Interview by Luke Byatt

Meet Skeler, a Perth based producer who has been at the forefront of developing the Wave scene here in Australia. Skeler's unique and captivating style hasn't gone unnoticed, the producer is set to release a single through LiquidRitual (one of Wave's dominate labels). We had a chat to Skeler about the Wave movement, the development of the genre, and its future.

Futuremag Music: How'd you move into the music scene?

Skeler: I started producing music after high school, mostly Dubstep, Trap and more heavier styles of music. The heavy bass music scene was, and still is big here in Perth/Australia, however there was always a part of me that really enjoyed that chill music you can listen to at home or by yourself. I started to find more and more artists within this realm, two of which were Kareful and Da Vosk Docta. Their music inspired me to start releasing music under the name 'Skeler'. My first track entitled '1992' was an ode to Da Vosk Docta's track '1991' 

Futuremag Music: Can you talk us through the Wave movement?

Skeler: For the first 6 months of releasing music as Skeler I really didn’t know what 'Wave music' was. I had a rough idea of it, but was unaware the size or growth of the genre. I was labelling my music as 'Eurobass' which is a similar to Wave in many respects but focus more on rap and hip-hop influences. It was only until people started calling my music Wave that I came to understand the genre.  

Every day you can see the genre growing not only in size but in style. With more artists joining comes variation within the scene. Artists like Enjoii, Stahl, Mystxrivl, Pholo, Loneliness, Othos and Nevaeh to only name a few, who I think are really pushing the genre to new places and certainly inspire and challenge me to create new sounds also.

Futuremag Music: How're you developing Wave?

Skeler: I have been pushing the genre to become more "club friendly". I feel that this will really open up the genre to a wider audience and will allow us artists to play out at clubs/festivals more often. I have been bringing elements of my other favourite genres into the Wave scene. Hardstyle melodies and trance arps I feel work really well with Wave, and I have been pushing this idea for some time now. I also have been exploring the limits of the genre by making really "Heavy Club Wave" or "Festival Wave" - look out for a track coming out on Liquid Ritual in January entitled 'Limit' ;) 

Futuremag Music: You're one of the few producers in Australia to push the Wave movement. What inspired you to follow, and produce Wave? Who else in the Aussie scene are producing wave? 

Skeler: Australia unfortunately always seems to take it time when picking up new genres, however there is no doubt in my mind that it will take off here as it has done around the world. I'm very much on the lookout for new Australian producers making Wave.  

Ytho is from Perth and we have been making music together for quite some time now. His style is rap influenced and also a big advocate of pushing the heavier side of Wave forward. He has many tracks on the way – expect big things from this guy in 2018. Kzubi is also from Perth and has recently started uploading his music. His Wave style in very unique in that it resides around the 80-100 BPM region and draws influence from experimental hip-hop music. Not many artists make Wave in this tempo and style which is really exciting.  

Futuremag Music: If 'Skeler' was a cocktail what would be in it to best describe yourself and your music?

Skeler: Dark n' Stormy :)

WANT MORE WAVE?