It’s early May when we approach Maya Medvesek about a possible Truancy Volume. She’s about to set off for her tour of America and barely gets a minute to think but guess what, a mix and quick interview catch up is absolutely no problem for Nightwave. Aside from being wonderfully organised and true to her word she’s also really made some waves since we last spoke to her back in 2011. Having graduated from the prestigious RBMA session in Madrid, Maya has remained an active alumni, soundtracking the RBMA catwalk as well as recording and lecturing at the sessions. In 2013, she became creator and label boss of Glasgow based Heka Trax, releasing her debut EP Luxor and most recently the Nightlife EP, where she continues to collaborate with artists such as Big Dope P, Blastto, Lee Carvallo and more.

We’ve watched Nightwave become a force to be reckoned with over the last four years and it is an absolute pleasure to have her feature on our Truancy Volume mix series. We caught up with Maya briefly whilst on tour to hear all about Heka Trax, her club night Nightrave, and her mix for us. Expect unreleased treats and screw-faces.

How do you feel about the reception to your latest EP ‘Nightlife’ back in December? What were your inspirations for it and how did you come about working with Ashnikko and TT the Artist? “I was very happy with the reception, the press and people have been very nice about it! My inspiration or goal is always the same, make fun music that people can dance to. I don’t particularly care about the genre of the whole package – it may be a bit mismatched for some people’s liking but that doesn’t bother me at all. The collabs were pretty straight forward as well. I’ve remixed TT before and we decided to have a go on a track together, she’s awesome. I found Ashnikko on soundcloud and took her to Red Bull Studios in London to record.”

We at Truants have big love for Heka Trax and recently spoke to Big Dope P about his ‘Hit Da Blokk’ EP and how you met. Can you give us your perspective on how this came to fruition? “Thank you! Can’t really remember actually, I’ve been a fan of his tunes for a while and then we met at Social Club in Paris a couple of years ago I think. He came to play Nightrave a few times and of course he did that incredible remix of Luxor for me which was a great way to kick off Heka Trax. We’ve been working together ever since and when I got the chance to release Hit Da Blokk EP I jumped on it like a kangaroo on acid.”

I read in an interview with Dummy Mag that the right promo is very important to you, how do you help set Heka Trax apart from others in such a saturated market? “The main focus of course is the music but every release needs a decent campaign and a proper push. It’s definitely not easy, especially ‘competing’ with labels with massive PR and radio pluggers budget. The goal is to get the people to feel the love, work and the little details we put in each release. It’s all about the love.”

What is your long term goal for the label? Can you drop any hints about anything else you’re working on or who you would love to work with in the future? “We’ve got the deluxe white vinyl Hit Da Blokk edition coming out end of June with a bunch of really amazing extras! Also got EPs lined up by Blastto and Glacci and probably a few of my own tracks by the end of the summer. I much prefer putting out other people’s music though as I’m not that good at pimping myself! The long term goal is to keep pushing good party music without any of the bullshit. I want to sign good music and I couldn’t care less whether the artist has 10 or 10k followers.”

Glasgow is the home of Heka Trax but also Nightrave, your club night. Can you tell us a bit about the ethos behind the night? “Nightrave is coming back to La Cheetah in late Summer. I’ve had to take a break as I just wasn’t able to handle all this stuff at once sadly. The night is basically about ravey music in a dark club, no nonsense or whishy-washy house, we play anything from ghettotech to grime! I’ll also be doing Heka Trax label nights in the future, first one is on June 26th at The Art School!”

How do you feel about the music scene there at the moment? It must be hard seeing amazing venues like The Arches lose it’s license, do you think we are entering a difficult time for club music or are you more optimistic? “The Arches situation is very worrying, a perfect demonstration of the freedom infringing agenda of the establishment. If ‘protecting the people’ was genuinely their priority they would base the legislation on evidence based research and education, so the kids don’t end up buying god knows what on the streets. I think it’s important we take a stand up to this nonsense or we may be at risk of losing more and more culturally important places like night clubs. Aside from that I think this is an exciting time for club music. The shitstorm of boring vanilla hi-hat music seems to be slowly dying down, finally!”

There is a lot of focus at the moment on females in club environments, be that on the floor or behind the decks; for example the lack of women on club line ups or the harassment females (and sometimes men!) get on the dancefloor. As a successful woman in the industry what are your thoughts on this and have you got any advice for those hoping to make a change? “I really hate to talk about this stuff but I’ll keep on talking about it until things change. The situation is perhaps a little bit better but the visibility of women in music is still shocking. All one has to do is look at various club and festival line-ups and agency and management rosters. And then look at the vast pool of women artists on something like Female Pressure before coming back with the old ‘But there aren’t enough female…’ excuse. Yes, we need to encourage more girls and women to get into making music but we should start by giving a chance and a platform to those who already do. The middle class straight white male music industry paradigm needs to go and with enough noise-making it will start to shift.”

It seems to me that your own mixes are, in the purest form, a collection of tunes that are fun to play and dance to (I still rinse a mix you did for Noisey a while back with tonnes of Twista!). Is this something that is important to you and what goes through your mind when go to record a mix? With that in mind, what can Truants expect from your Truancy Volume? “Exactly, I usually try and make something for people to stick on at a house party or on their way to a club. Same goes for the Truant mix, I put quite a few new tracks from my friends in there, a couple of upcoming Heka releases and some of my new stuff and remixes.”

Finally, you have a busy few months ahead with your tour! What are you most looking forward to and what is next for Nightwave? “I’m working on getting the next few Heka releases out and trying to finish some tunes on the road for my next release. I’ve also got a mic with me to record some vocals when I get a chance and I’m finishing off a couple of remixes. I definitely need more hours in the day!”

Tracklist:

Dreams – Esoteric
Djedjotronic – Stables
?? – Not Tryin’
Nightwave – Aero
Nobel – My Reaction (Nightwave Remix)
Swick – Salah’s Groove
Paul Johnson – Let me se you butterfly
Galtier – Cove (Sequence)
Bleaker – Hype (Funk)
Nina Las Vegas & Swick – Cool Sports
DJ Deeon – Let Me Bang (Pyramid Juke edit)
Blastto – Pandemonium
Glacci – Gold Claw ft Hasta
JME – Test Me
Inkke – Hit Me
Noaipre – Tropical Freeze WIP
DJ Deeon – House-o-matic
Lady Leshurr – Lego
Basement Jaxx – Unicorn (Big Dope P & TT the Artist Vocal Remix)
Taso Teklife x Ed – Acid
Big Dope P – Ibogance
Nightwave – Ritual
Kaanerbay – Run
Dream Continuum – Give A Lil Luv
Fei Fei – Little White Lies (Nightwave Remix)

Photo Credit: Matthew A. Williams