Track of the Week: Flashcult… Futuristic Warehouse Raves, Dan Brown, and the Art of the Breather

With 15 years of experience behind the decks, Harrison Schaler is flying by the seat of his pants to deliver highly curated, multi-genre sets that never stick to just one flavour.

Harrison Schaler, better known as Flashcult, is a Perth born and raised DJ and producer who has been playing for 15 years, spanning more than half his life.

When asked to describe the exact vibe of his sound, he keeps it direct: “Futuristic warehouse rave”. However, pinning down his exact style is a moving target, as he feels his sound evolves with every single set he plays. Rather than tying himself to a particular vibe, he simply downloads what makes him want to dance and “shell raves”.

We sat down with Flashcult to discuss his disdain for pre-planned sets, the beauty of multi-genre acceptance, and the origins of his heavy new Drum & Bass release.

📚 The Cult of Multi-Genre

Before locking in his current brand, Harrison went through two previous aliases: Bassis and SCHLR. The name Flashcult ultimately came to him while reading a lot of cult stories by authors like Dan Brown, and he discovered the handle was completely unused across all social media platforms.

Operating without forcing inspiration, he finds his sound by digging through labels like Souped up Records, Shogun Audio, and following artists like Unglued. This open approach forms the basis of his biggest hot take on the current industry.

“Love: multigenre acceptance,” he states. “I love hearing artists release/play something far out of their usual vibe i.e Sammy Virji dropping jungle VIPs”. Conversely, the one trend he wishes would disappear is sets that only stick to one flavour and refuse to go up and down between energies.

🛑 Ditching the Master Plan

To ensure his sets maintain that dynamic energy, Flashcult refuses to overcomplicate things. His approach to set planning? “What’s that?… I mostly just download some new tracks I think will get the crowd moving and chuck them in a rekordbox playlist – in no particular order”.

Instead of planning, he relies entirely on reading the room. “I pay attention to when I think the crowd needs a breather and chuck on a funky bootleg or breakdown track,” he explains. “I always make sure to go up and down between energy/bpm multiple times in a set”.

His advice for up-and-coming DJs looking to replicate that crowd control is to focus strictly on DJ skills and dig for tracks that no one else is playing, or find highly interesting edits of big chart-toppers. And what song from two years ago is he definitely not playing anymore? “Baddadan for obvious reasons”.

🔊 Track of the Week: HEADSPIN

Our Track of the Week is Flashcult’s Drum & Bass weapon, HEADSPIN.

Currently heavily experimenting with resampling and granular synthesis, the track was initiated the moment he found the perfect vocal sample. Built heavily using Serum 2 and Ableton Roar, the hardest part of the production was finding the right lead. “I was initially trying to have a lead over most of the drop but settled with a minimal arpeggiated lead,” he notes.

⚡ Flashcult Quickfire

🔌 Pass the Aux

We ask every feature guest to answer a question left by the previous interviewee.

Incoming Question from Bromad:

“If the DJ playing after you was your mortal enemy, what would you do to the decks before they play to try and trip them up?”

Flashcult:

“Sprinkle fentanyl on the mixer. (For legal reasons this is a joke)”

Outgoing Question for the Next DJ:

“If you could force every person on Earth to listen to one song, which would you choose?”

Listen to the track on Spotify & SoundCloud

Follow Flashcult: [Instagram Link]