From Whyte Fang to Motherhood, Alison Wonderland Looks Back, Looks Forward & Finds Joy.
Australia’s Alison Wonderland has been a leading name in the world of electronic music for nearly a decade. While she might have gained notoriety because her very first U.S. gig was at a jam-packed Sahara stage at Coachella in 2015, in actuality, Alexandra Sholler’s career journey was already 10 years in the making.
Hailing from Sydney, she was a promising cellist before becoming inspired in the early millennium by the likes of Fatboy Slim, The Prodigy, and The Knife. In gaining DJ experience playing open-format gigs, she built a fanbase overseas before eventually breaking into the American market, in a very big way. Mere weeks before her Coachella and U.S. show debut, Alison Wonderland dropped her debut album, Run, which peaked at No. 6 on the ARIA Albums Chart and earned a gold certification. She was on her way.
Two more albums – 2018’s Awake and 2022’s Loner – plus a slew of charting singles like 2018’s “High,” 2019’s “Lost My Mind” (with Dillon Francis) and 2022’s “Picture” (with Slander and Said The Sky) launched her further into the EDM limelight. But all wasn’t always well, as she spoke openly about her mental-health issues during this time. Her depression informed the Awake album. It also included a suicide attempt, she said.
Fast-Forward to the Present: As a new mother, the 37-year-old artist sits down with DJ LIFE to discuss how her son, Max, has changed her outlook on life. She also tells us how it wasn’t all that long ago that she was performing at some of the world’s leading music festivals – including Coachella and the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) Las Vegas main stage – while she was 8- and 9-months pregnant.
We caught up with her just before she arrived for Miami Music Week. Not only was performing with Kaskade a highlight of her time during dance music’s biggest week, she also made a surprise appearance during Ultra Music Festival at the Worldwide stage alongside recent collaborator, Dimension.
The rest of 2024 is looking bright for Sholler, who will be performing as Alison Wonderland at Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, Hangout Music Festival in Alabama, Ultra Korea, Ubbi Dubbi Festival in Texas, Insomniac’s Beyond Wonderland at The Gorge in Quincy, Wash., Summerfest in Milwaukee, Red Rocks in Denver, Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City, and the world-famous Rock in Rio fest in Brazil, among others.
It’s not just her Alison Wonderland persona that’ll shine in ’24, as Sholler will also be performing at some of the world’s leading festivals (Bonnaroo, Electric Forest, and Lollapalooza) as alt-persona Whyte Fang, a project that was started before Alison Wonderland. In discussing the gigs, Sholler was thrilled to finally share some live Whyte Fang shows with her existing fanbase, as well as new fans she’s gaining along the way. In a very open conversation, it all went like this:
DJ LIFE: When did you begin exploring dance music? Did you have any musical training or anything to entice you to do this full-time?
Alison Wonderland: Nothing enticed me to do this full-time. In fact, I never thought this would be a career that was sustainable or real. I originally was a classical cellist in Europe – I was playing in orchestras, and I was studying my entire life. Then I fell out of love with it and somehow found myself being a door guard at an underground nightclub in Sydney – and through that is how I first discovered dance music. It was life-changing.
DJ LIFE: What music caught your ear?
Alison: The only experience I had before working in a club – that I loved and gravitated towards – was Fatboy Slim and The Prodigy. I was listening to so many other genres at the time. There was a DJ who was playing an underground show at this club, and back then, everybody would be so excited to see the new tracks that a DJ would play, each time that they played. It was like a whole culture that I don’t know is as alive today. He played “Silent Shout” by The Knife, and I felt so attracted and gravitated towards what was going on that I ran over to the DJ from where I was sitting to ask, “What is this?” When he told me, I became incredibly obsessed with The Knife. That was when it [first] clicked for me, that I wanted to explore this.
DJ LIFE: How did you first begin exploring production?
Alison: I saved up for a MacBook and I got a cracked version of Ableton and Silence (CSound). DCUP, an [Australian] producer, gave me some drum loops and he showed me Ableton. Then, I started making music that sounded like The Knife [laughs]. And that’s how I started producing…
DJ LIFE: And how about DJing?
Alison: When I first started DJing, it wasn’t about electronic music. I was an open-format DJ for many, many years. Around that same time, Garth [Crane], who is my manager now, was the booker for the club. Knowing I was musical, he suggested I start DJing since they needed somebody to close to club. He taught me how to DJ, and two days later, I was closing the club. Back then, in the peak of A-Track and DJ AM, it was all very open-format. So, I wasn’t playing just electronic music, I was playing all genres – and I still kind of sneak that into my sets now.
DJ LIFE: And you fell into it, then?
Alison: I became really obsessed with DJing. I also never really connected producing with DJing because I thought they were such different skillsets; they were so different to me, in my head. When I was making music, I never actually played it when I was DJing. And this is when I was producing under Whyte Fang, back then, and DJing under Alison [Wonderland]. There was a year early on in my career where I toured for a rum company around Australia, and I think I did about 250 shows in a year… and I was playing at pubs. I actually built a fanbase just by doing that, and I was travelling by myself, sleeping in the pubs [laughs]. It was very different than it is now, but I loved it.
DJ LIFE: Still, you laid the groundwork for a career…
Alison: I built a fanbase in Australia, which just kept growing, so I started throwing mini-festivals called the Wonderland Warehouse Project. They would sell out, and we were doing 3 to 5k capacity venues to throw these crazy underground warehouse festivals with all these amazing acts that I love from across the world. We would throw them all throughout [Australia], so about five or six different locations every year. I brought it to America, and it did really well, so I’ll definitely be doing them again soon.
DJ LIFE: And throughout all of this, you were working on music production as well?
Alison: Throughout all of this, I signed with EMI and basically made the call to move all of music production to Alison Wonderland rather than Whyte Fang because I didn’t really have a face for Whyte Fang. Weirdly, [songs] were getting played on BBC Radio 1; I don’t even know how they found [them]. These were the early days of SoundCloud, so they likely just found it on there. Once I started making music under Alison Wonderland, I got offered a Diplo & Friends, snuck some of my unreleased music in there, and two weeks later I released “I Want You” and an EP. It went to No. 1 on Hype Machine, which at that time was a big deal. Then other DJs were flipping it, and those flips were going to No. 1. Then, I found an amazing agent over here.
DJ LIFE: So, then things started happening rather quickly for you…
Alison: I just want to say that this all happened after a span of about 10 years of people not giving a shit about me, telling me my music wasn’t good, etc. I’m skipping over all the parts where I was told “no” hundreds of times and wanted to cry or did cry. My Diplo & Friends mix went viral too, and around that time Coachella called my agent and wanted to premiere Alison Wonderland in the U.S., so that was my first American show. I was like, “Holy fuck, I’m going to do this right.” So, I sat in a room, and I made an album called Run, which I released two weeks before Coachella, and that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Dance chart.
DJ LIFE: Sounds like quite a time…
Alison: This was in 2015… I turned up to Coachella that year with a crappy little deck and no visuals – we just had the GoPro on me as visuals. It was the most full the Sahara Tent was before 6 p.m., and I played at 2 p.m.! I’ve never experienced anything like it before… it was just crazy! I think my parents finally understood [laughs].
DJ LIFE: That’s awesome. So, your parents came for your Coachella set in ’15?
Alison: Yeah, and up until that point, I don’t think they really understood what it was that I did. I would play, and they never really understood or listened to what I was making. So, I think when they saw it all out there with all these kids screaming the words… and this was also the first time I had played a full album with all of my own music. I’m honestly glad it took me 10 years to get an album out because when I listen to my earlier music I’m like, “Oh my God, thank God nobody heard that!” I really found my sound – and every point at every angle just hit at the right time for me.
DJ LIFE: Any other memories from that first-ever U.S. set?
Alison: It was a really crazy moment. Just before I was about to get onstage, the Sahara Tent was absolutely empty. My boyfriend at the time had actually played Coachella a couple of times, but he was out in the audience. I texted him saying, “I don’t want to go on, nobody’s here, this is so embarrassing.” He just responded with, “Trust me, once you hit play on that intro, people are gonna come running.” And that’s exactly what happened. As soon as I pressed play, people came running… it was like a stampede. Then, all of a sudden, it was full. It was really, really insane, and I remember it like it was yesterday. I feel like when I’m in a nursing home, really old and senile, I’ll just be living that day over and over again [laughs]. I will say, to this day, every opportunity I was given and am given, I take full advantage of, and I put everything into it.
DJ LIFE: What was your early DJ setup like versus what you prefer to play on now?
Alison: [Laughs] My setup… [laughs]. You probably don’t even know what this is. I had a Pioneer DJ CDJ-100 and a Pioneer DJ CDJ-400, which I kept at the edge of my bed because my bedroom at the time was the size of a queen-sized bed. So, I had my decks on the end of my bed, which is where they would live, up against my mirror. I would mix through my headphones or through a tiny, little laptop speaker that you would plug right into your laptop. My mixer was a two-channel mixer, and I don’t even remember what it was.
DJ LIFE: How about now?
Alison: My set-up, even now, is still simple as fuck. I write best when I feel like I’m in a bedroom. I write best when I feel like I’m still a bedroom producer. I still have a room in my house which is just for me to make music. I just have speakers, my laptop, a Manley reference mic, Universal Audio Apollo Twin audio interface, Access Virus TI2 digital synthesizer, and an OP-1 [synth/sampler/sequencer], which I don’t really use. I actually prefer producing just in my headphones, I don’t even really use my speakers that much. It’s funny because REZZ actually said the same thing when you spoke to her. I think we’re quite similar in the way that we produce. I also have a bunch of instruments in my studio. I have an electric guitar, normal guitar, my cello, of course, some African instruments, and a bunch of weird things everywhere.
DJ LIFE: In late 2022, you launched your own label, FMU Records. What would you say goes into running a successful dance label these days?
Alison: Well, the number one thing is organized people around me because I am not an organized person like that. I have a great team around me managing the label. I think you need to have your ears to the floor. I’m always very much listening to up-and-coming producers and artists, and things that excite me – and I’m very excited right now, actually. I’m excited for electronic music because there’s another turning point coming. I don’t know what it is, but it excites me. You need to be able to hear raw talent, and look, I’m very good at that. I’m a good A&R; a good DJ is a good A&R. I know how to pick songs that people will like, and that’s part of why I’m a good DJ. I can hear when things are gonna hit correctly, and I think that’s important. Also, just really caring about your artists because I think in this day and age, you need to treat artists like a person and not a statistic, which a lot of major labels do, and I think that’s disgusting. I don’t like putting pressure on artists to promote things. If they want to they can; if they don’t want to they don’t have to. My label is just a stepping-stone for these people to be heard a little bit more, and they can do what they want with that. That’s all I care about, and I just want them to feel confident that their shit slaps, you know?
DJ LIFE: You released your Whyte Fang album on FMU. Is it true you made the entire album while you were pregnant?
Alison: Yes, that is true. There were two songs that I had made a few years ago, but I would say I made about 80-percent of the album while I was pregnant. I finished it at six-months pregnant.
DJ LIFE: Did you notice any differences in the creative process?
Alison: I felt super-creative pregnant, and I can’t explain why. The beats that I was making just did not fit in the world where I would put stuff for an Alison album. Those kind of beats would never get a main feature with an Alison album; they would just be an album track. I really feel like I wanted a home for that kind of energy, the more industrial stuff. I’m also not singing on this stuff, really, because I’ll have guest vocalists. It was really fun for me because I wasn’t as emotionally drained by the process because it was mainly just producing. I’m just really drawn to that kind of sound design, and I don’t think that it gets featured or highlighted as much in Alison’s world.
DJ LIFE: But people really liked it…
Alison: It’s funny because the other day Kaskade was getting interviewed and somebody asked him what his favorite Alison music was, and he was like, “Whyte Fang.” It’s also funny because a lot of artists have reached out about the Whyte Fang project and said it was one of their favorite albums, which meant a lot. I felt really creative. I was in a different part of my life where I was pregnant, successfully, and that took a long time for me. I also had Coachella coming up for Whyte Fang, and look, Whyte Fang, I’ve always had a vision for. Even before I got signed to EMI as Alison, since it costs money to put on a production like that, I’m finally in a place where I’m able to do exactly what I envisioned back then, but better. So, I felt like it was the right time to do this, and honestly, that show at Coachella last year in 2023 was one of my favorite shows ever. That’s because exactly what I saw in my head, I saw in real life, and that is one of the weirdest feelings. I just felt really happy to be where I was. As I said earlier, when I’m given an opportunity, I take it and give it all I’ve got. So, when I got the Coachella offer for Whyte Fang, I was like, “Well, looks like I’m making an album.” I had tunnel vision, and I wanted this to be perfect. I was extremely tired when I was pregnant, but I was still very inspired.
DJ LIFE: So those two Coachella experiences must have been very different for you – Alison Wonderland and Whyte Fang…
Alison: Alison is a much bigger act, and I feel a lot more pressure because I feel like there’s a lot more acts watching. Also, when I’m playing Alison Wonderland shows, it’s very personal. It’s like reading my diary. I go back to the very moment I was in when I made it, so it’s quite a lot and emotional for me to play shows. The main difference was that I was eight-months pregnant for that set, and I’m also not at the forefront of that performance. With Whyte Fang, I’m inside of an LED box, and the only time you can see me is when I’m lit up with blacklight and my entire outfit is UV-blacklight-reactive. All around me is transparent LED, so sometimes you see me and sometimes you see visuals. It’s very interactive with the visuals and the lighting, which makes it more of an art installation and sonic journey.
DJ LIFE: Then you played EDC Las Vegas a month later. What was that like?
Alison: Yup… so, you can’t really breathe [laughs], because when you’re pregnant the baby is taking up so much space. When you’re pregnant your organs get moved around and you literally can’t breathe, so I was out of breath every step. I think once I stepped out onto the stage, it was muscle memory, so I didn’t notice as much. The weirdest part is that when I was playing a really heavy beat, the baby was kicking the entire time. So, I was feeling this thing kicking my ribs and my stomach while I was playing, so it was like there were two of us on stage [laughs]. I feel happy every time I’m given an opportunity to play a show because it’s one of the only things I love, so just to be up there and playing still was amazing. I also want to add that I did this all very safely. I had doctors all around me. We had ambulances on site to check me after every performance. I don’t want everyone to think this is a chill thing to do!
DJ LIFE: How many others can say they’ve done that?
Alison: I believe Amelie Lens and Aluna played when they were pregnant, but I just don’t know if they were that pregnant. I think when something like this happens in your life you just adjust and surrender to the change, and then you have a new way of managing your time. I must add, having a supportive partner in this has made a world of a difference, so I’m able to still do what I want, and I’m so lucky. It was a really, really hard journey for me to become successfully pregnant and successfully give birth. I was told at the beginning of my pregnancy to live my life and let the baby cook or I’m gonna go insane, so that’s what I did.
DJ LIFE: Did you think you’d be working and doing shows during your pregnancy?
Alison: Look, I have a very supportive team, and my plan was to keep doing it… but if I did not feel well, then I would not play. For example, the last month that I was pregnant, I wasn’t allowed to travel for a long period of time, so I couldn’t make it to two festivals. But those were the only things I missed throughout my entire pregnancy, and the promoters were totally cool about it and understanding. I’m playing Hangout Fest this year, which is one of the ones I didn’t get to make last year. I know there were some fans who were angry with me, but I legally couldn’t travel, nor did I want to endanger my child. I was so much in survival mode when I first got pregnant, that I didn’t even want to treat it as if there was a baby. I needed to treat it like it was science because I didn’t want to get too emotionally attached to what was happening because I’d had three miscarriages in the past on top of other things, which I’ve been public about, and no one knew. I had to put on a happy face even though it was a very horrible time in my life, very horrible. I just couldn’t put myself through that again mentally, so I had to treat it like science until it progressed more. The better everything looked, the more relaxed I felt. But I just felt that if I was sitting still doing nothing, I would go crazy and be a complete mess. That was another reason I woke up every day and took myself into the studio to make music. Otherwise, I think it would’ve been really hard for me. This got me through to the other side.
DJ LIFE: Since the birth of your son, Max, how have you changed as a person and as an artist?
Alison: As a person, it’s changed me, but I think as an artist you’re always changing. I don’t know if it’s because of that or not because I’m always evolving and always will evolve. Even if this didn’t happen, I’d still be evolving; so, as an artist, it’s quite separate for me. But as a person, I have become incredibly empathetic, even more than I was earlier because I see people now as someone’s kid. It’s hard for me to watch violent things, which used to not bother me. It’s funny because my fiancé [Ti West] makes horror movies, but I’m just a little more sensitive. I think more about the world, the bigger picture, and how it’s going to impact the future. I think about what I can do to make my kid be a positive impact in the world. I really didn’t know what love was until this… and I know everyone says that and it sounds so cheesy. Also, he’s really cool! I think because I played so many shows with him while I was pregnant, he’s so chilled out and used to it that even hearing the music now, it doesn’t affect him at all. He loves it.
