Geometric Flux is the solo project of Troy Evason, established DJ and founder of Habitat. Since emerging onto the scene 7 years ago, he has fine-tuned his skills as an artist and festival promoter.
Hi Troy. To start things off, we have known each other from Cape Town dance floors for quite some time. When was your first psytrance party? What made you decide to start DJing years later?
Hey! My first party was Easter Vortex 2007, I remember being quite young and only stayed in the festival for 1 night, it was pretty overwhelming at first, but I already knew I would be back for more.
The moment I realized I wanted to start playing was in 2013 at the Tree of Life in Turkey. Ace Ventura was doing a 3 hour DJ set on the last day followed by Perfect Stranger, it was the most surreal closing to a festival ever, the crowd were on stage by the end it, backlit by the most magical sunset.
I thought, damn! I need to experience more of these moments, and playing has been just that for me, many epic, unrepeatable moments in time shared with the dance floor.
You currently represent X7M Records. How did the connection come about?
The connection was with Bonen (the label head of X7M), from Major7, who came down to South Africa. He’s a great guy, and I was playing some music from the label already, so it was an easy fit.
Even though I didn’t know most of the guys on the label yet, at Universo Paralello, we threw it down properly, so I’m happy with the affiliation, it’s a great group of people with some big hearts and even bigger personalities.
What was your biggest take back from Boom?
I spent a lot of the last Boom Festival on the Alchemy Circle stage, so I discovered a lot of new unique music, which really blew me away.
Guys like Sumiruna, Zen Racoon, Woo York & MNGRM kind of gave me that first day at the psy feeling again, which I haven’t felt in a long time, so to hear tunes that fresh was pretty inspiring.
What could the South African scene learn from festivals abroad?
I think we could be a lot nicer to one another, I’ve never believed you need to step on someone else to get ahead.
In Europe, you can feel that they are only pulling off these ridiculous festival productions because of the collective spirit behind these projects.
How do you aim to take the Habitat concept further?
For now, the focus is consistency, whether that be in the crowd (which we are very happy with), music, the standard of location, or level of production. We couldn’t be more fulfilled currently with the beautiful respectful crowd that follows the brand and come dance with us regularly.
I think as long as we never lose sight of these fundamentals the possibilities are endless.
We will continue to bring like-minded individuals together in natural spaces, and take them on unique sound journeys.
Is there a synergy between being a festival attendee, promoter and DJ?
Yes, there can be.
I think you need to first be on the dance floor before you start playing to an audience. So, I still feel connected to the dance floor, often staying on longer at festivals after I’ve already played.
In terms of being a promoter and a DJ, they can go hand in hand at times, already knowing most of the people in the industry, but there can also tension between promoters which leads to perhaps not getting booked, but this is very rare.
Do you have any highlight moments recently?
Every time we bring down an incredible act for Habitat, and by the end of the trip they are like part of the family, for me that’s always a highlight.
Thanks for the interview!
Thanks for the interview, and all the love over the years!