We’re excited to introduce you to Los Angeles based artist, DJ and producer, SLACKMACHINE. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with him below.

SLACKMACHINE, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

My favorite project to date was writing and producing my debut EP, “VISION OF TOMORROW”. The 7-track EP was my personal love letter to the 1982 Cyberpunk film Blade Runner. Each song on the record is inspired by my favorite moments and characters from the movie (if you listen closely you might just catch a few of the easter eggs I included). The songs almost wrote themselves. It was such an amazing feeling given the fact I had been trying to make music without much success before – it was truly cathartic. I also had the incredible opportunity to remix one of my favorite artists, the LA-based Synthpop group Parallels. From the beginning of SLACKMACHINE, Parallels frontwoman Holly Dodson has been a key mentor and helped mix and master all of my recordings. It was an extreme honor to re-interpret her song, “Handle With Care”.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

SLACKMACHINE began as an alias I used for DJ-ing nightclubs around Los Angeles. My entry into the scene was largely thanks to an electronic music genre known as Synthwave (it’s often associated with the soundtrack of the 2011 film Drive starring Ryan Gosling). At the time, I had been shooting and directing multiple music videos for artists featured on NewRetroWave (FM-84, Michael Oakley, Ollie Wride, and The New Division to name a few) so it kind of felt like a natural progression to start spinning the music I was listening to. I also had a friend who connected me with a fantastic DJ and producer (Roy La Croix/Driver405) who showed me the ropes on some really nice equipment I couldn’t afford at the time.

I’ve always been heavily influenced by science fictions films of the late 70s and 80s (Alien, Blade Runner, The Terminator, The Thing). As time went on and I had been performing more regularly, I started to get an itch to take a crack at producing my own sci-fi inspired electronica. Blade Runner had always had the biggest impact on me so I decided to steer the SLACKMACHINE project in the direction of something you might hear in a dystopian nightclub in future Los Angeles. As I started writing and producing music, that was always in the back of my head, informing my creative process. Since then, I’ve released 3 singles, a 7-track EP called VISION OF TOMORROW and most recently a remix for the LA-based Synthpop group Parallels. I’ve also toured the US with Parallels and Betamaxx and performed two shows in UK in 2023.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I think the most rewarding aspect is watching how your art connects you with other like-minded individuals from all different backgrounds – it’s the best ice-breaker out there. You can start playing a song in a room full of strangers and start to see the joy and excitement it brings them almost instantly. Next thing you know, you’re chatting with a new fan at the merch table about what motivated you to write a Blade Runner inspired record. Music is a truly a universal language.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The drive behind SLACKMACHINE has always been a way to challenge myself and evolve as an artist. I wanted to develop new skills and abilities to assist in the other realms of my creative pursuits, namely filmmaking. Being able to create exciting sonic atmospheres anywhere I had access to a laptop and a DAW was immensely empowering. It gave me the ability to create something out of nothing – a soundtrack to a sci-fi movie starring Harrison Ford or Sigourney Weaver created right in front of my midi controller. Coming from a visual arts background, it was a way to challenge myself to create an entire world without using images, a world you could see without your eyes.

I think my ultimate goal for SLACKMACHINE is to stir people’s imaginations and give them a world to they can escape to anytime and anywhere. All it takes is a pair of headphones.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://slackmachine.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slackmachine/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/slackmachine
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/slackmachine
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@slackmachinemusic?
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0aFvnOYet5WcdanXQXgAW1?si=LGx-3Qt5QY2nOFwuRxtyTg
• Other: Bandcamp: https://slackmachine.bandcamp.com/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@slackmachinemusic

Image Credits
VISION OF TOMORROW Album Cover by John Grosjean Photo of SLACKMACHINE against industrial gate by Guthrie Melchiade