Sydney-based DJ and producer Alison Wonderland puts her all into her music. Since she departed from her classically trained cellist roots, Wonderland has curated an eclectic EDM style incorporating pop, techno, and trap sounds. The DJ released her first EP Calm Down through EMI Records in 2014 and it rose to the top of iTunes charts. The EP featured “I Want U,” which would become a Hype Machine-hit and earn her high accolades from Annie Mac and Diplo. This past year Wonderland debuted her first album, Run, and played major festivals including Coachella, Electric Forest, and Firefly. Music has been what has kept Alison Wonderland going, and it is certainly not going to slow her down.

Photography by Lauren Engel
Interviewed by Kenny Wallach

Introduction by Sadie Bell

We’ve learned that you’re half Croatian, half Austrian. You were raised in Australia, and now you get to travel the world. It must be an amazing experience being exposed to so many different cultures. What would you say is the biggest insight you’ve gained about culture, communities, and people in general?

This may sound corny… but from touring, I have noticed that music, and good food bring people together. Regardless of background. I can play a show in America and it could be an Australian show. If music communicates the right way, it will communicate.. it´s so primal. So cool.

Even when we’re most happy, there somehow always seems to be a thought that worries us. If you’re comfortable sharing, what’s been the most recent thought eating at you lately?
Haha that’s so strange that you said this.. the other day I was reading a piece of writing by Charles Bukowski. Its called: No help for that. I always have something worrying me. I am a very emotionally driven human.. just read my twitter haha

Just by being a female in a male dominated industry, we’d have to imagine that you are constantly asked questions about how that affects you and what your take is on being a girl in a boy’s club. But rather than ask you what its like being a female in that context, we’re curious, what would you say is the best thing about being a female in general?
Haha I love this. I mean, I wish I knew what it was like to be a male so I could compare?

“Connecting with a piece of art is euphoric. Better than drugs, better than sleep, better than sex. It’s the craziest rush. In the moment I would never want to be anywhere else. It’s a strange feeling of contentment.”

If creating music is an extension of who we are, then it can be said that when we connect with a song, we’re connecting with the person who created it. In that regard, what aspects of your personality or emotional landscape do you hear most in your own music?
You hear all of me. Absolutely all of me. I was so nervous before this record came out, its literally like reading my diary. I put my heart and soul into it. It´s about love, depression, drugs, alcohol, L.A., the music industry. Its about everything that I was going through during that time. Ups and downs, happiness and sadness, everything. I gave it all.

Describe the feeling, physically, emotionally, or both, when you connect with a piece of art.
Its unlike anything I have ever experienced. It´s euphoric. Better than drugs, better than sleep, better than sex. It’s the craziest rush. In the moment I would never want to be anywhere else. It’s a strange feeling of contentment.

If you had to pick one, what event in your past do you think has most shaped and defined you as a person?
I think when I was working a job I hated and one morning I was walking to the city and I saw a DJ playing at the launch of the new iphone. I realised how unhappy I was and I knew that the only thing keeping me going was my music…so I walked in and quit. I couldn’t stop smiling. I felt like all this weight had been lifted off my shoulders

Lastly, if you are comfortable sharing – do you believe in God?
I believe in something.