.
“If you would have asked me a year ago (what the local dance scene was like) I would have said not so good,” he says.
“They’re (Bendigo clubbers) getting more open minded.
“Where as it used to be that the only music the majority of them wanted to hear was top 40 radio songs.
“It’s great to Bendigo getting some diversity amongst the club music scene and even better is that people are embracing it.”
With two major festivals looming at year’s end, Press Play will continue to plan big. All their future achievements however will be based around the exhilaration of nailing a set.
“It’s a great feeling, the most important thing about DJing is that the crowd are loving it,” Rueben says.
“So if you can succeed at that then you’re set.
“We really appreciate the support we get from Bendigo and Echuca people.
“Our ultimate goal is to be playing the main stages at
the big festivals, there would be no better feeling and no greater sense of accomplishment.
“We want to successfully produce some top charting tracks eventually, and just enjoy what we’re doing throughout the journey.
“Yes, we’re dreaming big, but why not!”
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