Hailing from the beautiful city of Montreal, Canada, is Vivie-Ann Bakos, who makes music under the moniker Blond:ish. Formerly a duo with creative partner Anstascia D'Elene, Blond:ish cemented their place in the scene with their unique ethereal ability to spread love and expand consciousness through their music. As a duo, Blond:ish were known for their game-changing house album Welcome to the Present, their much-adored Burning Man sets, and as a fixture at international festivals from the jungles of Tulum to the Gardens of Babylon in Goch, Germany.
As of late 2018, Vivie-Ann and Anstascia have amicably parted ways professionally, and Vivie-Ann will continue as Blond:ish solo, spreading joy and spirituality through her solo performances and recordings, while Anstascia will pursue other passions and her own personal mission to spread love through music.
We are thrilled to welcome this newly focused iteration of Blond:ish to Metropolis with an exclusive guest mix ahead of her highly anticipated DJ set at this year’s Coachella festival. Catch her both weekends in the infamous Yuma tent!
Read our exclusive Q+A with Blond:ish below!
Hi Blond:ish!
Could you give us the scoop behind the name Blond:ish, and how it came to be?
We ran a night on Wednesdays at Cherry Nightclub in Montreal called Blond:ish. After a while, people started calling us Blond:ish and it just stuck!
After a magical 11 years together you and musical partner Anstascia have decided to part ways as Blond:ish. As you are continuing on your new path as Blond:ish solo, how are you envisioning your creative process changing as a solo act?
Creative process is now a personal vision, whereas before, when there’s two you, you have the whole feedback process. So now it flows in a different way, without the back and forth of combining visions. I now have a team of people who, after I have a vision, help put it into motion, so I can keep being creative, and collaborating — it’s pretty awesome actually, happy to be in this stage of creativity with music, where the outer reaches of the universe are the limit – a.k.a. there are no limits!
Blond:ish has been cemented in the electronic scene for some time, not only for your work, but also as women making music. What has been your experience watching the scene evolve for female-DJ/producers since the early days?
I don’t have an opinion about this question, the only experience I have is with EGO in this business, never had the female/male issue. DJ egos are insane, that’s what you have to watch out for, not the male/female thing. They usually come out the most when it comes to billings on a flyer, and protecting their hierarchy. Makes me laugh a lot, I just find a different angle.
You’re DJing the dance-focused Yuma tent at Coachella this year. Given that ‘Chella is a boiling pot of artists from all genres, are there any bands/artists you’re personally looking forward to catching this year?
I honestly haven’t looked at the lineup yet! I’ll check it out closer to the date. I love watching live bands — no electronic music for me at Coachella.