Kidislive (@kidislivemusic) is back on 8 Head Records with A Shot From The Heart, a four-track EP led by the title cut and backed by “Doomsday,” “Ketamine Machine,” and a Gerry Read remix of the title track. The release marks his third outing on the label, and the record stays focused on minimal techno with a warm top layer, a heavier low-end pull, and a tighter club frame throughout and with support across his catalog from Richie Hawtin, Oliver Heldens, and Carl Craig.
This interview takes a different route around that release.
Instead of staying on gear or studio technique, it gets into the pressure points around DJ life itself: bad promoters, money strain, online presence, burnout, family balance, and the discipline it takes to stay sharp when the schedule starts eating into everything else. That gives the piece a cleaner angle, because it stays close to the day-to-day reality behind the public side of the work.
What comes through in Kidislive’s answers is a very plainspoken view of the job. He talks about representation, routine, sobriety, family, and protecting focus without dressing any of it up. The result reads less like a list of generic wellness tips and more like a working DJ laying out the habits and boundaries that keep him functional over time.
Interview With Kidislive
What parts of the DJ lifestyle take the biggest strain on your mental bandwidth?
In recent years, I have been in an advantageous place where I only play the parties I want and play the music I want at those parties. In earlier years, when I was grinding out gigs to survive, the biggest strain was dealing with unethical promoters who would not pay or change the deal after the gig.
That definitely ranked as the most stressful element to deal with, which is why the right agency and representation should be every full-time artist’s number one goal. Where you don’t even need to have those conversations, you just show up and deliver your performance. The next strain is getting roped into a gig where a “certain sound” needed to be played, or else this would affect the agreement. Luckily, I only found myself in one awkward situation where the main promoter came over to my mixer mid-set and was literally turning down the track volume and screaming at me to play commercial music NOW! Hahahah, that was one of the most bizarre experiences for me as an artist.
The last strain is the financial aspect of trying to gig for your main income. I think a lot of people see all this money associated with the biggest DJs in the world, but that is such a small part of the DJ community that garners high ticket fees.
You rarely hear about all the other no-name DJs that have to act as their own promoters, sell bottle service, and get paid peanuts or worse yet, nothing for their performances. I think the best a DJ can do is work on their productions, try to make something that can have a huge effect, and the right gig and fees for their services will follow.
How do you manage the constant pressure to stay present online and creative in your actual work?
I have a unique situation where I own multiple businesses that help me fund a lot of my artistic ventures.
So currently, I have my cousin, who is my full-time content creator and editor for all my businesses. My job is just to show up and do what I do best in each of them, and he takes the magical moments and chops them up for me. Without this, it would be next to impossible for me to stay on top of recording and editing my own stuff.
This is just for the simple reason that I have so many day-to-day responsibilities, 2 sons I love to hang out with, and a wife, too. And in all that chaos, I still need to find the energy to produce tunes with passion and dig for new gems in my next set. My best advice for artists who are tight on money and budget is to learn how to work fast and accurately with your editing. Now with different AI tools, you can simply upload the raw footage of your set or studio session and just have AI chop it up for you, or better yet, find someone on Fiverr to do some editing on the cheap. Another idea is to find other artists in your community, and split the cost of someone’s work part-time/full-time for you.
For artists like myself who are in a unique situation where there is a budget behind the art, then investing in a full-time person to keep you accountable is smart, especially if your goal is to get the right gigs and stay relevant in the industry.
Are there mental habits or boundaries you’ve developed that help you navigate the chaos?
I only produce music at night when I can turn my phone off and have zero distractions.
I also never drink or do any recreational drugs when I make music. I treat the production process like any other job.
Sitting down and keeping focus to get the best output I can. Even just listening and digging for songs, I try to stay dry and super focused, as sometimes I might listen to hundreds of tunes to just find a dozen that work for me, and the last thing I want is to get fatigued or lazy doing extra laps on listening to find that next gem.
As far as boundaries, the single most important thing anyone can do for themselves, not just as a DJ /Producer, but as a human, is to remove all negative people from their life, even if it’s family. The more discipline you can have here, the better off your journey will be. Imagine if your core inner circle all believed you had what it took and always provided that support to you? Seek that, and even if you fail when all is said and done, being a recluse is better than being accompanied by toxicity.
Do you ever feel like the emotional energy of DJing gets overlooked?
I think the best DJs in the world all share at least one thing in common, and that is, regardless of how they feel that day, they still show up and leave it all on the dancefloor. They understand that some of the people out there may get one or two nights out a year, some even less. I feel I need to go above and beyond for that room, crowd, audience. I need them to feel I was there, pouring out my soul to them with every ounce of energy I have to give. I think the DJs that battle with personal demons and still try to wear that cap can pay a hefty toll eventually, especially if it’s a party they “need” to play vs. a party they “desire” to play.
Has your relationship to hustle culture shifted since you first started?
My relationship hasn’t changed the culture itself, but it has towards the methodology.
When I first started, it was trying to get my mixtapes in the hands of club promoters; now it’s more content on social. They both require the same “go juice” just in a different way. I also now have other businesses, kids, and a wife, so that turns arithmetic into calculus real quick when it comes to the hustle.
What does burnout look like in the DJ space and how do you avoid it?
Playing parties you don’t necessarily want to play for not good money, or playing too many parties you want to play, and abusing lots of substances at those parties.
Those are 2 forms of burnout in motion. The best way to avoid that is always working on production so you’re getting booked for music you make, and pick your battles wisely with the partying. The best bet is to stay clean during the show; getting sloppy and dropping the ball during your set can add to unnecessary stress and also a bad reputation.
What helps you stay mentally grounded when you’re mid-tour, mid-promo, or stretched too thin?
Cold plunges, fasting, and yoga do wonders for me.
A combo of all 3 of them helps me recharge physically & mentally. I make it my business to always be turning knobs and listening to new music, as a new sound or track inspires me deeply to keep pushing my agenda. If those two rituals are not working (and that is rare for me), I just punch out. I will walk away from it all for a couple of days, rewire myself, and come back ready to go.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
