LINKED has been growing for almost six years now. What made you believe there was something worth building, and what has kept the project moving since?
When I started LINKED in 2019, I didn’t really see it as something that was going to become what it is today. I simply felt there was a gap in the scene for something that was genuinely centred around the music and the people who connected with it.
I was never really taken seriously as a techno artist coming out of Stellenbosch, and I found it difficult to break through into the Cape Town scene. Instead of waiting for someone to give me an opportunity, I decided to create my own platform.
I started networking, building genuine relationships with people, and slowly developing the LINKED brand. Before LINKED, I was constantly hosting house parties, bringing people together through music, until eventually I hosted the first official LINKED event in Stellenbosch. From there, everything changed.
What started as a small idea grew into something much bigger, and even through COVID, we managed to keep LINKED relevant and connected to its community.
I think a big part of that comes down to how I approach anything I care about. Once I put my mind to something, I become obsessed with pushing it forward and finding ways to make it better. I’ve always wanted to build the best version of LINKED that I possibly can, and that mindset is what has kept me going all these years.
Another reason why I started this journey is that I wanted to create a space where you could walk through the door, forget about everything outside and just get lost in the music. No judgement, no ego, no pressure to be anything other than yourself. Over time, that became the foundation of LINKED.
What has kept it moving is the community. Seeing people who came to the first events still coming today, watching artists grow with the platform, and seeing people form friendships and connections through LINKED, that’s what makes it worth continuing. It’s become much bigger than just throwing parties. It’s something people can call home.
From Stereo Culture to open airs, club nights and a First Thursday residency at Mødular, LINKED has moved through very different formats. What does this All Night Long event say about where the project is heading?
I think it shows that LINKED is ready to go deeper rather than simply bigger.
We’ve always experimented with different environments but the core has never changed. This All Night Long gives us the opportunity to strip everything back and focus on the journey. Eight hours gives you time to build something properly, to move through different emotions, tempos and energies without having to rush towards a peak.
For me, it’s also a reflection of where we’ve grown musically. LINKED has matured with us, and this event allows people to experience a much broader side of what the project represents.
Your lineups have consistently connected different corners of South Africa’s techno scene. Why has bringing those communities together been such an important part of LINKED?
South Africa has an incredible amount of talent, but for a long time a lot of the scene felt quite separated geographically and socially.
I’ve always believed that the more we connect those communities and work together, the stronger the scene becomes. Whether someone is from Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Pretoria or somewhere else, if we’re all connected through the same music, there shouldn’t be barriers between us.
That’s been one of the most rewarding parts of LINKED, watching artists and crowds from different places connect through the platform. We’re not trying to create one sound or one identity. We’re trying to create a space where different interpretations of the music can exist together.
We remember the earlier LINKED sound as heavy, raw and relentlessly physical. How has the music evolved since those early events, and what has driven that evolution?
The energy is still there, but I think our understanding of music has developed a lot.
In the beginning, it was very much about the physical side of techno, heavy drums, big low end, raw grooves and that feeling of being completely consumed by the sound system. The sound was also different back then.
As we’ve grown as producers and DJs, we’ve become much more interested in tension, space, rhythm, progression and the little things. I think we’re less concerned now with making something immediately hit and more interested in creating something that pulls you in slowly.
A lot of that motion has come from spending years in the studio, playing different systems and constantly questioning what we can do differently and how we can perfect certain things on our low-end. The studio definitely has its influence.
You’ve never shied away from giving international artists a place within the local scene. What makes an international booking genuinely valuable to LINKED rather than simply impressive on a lineup?
For me, an international booking needs to have a purpose.
It’s very easy to put a big name on a poster and say you’ve brought someone international to South Africa. That’s not really what interests me. I want to bring artists who contribute something to the culture and who genuinely make sense within the LINKED community.
It could be an artist whose music has influenced us, someone pushing a unique sound, or someone who can introduce the crowd to a completely different perspective. They’re about what that artist brings into the room and what the local scene can take away from the experience.
The networking aspect has also played a huge role. Along the way, we’ve had the opportunity to meet some incredible artists that we personally looked up to within the scene. What I’ve come to realise is that, beyond the music and the names on the posters, they’re just like us, human beings who share the same passion and are contributing to the scene we call home.
That’s something I’ve always loved about techno. At its core, it has never just been about the artists; it’s about the music, the community and the connections that happen around it. You can walk into a room not knowing anyone and leave having met people who become friends, collaborators or even part of your journey.
For me, that sense of connection is what LINKED has always been about. The music is what brings us together, but the people are what keep us coming back.
This time, the founder and resident artist are taking over Apollo AV for eight hours. How do you approach an All Night Long differently from a standard two-hour set?
A two-hour set is almost like telling one chapter of a story. Eight hours allows you to tell the whole book.
You can take risks, slow things down, build tension for longer and explore music that you might not normally have the opportunity to play in a shorter set. There’s no need to constantly think about the next big moment.
Because Cullen and I have been working together for years, there’s also a level of trust between us. We know each other’s musical language and understand where we want to take things. We’re able to react to each other and to the room rather than following a rigid plan.
There will definitely be a structure in our heads, but the night itself will dictate where we go.
Apollo AV gives you a very different canvas from a conventional club. What does a space like this allow you to do differently?
Apollo gives us the freedom to build an environment around the music rather than having to work within the structure of a conventional club night.
The space, the sound, the darkness and the scale all give us room to create something immersive. If you know LINKED, we always make sure the sound system is perfect and the lighting is minimal and warm. We will be creating a pulse effect in the space like one heart beat.
We’re also not approaching this as simply putting a DJ booth in a warehouse and playing for eight hours. Every element of the room matters, the sound, lighting, atmosphere and how people move through the space.
The goal is for people to feel like they’ve stepped into something rather than simply attended another event.
LINKED talks about unity, safety and inclusivity as much as it does the music. What does that look like when you’re actually running the room?
At LINKED, the central focus has always been the music. I think that’s a big part of why the energy and intentions within the space are so positive. When everyone is there for the same reason, to connect with the music and share that experience, it naturally creates a different kind of environment.
It also starts with the community we’ve built over the years. I feel like our regulars naturally influence and welcome newcomers, showing them what the LINKED space is about without it ever needing to be forced. There’s a certain understanding that gets passed from person to person, respect the music, respect the people around you, and allow everyone to experience the night in their own way. Being open minded helps with this. We want people to feel comfortable being themselves. That means respect is non-negotiable. There’s no room for harassment, discrimination, aggression or behaviour that makes someone else feel unsafe.
But it’s also about the smaller things, how our team interacts with people and the example we set as artists and organisers.
The dance floor belongs to everyone in that room. We’re all there for the same reason: to experience the music together. If we can create an environment where people genuinely look out for one another, then we’ve achieved what LINKED is supposed to be.
The KONCEPT label has become another extension of the sound you’ve developed through LINKED. How do the label and the event brand inform one another?
KONCEPT gives us another way to communicate what we’re building. LINKED gives us the platform to showcase our sound we push on KONCEPT and both influence how we work.
With LINKED, the communication is immediate, it’s the room, the sound system, the people and the energy of the night. KONCEPT allows us to take that idea into the music itself and give it a permanent home.
They influence each other naturally. What we’re discovering in the studio can influence what we play at LINKED, and what happens on the dance floor can influence what we want to release.
September 12th, 8pm. Two DJs, eight hours, one room. What do you want this particular LINKED night to be remembered for?
I want people to remember the journey.
Not necessarily one particular track or one massive moment, but the feeling of being in that room for eight hours and experiencing something from beginning to end.
For us, this is a pretty special moment. LINKED has been building for almost 7 years, and we’ve spent years developing our sound, our production and our understanding of what we want this community to be.
So when people leave Apollo at the end of the night, I want them to feel like they were part of something and not just that they went to an event.
Two artists, eight hours, one room, no shortcuts and we are all one on that dance-floor, we are linked through the music.
That’s LINKED in its purest form.
