AAA Backstage Archive

Feature Interview: Nina Las Vegas

Nina Las Vegas seems to be the woman of the moment. While her weekly House Party segment on Triple J goes from strength to strength, she’s about to hit the road for a national tour with the likes of Flight Facilities, Cassian, Tyler Touché, and Wave Racer.

Not to mention that the second instalment of her House Party mixes gets released today. We caught up with her amongst the whirl of excitement to talk life on the road, fans of all ages, and the tracks of the moment.

This Saturday kicks off the House Party national tour, with a massive double performance in Sydney. How important is it for you to be able to host the younger fans as well as the 18+ crowd?

Massively important! I would have gone to those kinds of those when I was under 18, for sure. Such a big number of our fans are under age… heck, Tyler Touche, who’s joining us, is only 17!

You’ll be visiting us in Brisbane on August 31 at the Hi-Fi, which is a massive venue, and sure to be a massive crowd. Do you ever get pre-gig nerves?  

Not right before the show. I’m actually very nervous right now. My new mix is out today, hitting the road tomorrow, it’s all happening. Once the first show is done I should be fine.

You’ve got some big names hitting the road with you, lots of excitement there. Is there any particular act on the House Party line up that you’re looking forward to seeing the audience’s reaction?

Oh… I would have to say Wave Racer. He’s doing a lot of cool things at the moment, I reckon the crowd is really going to get into it. It’s been a huge month for him; we play him all the time on the radio. It’s going to be interesting to see just how big of a reaction he gets. I love that kind of up-tempo, heavy bass music he produces.

Besides touring, you can often be found in the DJ booth at various nightclubs – so you’re pretty familiar with travelling for the cause. What’s the best and worst thing about being on the road?

The best part is the actual travel – I love flying. The worst… probably being away from friends and family. Plus the early mornings. So many early mornings!

Coupled with the late nights, that must be a killer.

Yeah, but it’s the same when I am working at home. I just never sleep.

At the moment there seems to be a bit of a throwback to disco loving – for example, The Preatures are all over the Saturday Night Fever feel, and your tour buddies Flight Facilities are well known for a similar thing with many of their tracks, namely Foreign Language. What would be your favourite era of music of years gone by?

Absolutely, I’m loving a bit of the disco vibe. I’m a big fan of the 90s house vibe, or the heavy dubstep, things that people went nuts over when they first came out… maybe even James Blake and those slower, post-dubstep tunes. I like that Daft Punk went analogue (laughs), I like that song “Blurred Lines” with its sampled tracks, I think it’s a bit of Marvin Gaye? But I don’t know that I want anything to come back, I’m just happy to go with it. 

As you said before, today is the release day for House Party Volume 2. Hooray! You’ve been quoted as saying that the mixes are a product of your weekly House Party programmes, and include music you want others to love, or perhaps love more. Who would be some artists you’d like your listeners to give more loving to?

Well… I mean, Triple J listeners are already listening to some pretty great stuff. I’ve included tracks in there like Jimmy Edgar’s “Strike”, songs that I can see getting bigger. Likewise, like wordlife and L D R U, What So Not, they’re slowly getting an audience, but it would be awesome to see them do massive things in the next couple of years. Yeah, they’re the kinds of acts I’d love to see people vibe out on.

On the other hand, what would be a song you could play on the radio right now and get a massive positive response for?

I still think Disclosure’s a massive favourite, people love hearing “When A Fire Starts To Burn”; any Flume remix, Draft still gets heaps of love, which is cool.

You can catch Nina Las Vegas on the House Party tour throughout August and September. House Party Volume 2 available now.