INSOLATE, previously known as Miss Sunshine, is a Dj, producer and label owner for over 20 years, and considered one of the best techno artist from Croatia. She has been busy the last years, playing at big festivals, and clubs like Berghain, Rex, Tresor, Club d’Anvers, ADE, Tomorrowland, Dimensions and more. She released dozens of vinyls including most notably a record on Dj Deep’s Deeply Rooted which marked her turning point in career to start performing under her new alias. Its been three years since we had “Miss Sunshine” on our podcast and we are psyched to have her back as Insolate – still with an energetic style, and a big smile. Enjoy the podcast, and check out the interview beneath:
1. What have you been up to recently? Any memorable gigs?
This whole year was just crazy, filled with releases and gigs. In the first half of the year, I already released 3 EPs on Modular Expansion, Proletarijat and User Experience. Also, I was doing a collaboration project with a friend (he still needs to stay mysterious) and we made a good amount tracks together. Furthermore, I have been touring a lot this year. I visited Colombia and Argentina at the beginning of the year, played at Tresor and Berghain, my label Out of Place had several label nights in Ireland, Switzerland and Croatia plus two TRAUM events, one of which was organised at a quite atypical party venue – a shooting range.
2. You run your own label Out of Place, what made you first decide to start the label? My partner Volster and I started the label because we wanted to have a platform where we could release the tracks without judgment from third parties. First two releases where our solo EPs, after which we decided to include some people we love and appreciate in the family, such as Milton Bradley and Developer. Few days ago, we announced first (out of four) artist of the upcoming V.A. release: Disrupted Project (Vakum, ARTS), New vinyl is coming out this summer.
3. You’re from Croatia which has a great scene at the moment. How is it different now compared to earlier in your career?
Croatian scene had its up and downs. At the time I started, around 1997, Croatian scene was in the making and we had lot of illegal underground shelter raves as the answer to the current ruling party and to the war. Later on, first clubs with electronic music opened up and things started to get bigger and bigger. By the year 2001, the scene has grown so much that we had 1200 visitors on parties that hosted some of the biggest names of the underground techno scene – and we are talking about a city with 90 000 people living in it. That was definitely golden era of the electronic music in my hometown Osijek. Similar situation was in other cities all around Croatia. Nowadays, the scene in Croatia is more or less good. Summer festivals are the one thing we are very well known of in the world, but I do not think summer season represents the real view on the Croatian scene. Lot of major cities still struggle during the non-summer months.
I am happy that in my hometown, which is in the far east of the country, 400 km away from the seaside, we managed to build up one of the strongest techno scenes in the country.
We started with 50 people per party and grew it up to the enviable number of 500!
TRAUM events started as a response to the non-existence of techno events in Osijek and since then, we have grown a healthy techno scene and hosted great artists such as Dj Deep, Paula Temple, Antigone, Cassegrain, Janice, Milton Bradley, Etapp Kyle, Francois X., just to name a few. Every TRAUM is a different experience. We are always trying to find new locations and venues, and are putting a lot of effort in sound and light, besides only on the music. We provide the whole package in order to get the best response from our guests.
4. What are your thoughts on the recent events in Tbilisi?
I am with them with all my heart and soul. I have only good memories from my visits to Georgia since the first time I played there in 2013. They have done so much in the past few years and developed their scene to the highest levels. Now, when they feel oppression against freedom, the peaceful music protest marks the first step of a long battle in front of them. It is very important to take this seriously, we need to educate people what freedom should look like and shouldn’t forget to vote on the next elections! It is very important and sometimes people are not aware of that! We had similar situation in Croatia; after the war in 1996, radio station 101 that was the biggest vocal critic of current right wing ruling party, almost got their broadcast licence revoked. In response to that, more then 120 000 people protested on the main square in Zagreb and helped radio station to keep their licence. Never stop fighting!
5. Finally, what are your plans for the future?
I have some releases coming out on Attic Music, Homevvork, Suara and Coincidence records. Furthermore, we are planning my first US tour for September/October and new Colombian tour. Summer is just around the corner, and I will be playing some nice festivals such as Dimensions festival, AFTRSun with DJ Rush, DumDum fest with Rebekah and Dax J etc. In addition, I am planning to take time for myself too, read some good books, visit some places with my friends & familly and cook something tasty. Life is good 🙂
If you liked the new podcast from Insolate, why not check out her first one for Monument?