Hi. My name is Emily Fishpool. I am a experimental artist based across Wurendjeri Country, which is Melbourne and Budawang country which is Batemans Bay. That's where my family are from. I grew up in Bermagui, which is Djiringanj country, which is also Yuin country. My family have lived there for many, many years and yeah, it's a really important place to me and all the music of that place has defined my music practice now, through my family and my connections to the area.
How did your music inspiration develop?
So my music inspiration kind of just developed from what my mum listened to, which was just, I don't know, like, Australian bands like Powderfinger, Silverchair, she also listened to like The Offspring, Blink 182, just kind of like punk music, but also I guess chiller music like The Waifs and stuff like that.
I guess like all the music you listen to just impacts you in some way, even if if it's a negative impact. And I think that over time you just start to develop, I guess like a narrative within your own mind of what your taste is or what you like or what makes you feel good.
But my relationship with music was pretty important. I used to wake up and watch Rage. Which is a music video show, and I would just sit and watch the film clips and listen to the music and yeah, it was a really, really big part of my life. It was probably one of the most important things.
Where does your music inspiration come from now?
And I think my inspiration now comes from just like going through SoundCloud and Bandcamp. I actually started using SoundCloud when I was quite young, like 12 or 13 years old. It was one of the sort of first Internet sites that I actually used, which is pretty interesting that it's something that I use a lot now. I didn't use it for a few years, but I found a lot of music on there when I was, you know, a lot younger. And it was kind of where I started finding electronic music.
How would you describe Australian music?
There's the thousands of thousands of years there's been music on this continent across every group and clan. Music is kind of what holds the stories. How I understand the stories of my family is through the music and the songs that tell the creation stories and how we came to be and also how we pass them on.
I think when you hear stories, when they're communicated with music. Like, when there's a beat and stuff, I just think it's easier to remember it when you're embodying it and that's why music is so important. And so I think that Australian music in that respect is the story of this place and also how it's changing.
Do you think Australian music has a distinctive sound?
I wouldn't say there is a distinctive sound at all. I think that, if you think about triple J, like a lot of stuff on Triple J sounds the same. I would say that there's a lot of music on triple j that does have a distinctive Australian sound, which is kind of like, I don't know, like pop, I don't know, like shit like Tame Impala and stuff. Like, I don't really, I don't really know what that what genre that is, but I don't really like it that much. But I would say that that is kind of distinctive.
I think that there's an incredible amount of music and variation and uniqueness that's coming out of the scenes from young people, old people across generations in Australia.
But I think, living in a multicultural country. It's also very classist and racist. So I think that some of the best musicians don't have the capacity to be seen and heard in the way that ways that other people do. But I also think that, um, the music communities are really trying address that to be less of an issue, but it has a really long way to go.
I think we need more of those voices that are just inherently silenced in society to start being a part of defining that sound.
What do mixtapes mean to you?
Um, I think mix tapes are important. I think when I make mixes, I really like to kind of have them be defined by a theme. So I think this one is good. I usually try to tell a story like, I don't I don't really think about genre. I like putting a lot of different things together and trying to create something cohesive and really kind of trying to leave the songs as they are. But at the same time, like, I'm really interested in sampling. I like seeing mixes as an opportunity to sample and create new songs from the ones that are there and kind of seeing how far I can push that. But I also think it's really important to have moments where songs are just
as they are and what the artists intended to do is coming through, because I think that that's a really big part of DJing that's forgotten about, I don't know, I think DJs don’t have to do that much and can just get all the credit and I think it's important to really think about the roles and responsibilities and how to, I guess, like honour the art and the work.
What have you selected for your mix?
And in terms of the music that I selected for my mix, it's just, yeah, it's just some of my favourite artists. I just asked people to send me their music. So most of the music coming out of Melbourne, which feels good because that's where I am right now and I really like focusing on listening and understanding the music of where I am, spatially. Australia is a pretty big place, it feels good to be focusing on music that's coming from where I'm actually living right now.
And yeah, there's a lot of variation and I think that's what I like about it. Um, it's kind of giving you a bit of a cross-section of what's going on in the scene right now, and also just people who want their music to be heard, which I think is a really great. I don’t DJ that often. I just play live. But I like using DJing as a platform for interaction with people.