When Vivie-ann Bakos was 5, she wasn’t quite old enough to understand how to turn on her father’s record player. But she did figure out that if she took a needle from her mother’s sewing kit, she could spin the turntable herself, aligning the needle on the grooves of a record to create music. “That was the starting point of everything,” she says.
Her father wasn’t a DJ necessarily; at least not professionally. As a sailor, he traveled around the world by boat to places like Lebanon, North Africa, and South America, absorbing different cultures, particularly when it came to music. He was also an avid vinyl collector, and she recalls an old reel-to-reel player he used to own—the centerpiece of the house, she says—that he used for her family’s weekend parties. Instead of using his record player for music, he recorded his vinyl collection onto reel-to-reel tapes that he would then play for his soirees; a much more efficient tactic, he found, for entertaining guests than having to flip over and change out records every few minutes. Bakos became obsessed with the machine, watching the tape snake around from reel to reel.
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Bakos admits she’s a super nerd, consumed with how things are put together (she built her first computer at 12). Growing up in Toronto she never planned on becoming a DJ. But like her father, she was always on the prowl for new music. Bakos became fascinated with electronic dance music (EDM) at age 12 and would make fake IDs to get into clubs, eventually deciding she wanted to learn how to DJ; it just made sense. She earned a degree in computer science and, while in school, was hired to DJ a high-profile party during the Montreal Grand Prix, which led to a regular weekend gig at a club in Italy.
Since 2007, Bakos—known professionally as BLOND:ish—has become a powerful force in the EDM scene, a world-renowned DJ and producer. She released her first full-length album, Welcome to the Present, in 2015 and has also issued several EPs, including Lonely Days, Inward Visions, and Wunderkammer. She’s created remixes for artists such as Depeche Mode, Kate Simko, and WhoMadeWho; has her own label, Abracadabra; and started a non-profit called Bye Bye Plastic, a collective of musicians, DJs, and other music professionals committed to eliminating single-use plastic in the music industry.
“Music is just another form of zeros and ones,” she tells me from her summer retreat in Ibiza, a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea known for its thriving summertime EDM scene.
BLOND:ish tells me that during her budding DJ career while attending university, she would travel by bus to New York City to play gigs. Because she had little money, Joe’s Pizza—a city staple at the corner of Bleeker and Carmine Street —was the only place she could afford to eat; it didn’t hurt that the pizza happened to be really good. Every time she went there, she would wonder if she could make her passion for music a career; if it was even a viable option. “Every time when you’re in there, you’re looking at the wall and you’re like, just dreaming…and you’re just staring at the wall and you’re like, ‘Hey, hope I get there one day…” she says, referring to the idea of being on Joe’s Pizza’s famous wall of celebrity photos. That’s when she would know she really made it.
Date (when you are writing this) Wednesday, August 21.
Time I woke up 9:00 a.m.
Every day starts with Hot water with lemon and salt from Iceland.
Breakfast consists of Protein (eggs).
To get going I always Listen to 432 Hz frequencies.
I don’t feel dressed without My topknot.
Before I start working I must Do some Qigong and put an energy bubble around me.
Currently working on Finishing my album that’s coming out in the new year.
But I’d really love to be Freeeeeeeeeeeee.
Book I’m reading The Wisdom of the Shamans by Don Jose Ruiz.
I don’t know how anyone ever Doesn’t pee in the shower.
If I had to play one album on repeat, it would be I don’t really listen to albums anymore.
The perfect midday consists of Lunch with friends at Jondal in Ibiza without plans after.
To help get through the day I need a plant press (super clean caffeine without the coffee ups and downs).
Not a day goes by without speaking to My wifeyyyy Liana.
My daydreams consist of Having a day without responsibilities.
I’ll always fight for Freedom for humans, and their happiness.
Currently in love with My new son. He’s brand new.
Hoping to make time to watch More content on YouTube on LP mining in crypto. It’s how I build my passive income.
By my bedside I always have An eye mask. Some lavender.
To help get through the night I take some magnesium before bedtime to get quality sleep.
When I think about tomorrow I don’t think about tomorrow…trying to be present.
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