Abagale Fischer has recently returned to her hometown of Melbourne after an international musical odyssey. I accompanied her to Ichabod’s where we ordered an Abagale, a delicious alcoholic beverage that she invented in Brooklyn. The recipe calls for dark rum, ruby red grapefruit juice, a splash of club soda, a squeeze of fresh lime juice, agave nectar to taste and a pinch of cayenne pepper, a truly delectable and rather ingenious drink. I was very curious to hear her story about becoming a professional DJ so I asked a lot of questions. Good stories have a tendency to begin in unexpected places. For Abagale, it all started in the bedroom…

 

JS: Where and when did you become a DJ?

 

AF: Many moons ago, right here in Melbourne.

 

JS: Where were your first gigs?

 

AF: I DJed for about 4 years hardcore in my bedroom because I was anal about precise mixing. I didn’t want to subject anyone to anything less than perfection. After four years I started doing live shows, mini-raves and what not.

 

JS: Why do you think got you so involved in music?

 

AF: My dad is a musician and I inherited all that at a young age. Good musical genes I guess. I got into underground dance music when I was about 13. Because I’m obsessed with dancing I really got into dance music, notably the underground styles.

 

JS: Where did you become exposed to underground dance music at 13?

 

AF: WFIT 89.5, F.I.T’s underground radio station here in Melbourne. This was back in 1989-90.

 

JS: I see. When did you start playing for an audience?

 

AF: I was about 21 when I first played out in public, then I finally moved to Orlando. Up until then I'd been traveling from beach side to Orlando to go to the Visage, Firestone, and The Edge. When I finally moved over to Orlando, that's when my real DJ career began. I played out in Orlando for about 4 years before things went to a professional level. After that I played in Miami and South Carolina. By then I’d graduated from Full Sail for audio engineering and decided I had to get out of Orlando because the party scene had gotten a bit out of control.

 

JS: Were you partially responsible for the out of control party scene?

 

AF: Ha well… at that point the dance scene was starting to have problems because of some of the laws that were passed regarding clubs and raves. The result was lots of underground house parties with ludicrous antics and no control whatsoever. When I lived on Kirkman road the cops came to my house due to noise complaints 100 times it seemed. Needless to say, my roommates and neighbors were not happy.. I eventually moved to Atlanta for a hot second to get it under control.

 

JS: Did you move to Atlanta to get into the music scene there?

 

AF: I actually moved there to recover from the music scene in Orlando and ended up getting a job offer to DJ in the Dominican Republic.

 

JS: Nice. What was that like?

 

AF: Well, after my first big show I ended up deciding to live there for a while..It was great in many ways, amazing and difficult as well. Life changing. I learned Spanish and I met a lot of special people there. The first 6 months I struggled really hard because I didn’t speak the language or know many people. I was the minority, which is good for the soul. I worked and networked my ass off. I met a lot of people and my manager who spoke like 5 languages really helped me take off. On the coast in Cabarete there were a lot of foreigners. French, Spanish, Dutch, that’s where a lot of my gigs were so it was good to have a manager who spoke many languages.

 

JS: Multilingual managers are always good. What made you decide to come back to the United States?

 

AF: I decided I was ready for New York City. The Dominican Republic humbled me and prepared me for New York. It gave me experience playing for thousands of people instead of just hundreds, and they were from all over the world so I learned to entertain people from very different cultures. It really refined my skills.

 

JS: How was the move to New York from The Dominican Republic?

 

AF: I had really bad culture shock when I first got there. Going from speaking Spanish everyday to English in a city where once again I didn’t know anybody was rough. I was introverted for the first few months and truly missed the DR. Two people I met really brought me into the underground dance scene in New York and got me out of my funk. Elon, Connie, and eventually Halcyon Record store. They brought me into my scene because I didn’t know many people the first year or two and they helped me network. I met them at the Winter Music Conference, WMC.

 

JS: What was one of your greatest accomplishments in New York?

 

AF: I would say creating MELT, which was an idea I’d had for a good 5 years and I was finally able to launch it with the help of my girl Connie. New York was ripe for it.

 

JS: What’s MELT, did you invent a really tasty sandwich too?

 

AF: It’s basically an Ambient bass movement/party, the more refined side of the underground music scene. It involves more Psybient, Dub, abstract House and Techno, and other ethereal sounds as the medium for bringing people together. I’d like to call it retired raver music. It took me years to collect enough of this style of music to play a two-hour set because it’s so hard to find the best cuts of these genres.

 

JS: So finding the right music is a little like a treasure hunt huh?

 

AF: Totally, I’ve been hunting for musical treasure, gems as I call them, for years. Sometimes you search forever and come back with nothing, it can be frustrating. For my larger shows I work extremely hard creating a feeling that everyone can relate to simultaneously. My goal is to craft a unifying sound scape that makes everyone feel the same emotions at the same time. I know when I’m planning a performance and I’m going through the music I’ll use, I feel certain emotions and it’s a high knowing that everyone else will feel those emotions too. That’s why I’m so picky about the tracks that I play. I want to make people dance and feel extremely happy. That’s who I am and I want others to experience that happiness with me.

 

JS: Who doesn’t want to dance and feel extremely happy?

 

AF: You’d be surprised.

 

JS: What do you think you took away from your New York experience?

 

AF: New York changed me for life. I consider myself a Brooklyn-ite now. I haven’t really separated from it yet. Some of the best parties and life experiences I’ve ever had happened in Brooklyn. Especially getting mixed up with the family at Halcyon record store, which is the best record store in the world and also happens to be my personal favorite.

 

JS: You must have good taste. How does it feel to be back in Florida?

 

AF: It’s up and down. I love the weather and I made a decision to come back to take a break from the urban life. The beach, nature, and people here are great but I really miss my friends back in NY. I actually came here to find some Zen. Not sure if that’s happening yet.

 

JS: I’ll let you know if I see any. When and where can we see you DJ next?

 

AF: My next event is on December 11^th in Orlando at Suite B, Anthony Hernandez will be opening up for me. He plays the underground shizznittzl too, so I'm excited. This event is special because it’s my first event since I’ve been back to Florida and I’m going to be bringing Brooklyn with me. My beloved Halcyon record store will be involved, and we'll be promoting www.halcyondigi.com, their digital download site.

 

JS: Done. Can we expect to see you at Robot Love Volume 2 Reboot?

 

AF: Definitely.

 

JS: Sweet.

 

We’re lucky to have Melbourne’s very own DJ prodigy back in the sunny state of Florida. Be sure to catch her while she’s here if you wait it will be like trying to find Carmen Sandiego. Who knows where she’ll end up next.