Q&A with Nightwave
Slovenia-born Glasgow based Maya Medvesek, better known as Nightwave is an internationally established DJ, producer, vocalist, club promoter & label boss. We had the pleasure of welcoming Maya to our inaugural Resonate conference back in 2017. We caught up with her after 5 years, check out the interview below.
Renowned for her energetic DJ sets, Nightwave has played major clubs and festivals around the globe such as Sonar Barcelona & Tokyo, Riverside, Pressure, Bestival, Movement, Bangface, Electric Picnic, Notting Hill Carnival, Outlook, Isle of Wight, Exit...has toured Asia and Australia and shared stages with some of the biggest names in electronic music. Her extensive mix archive can be found on her Soundcloud and features recordings for Resident Advisor, Crack, Mixmag, Ninja Tune, DJ Mag, The Fader, BBC, NTS, Beats1 etc. Back home in Glasgow she is a resident of La Cheetah Club and continues to run her club night Nightrave which has hosted the likes of Lone, DJ Bone, Laurel Halo and Nathan Fake and is now entering its 7th year.
How does it feel to be back at your residency in La Cheetah club after a long pandemic ?
It’s fantastic to be back in my favourite place doing what I love. It’s so nice to see some old faces but also the new, younger crowd - for some of them it will be the first time going to clubs which must be so exciting.
As your own manager you have to focus on the business & creative side, What advice would you give to DJs trying to break through in a similar way to yourself ? and how do you find the balance? Any other advise for Scottish DJs ?
The times and the music industry have changed so much and realistically any artist is expected to seriously multitask these days. Simply creating is sadly not enough - we are expected to create “content” (hate that word), do the promo, run nights, radio and events, do the artwork…this all takes a lot of energy and can be very draining (most of it means working for free). Having a manager is not necessarily a good thing - I do believe educating yourself and working hard is best, as well as finding a supportive network and community! I’ve been DJing for over 20 years and I still feel like I’m going through that growing and build up process. You have to keep learning and moving. Don’t compare yourself to others and follow your passion without expecting the outcome. Focus on your art before all the promo and socials. That would be my advice.
Where can we next see you play and how is your release schedule for this year?
You can catch me at the infamous Slam tent, La Cheetah & I Love Acid residencies, Riverside etc. There’s lots of music in the works but I won’t give out any release dates until I know for sure - these things are so fickle I’ve now learned to wait until it’s all properly submitted! Late spring I hope :)
In the last 10 years she has released a number of records, continually reinventing her sound and exploring a vast array of influences grounded in Detroit techno, electro, acid, Chicago house and old rave nostalgia. Her releases on labels like Hotflush, Unknown To The Unknown, DABJ, Fool's Gold, Balkan Vinyl, Fabric etc received wide-spread support. She is no stranger to working with singers and rappers (Rye Rye, Ashnikko, TT the Artist, Chippy Nonstop...) and is a vocalist herself with features on various imprints, most notably Rustie's seminal album 'Glass Swords' on Warp Records, which they also performed live at one of BBC's legendary Maida Vale sessions. A prolific remixer, she lent her unique sound to Franz Ferdinand, Django Django, Wayward, D Double E and many more. In 2019 Nightwave also earned her first feature film soundtrack credit for Rachel Maclean's 'Make Me Up.'
On Nightwave’s own tastemaker label Heka Trax (est. 2013) she showcases her passion for versatile and forward-thinking sounds by releasing fresh music from artists around the globe, including 3 EPs by the label-boss herself and one featuring Chicago legend DJ Deeon.
Maya is also a passionate advocate for gender equality in the music industry, regularly hosting production and DJ skill classes for girls as young as eight. She also co-runs Producergirls, a free UK workshop for women and has lectured at the EU initiative in Brussels as well as India as a part of British Council’s Women In Electronic Music project. She has participated on many music industry panels (WIRE, St Andrews University, CAMP, Resonate, Movement etc).
Check out these personal favourite tracks by ‘Nightwave’ and keep in touch on her socials for upcoming news on releases.