Spenda C
First of all let’s make one thing clear; Spenda C is not my real name. It’s a silly little name I made up. It was originally Spenda Cent (you know, with a dollar sign for the ‘S’ and a cent sign for the ‘C’) but after the Global Economic Crisis hit I thought that would by highly inappropriate, so I cut the bullshit and went with plain old Spenda C. My parents named me Steven Stuart Lind. Which is a pretty good name I guess. I just thought I needed an alter ego, you know? Like Clark Kent has Superman, Bruce Wayne has Batman or Eric Wimp has Banana Man. Spenda Man just sounded weird, so Spenda C it is! Now that’s out in the open let me tell you about some other stuff…
I started Djing many years ago. How many? I can’t really be sure. You see I just kinda found myself here one day, playing on a weekly basis and trying to make a career out of it. I started off collecting records. Yes, real records made out of vinyl! I had never heard of a ‘club chart’ or a ‘compilation mix’. I just bought and played records I loved and always tried to find stuff I thought no one else was playing. This got me my first gigs in some pretty sweet bars around Canberra, where I was living at the time. Knightsbridge Penthouse, Hippo and Trinity are the joints that supported me from the start and are still going strong today. If you’re ever in the nation’s capital go check em out!
I’m now based in Sydney. I made some great friends in Canberra and one in particular that would see me score a residency at one of the best night clubs in the world, Paul Azzopardi. Paul is the promoter for Chinese Laundry and I have been a resident Dj there for about five years now.
When I first moved to Sydney, I hosted a night at Laundry called Break Inn. Here I made another friend, Heath Jansson. Heath and I would go onto form The Hump Day Project, which would see us play all over Sydney and Australia. Three years later and I’m stuck with the guy! We now play regular gigs at Laundry, Candy’s Apartment and Moulin Rouge and have produced a ton of bootlegs, remixes and original tunes together. We have launched our own record label Troublemakers Music and throw parties called The Trouble Club at The Rouge (formerly Moulin Rouge). Check out our stuff here - www.troublemakers.net.au.
As well as regular club gigs I have played a few festivals too. Good Vibrations, Global Gathering, Foreshore, Warehouse and Parklife. For the past three years I have toured nationally with Good Vibes. This has seen me play warm up sets for Fatboy Slim, Kanye West, The Killers, Basement Jaxx, The Gossip, Salt N Peppa, Chromeo and heaps more! Playing before, and in between, such a diverse array of acts means I have to be across a lot of different styles of music. I’m forever seeking out new music and trying to incorporate it into my sets and production.
I’m focusing a lot more on my own production now and have released a few tracks on Troublemakers Music. I find my sets evolving to be more driven by the sounds I am producing. I try to make tunes I wanna play and play tunes I wish I had made. I still play records I love, although now cds are my weapon of choice, and I still try to find stuff that I haven’t heard a million other Djs play before! I’m gonna stick to this formula, it seems to have worked well for me so far.