S1 E14 - Behind The Beats: All things wedding music with Lydia and DJ Arshad

Because a lot of our clients, right, when they come to us, we obviously recommend all the suppliers. We book you quite a bit. But one of the things they say to us is like, can you send us the DJ's profile on Instagram? And I'm like, why? What possible information or video, like, what do you need to see from a DJ? Do you get asked that?

We love getting the songs or the vibe and everything in advance and having a chat just to figure out. We don't need everything. Obviously, we know what to do. But just a reference, I like to know the age group of the guests coming, you know, where they're from, you know, those kind of details which help us also pick pick what, you know, what could work.

I think this is the difference between like having— we've got a lot of suppliers in Bali, and you guys, I would say you're, you're up here, and then most of the suppliers are here, and then a lot that are down here. And I think the difference between the here and here level is when those songs come through, you're going to pick that up and you're going to go, hey guys, probably not the best vibe for what we do. And you pick that up, whereas the ones down here are like, okay, no problems. And I think that's the main difference when you book in your suppliers. Like, there are incredibly amazing suppliers that do sit in the top tier, and then when you go mid-range, they're good, but just little bits and pieces that would not be picked up.

I actually pretty much refuse not to do weddings without a planner.

I love to hear that.

Why?

Explain why.

You have to have one. So a direct booking, you wouldn't— I would say, who's your planner? That would be my first question. Like, if they come direct, because quite frankly, it's too stressful without one.

And what people don't realize, and this was the biggest complaint we've had in the last year, was we're going to bill you for every area you want your band in. Because you need to come in and you need to soundcheck. We can't pick up that equipment and move it because there's not enough time to get everything perfect.

You're always the most underestimated, but eventually the most crucial.

Some people don't book a DJ. They might have like a band for a few sets and then they just make playlists. But my biggest fear is like— For example, on the wedding on Saturday just gone, they just had their own playlist and we heard the same song probably like 5 times that night. We were like, is this song on again?

Yep. Okay.

Hi and welcome back to another episode of Bali Weddings Unveiled. I'm Tristan and I'm Britta, and today we have some very special guests in the studio that I think we're all going to be very happy about. So we'd like to introduce you to DJ Arshad, or just Arshad. Is that weird? DJ Arshad. And we also have the beautiful Lydia from Lydia Rose Band. Is that the official name? Gypsy? We just call her Lydia Rose, really, don't we? Yeah, yeah.

I've got a few, few names.

Gypsy, the Gypsy Songstress, Lydia Rose, Lidzy, you know, it's a bit of a mixed —mix bag. Amazing. So thank you for joining us in the studio today. So we are basically going through the episodes. We're kind of going to do an interview with a supplier once a month at least. So we've already kind of touched on hair and makeup. We're basically moving through the key suppliers, hair and makeup, photo, video. We've done celebrants and now we're moving on to the entertainment section. Something me and Britt are going to touch on in the next episode, guys. I know that a lot of you are watching at home and as soon as we interview someone, you're like, that's who we want for the wedding. We do have a lot of suppliers, but we can't fit them all in the studio. So we will be interviewing a lot of people along the year. So just keep that in mind. Although if it was my wedding, you two are the ones that I'd want to speak to. Oh, 100%. You're so privileged. When I'm— maybe a 30th birthday or something. We do have your 30th coming. Oh, perfect. We do know how to throw a huge do. We need to tell them.

Just quietly.

Is it next year? The year after?

Next year.

All right, 3-0, the big one. Amazing. So first of all, we're joined by Arshad, who's a DJ, been working in Bali. Gosh, how long have you been in Bali now? 13 years now. 13 years? Yeah, moved here 13 years ago.

Before Bali was 2 years in Caribbean. So I'm, I'm from the Netherlands, you might hear from my accent, and I was, at some point I thought like to broaden my perspective and travel around the globe.

How did you end up here?

My, one of my best friends has lived here already for 20 years. Wow. And he's actually been pulling my arm for quite a while. Was that Bruce or somebody else? No, Kevin.

Oh, okay.

Kevin. And he was one of the first, in my, as far as I know, one of the first wedding DJs here in Bali. And, um, he got—

Is he still here?

He's still here, but he doesn't DJ anymore. Oh, okay. He went into the corporate direction, handed over.

Less hours, you know, less hours.

Yeah, more or less, you do the job. So, uh, that's more or less how I, um, ended up in Bali.

Amazing. And we're like, I've, I obviously know you from Global as well, cuz you work with Global quite a bit. What was kind of the first wedding on the scene here back then.

Actually, Global was the first wedding planner.

Of course it was. I was going to say.

So Global, Beyond, and— oh, can I say any company names? Yeah, of course you can. Global, Beyond— Beyond doesn't exist anymore— and BEW, they were the first 3.

Beyond Events, was that Brett or is that a different Beyond? I feel like there's a few different company names.

Can't remember, it's a long time ago. Yeah. Well, because Kevin, he received so many bookings. Yeah. And eventually they were looking for an alternative option and he took me on board and eventually all the wedding planners like, wow, we have 2 amazing all-around DJs here now. Hence, uh, just it went word of mouth, word of mouth, went to the other wedding planners, and within a year I just— my profile was like busy, just going skyrocket. Yeah. And then eventually you do a few celebrity weddings or a wedding that benefits your profile, and then— I'm not sure if I can say, but I feel like we can talk about it now because Global have already spoken about— wedding for, uh, What are their names again? The owners of Bali Bible. Ah, yes. And that more or less skyrocketed. Yeah. My profile.

Simon and Lani. Simon. Simon. Lani. Yes. Yes.

Great friends. I did, I did Lani's 40th birthday a few weeks ago. Nice.

So, but I wasn't totally not aware about, uh, their position in the market. Like, yeah, whatever, Bali Bible, this is what it is. And they said, can we promote you on our channel? Like, fine. It's only my, my name, my profile was on there with an email address. And like within 2 weeks after their wedding, it was just like—

I've never seen anything on their wedding. Was that a while ago?

Yeah, that's a long time ago.

Okay, it might have been before I was here. Uh, 2014, I think. That was the year before I got here. Yeah, just before I arrived. Actually, I arrived in May 2014. Yeah, there you go. Oh yeah, 2014. More or less took off.

Wow. And, uh, and a few celebrity weddings that also helped with, uh, the marketing. With the marketing, yeah.

Did you do Jen Hawkins' wedding with Global? Yeah, of course you did.

And the Duggans and I.

Yeah, well, we were there. So we've spoken about this previously on the podcast, but we couldn't talk about it. But now Global have spoken about it. Britta and I helped out on that wedding, which was amazing. That was an epic day. Amazing wedding.

Beautiful setup.

She was so lovely. Yeah, she was fun. Very normal. Very normal. Very normal. I think she came out with just like a robe on and a towel around her head. A white jacket. This is a bride.

That's what that's from. Yeah, I was actually just to do the intermezzo, so she was supposed to perform with the band, and eventually I was playing the whole night.

Oh, was she? I didn't know that she was meant to perform with the band.

The whole band setup was in front of my nose. Yeah. And they didn't manage.

I remember we were hiding back there being like, amazing. Elodie, how did you end up in Bali?

Oh gosh, well, I was living in Europe, so I was in Ibiza performing over there, which is another, obviously wedding kind of fun party island. But I just wanted, I just wanted to change. I wanted to be closer to home, to Australia. So I was looking. I'd never been to Bali before, and, you know, I thought Europe was where I wanted to be. And then I realized, hang on, I need to be closer to my family, and just decided to move here and took a chance and just got off the plane. I was like, I don't know what I'm doing, but I had my kids' house already. And oh, it was in, in in the works. So wait, but I didn't have the band.

You had never been to Bali? Never been to Bali. Wow. Holy moly.

And I applied for my KITAS and I landed, and then I just thought, I need to find a band. So I just remember walking down this, you know, the beaches to all those, you know, those guitarists that play on the beaches in like Seminyak or like going down to Legian. I'm like, where am I going to find— I went on the Facebook, which was the main thing at that time.

Still kind of is.

It was about 10 years ago. And yeah, I went on Facebook and I was like, posting like, is any on the expat community groups and the Bali musician groups? And can anyone help me? And you know, there was all these responses like, you can't work here. You know how they get—

yeah, everyone wants your teachers.

And I said, I do, I do. But yeah, that's kind of what happened, and then the rest is history. I fell in love with it, and it was nothing like what I imagined. Bali is so much— yeah, you know, even more beautiful than I imagined.

So was there a lot of culture shock coming from a European country into Bali? And just like straight off living here without ever holidaying here?

Yeah, but because I'd already lived overseas for quite a long time, it wasn't so hard to, I guess, transition. But definitely like Southeast Asia versus Europe was quite different. But yeah, I think with me, just, I'm not a very patient person.

You need so much patience to live here. Really, you do. You need a bit of patience. This is why you're not wedding planner. You'd get cray cray.

You'd love to work together. Yeah, I think patience.

This was the main thing I had to learn, and I still don't think I've quite nailed that, but, um, I'm definitely getting better.

10 years in, it does so good. Do you remember your first wedding you did here?

Yeah, and it was actually a global wedding. Yeah, wedding. Well, this is proper marketing.

Was it you two together?

No, no, no, no, it wasn't. 2012 was my first wedding here, so she arrived later.

Yeah, I arrived, yeah, a few years later.

I remember we had a few phone conversations. We did.

Yes, we did. I needed some advice. I needed some advice. Um, on certain things. But, uh, yeah, I just remember, and it wasn't booked through Global, it was actually booked because I did a wedding in, uh, in the Philippines at, uh, I'm sure it was— I can't remember— in the Philippines, beautiful island. Yeah, one of my friends' weddings. And someone saw me there. Yeah. And then they heard that I was moving to Bali, so a friend of mine, she booked me here and she just happened to have Global Weddings as— yeah, their planner. So that's how I met them. And then, you know, we've all been working together ever since. So yeah, love that.

Yeah. Where was your first wedding?

Gosh, I can't— is it Analea? I think it's Analea Beach House, I think. Yeah, just beautiful there.

Yeah, Canggu wouldn't have been that developed back then either. There would have been nothing out there.

There were a few, there were a few estates in Canggu. Sorry, it's more Sesaparana.

Yeah, there were a few, but there wouldn't have been like the restaurants and not like the street now is cray cray. No.

Yeah, totally different surrounding back then. Yeah, exactly.

And so from an entertainment point of view, where would the majority of your clientele come from? Is it from wedding planners? Is it from hotels? Like, how do people find you? I know that you've got your Instagram.

I do. You guys, you got me. You got our type of thing. Mine's mostly through the wedding planners. Yeah, they've been able to market my qualities and yeah, my services, and it's— that actually helped me a lot. And actually But also hence I didn't actually market or brand myself. Yeah.

How do people get in? Like if someone was to book you directly, I know how I contact you, but how do other people contact you? Word of mouth. Word of mouth.

Maybe sometimes through other couples that have, uh, so like email, WhatsApp. Yeah. Uh, mostly email. Yeah. I, I just wait with WhatsApp just to find a moment that I feel more confident to share a number. We need to have a, uh, verbal communication about, uh, some musical input or whatever, then mostly over email.

'Cause a lot of our clients, right? When they come to us, we obviously recommend all the suppliers, we book you quite a bit. But one of the things they say to us is like, can you send us the DJ's profile on Instagram? And I'm like, and we've spoken about this, but I'm like, why? What possible information or video, like what do you need to see from a DJ?

Do you get asked that? Yes, but then I have to explain to them that my actual profile is different than we just relate to the wedding market because I'm so versatile with my music. And what you actually see in my profile is more, electronic dance related, not just more like dance related. So it doesn't sync with what they would require for their wedding. So hence, just like more or less having a verbal communication and just explain what I do. Yeah. And how we work, and there's how many weddings I've done on the island, and more or less the, the, the—

you just need to say I'm amazing and I give the best hugs.

Really? The last one, yes, but I will never say about myself that I'm amazing. I'll let others decide it for me.

You know what we say to all of our clients? It's like You need an Aashad hug. They're like a warm ray of sunshine. And every wedding, if you've ever seen Aashad show up at a wedding, like me and Brittner drop all our belongings and we're like, run. I think Nadia and Tom last year. Nadia and Tom last year at Pandemic Club for Sale, saying to Tom, I was just like, Tom, you need a hug from Aashad. And he did. He did. And he dropped everything as well. And he had a big cuddle with Aashad. And he was like, oh, that is the best. I've got to say, like, this has nothing to do with weddings, but I think you give the best hugs at weddings. So what should I be?

DJ Huggy Bear? I call myself?

Yeah, I love that. DJ Huggy Bear, exclusive to Bali.

With an additional fee.

Absolutely. Unlimited cuddles.

And all the guests walking through the door, everyone gets a hug.

You know the beautiful neons you put at weddings? I'm gonna get a free hugs one and put it on the DJ. Oh my God, that will be—

oh my God. Or just allocate just one hour.

Just, yeah, yeah, yeah, he just stands there.

Okay, well, it's gonna happen now, Mark. We're gonna book him in as well.

It's just for the hugs. Yeah, definitely.

I love to give hugs.

You, you like— honestly, we said before today, we're like, how do we capture like Arshad walking in and getting that hug on camera? And then we're like, maybe Lydia needs to have one. I don't know if Lydia's had a proper one. And then I forgot that you guys have known each other for years. As soon as he walked in, I've got a photo, I'll put it up. I've just— straight away, straight away, hugs in the situation. He's like, I don't know where to go first. I think— I think that was a bit of a challenge, like, okay, Brit, Who first?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you know what, I'll send you a message if we have a gig together the night before, and I'll be like, okay, just prepare yourself for a big hug. Like, I'll literally send him a voice note just to make sure. I'm like, I need, I need one this week more than ever.

And then, you know, but I received them returned from you ladies as well. It's not just— yeah.

Do you know what I did a while ago? Because like, the suppliers never read our run sheets properly. Hard for them. So literally on the run sheet, I put on my run sheet and sent it through, and I was like, I'm ready for big hugs. I was like, DJ Arshan arrives, big hugs. He's the only one that saw it. He was like, I'll be ready with my hugs. So for you, I guess it's just a word of mouth, a trust thing. So guys, like, if you're listening at home and we say to you, you need DJ Arshan, just trust us, please. You don't need to see an Instagram or him mixing songs. I don't know, I can— fantastic. I understand when it comes to bands because you want to see how they sing, you want to see how they vibe. With a DJ, as long as they can like, get your vibe, mix the music, take requests, and just be like a fun person.

Yeah, and just understand their requirements. Yeah, that's the most important thing, because I need— eventually it's their, it's their most beautiful day, one of the most beautiful days. Yeah. And I just need to accommodate. Yeah. So clear, giving clear guidelines just helps us and also Lydia. Yeah. To create the evening.

Yes. We had a, um, a band situation recently, and every— they wanted them during party time. And everything ran late, right? Completely out of my control. We were just running late and the band was supposed to be on party time. And then the band comes on like quarter past 10 and I'm like, okay guys, let's go some upbeat songs. And the bride was very, this is song sets that you're playing. So they started playing. She comes over to me. She's like, this song wasn't on my playlist. I was like, okay. And back to her playlist. And she had picked all slow songs. We did not have a dance song. I'm like, do we want to put the DJ on? No. We had no dance hall.

Yeah. No party songs. It's a difficult one. So when I see the rundown for these kind of things, I automatically, if I see something like that and I see their song list, I'll give someone, I'll give you guys a call or give the client a call. Usually I have a direct conversation with the client prior to the wedding anyway to run through this stuff. But yeah, there's a difficult thing. We love getting the songs or the vibe and everything in advance and having a chat just to figure out, we don't need everything. Obviously we know what to do.

Just a reference. Just a reference.

I like to know the age group of the guests coming, you know, where they're from, you know, those kind of details which help us also pick what, you know, what could work. But, uh, usually even in my contract it says we are— we love the song request and we stick to that as our guide, but please note we are able to add in other songs depending on the vibe and the moment because that gives us a bit of room for movement.

Yeah, we had that one wedding together last year and I felt so bad for you. I think I sent you home early because the bride and groom knew what they wanted, but their guests were completely different. We didn't have anyone on the dance floor, remember, because they wanted like— it was an Islander wedding at Wonderland. Oh, remember that? Yeah. And the guests kept coming up to me and being like, when do we get reggae songs?

That they wanted was as like, um, but the couple picked the songs they loved.

Yes. But their guests completely, they really all wanted like reggaeton and reggae.

And we can do that to a certain extent. But, uh, but also we had the DJ booked for afterwards, so it was like we transitioned and they could play all that stuff. But you've really got to look at your band that you're booking and see what kind of songs they do before, you know. And they loved us, and they— they were just requesting all these songs that were absolu— our song list is maybe 1,500 songs. We do a lot of songs, and we can convert any song into a reggae kind of style.

And you've got different languages as well. Like, I've seen you sing in other languages.

Of like in Hindi and in Mandarin and in Indonesian and French and Spanish and Italian and, you know, all these languages. But, oh, you know, sometimes the genre, you know, yeah, and it's completely not like your fault at all.

Like, they were very happy, but it was just a guess, different vibe.

Just when they want to request at a certain point, you're like, well, it's not really—

the DJ can do it though. The DJ can always do it.

But it can be for DJ as well, even for a performance. I mean, if the client asks, being persistent, well, like, this is my playlist, yeah, play accordingly. And exactly what she's saying, it doesn't impact on the— relate to the guest. Now what do we do then?

I think this is the difference between like having— we've got a lot of suppliers in Bali, and you guys, I would say you're up here, and then most of the suppliers are here, and then there's a lot that are down here. And I think the difference between the here and here level is when those songs come through, you're going to pick that up and you're going to go, hey guys, probably not the best vibe for what we do. And you pick that up, whereas the ones down here are like, okay, no problems. And I think that's the main difference when you book in your suppliers. There are incredibly amazing suppliers that do sit in the top tier. And then when you go mid-range, they're good, but there's just little bits and pieces that would not be picked up. Yeah. So many of the local suppliers, I think we've touched on this before, they just say yes. Well, but they don't really understand. The band that I had on the weekend, they booked directly, so I didn't really have anything to do with it, but I did get sent through the playlist of songs. But because I didn't book it, I'm not looking over that. You book them, you know what you want, great. So when I went up to the band and was like, hey, upbeat, they're like, there's no upbeat songs. And I was like, what do you mean? And then I get the list and I'm like, and the most upbeat song on there was Backstreet Boys' I Want It That Way. And Shania Twain's That Don't Impress Me Much.

It is a banger.

Those are the most like upbeat songs. It's a sing-along. But yeah, it's not, it's not, it's not, you know, when they got the list, they were like, sure, no problems, we can do that. But they didn't factor in that they were playing during First Dance onwards, which is party time. Like, that's a dinner set. That's fantastic for dinner, or like moving into the party time, but not so much the party.

So they don't do the research or really ask the client the requirements.

Yeah, and the band was amazing, like I love them, they're one of my favorite bands, but they just, they didn't have that level of experience to be like, hey guys, like maybe you need to pick different songs, or maybe we play during dinner with the set songs that you want. And it was a 7-piece band, big band, 7-piece band for basically what— yeah, so, but again, I think that also comes down to like please just trust your wedding planner. Like, I would have picked that up. I would have been like, hey, you've got a 7-piece band, that's party time, let's pick party songs. Yeah, exactly. So with your clients, Lydia, you've got multiple avenues that we can send them through. We're going to put Lydia's Instagram up here somewhere so you can go stalk her and have a look. Where do majority of your clients— you're getting a lot of direct ins from wedding planners and things?

I mean, mainly, well, through Instagram, definitely. But I've been really hopeless pretty much since COVID on Instagram. Like, you haven't been hopeless. I rarely post. I post stories, I don't— but yeah, I've quite busy, um, but definitely through planners and word of mouth. Like, absolutely word of mouth. Like, people that see me at weddings, they'll say, how is this, uh, girl? Or— but planners, I actually pretty much refuse not to do weddings without a planner.

I love to hear that.

So important. Explain why. You have to have one. So a direct booking, you wouldn't— I would say, who's your planner? Yeah, that would be my first question. Like, if they come direct, because quite frankly it's too stressful without one. Yeah. And I just, it's in my terms and conditions.

That's an interesting thing to have because we obviously, we have a very wide, broad range and we've launched something earlier this year basically called DIY packages. You can find it online now because we get approached a lot from couples that try to plan their own wedding. And you know, they can book, as we said, the venue, hair and makeup artist, photo, video, probably their florist, maybe a DJ. And then it's like, We're stuck. We need you to take over. How much is your fee? And we tell them, they're like, but we've already planned half the wedding. I'm like, no, you've booked your key suppliers. You don't have entertainment, like rider gear. You don't have vendor meals. You don't have lighting. You don't have sound. Like, do you have a floor plan explaining exactly where all this is going to go?

Which is quite common for us.

And I'm like, you haven't planned your wedding. Sorry, you've booked a couple suppliers. So we have now launched a DIY course where we walk people bit by bit. And when they hit, we've booked our entertainment, great. You need rider gear in 3 areas. You're going to need a generator with multiple cables. And we actually guide them through it. And we take over the last bits of planning, but we make it guidelines. So when they're booking a supplier, it's like, please factor in $1,000 for rider gear when you're booking the supplier. As soon as you've booked them, you need to email Barley Brides, we'll book your rider gear. So you're actually paying for them anyway.

We are, but we're giving them a lot more control.

So we literally give, say, here's all the catalogs of all the lighting, pick one, this is the price. And then they just say, hey, this is what we want. So it's not a detailed conversation. They're not getting us to go, yellow's not going to go with the the tableware that you've picked and they're not getting the full planning thing. They've got all the resources to do it themselves, but we just book the final bits and pieces and show up on the day.

But show up on the day and they're doing it as well.

They have to fill in our very detailed run sheet. You guys have both seen it. They have to fill that in themselves. And then we execute. So they get one, they get, depends on the package, they get two calls with us. So one to ask questions, then the second is to finalize it, make sure they've done everything correctly. And we run over all their supplies and then we execute it. And there we go. But it's interesting to hear that it's in your terms, you must have a wedding planner because we tell people, this is why you need a wedding planner. Why is it stressful for you if they don't have a wedding planner?

Just so many factors just leading up to, like, I like to know what's happening quite, you know, OCD when it comes to it.

We're like, you cannot have the cheap sound company if Lydia is playing.

She wants the nice sound company. Well, yeah, exactly. Cause there's too many complications otherwise. But you know, I don't know if you know this, actually, but I studied events management in Melbourne. And I used to do, when I was singing part-time in Melbourne, I was also an events manager and I did a lot of weddings. So for me, it's so important. I know behind the scenes, I know how much work goes into it as well as being a singer. And so for me, it's just super important to have someone there to, you know, just ask questions or someone on the day and someone to liaise between the client. And then I'll call them eventually, but just to get that basic information and I don't know. I just, yeah, I think it's just super important. Everything.

Because with a band and we have like, honestly, I think we've done a lot of learning in the last 2 years. We're going to cover this on our next episode and our monthly recap. We've had a lot of company changes, but one of our things is when we book a band, we've just had this again. Clients complain. They're like, it's so expensive, the rider gear. Why do we need rider gear? Because you're showing up with your band, but we still need a lot of equipment for you. We need microphone stands and foldback speakers and like, All the cords and everything that goes along with it. And what people don't realize, and this was the biggest complaint we've had in the last year, was we're going to bill you for every area you want your band in because you need to come in and you need soundcheck. We can't pick up that equipment and move it because there's not enough time to get everything perfect. So we've actually just changed our terms now. So we used to do sound last. Now sound gets done at the same time as entertainment. Before you book the band, tell me exactly where they're playing. Tell me what, you know, are they in cocktail area, in this area, in that area? And then I'm going to quote you for the rider gear before you— I'll put them on hold, but I'm going to quote you for the rider gear because some people $1,500 on sound and things. And I'm like, well, you've got them in, you know, sometimes it's 4 areas: ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, and party room.

It's always the most underestimated, but eventually the most crucial.

And also, like, and again, this is the difference between a mediocre company and a very good company. We have cheap, shitty sound companies we work with, and they're fine, they do the job, but there might be like on the speakers or something along those lines, and that's cheap and cheerful, probably $100. Yeah. But if we want good quality sound, which you are very particular that you have to have good quality sound, you're looking at 2 to 3 times the price of a crappy sound company. But it's worth it. The other day, the microphone during the speeches, I'm literally like at the sound counter like, what is going on? And I'm not an angry person, so even then my anger is not anger. It's like, guys, because the microphone's coming out. But that's because you've picked— you're on a budget and you're like, I don't want to spend that much money on sound. Yeah, we can do it cheap because the client chose. They don't choose the company, but we quote them. Yeah. And sometimes they're like, it's too expensive, we're on a budget. And then we're like, well, right, we can do it.

Okay, but I understand the consequences then.

Yeah, exactly. And we literally have to explain that to them. Or sometimes they just don't have the budget full stop because they've spent $5,000 on flowers instead of $2,000. And they're like, we need to bring our budget down $3,000. Where can we make cutbacks? And I'm like, yeah, so sound, lighting. And we pick the other things and we do explain to them like the fairy lights the other day, they went out for 10 minutes, but that wasn't our fault. The bar company plugged in a light, the light caught on fire and it shorted the whole power. So we lost lights for a while. No, it was on a generator, but they didn't check with the generator company before they plugged in. So I don't know. I wasn't there. I just saw the lights go out and I was like, ah. So yeah, there's like definitely a difference in pricing depending on the area. So I think whenever I book Lydia or anyone that needs a bit nicer equipment, I'm always like Twin Brothers.

Yes. Yeah.

Do you have a favorite light, sound and lighting company?

Ooh, I don't think I can say, but I do have a few. You can definitely say.

Yeah, I don't think I can say, but there's obviously, there's a, you know, look, I'm going to be very open and say you're probably my favorite band in Bali. Oh yeah. Is anyone else going to get upset? No, no, no. I mean, brothers are amazing. We had one the other week and I will never use them. Sorry? We had a company the other day. I don't think I'll ever use them again. Um, who's your other favorite?

Well, I'm only going to say this because I want to give him a little plug. Yeah. So there's M Audio and if anyone knows my percussionist, my amazing bongo player, he's just started a company.

That's why you guys don't know it. We had him.

He just started a company and it's an audio company. It's all brand new equipment. It's a really good team. Is he partnered with someone? But there's so many. Don't hate me, other audio companies.

Is he partnered with someone? Because he was at a wedding the other week and I was like, what are you doing here? And he was on sound, but on the run sheet he wasn't on sound. It was Yanti had booked someone else.

I'm not quite sure, but there's just so many amazing— I love seeing his little face though.

He's so happy.

I've seen him a few times on other events as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He works.

If he doesn't have a key, he works. But anyway, there's so many amazing, incredible, you know, there are.

But eventually, the planners, like, you, you know, uh, what we require. Yeah. So you make sure it's there.

And I will say, you want the DJ decks more than everyone else. I think I was having a conversation with you last year and I was like, are you sure you need those ones? They're really expensive. Yes, Britta, I need them. Yeah, we'll— and then I think I was like, you know what, you can have them for the next event, not this one. The client doesn't have the budget. All right, princess, next event you can have them. Princess, diva. Princess, princess.

I don't mind because I've been in quite some situations where they supplied old outdated equipment which was partially working. Yeah. And eventually I need to fulfill a job of like 5, 6 hours. Yeah. And if it doesn't work, eventually all eyes are on me.

We had a wedding where I don't know what— I don't understand DJ decks, but Sammy was on that wedding. And I don't know what happened, but something wouldn't plug in. I was like, I don't understand it. Sound help.

Yeah. Well then that's why we—

I'm a technical guy, so I can quickly find a solution. Even it helps also that we work together, like finding ways also to the sound engineers. If something's wrong with the speakers or audio-wise, I always want to come to an event, I'll walk around even, especially during the dinner moment. I want to understand, is it too loud? Is everything spread out correctly?

Yeah.

With the front of house, the position of the speakers to the floor?

Are they going to be blasting the guests that are seating? And that's why it's so—

that's why it's so important for a sound check.

Like, yeah, exactly. The sound check is so important. But like companies like Azimuth, amazing. And last week I did an event with Azimuth. Yeah. And you know, they've been around for so long and they're incredible, but all their equipment is brand new. Oh, brand, brand new. But that's the thing, when you've got like— and everyone's incredible in that team as well— but when you've got all the elements, all your equipment is out on the beach quite often, or on the cliff, and you know, it's so easy to get, you know, right, they just get old so quickly. But last week I was— I mean, with all the companies, you must have been so happy. Like, I feel like since in the last year there's just been an upgrade.

Yeah, I feel like everyone's got money post-COVID. Yes, it was all average because no one had any money to maintain and things. And then now that we've got money, we're made— like, we're just— we're doing a big cleanup in the office at the moment and doing maintenance on all of our equipment.

The sound this year has been amazing. Like, I've seen— I haven't had one wedding that's been really, you know, sometimes there's horror moments where I'm like, oh But like, it's been really good. All the companies.

So when you come along with the band, I think, you know, touching on like, this is probably the biggest complaint. Explain what rider gear is. Because we always say that we're going to book rider gear and we explain this to clients. But if they don't have a wedding planner or they're watching along at home and like planning their wedding, what is rider gear and why do you need it? So when we book you—

Because they go hospitality. Yeah.

Well, like, if you were to say—

A few drinks. A few drinks.

So when we quote people, we say, here's a rough quote for a DJ and a band. Because at the very beginning, like, they don't know what they're going to spend. Here's a rough DJ Ben, this does not include rider gear. So your rider gear, I know what it is, but what do you require if we were to book you to a wedding? What do you bring?

I bring myself, my headphones, and my music, and a good state of mind. Should we have some positive energy? Yeah, sorry, my laptop.

Yeah, I was like, that's my laptop. So what needs to be provided?

Plus a backup in case the laptop fails. I always have extra hard drives connected, so it's always—

We had a DJ last year showed up, didn't bring his charger, and his laptop died. Lucky cadet was on standby, our sound team.

Happened to me once. Yeah, and you learn from— you do. You got to make the mistake to learn. Sure, like, okay, this will never occur again. Yeah. Um, so yeah, DJ gear. So again, uh, that's the only gear I bring with myself. Uh, from the planner, um, I rely on all the DJ gear. Yeah, a proper DJ table, sort of, uh, not just a dining table. Yeah, dining People sometimes don't understand if you have to work from a dining table, imagine that you're bent over for 5 hours. It's not so, I mean, it's stuck after 5 hours, can't get up again.

We were sorting place cards the other day, bent over like this, and we'd only done like 20 names. I was like, oh my back. Yeah, I can't imagine. It's killing, it's killing.

And then for 5 hours, a monitor, a speaker monitor on a stand on the right side because I use my left ear for DJing. Yeah. That's it. Yeah, and I have my hospitality rider, but that's something different.

Yeah, that's food and drinks. We sort that out. We're pretty— I feel like we're pretty onto it most of the time with making sure.

But also the positioning, also the positioning, how we are positioned in accordance to the main PA, so the floor speakers. It's just like— it's a— sorry, rule of thumb? Thumb of rule? What is it? Sorry, which one? What's the right order?

Rule of thumb? Yeah, you made me question that now.

I was like, thumb of rule?

Sorry. The performer always needs to be be behind the PA if it is live or it's a DJ. That's just, um, yeah, the main priority.

And I think if you don't have a wedding planner, that's like such a massive thing. Like, and I say this all the time, people, they're like, we fully planned the wedding. I was like, great, where's your floor plan? Where are all the sounds going? What? And I'm like, hmm.

That's also the reason why I prefer to work only with wedding planners. Yeah. Also from experience, had a couple times of being direct, direct with the client, and was twice a failure. And since then I actually go, no, it's just a wedding planner. So I even decline weddings, to be really honest. Yeah. If I don't feel confident, because eventually I— you rely on me. Yeah. So, and you, you are marketing me towards the client as well, as a reliable DJ as well, and who's able to deliver. I have the same with you. And those are— I only work with the ENOs who are committed to their work and who have a certain standard of quality.

So you're picky with the wedding planners you work with? That's Yes, that's good actually.

So I prefer as well because I prefer to say yes to you as much as possible. Yeah. And instead of like just going for, for quantity, I prefer just that you can rely on me. Because if I just 4, 5, 6 times in a row say no, well, you pick someone else. Yeah. So it's a bit more of a bit of commitment.

I don't really pick someone else if it was a no. It'd be more like if you messed up and there was zero accountability. Like, that's my word of the month is accountability.

But I prefer to work with people I like to work with. Yeah, I love to work with you guys, ladies.

Is it because we're great hug receivers? And then for you, Lydia, a little bit different because you're a band. Yeah, you obviously come with yourself. Does the band bring equipment?

What, what band only brings their instruments? Yes. So drum set, guitar, bongos, guitar. I mean, essentially they have to drive here on a motorbike, so whatever they can fit on their back is what they can bring. And that's also why why we could never bring the sound. And yeah, we're not even legally allowed to provide the sound because our, our kit is performer. Yeah, so you can't cross over that at all. So people always like, why don't you just bring it? Because, you know, in Australia people bring their own sound. We're not allowed to.

But it's also a different company. Like, you are a performer, you're not an electrician or sound or maintenance.

But yeah, what Lydia's saying, in say Australia or Europe, they do a full thing, they provide a full package.

Some of the bands that we work with, they do do it, but I know for a fact they don't do it. They get it from another company and they mark the price up and then they give it to us.

Yeah, yeah. I think, look, I mean, also it's an extra hassle. There's an extra hassle I would not want to take on, you know, with the generator and like all these things.

Where do we get power from? Yeah, this one's not working. No, it's too much stress. So you specialize in performing? Yeah, I'm just a singer.

Just a singer, that's enough. I work hard.

But that's— so for the band, we obviously like need speakers, speakers, mixing desk.

You always need someone to, you know, sound tech there, front of house. Uh, gosh, all the cabling, you know, things need to be like gaffer taped down, you know, so many, you know, all that stuff. Yeah, there's a lot that's involved.

The lighting, microphone, that's kind of important. Microphone.

Now you just sing out like, no, no. Yeah, microphones.

Yeah, that's right, kind of important. And then we need that for every area. Like, we do.

Every area you're going to sing, we need Yeah, and lighting, like lighting is important as well. Yeah, it's like sometimes we're just rocked up and there hasn't been as much lighting, we're in the dark and I'm trying to see and my guitarist can't see what's happening. But that doesn't happen anymore, and that's exactly why we need planners. That was more when I got booked directly, or it was just, you know, years, 10 years ago when I first started.

When we were starting out wedding planning, I remember I went to one wedding and one of our newer planners who I was overseeing got there and I was like, the bar's in the dark. 'Cause she'd booked lighting over the dinner tables, but nowhere else. So we had to like last minute order in lighting. 'Cause I was like, you've got this. But these are things again, you make mistakes and you learn from them. But imagine being a client and you don't, you don't have those contacts to sort that out. The amount of things that go wrong behind the scenes that we just fix and no one ever figures it out that it's gone wrong. And do you have like, what's your kind of music style?

I think, I mean, the only thing I'm not, why don't we say what isn't my music style? 'Cause anything from jazz to R&B, hip-hop, hip-hop, you know, house music, EDM, all that stuff I can kind of COVID I think I just don't do like heavy metal. Yeah. Uh, I mean, we touched on this earlier, but I guess like more reggaeton. Yeah, I can do it, but it's not really— I don't have a million songs that I can do in that genre. Um, yeah, not really so much rock, but I do do like AC/DC and things like that. So it's— yeah, but I guess they're the ones that I don't—

yeah, yeah. And then I think, Arshad, you're very similar. Like, do you have genres you won't go into, or you're pretty versatile across everything?

Well, there's a bit of like the current Afro house that I just personally don't prefer to play. I don't like it. I find it quite boring.

Yeah, I feel like you do need to enjoy the music as well.

I need to enjoy it because it's a synergy between me and the audience and I. Yeah, we need to feel each other a bit. So if there's certain requirements from the client, then I'll I'll admit, like, if I can do it or not.

But in general, uh, I just had this flashback to a wedding last year. Beautiful clients, um, Asian though, so they finished up pretty early. And I've just had this flashback to me and Britta on the dance floor. There's no one there, and we've insisted Arshad stay to play us Taylor Swift.

No, but that's the, that's the one with the box. It's a ballroom dance floor, right? It's a ballroom dance floor.

It was at Latitude. Latitude. But they were all in the pool and we were just teasing them. We're like, can't even keep the dance floor.

No, the moms were on the dance floor. Yeah. And then later— They were having a great time. Yeah. And I was enjoying it actually. It was so funny.

Me and Bruno were like, play us some Taylor Swift because we were starting to pack down because all the clients were in the pool and there's no way they're coming back. So we finished up an hour early.

It was fine, we enjoyed the speaker anyway. All had a great time. Yeah.

But it was just funny because you're watching, you don't see them on the pool and we've just got this video. I'll see if I can find one and put it up of just me and Britta on the dance floor. And at one stage it was just the two mums and we were just giving them so much crap from like, yeah, great dance floor, Arshad. But what you can't see is everyone's in the pool having the best time. I could like—

I love it. That's why I'm laughing. Basically, I'm quite versatile. Yeah. Um, I've even done weddings where people requested Arabic music. Oh, foreign language music.

Do you do many Indian weddings? No. Okay, because we, we don't do them either, but occasionally Like in the past we have and we've just recommended that.

I prefer to decline them. Yeah. But in general, I've done Greek, Arabic, Chinese weddings. As long as they provide me with a proper playlist beforehand, then I can collect the tracks. I'll find a way to blend it in. Yeah. And I've just done a couple of weeks ago, it's like, supplied with so many Arabian—

I was with you. Yeah, you were there. Yeah. Yeah. That's very cool.

They emailed me later, like a week later, like, wow, how did you manage to, to pull this off. Like, okay, that's a skill set. Do you—

have you done any Estonian weddings? I have one coming up and I've just recommended you. I'm like, Arshad, probably Arshad. And I've got another one as well I'm about to book you for. How many weddings have you done? Specifically requested no swear words.

How many weddings have you done here in the last years?

I've got no idea. I think the, the busiest is like— we're talking thousands. We're talking thousands.

Okay, I didn't reach a thousand yet. Have you counted? You know how many are— I think around 700? No, we're about the same.

Done more than that?

No, we're coming up to that many bookings.

Okay. No, but you travel around.

Yeah, I'm probably— yeah, I'm including— yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay. Yeah, that's quite some. Wow. So, hands, if you said ask me, Estonia, that could be—

could be, probably. Occasionally we get like requests like from very specific European countries, and you're the only person I recommend for those. I was like, Arshad, because he's been all through Yeah, but I've also got one coming out they've specifically requested no swear words and songs, and I was like, you need a Western DJ because my local DJs have no understanding. Yes, I mean, they can understand some of the simple words, but they don't know off the top of their heads. Like, I could name probably— if you gave me a set list, I'd be like, that one's got swear words, and that one's got swear words.

Play breakup songs as well.

Do you know what's funny? We've got a, we've got a local DJ we work with a lot, and they don't— like, obviously they play songs and they like the vibe, but they don't understand the full meaning. And I will never forget, I in cocktail hour at a wedding and Shaggy, It Wasn't Me came on. I was just thinking the same thing. And I was like, okay, cool. But I'm walking around and then I hear one of the moms go, what an inappropriate song to play at a wedding. I was like, okay, let me fix this.

I agree, I agree, I agree, I agree. But you know how— at the end of the evening, for sure.

You know how often I see someone on a request list? Really? That one and Somebody I Used to Know. Like, why? Or Red, Red Wine.

So many songs where— so inappropriate. Yeah, I get requests like for even the ceremony, and this is actually one of my main things, and I, and I always feel a bit rude doing this, but sometimes I have to go back to the client because I, I'm all about the words and the meaning behind the songs. And it might be the most beautiful, beautiful song that sounds so romantic, but it could be like Sam Smith, Not the Only One. Yeah, or like Adele Adèle, you know, you know, all of Adèle's songs are about breakups. Yeah, but they sound so beautiful. Yeah. So you just think, or even like Wicked Game, Chris Isaac, is such a popular one for a ceremony. But I'll just say, hey, can we just change this lyric slightly? Yeah, you know, can we change this, you know, this?

And again, to make it more romantic.

So it happens all the time, but with swear words as well. Like one time, uh, and there's all these grand— like grandparents sitting in the front, and the exit song for the client was Cuff It by Beyoncé. So, and I'm thinking, and I'm like, what's— what word can I put? Because I'm looking at these, you know, yeah, these people that probably don't want to hear the F-word sung during the ceremony, quite frankly. And so I changed it to pump something up. Yeah, but like, things like that, it's really important to like know your audience and kind of just change And I think that's just the exact service you get with hiring a more premium supplier.

I will never forget a couple of years ago, 'cause obviously we've all got Instagram, we all watch each other's stories, and there was a beautiful hair and makeup artist, and I watched her video. She'd done a beautiful reel of a bride, and you know that song, who's it by? You're such a fucking whore. I love it. Oh my God. And she had that song over the reel and I watched it and then I rung her and I was like, hey babe, just watching your Instagram stories. Did you listen to the lyrics of that song she posted? And she's like, no, it's just nice beat. And I was like, babe, you need to listen to that right now because this is what it says. And she goes, oh my God. And she fully tagged the bride in it as well. And she was like, thank you so much. And then I spoke to her about it the next time and she was like, I was so embarrassed. Like, thank you for telling me. Oh my gosh. And her English is fantastic. Yeah. But she just didn't listen to the words properly. That's so funny. So funny. What's like the most bizarre request you've had at a wedding? Like song-wise or dance-wise, like have you had any really weird ones or dances? Any crazy? I saw someone like doing the boat.

Rock the boat. Oh yeah.

I mean, there's just been so many. I can't even pick. I can't pick. Any crazy stories?

Eagle Rock, have you ever seen anyone naked at that?

No, not naked, but always in their undies.

Yeah, they're always in their undies.

Did you know that that was an Australian thing or like the first time you saw it? The first time you saw it though, did you know what it was?

Biggest— first and biggest mess up I ever made. I never knew of Horses, Delbert, when I came to buy it.

Such a classic.

He's got a great cover. I mean, for Australians, I get it, but when I just arrived there, never heard of the song, and it was the closing song, and I downloaded the song, and, um, for some reason it wasn't Horses, it was Savage Garden. What was it? Uh, Thriller. Exactly. Oh yeah. So the couple were standing there and I just played the song and they look at me, it's not horses. Well, it says here horses. Oh gosh. Where's every second? Learn a curve. Yes. Since then I know horses.

Now you know. You will never forget horses again. Yeah. Never. Yeah.

Plus, I think last year, the year before that, I had a wedding only 20 guests, maybe less. They actually renewed their vows. Yeah. And it was quite an exclusive estate, and they made a ballroom dance floor because they were quite professional ballroom dancers. Oh yeah, love that. Kind of like Rihanna. So she played for them, 2 people, and was like playing the waltz, playing Rihanna, playing the waltz. And like, this is a bit of an obligation. I feel like that would be what I'd want because extra. Yeah, yeah, but it was quite an interesting gig. It was like, are they actually really appreciating my work, my effort? And they emailed me like, we would like to meet you again at Kurataunt, I want to thank you. And that's cute. So it was a bit of a—

yeah, different experience. How do you get the dance floor pumping if it's not pumping? Like, have you got any special tips?

We cut off the track as soon as possible and switch to a dance floor Yeah, interaction.

Like, if no one's like—

you just literally run around and go, come on! Like, you just kind of drag them. I love watching you perform. It's just so much fun. My favorite part is the conga line.

Yeah, always like a conga, always a sing-along. You just get everyone involved.

And also, you have to. I love that you bring the vibes through dinner as well though. Like, that's my favorite. That's my favorite, doing a dinner set.

So when I see a rundown and I'm not on the dinner set, When I'm not on the dinner, if I see like I've been booked for like say 2 cocktail hour sets and then 1 party set and the ceremony, for example, then the dinner set's empty, I'm like, oh gosh. So I'll be like, come on guys, book me on the dinner.

This is my favorite part. Is it your favorite part?

I think so. Because I mean, I love every part of wedding. Like it's all got its good points, but for the dinner, it's a point where you can really build it. Start off really romantic and just kind of make it really beautiful. Everyone's talking, eating, the thing kind of builds up. Yeah, by the end, because everyone's sitting down and they're kind of more of a captive, you know, by the end the party set and things like that, people are off at the bar and in the pool and, you know, so you want to kind of capture them when they're seated and by the end get everyone singing. Sing-alongs, can't take my eyes off you, Sweet Caroline, you know, Simply the Best, or whatever, whatever the songs are. But that's I, yeah, I love doing that.

Well, interesting of the dinner part is also that you can, uh, understand the audience a bit. Yeah, you know, how they interact with certain songs, and it also helps you to—

Oh, so you're just watching in the background and figuring out what they like? That's smart. Yeah, because some of them, like, if the DJ's playing, like, they do sing along to the DJ through dinner. Like, it's a bit of a— Yeah, just try to find a balance.

Or when Lydia plays, always need to understand what is her playlist so I don't, we don't clash with hers. Hers is primary, of course. And then from there, just like go with the flow again.

Do you ever go into weddings blind where you have no idea what kind of styling? Oh yeah, yeah.

Sometimes I just don't get any, uh, no guideline.

I just walk in there, he's like, hey, and then you just wing it and hope for the best.

And it just almost always works out.

Yeah. I mean, you're pretty versatile and you're pretty good with the people. I think it is one of the most important things. Part of our final calls with clients is we make them tell us music briefing. What songs do what do you hate, what do you not like? You have to give us some sort of guideline because everyone's got such different musical tastes. And like, personally, I hate songs without words. Like, that's just my biggest pet peeve. I don't love heavy metal or anything housey. That just— for weddings, just sing-alongs.

Yeah, yeah. A bit of Tron egg or old school, like whatever it is. Yeah, anything familiar. Yeah, exactly. And eventually, even all the cool people, they go clubbing or being called the night of whatever, eventually the wedding They all want to sing along.

And then, so you've been a DJ, you obviously do consecutive sets. But Lydia, you like, explain to us how a band works, because we explain this to our clients. But do you need a DJ, or can you just have a band and build your own playlist? What's your personal recommendation?

I mean, I would always suggest a DJ for the later part of the evening and to like build it from ceremony to, you know, cocktail hour to dinner to, you know, a party set. And usually we work together a lot and also there's a few. Dj, DJ Sammy, of course, DJ Clay. But what we do, I think it's the perfect interaction that we build it up to that point. But I don't know, I think. Wait, what was the question?

Well, you're only doing sets, so you're not going five hours straight. You're doing 25 minutes.

So that would be exhausting. So. It's so hot. First of all, we get there at, say, 1:32 o' clock for sound check. Keep in mind, usually it's in Uluwatu. We'll be traveling from say, I'm in, like, two hours, 2 hours each way, right? So, and then on top of that, getting ready. So it's really quite a long, long day. Like, you know, you're going to be in your gown and— but once you get there, um, yeah, it's just usually ceremony. So you do sound check at 2, ceremony a bit before 3:30 or 5, then you do the cocktail hour, which is 45 minutes, and then you do say the dinner set, which is another 45 minutes. And then usually after the first dance, which is the way we like to do it, to kind get everyone around the dance floor. They'll do their first dance, which could be live, or it could be us together, or like just the, you know, DJ. And then we're like, everyone get on the dance floor! And that's a 45-minute set, which is the most interactive. Yeah, because we get the bongo player on the dance floor, the saxophonist is running around, I'm running around, and now we've got the guitar who can run around as well, and the electric guitar, which can— so it all changes. It changes from acoustic, like normal, you know, keyboard to guitar. Yeah, so it's a really fun shift.

This is exactly why I would say just— yeah, so yeah, it's—

but people don't understand, like, people are always like, oh, can you, can you play the final sets till, say, 12 o'clock or 11, or whatever time it finishes with the DJ, and they want that at the end? No, it's exhausting. And by that point, I look like a drowned rat, or like, I don't know, tomato. Like, it's just really— it's hot and it's a long, long, long day.

So much energy you can get as a performer. Yeah, exactly.

So would you recommend booking you and a DJ, or is it like, could a client just build a Spotify playlist and then just switch to that, you know, during cocktail, in between sets, or does that ruin the vibe?

I think a DJ, always.

It does depend on the— because I mean, the amount of guests, the budget, what kind of vibe do they aim for. Maybe they just want to keep it really laid back and it's not required.

Yeah, but what about if you're doing a party set, like, and then they put their own playlist playlist on. Like, how— like, how would they do that? It's gonna be weird with their phone, with their laptop. Well, some of them do. Some people don't book a DJ. They might have like a band for a few sets and then they just make playlists. But my biggest thing is, like, on the wedding on Saturday just gone, they just had their own playlist and we heard the same song probably like 5 times that night. Yeah, yeah. They were like, is this song on again? Yeah.

But is it because they're on a budget or what is the reason?

They had a band and then we just had songs for in between the band set. So it was like, this is the— but they didn't make it long enough. So Maroon 5, was it Maroon 5? I heard that song like 5 times, and I literally looked over and I'm like— and I said to Unger, who was managing music, he goes, there's not enough songs, so it's just looping around. I was like, okay, cool. Yeah, because some people do just make their own playlists because it's either budget or no, we want to manage music.

If they just started on a budget and they still want a certain type of entertainment, yeah, yeah. Uh, if they're more band lovers, go for a I always recommend both of my clients. I would say both as well. Yeah, because the DJ really can— well, we can really determine the vibe for the evening.

But also with the playlist, you've got that awkward, like, it doesn't sound like a lot, but there's like a second of silence between songs. So there's some finishing, and they wait, they stop again, you're getting a new one. At least with a DJ, like, it's all being mixed, it's all smooth, it's nice transition, there's no like stop.

And they're reading the crowd, and they're knowing what— you can't decide before the day what what's going to work at that time because you don't know the dance floor or what's going to be going. So yeah, it's— yeah, yeah.

Now with the bands, every band has different— so like, I've seen your packages. Most bands are like, we'll do 2 sets of 45 minutes or 2 sets of an hour, or we just have acoustic duo, or like— what— just explain a little bit about your band and give us a little plug on what you guys do.

Well, my band is incredible, and it's taken a very long time to kind of hone and like, you know, just figure out what we're doing and select the right— it's like a family, they're like my family. But, um, yeah, I've got my main band, uh, I'd say is Donnie Sax. Donnie Sax, who's just incredible, just so talented, and, you know, loves to go out around the crowd. We've got Manda, who I've, I've been with him I think the longest. He's been in my band, um, from like 9 years ago, and he's the bongo percussionist extraordinaire. I love him. So fun. And then we've got Iwan, who's our incredible keyboardist, and he's been— I don't know how long, probably been 4 years together. And then we've got Reza, who I call him Carlos Santana of Indonesia. In fact, he's better, and he's just so amazing, and he's our guitarist. And then of course I've got DJs who I work with as well when we do the full band party package. Obviously I've worked with Ashad so many times, a million times. DJ Sammy Sachs, uh, which, gosh, we've known each other for so long and performed all over the world. You know, you probably, yeah, you definitely interviewed DJs. We've got DJ Clay, who's just, uh, arrived actually. So he's got his jacket.

We literally just found in the office, no one picked it up. You know his jacket? Is it his? I think it was Donny's. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've got someone's jacket. Yesterday the staff were doing— who does this belong to? And I was like, oh yeah, it was supposed to be picked up. All right, well, there we go.

And then obviously there's just a lot of other musicians. It depends if they want a violinist or if they want like a double bass or a contrabass, they call it here. So there's additional musicians who I can add to the mix, but that's my core.

Yeah. And what's the package that gets the most? So I know that I personally will book your full DJ package most of the time. So that covers normally ceremony, a couple songs for ceremony. You'll do cocktail hour. You will do an acoustic fun dinner set. And then you've got one party. So is that the most popular or sometimes? Absolutely.

I'd say 80% of the bookings are that. So, and that's why we created the package, because it just works. It takes you from start to finish. It's got a nice flow, and it's the one that I'm probably the most, you know, it's definitely the most popular. And then, which is exhausting, especially when you do— sometimes it's like, especially in the high season sometimes.

But I have days that you just don't speak, like, oh, really?

Like, I find, I find that, you know, my my voice always, because it's quite husky naturally, yeah, always by say 1 o'clock, just before soundcheck, my voice will just come back to be. And also when I'm, you know, if I've done a gig the night before, um, yeah, I just— it'll, yeah, it'll come back to me.

I've never, never lost my, never lost my voice. How many gigs would you be able to do in a row?

Well, there was one time which was COVID, uh, in COVID, all the postponements and things came through, like what, 2 years ago was it, when it was just like one after the other. And, and, you know, I was trying to take a lot of bookings because I thought, I've lost so much money. It's been 3 years in Bali, 3 years of no real work because it's a travel destination and we do weddings and people didn't want to book, you know, and they had to book in advance. So all the postponements came through and it was really hard to try and fit, fit in with all the other vendors and the planners to try and find that one day where we could all do it and fulfill our postponement, which was booked 4 years ago. Yeah. So that was really a tough time. But then on top of that, you wanted to make new money, right? You wanted to like, you know, get an income again of all the money you've lost.

It was like day after day after day.

So it was, I think it was, it was a long stint, but I took really good care of my voice. I think it was probably like 13 in a row. Yeah. Geez.

But like lemon honey drinks. What do you even do to help your voice when?

Oh, so many things. Just like ginger tea and lemon honey, and there's a few kind of, you know, pills or tablets. I don't know, you just get them like strips, all that stuff. But it's really more about just making sure you don't, you know, you go on straight after you wake up in the, you know, you just kind of go to the gym. Like, all that stuff really helps because you need to be pretty fit to do that.

Your performance also, keep your work. Yeah.

So yeah, that was, that was really hard. I just remember looking at my calendar going Good luck. And I went through it and they were all incredible. All the weddings were so fun. And like, and I think that also that some of them downgraded after— not downgraded, but like changed the package. So if they had a certain credit with us and after COVID they're like, look, we want you, but we just want to do the acoustic duo instead of the party package. So it actually helped a little bit because then I'd just be doing 2 sets. Yeah. Yeah. You know, during the cocktail hour as opposed to doing— so it wasn't all party, party, party. It was, it was changing.

Yeah. And then for you, Arshad, what kind of like, what's your most popular booking? Do you just come from dinner onwards? Would you do a ceremony all the way through? What's the most common thing?

I'm most booked from dinner onwards. Yeah. Because during ceremony, ceremony, there's actually no purpose for me just to be there. And a 5, 6 hour gig is quite intense as well. Yeah. Because you need to be fully focused on all the time. It's fortunate also to work with the lead together because then we have more or less a bit of breaks with each other.

Tag teaming. Yeah, we're tag teaming.

And, uh, but no, because you can't really leave the DJ booth, can you, once you're in there?

It's like, well, we normally bring dinner and just run to the restroom and run back. But you hardly have a moment to leave because actually every 2, 2 and a half minutes I need to make a transition. Yeah, to keep the energy up constantly. So say on an evening, especially during the party hours, of course you have to play around, what is it, around 90 to 100 tracks. Yeah, full mode. And so yeah, people underestimate, like, because you need to constantly anticipate what's happening. Does it work? Is there a downtime? Okay, I need to change it quickly. So, and you're building up through the evening. You can't start straight away with firing up the audience because, uh, they're not there yet. What Lydia is able to do every single time She gets the audience already hyped up, but you always have a moment that the audience, they just need a break. They just need to unwind a bit to recharge again and to get into the, like, the final 2 hours, hour and a half part of the evening. So sometimes couples come to me like, hey, get the dance floor, get energized. Like, I want to, but you just had dinner. You need to digest for a moment, have a few drinks, and get in the flow again.

Do you get many clients that do try and micromanage your playlist like that?

No, no, it Occasionally, but what you mentioned as well is like what you had last time with the band, exactly in that right order. Maybe that happened a couple of times. Yeah, exactly play in the right order. I felt like a jukebox, like, why do you need me?

Yeah, well, that's kind of the point, isn't it? Like, besides the transitioning songs, like, why have a DJ if you're gonna—

so I just stuck in something else and then the couple— look, play exactly how I dress it in the playlist.

Like, okay, we've had a couple of them over the years.

Yeah, yeah, it's something you can't avoid, and eventually you're there, you have to just commit to, uh, to the, to the gig that you are responsible for for the evening. So we're there for them. Yeah, eventually. It's not them for me, I'm there for them.

Yeah. Now one of the questions we ask all the suppliers that we get on— you see a lot of venues, what's your favorite? Do you have a favorite or a top couple? Cayangan Estate. Oh, there we go, beautiful. I'm about to book you for a wedding there. So many stairs. There is. I like Bondawa. Oh, both Uluwatu. That seems to be the general consensus. Everyone loves Uluwatu. The cliff. Yeah, just unbeatable, really. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, well, actually, well, I also— okay, there's two. So the Ungasan as well. I really do, because there's so many different— and same with Kayangan. There's just so many options and spaces and just different—

there's also many options.

Yeah. So I think, I think—

yeah, that was a very quick answer though.

It was, because Kayangan is just I just remember the first time I walked in and I go, wow. And always the weddings I do there are like, wow.

So like, people that have the big money, absolutely. I agree, I agree. Yeah, but Panda was gorgeous as well.

You've got a wedding— I find Panda functional. Yes, I like the multi-areas there. Exactly, exactly. That's what I appreciate. And also the flexibility for you as wedding planners to really set up in any possible way because you have the space over there. Yeah, definitely. Where others are sometimes limited due to trees or some kind of architectural designs that doesn't—

also the sound, sound, like, you know, when you do certain venues and they've got the sound limitations and you got the thing next door, you know, you got another competing sound, like, so those ones are really quite just in their own world. You don't have to think about all the other things going on.

It's like, it's like Filosa and Atasonboch. There's a wedding there, right?

Yeah, and there's a few other ones, but I'm not going to mention them.

I had a wedding a few years ago and there was an Indian wedding going on next door at the same time we were. I was like, oh my goodness. Yeah. So that can be really tricky. Yeah. And are there any tips that you would give couples that are still in the early stages of selecting their entertainment? Do your research. Yeah.

Yeah. Do your research. If you want, you know, ask as many questions as you can, go through all their Instagrams. Communication is key. Or whatever, you know, maybe ask, you know, to the planner, or just organize a call even. Like, I'd be happy if they're just going, okay, can we ask you something? I'd be like, okay, cool. So, or my PA maybe would answer them more. Yeah, because it's quite—

if I was busy. But yeah, ideally is research.

Also have a bit of, uh, if, if required, communication beforehand. Just get a bit on— just get a bit to know each other, have a, have a click with each other. It is always, uh, nice when you meet each other, because often I don't meet a couple beforehand, just get a playlist and they just show up.

Yeah, you're meeting a couple today though, aren't you? You've got a couple meeting today? Yes.

Yeah. Oh, you like the couple meetings? Yes, I enjoy it because it becomes a bit more personal. Yeah, uh, you get a connection, you get a bit more of an understanding, and then also on the day they feel a bit also comfortable seeing you.

Because yes, you don't get that with the lowest suppliers.

No, you don't. They just submit the requests as you show up and okay, there's no connection. Yeah. And often at the end of the evening the couple would come, or to Lydia, would come up to me like, amazing, this is But it makes it a bit more, uh, personal. Yeah, definitely. Even Zoom call.

I agree. Yeah, I always do it. I call.

I didn't realize you met with couples, so that's really good to know. Where can we find you if couples want to come see you, Lydia? Tell us where you regularly play.

Well, I'm pretty much mainly just events, corporates, and weddings at the moment, right? Obviously I travel a lot with work as well, so I'm in Europe next week, and you know, I've got India coming up, I've got the Grand Prix coming up, I do the Formula 1 Grand Prix. Like, it's just I'm not always in one spot, but I think Alila Seminyak every Sunday, most, most Sundays. And I can't say all just because I do travel a little bit, but most Sundays, uh, during the high season for the sunset. And it's amazing. I've been with them since— we love coming and watching them. Yeah, so 10 years when they just opened. So that's my staple, that's my public.

So if you want to see Lydia play, check with— normally on Instagram you'll be posting, Alila will be posting. You can see her most Sundays at sunset time at Alila Seminyak. I know where to find you.

Yeah, you know where to find me. But for weddings, yeah, it's a bit difficult. You can't walk into some, some wedding to any place. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I think, uh, uh, or just like we, we meet.

Yeah, so we can arrange a meeting or a Zoom call.

That would be the most convenient.

Yeah, perfect. Amazing. Well, guys, thank you so much for joining us today. I am conscious that you have a client meeting shortly, so we'll wrap things up. Have you got anything else you want to add? No. Amazing. So guys, we will put the Instagrams up but for Arshad, there's not really much to see there, to be completely honest. So if you want to book him, doesn't matter, you have to have a wedding planner. So if you don't have a wedding planner—

We have a few links, you know, there are a few YouTube links and some articles online that more or less—

About you, yeah.

A couple, couple, like, review from couples.

I just say, he's amazing. He mixes well. He understands the crowd. We love him. He gives the best hugs in the world.

Oh, okay, but here's something—

Olivia, she's the best band in Bali by, like, I don't even compare because you are by far the best because nobody else gets the vibe going like Lydia. And that whole party set DJ mix, you can have these two together. It is one of a kind.

Unique on the Putty Island.

Yeah, unique selling point. You need to have that in business. You can't just come in and do what Lydia does because she's so unique. So if you are looking for entertainment, talk to your wedding planner, we'll quote you on the rider gear, and hopefully they're available. You do need to book in advance, so obviously we book our key suppliers very far out. So I know we're going to get a lot of people coming to us now after this one. Please book in advance because has been very popular. Yes, there are limited dates, so make sure we get that locked in first. But thanks for joining us, guys. Thanks, guys. We will see everyone in 2 weeks' time for another episode of Bali Weddings Unveiled, which is going to be our monthly recap. Amazing. Thank you. Thank you.