This week, producer Benedict Sinister wants to welcome you into the world of DJ slag with his new track “EDM Mockney”. Featuring the artist’s electric production, listeners are taken on a chaotic journey through the underground dialect whilst guided by a narrator boasting a thick Cockney accent in a truly fitting ode to the track’s theme.

When discussing the new track, Sinister explains, “EDM Mockney rhyming slang uses DJs’ names instead of ordinary words – like saying ‘Avicii’ instead of ‘lychee’. It’s been used by the backstage crowd at festivals for years, so I took advantage of lockdown in 2021 to document it in song. I was hoping that name-checking a lot of prominent DJs would be good for SEO, and I’d benefit from the halo effect and ideally get some spins.”

Upon the release of the track, the artist sat down with Wonderland to discuss how his name came to be and his masked aesthetic. Head below to enjoy our interview with Benedict Sinister…

Let’s start with your name! Is this your actual name or your stage name?
My parents weren’t that perverse. Can you imagine sending your little boy off to school having to deal with a name like Benedict Sinister? No – I changed my name myself when I was six years old. I maintain that’s why Nick Cave did so much better than me when we were in first grade. Eight letters and he had finished writing his whole name and moved on to sums, while I was still working on my Christian name.

When did you first start exploring music as a career path? What is your earliest memory of getting involved with music?
When I was a toddler, my old granny would sing along to her favourite tune to get me to sleep – “FFA” by Leather Nun. It still brings a tear to my eye. But I only started producing music myself as a teenager when I joined a group to compete in the battle of the bands at my school. We won decisively to the rousing acclaim of our comrades. As if! We lost – though not entirely ignominiously, as the winner ended up getting presented the Song of the Year award from the former Australian Prime Minister.

You are known to conceal your identity with masks – is there a particular reason for this? Also, how did you land on the spiked aesthetic for your masks?
My extraordinarily handsome features were effective for attracting fans, but they were proving such a distraction to bandmates, road crew and bar staff that I decided to cover my face as a faster and less painful alternative to disfiguring facial surgery.
How did I land on the spiked aesthetic? Simple – I wanted to make my head look like a durian.

Congratulations on the release of “EDM Mockney”! I know the name refers to a type of fake cockney slang! Can you give us a bit of history behind this slang and why you chose to make this the focus of your new track?
EDM Mockney rhyming slang uses DJs’ names instead of ordinary words – like saying “Avicii” instead of “lychee.” It’s been used by the backstage crowd at festivals for years, so I took advantage of lockdown in 2021 to document it in song. I was hoping that name-checking a lot of prominent DJs would be good for SEO, and I’d benefit from the halo effect and ideally get some spins.

What do you want people to feel when they hear the new track? Perhaps there is a particular message you want to convey?
Yes, I have a very important message. By exclusively using the names of male DJs in the track I was drawing attention to phallocentrism in EDM and paying silent homage to the women and non-binary DJs who are flipping the decks today.

You are known to mix and match genres in your tunes! How would you describe your personal sound?
Genre-fluid.