Adriana Lazaridis grew up immersed in Melbourne’s Greek community. Her father is a first-generation immigrant and her mother second-generation, and after finishing the day at Greek school as a child, she would go to her grandparents’ house, absorbing even more of their culture and customs.
Her roots have become a touchstone of her triannual party Spasta, which the prolific DJ Adriana hosts in ever-changing locations. “We’ve done various practises like breaking plates, breaking eggs on Greek Easter and having a Greek band and dances,” she says. “I think that separates it from all the other dance parties happening around Melbourne.”
Spasta has been going strong for more than three years, starting at The Night Cat in Fitzroy and growing into larger venues, bigger stages and more dramatic lighting. The vibe is joyful and unpretentious, and the next one features two international guests: Detroit producer Marcellus Pittman and Singapore DJ Dean Chew, spinning alongside Lazaridis and local talent O Honey. It’s happening April 12 at the RMIT Alumni Courtyard, an open-air space next to the Old Melbourne Gaol. She describes the scope and line-up as a “pinch-me moment”.
“Marcellus Pittman is one of the greats,” she says. “I consider him a pioneer when it comes to disco and house music. He’s the biggest DJ we’ve had in all these years. Dean Chew is just a personal favourite of mine, who I’ve been obsessing over. And it’s one big open space, so it’s going to hold a lot of people and energy.”
Lazaridis came to dance music by accident, first hanging around on the fringes and then eventually hosting Opalakia on PBS. The show wrapped four years ago, but her cumulative presence on the community radio station’s airwaves has lasted more than a decade. She’d studied the sciences at uni with plans for a career in medicine or healthcare, but the lure of music proved too enticing in the end.
“Music was something I was passionate about and that my friends were very involved in,” says Lazaridis. “Little by little, I ended up growing in this industry by taking opportunities and just following what lit me up. It went from learning to DJ to getting my first bar gig to getting more club gigs and a radio show. When it came to Spasta, I felt like I had grown to a certain capacity and I needed go to the next level.”
She’s now toured Europe, played Boiler Room sets and provided interstitial music at Meredith Music Festival. Lazaridis describes her music as warm and full, with no shortage of bustling activity or sudden scene changes. “There’s always so much happening: it’s not flat-line or clean-cut,” she says. “I like to change tempo and style. I love to change the direction of things. There’s so much amazing music out there and I get bored easily, so every set is different.”
Parsing through all that music to create unique sets can get time-consuming. Lazaridis usually starts by listening to whole radio shows and mixes, and then digging deeper with certain artists, tracks or labels from there. Some days she might spend hours searching and only find one or two songs that she’ll actually use, so the process of preparing for a proper gig takes several weeks. But it’s also a rewarding journey of discovery, not just for the results but for the experience itself.
It helps that she’s carved out an ideal set-up at home. With lush green views out her windows (thanks to living near the Mullum Mullum Trail), her house is full of calm, neutral colours, while the bulk of her work happens either in her office or in her music room. Lazaridis will do her digging and general admin in the office with a diffuser going, then head into the music room to plot and notate her sets with her decks. She’ll work out exactly when to drop in and out of tracks, with a focus on advanced preparation rather than guesswork on the night.
She’s also taking care of a four-month-old Cavoodle named Teddy, who demands a lot of time, attention and love. That means after a busy morning looking after his needs, she’s often seeking a midday pick-me-up in the form of a Suntory BOSS Iced Caramel Latte.
“I feel like I need my second wind by then,” she says. “So it’s a perfect time to have a coffee, because it gives you the energy to keep going. What I appreciate about BOSS especially is that it’s cold. I’m not a hot coffee drinker. I love that it’s in a can and can be right there in the fridge. It’s easy for on the go.”
While she’s pumped for the Spasta party in April, Lazaridis is still beaming from doing her first proper slot at Golden Plains Music Festival in March, her biggest gig to date. She even got gifted the crucial slot that shifts the vibe of the whole night – and the significance of that was not wasted on her. “It was the most amazing, emotional set of my life.”
This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Suntory BOSS Coffee.
Produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Suntory BOSS Coffee.
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