Salvador Darling- his extravagant sets are renowned in Melbourne as explosions of fun, which creates an ‘ecstasy of dance fuelled with soundgasms’. He’s played at some of the biggest dance venues in the world including in London and Japan but will always call Melbourne home. Autosea sat him down to get the goss on what he’s been up to, our city’s unique dance music scene and the special new monthly here in Melbourne.

Autosea: So how long have you been Salvador Darling and where did it all start?

Salvador Darling: Salvador Darling started because I needed a name when I started DJing and I happened to be in London at the time and had a moustache like Salvador Dali. I was leaving a kick-ons once and somebody said Salvador Dali and I thought they said Salvador Darling and so it all started from there!

Autosea: Your Let Them Eat Cake set has always been one of the most exciting and fun sets of the day with so many people coming to enjoy it. Can you describe how you reach what has been described as ‘an ecstasy of dance fuelled with soundgasms’?

Salvador Darling: The [Cake] gig is always my favourite gig where I treat myself and put way too much work into it because every now and then I just want to do something that’s way too over the top. It’s a treat for my friends and I and it’s so fun getting dressed up together in the biggest mansion in Australia and having a techno concert in the backyard. It’s super fucking fun and the whole thing is pure self-indulgence and the funny thing is that people connect with me most in those kinds of environments.

Autosea: With your sets, is there anything that you focus on doing to create that kind of vibe?

Salvador Darling: I’m always thinking about what would be the most fun, what would make me put my hands in the air and what would trigger me to dance. Fun is the whole undertone.

The Salvador Darling Experience at Let Them Eat Cake – Image courtesy of Salvador Darling Facebook

Autosea: You’ve played at some of the best venues around the world including XOYO and Soho House in London, Bar Bridge in Tokyo so congrats. How do you compare the nightlife in those cities to Melbourne nightlife?

Salvador Darling: Well the big cities are awesome because there are a lot of people so you can afford some amazing things. Melbourne is unique. It’s unique because of the Australian culture of mateship and it’s got a different culture generally. When you apply it in a nightclub scene it’s different because overseas is usually curated by someone for a large group or audience and in Australia it’s a lot more responsive on a local level.

Autosea: Yeah, there’s room for a lot of people to collaborate and work together so that’s what makes it so successful.

Salvador Darling: When I was running parties over there, they’re really guarding their patch and less likely to be as open. There seems to be less of a community. Melbourne has a great community feeling that is unique to it.

Autosea: Can you summarise your monthly, Beaút at The Toff in Town. What inspired you to create Beaút and how would you describe the vibe of the night?

Salvador Darling: The event is more of a creative contribution to the creative calendar of people who identify as being creative and I feel that I’m one of those people so I felt like I’d like to go somewhere with something that tips its hat to everything related to being creative.

Autosea: A lot of people have compared Beaút to the new Berghain. How do you feel about that?

Salvador Darling: That is an ultimate compliment. I guess maybe why people say that is because of our consideration and effort put into creating a special feeling or a special energy. We definitely do think about what it looks like, what it smells like, where the lighting is, how would you feel in the space and what would give you some time out and respite from the pretty heavy techno at times. We do things like that as I’m sure Berghain does as a venue- thinking about how people would behave and enjoy their space, I think maybe that’s why.

Autosea: What do you hope to achieve at each of your events and how do you hope that it is a night unlike any other?

Salvador Darling: I’ll speak on my own perspective; my goals are to develop this community. I feel like the culture of celebrating creatively, contributing on a grass roots level is something that was more prevalent ten years ago and has had a bit of a hiatus so my real goal personally is to have this space to basically do all the things that I love.

Autosea: Tell us about your upcoming event Mega Beaút. What is it about it that makes it mega and are there any surprises you can let us in on?

Salvador Darling: Well Mega Beaút is the dream Beaút, how we envisioned Beaút to be in our dreams and so we’re just doing it! The difference between it is it’s day and night, usually we just have the night. So we feel like the best parties are the longest parties, let’s be honest. If we spend enough time making sure there’s spaces for people to stay for a long time and enjoy themselves that’s what we’re going to focus on heavily. Because of the labyrinth style of the venue there really is lots of corners and spots to hang out in and different zones and different rooms.

Surprises are only good if you keep them a surprise so we won’t be giving too much away, other than that it’s our biggest production ever and is an accumulated result of the last few parties so far.

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Salvador Darling and Mama Vyktoria will be hosting Mega Beaút on Sunday December 4.