First Annual Letter
Dear Friends,
Happy New Year!
I’ve been wanting to write an annual letter for a couple of years, but I’m only just working up the courage now to get it started. Some of my biggest influences are business leaders who write these annual letters to their stakeholders and I really enjoy reading them, maybe you will enjoy reading mine. If nothing else, it will be a great personal reflection for myself. If you have been through our doors, or are a part of the Lab Six community in any way, congratulations! That makes you a stakeholder too.
I wanted to share some of the highlights of 2022 as well as give you some insight on where we are heading in 2023, which will be our 10th Anniversary as a company.
I guess the first thing I really want to talk about is the pride I have in this company. I get to come to work every day to share my passion with others. I get to teach people from all walks of life how to make music using just a computer and some software. Whether they are a complete musical novice wanting to learn from scratch, a musician wanting to learn how to self-produce their own covers and original songs, a DJ wanting to learn how to make their own edits, mashups, remixes and originals to release and play in their DJ sets, or a music producer wanting to hone their craft. I’ve worked with and continue to work with them all. I even had the privilege of teaching a blind person how to make music this year! It was one of the most challenging and rewarding moments of 2022.
I would also like to talk about the pride I have in our team. Lab Six wouldn’t be where we are without the extremely passionate, highly talented group of instructors we have. I feel so lucky to be able to work alongside these artists and grateful they are willing to share all of their knowledge and secrets with our community. I believe we have one of the best teams of music production and DJ instructors in the world, which blows my mind considering we’re a small music school from little old Perth. Where else can you learn from artists at the calibre of Shockone, Slumberjack and Tina Says? Where else can you learn to DJ with an Australian DMC Champion like our Head DJ instructor Paulo (DJ Midsole) who also placed 6th in the world DMC finals in London? Where else can you be taught by some of the most exciting up-and-coming talent like Solsta, Boston Switch, Mizhap, Kid Caird and Haiines? Even our receptionist Emmelyn was booking interstate gigs this year in her duo Girl Crush. On top of this, all of our instructors are such great people. I know some students can be intimidated when they come in for their first lesson, but usually by the end they have become great friends with their instructor.
Here are some highlights from the Lab Six Team in 2022:
Tina - Tina Says [Ableton Instructor]
First New Zealand Tour
First national support on the Fisher Beach Party Tour
Her single ‘Navigate’ was played on BBC Radio One, NZ’s George FM and Triple J
Sold out her own branded Body Control shows twice, booking DJ’s from Lab Six.
Played main stage at Festival X
Isaac - Solsta [Logic Pro & GarageBand Instructor]
Headlined Geisha Bar to launch his single ‘Begin’
‘Begin’ added to rotation on Triple J Unearthed
Released an official remix for Tina Says, supporting her at Body Control
Locked in an official 2023 remix for a very successful Australian band
Played a set at Habitat festival
‘Begin’ Remix Competition collaboration with music tech company Endlesss FM
Morgan Then - Slumberjack [Ableton Live Instructor]
Released Slumberjack’s debut album ‘Dichotomy’
‘Dichotomy’ was Triple J’s feature album of the week
Two Slumberjack headline nation-wide tours since the beginning of pandemic
Redesigned the Slumberjack live show
Karl - Shockone [Ableton Live / Cubase Instructor]
Played Shambhala Festival in Canada
European Festival Tour including playing Rampage in Belgium
Took his DMR (Dark Machine Records) Warehouse Tour National and over the pond to NZ
Became father to his second born child Bodhi
Caught a big snapper
Released iconic tune ‘Say Woah’, as well as ‘Collecting Thoughts’ with Koven and ‘Thinkin About’ with Lee Mvtthews
Jess - Mizhap [DJ / Scratch DJ Instructor]
Sold out first ticketed show ‘Dish Up Volume One’, playing alongside Lockes & Superego at Convenients
Supported Crystal Method at their sold out Rosemount Show
Supported DJ Smilez [Melb] and J.Robb [Soulection/USA] at HIVE
Opened Fridayz Live Perth
Emma - Haiines [Vocal / Piano Instructor]
Headlined Ice Cream Factory
Made her professional debut in the musical ‘Chicago’
Locked in performances with the West Australian Opera in 2023
Michael - Kid Caird [Ableton / DJ Instructor]
Main stage at Wildlands Festival
Teaching ‘The Inspired Unemployed’ how to DJ at Lab Six
‘Bullet’ Release on Lab Six Records
‘I Will Show You EP’ release on Goodside Records
Becoming an instructor at Lab Six after being a part of our community for years
Blake - Boston Switch [DJ Instructor]
Hit his goal of reaching 1 million streams on Spotify
Played various shows around WA including Snack Festival, Broome, Geraldton and Caves House
Sold out his own ticketed regional tour
Announced as support artist on Shockone WA tour
Paulo - DJ Midsole [Head DJ Instructor]
Improved the DJ lesson content at Lab Six with Mizhap for 2023
Taught over 100 new DJ students
Helped many of his students get their first paid DJ gigs
Our community of past and present students also have also kicked some huge goals this year. I know I’m going to miss so many, but here are some off the top of my head:
Sammythesinner signed to One Love, Seismic Talent Agency, released banger after banger and toured Australia and New Zealand extensively.
Natalie Blume picked up a residency in Ibiza
Ben Renna had an ARIA Dance Chart #1 single which was also nominated for an ARIA Award.
DJ Wildflower has DJ’d some of the biggest industry events around Australia, as well as being Atlassian’s resident DJ.
DAWS toured Europe, playing the famous HOER Berlin
Reagan aka Breamhill (our second ever signee to Lab Six Records) won Your Shot WA.
Kimboclat played Pangeasound in LA
Patrick has been producing for acts such as @hpboyz.official and Charlotte Macinnes
Jaydream has played various headline sets and festivals and opened 2023 with a bang at Habitat Garden Party NYD.
Bailey aka White Pepper opened 2 new dance music venues: The Vault and The Room.
Bad Habits opened Wildlands Festival and many other festivals this year and will be opening Snack Festival on NYD.
Lab Six community dominated local festival lineups including BLKOUT, Destic, Girl Crush, Jaydream, Sammythesinner, Shann, Shroom, Tina Says and White Pepper at Festival X.
I’m sure I’ve missed countless releases and DJ sets at festivals, clubs and venues around WA, sorry!
The resilience our instructors and community have shown over the past couple of years is awe-inspiring. Lockdowns, cancelled shows and unreliable flights have made earning a living very difficult. To see our instructors and community pushing through all of that and still achieve such milestones is incredible, they are the real MVP’s of 2022.
Here are a few of our highlights in 2022:
We took over the whole building, giving us a huge space downstairs for holding more community events in 2023
Started stocking our own handpicked hardware for music production
Held our first large scale community event downstairs - a free event with the Label Manger from ADA Records (Warner’s Dance Music Subsidiary) in London, as well as Clive Hodson, Director of Perfect Pitch Publishing and Deputy Chair of AMPAL.
Hosted the Perth leg of the ‘Your Shot’ DJ competition in our new downstairs space.
Updated and refreshed the Music Production and DJ Courses
Collaborated with various promoters, venues, festivals and other events including Habitat, Geisha Bar, Body Control, Roam Festival, Pineapple Club, Stripes Disco, Ice Cream Factory, Banks & Co, Magnet House, The Vault and others.
Our label Lab Six Records released 23(!!) tracks
Opened the recording studio for music production bookings and mixing + mastering (we have exciting updates on this soon!)
We had some very special guests come to visit, including 9x Grammy nominated producer Isaac from FNZ, The Veronicas, The Inspired Unemployed, DAWS, HWLS, Crooked Colours, Ta-ku, What So Not, Jennifer Loveless and Taleena.
Continued to grow our free online community Discord group
Collaborated with music tech app Endlesss FM to hold a worldwide remix competition for the release of Solsta’s release ‘Begin’ on Lab Six Records
So where are we heading in 2023? As you may have noticed, community has been the primary theme of this letter. If you have made it this far, there is a very good chance you are a part of this community. I believe that the greatest movements and moments in music stem from community, not a single person or band. Motown and the whole Detroit music community is a great example of this. Seattle’s grunge movement is another. The Parisian Ed Banger collective, Nashville, the list goes on. One of my favourite sayings this year has been “a rising tide lifts all boats” and I think that’s what a music community can do for one another.
Our goal in 2023 is to create a community where we can build on an already thriving Perth music scene and cultivate more world renowned acts. It never ceases to amaze me how much talent we have coming out of WA, especially on a per capita basis. From artists such as Shockone, Slumberjack, FNZ, Tina Says, Kito, Kucka, HWLS and Pendulum, to bands like Tame Impala, Spacey Jane, Stella Donnelly, San Cisco, POND, Eskimo Joe, Luke Steele of Empire Of The Sun fame, Little Birdy, Birds of Tokyo, Crooked Colours, the list goes on - there definitely seems to be something in the water here. We have so much talent on tap.
We have something very exciting to announce at the start of 2023 that will bring our entire community and everything we have built in our 10 years as a company together. I believe it might even be the first of its kind. I’m so excited to share this with you, so keep an eye out for the announcement in the coming weeks.
Our 2023 Goals:
Focus on community
Improving current course streams
Adding new course streams
More special guest talks
Our Roam Festival stage, as well as collaborations with other festivals, events, venues and promoters
A new way of helping our DJ community book more gigs
Launch improved website and booking system
A special event to celebrate our 10th Anniversary as a company???
Launch our new platform this month
I am optimistic about the future of music and the arts in Perth, and I think together we are going to be a key component for its evolution. As previously mentioned, 2023 will mark Lab Six’s 10th year in business but in my mind we are only just getting started.
Thank your for taking the time to read this first annual letter, if you have made it this far well done, give yourself a pat on the back! I hope to see you around in 2023 and let’s make it a year to remember!
Wishing you all the best this year,
Jeremy Smith
Director
Lab Six Australia