A PASSIONATE, HEARTFELT VOCALIST & TALENTED DJ

There are people we meet in our world who make an impact on you before actually meeting them in person. Daniella is one of those peoples:-).  Our energies collided back in 2016, the exact date I’m not certain, though her contagious positive energy left an indelible mark. Dear World I introduce you to a multi-talented female DJ whose main trajectory is all about the music. A Beautiful Soul.

Daniela Rhodes aka D-Vox is a multi-genre international dj, vocalist and radio presenter. Having played in Ibiza, Ayia Napa, Switzerland, Australia and held residency in The Maldives, she is wowing crowds all over with her head turning dj sets incorporating her live, ambient vocals spreading words of inspiration out to her audiences. She has been hosting her popular and interactive live radio show on Afro*disiac Live Radio in Bournemouth UK for the last four years and holds several local residencies offering techno, trance, house, breaks, dnb, electro swing and more.

34 year old Daniela has also been collaborating with producers over the last two years and is now becoming recognised for her vocal skills in the studio. Working completely by ear with no musical training, she has the ability to create vocal melodies with meaningful lyrics to accompany electronic productions and has been sealing her professional reputation within the music community with a string of drum and bass, house, progressive and down tempo collaborative releases. With more collaborations in progress and worldwide dj bookings continuing to steadily roll in, the year ahead looks very exciting for this passionate, driven vocalist and dj. Who knows where her music will take her as she continues to surprise with her versatility, dedication and determination to achieve her potential and spread love and light through music as far and wide as she can.

Daniela took time out to let us into her journey of truth.  Here’s what she has to share with the world.

• How did it all start for you? Well, I was about 15 when I heard Yomanda ‘Synth & Strings’ on the radio whilst working my Saturday job at a local Aquarium in my home town of Leighton Buzzard in the UK. In that moment, I had to find more music like it. Daft Punk ‘Da Funk’, Basement Jaxx ‘Red Alert’ and Tori Amos ‘Professional Widow’ really made my ears twitch and I still love to drop these tracks in my sets when I can fit them in. Discovering UK garage had a huge influence on me as a vocalist too, I know all the words to most of the classics!
• What do you love playing the most? Ooo that’s a hard question for me! Different styles do different things to my soul. I get lost in deep, grooving, percussive techno. But I found techno quite late on my journey. My heart breathes hard dance of course as its where this all started. Drum and bass has a lot of pace and makes me bounce behind the decks, it gets me really energized – even when I’m playing liquid dnb I feel injected with energy. I’ve recently started playing breaks too, boy is it fun!
• Favourite food? TOFU!
• Who’s your muse in the music world? Nina Simone – what an inspirational lady she was
• Favourite quote? ‘Life opens up opportunities for you. You either take them or you stay afraid of taking them’. Jim Carrey
• How would you describe the dance scene in Sydney? I stayed in Sydney when I was traveling on a work visa back in 2006 for three months and had a great time. I can remember going to a club all night, walking out and walking right into another one and carrying on for another 8 hours! Sydney never slept back then.
• Favourite colour? Purple
• What single night out has been the most memorable for you as a DJ? As an attendee? As an attendee, it has to be Space in Ibiza witnessing Richie Hawtin play a mesmerizing 4 hour set in 2012. That has to be one of the most incredible moments of my life. The man is a genius and the light show was unreal. As a dj, I’d have to say the whole hour of my set I played in The Baby Box at Ministry Of Sound in London in 2015. I literally couldn’t believe I was there and had recurring butterflies from beginning to end. It was an amazing experience and I’d love to return one day, main room next time!
• What are your future plans for your music career? Well, I have been working with a lot of producers over the last year and a half and have been releasing a steady stream of collaborations across genres. My plan is continue providing vocals for as many producers as I can. I love it when I get a request from a producer asking me to do something a little different to what I am used to. I thrive on pushing myself to experiment and be a better vocalist. As a dj, I am loving hosting my live radio show on Bournemouth’s No,1 Live Radio station Afro*disiac Live Radio. I have been with the station for just over 4 years now and I can’t get enough. In 2019 I hope to have a few more international guests join me in the studio to share their love of music with me and the listeners. I would absolutely LOVE it if you could join me Sharm! I have also been doing some writing work for London based progressive record label Flemcy Music and have my feelers our for writing opportunities with dance music magazines too. All in all, I’m just going to keep pushing myself as much as I can creatively and in turn I hope to encourage others around me to do the same.
• What is your advice to emerging talent and how they can set aside any fears and pursue their dreams with courage? Well, I spent a long time dabbling with djing, playing in my bedroom, at house parties and landing the odd birthday party or club gig here and there. I remember hustling my way to a back to back set at a Oceana in Milton Keynes when I was in my early twenties, networking for a slot singing vocals with a dnb dj at a bar in Melbourne when I was travelling, landing a warm up set at a club in Switzerland that my friend networked for me whilst working out there. Even after doing a great job on these occasions, I continued to just dream of being a professional dj and vocalist. I certainly never thought I’d be able to do both of them simultaneously one day. I have been djing now for 15 years but only started to believe I could make a career out of this 4 or so years ago. I woke up one day and realised I could achieve my dream, that anyone can achieve their dream and I use my platform for spreading this message out to the masses via the lyrics I sing in my sets to take action and put the wheels in motion to get to work on achieving their goals and dreams – amongst other things. If you know you have a musical gift, don’t waste it. Share what you were blessed with and use it for good, for spreading love and light. Sharing what you do and striving to be better and grow will encourage others to do the same – the positivity that spreads as a result lifts the spirits of the whole world.
• Favourite holiday destination? Amsterdam and Berlin. I’d love to live in both of these cities and I’ll be making sure I do one day! I’m hoping that music will take me there, I believe it will!
• What are the things that bug you about the DJ scene? Hmm. One thing has to be female dj’s who use sex to sell what they are doing. I don’t have a lot of respect for these superficial ‘look at me’ dj’s. For me is should be ALL about the music. Let the music do the talking, not your skin. Something else is dj’s who pay producers to write tunes for them, so they can play them in sets and soak up all the glory. I can’t think of anything that would make me feel more uncomfortable than pretending to be something I am not, playing someone else’s tune and claiming it’s my own. I don’t know how these dj’s sleep at night, it’s just not right I my opinion.
• Name one track that never gets old for you no matter how many times you hear it? Ahhh.. Latin Fever by Wolfgang Gartner. Every time I drop this in a set the crowd goes wild – and so do I! It’s just so funky, chunky and brings that perfect, percussive, Latin party vibe every time. That track does crazy things to me!
• Where can readers find you online? Well, I’m currently in the process of having a website designed, but in the meantime you can find me here:
• facebook.com/dvoxdj /
• mixcloud.com/d-vox /
• twitter.com/dvox83 /
• instagram.com/djdvox
• If you could get eternally stuck in one year’s music scene, which year would that be? I think it would have to be not a single year but a decade. The 90s without a doubt. The house music, the rave music, the trance, the dnb, even the pop music in the 90s was innovative, creative and emotive.
• Who do you aspire to and who influenced you the most? From a DJ perspective I’d have to say early Tiesto. I was in awe of him at Godskitchen’s 4th birthday at The Sanctuary in Milton Keynes back in 2001. He dropped ‘Joy Energizer’ by Joy Kitikonti and the crowd went absolutely mental, including me. I remember feeling like I wanted to make the crowd go nuts like that and like I HAD to dj.  Female techno dj and producer Nicole Moudaber has inspired me so much. I just love her production and dj style, her attitude towards her career and to her fans. She is such a good role model for the aspiring female dj community and represents women in a male dominated industry with sheer class. I stumbled upon her playing live at a bar on the beach around the corner from Ushuaia in Ibiza, I didn’t leave until her set was over. She was amazing. I love her! I saw her play the opening Resistance party at Privilege in Ibiza last year, she was back to back with Victor Calderone. They blew my mind!
• From a vocals perspective, soulful RnB singer India Arie has played a huge role. I must have listened to her award winning ‘Voyage To India’ album a thousand times since it crossed my path when I was 19. I think the soulful element to my voice originates from singing along to her songs. The emotion she delivers when singing her deep lyrics is amazing. She sings from her heart about her rise to fame, her struggles and about the important things we all need to remember and be thankful for. I try to steer my own lyrics in this sort of direction to inspire others to be the best they can be.
• Any parting thoughts for emerging artists? NEVER GIVE UP on your dreams of making music your life. You can do and be anything you want in life. The only barrier between you and achieving your goals or not achieving them is your own attitude. Every now and again I’ll receive a message from a young dj asking me for advice on how to get more gigs. And my response is always the same. Go out to the venues where you want to play, meet other deejays and promoters. You have to network. Your dreams are not going to come to you.  If you sit at home looking at others who are living their dream, the dream you want, and you think ‘ohhh I want that, why do THEY have it and I don’t’ the answer is because they are up and out of their seat and have chosen not to sit at home thinking that way like you are. Stop whining, take a deep breath, start believing you can make it all happen, get a piece of paper and write down a few things you need to do to make a start. You may not have any social media pages, so get this on your to do list. You might not have any recorded mixes, so start recording some and uploading them online and share with the world. You have to put yourself out there or you won’t be discovered. Every time you tick something off your list I guarantee you’ll feel so empowered about what you have achieved that you will acquire the inspiration to get more things done in order to move closer to your end goals. They may be far away, but take a baby step a day and imagine where you’ll be in 2, 5 or 10 years time. You will have changed your life dramatically by then and living your dream! On your marks, get set…GO!

  We cannot wait to bring you her sounds this Sunday!

  Be sure to join us at 9am on the SEKSiCuLLTURE Next Level Show. Keen to raise our planet’s vibration and drop a set? Get in touch info@seksicullture.comSharm Pillay
  DJ, Writer, Starseed