Words: Rene Shellis

Selfless.

“Concerned more with the needs and wishes of others than with one’s own; unselfish.”

Within the depths of the inner north lies Selfless, a crew that gives back to the community whilst introducing a humble tinge to the dance floor. Selfless has been operating for 3 years now, occupying venues such as the Fitzroy Beer Garden, the Gasometer and Whitehart, showcasing artists such as Dr Deyon, Wiz, Beats by Barry, Benito, Slater and Jesse Bligh.

New Rhythms sits down with Deyon Murphy to uncover the gears that drive this collective and expose their future prospects.

New Rhythms: Tell me about Selfless, where did the name come from ?

Deyon: Well the name was built around three ideas, we wanted a way to enjoy what we are doing, show off the hidden talent amongst us and give to charity. We thought this nonconventional way of running parties is what we enjoyed most. We found that when people leave their egos at the door, give back to the community and enjoy themselves that everybody wins. Being “Selfless” is the mindset that we hope our crowd and artists feel during our events.

New Rhythms: Dance is documented to be one the most powerful remedies, do you think its important for the electronic music community to give back?

Deyon: I think that if any industry can give a portion back to its community it can help to create humble people. I think that egos can sometimes get involved and create road blocks in life especially within the music industry. Hopefully by sharing our growth we can help keep things grounded. There is a lot of people that never get a fair chance to show their talent so anything in support of that should be a priority, there are so many talented people out there, the creative possibilities are endless.

New Rhythms: What charities does Selfless donate to?

Deyon: Depends on the event, we generally aim our donations toward Beyond Blue as we feel mental illness can effect everybody however if we hear of someone in the community that needs a helping hand we will donate towards them directly. Its always changing.

New Rhythms: Sonically, what defines Selfless?

Deyon: I would describe it as ever changing. Our base is deep house and techno, but anything in between is great, recently we have been trying to cultivate our own signature sound but we encourage our artists to play what they like and we just try to get the set times right for this. I hope that it is always evolving and completely unique. As long as you can boogie to it then thats our sound. Groovy tunes.

New Rhythms: Groovy tunes makes for some memorable moments, care to share any highlights on the Selfless timeline?

Deyon: So many! It will hard to pick one! Our last event at the Fitzroy Beer Garden was special to me! The DJs blew me away with their set progression, the crowd was absolutely amped! When it hit 5pm something special happened and the entire venue was up and dancing! The venue was full so early, it was good to see so many people who have been there since our first events enjoying the music. The DJs we book are not the most advertised names but they are part of the community and its always great to see so many of their friends go nuts when they lay down a great set.

New Rhythms: It looks like there is a big future ahead, whats next on the cards for selfless?

Deyon: The possibilities are what excite us the most. We are coming close to settling our first Selfless summer series! A month over the upcoming summer, I’m very excited for this. We are hoping to get different crews involved and share our crowd and talent with them, we want to bond with like-minded bodies. With a portion going back to charity of course! We are also looking to book our first international, looking for the right fit, hopefully we can share some overseas talent with our crowd. Potentially on the horizon we wish to start our own record label! We are just in planning stages but it will definitely give our cause a giant boost and help to get Melbourne’s underground artists out and hopefully create a guaranteed income stream for our charities. All big plans but I feel that things will come together soon.

New Rhythms: Definitely! Its good to have some goals !

Deyon: These are the things that we are looking forward too, but things are always changing so anything is possible. We will always keep things fresh and selfless.

 Connect with Selfless here; Facebook / Soundcloud