Thailo & Friends Vol. 1
DETAILS
When — Jan 2025
Where — Pitago
Visuals — C Studio
Sound + Video Production — Fifth Floor
DJs — @iyzo, @marina_tee, @heythailo
Graphic design, video editing — @heythailo
New Year, new stage name
I love thrashing a dance floor. That’s why I’m a fan of constraints, they’re clarifying. As in, the key part of thinking outside the box is getting the box, the boundaries. I love cracking the event brief from my clients, and then just knocking it out of the park—that’s my jam.
But, to kick off 2025, I decided to satisfy a craving I’d been nursing for a while. I’d throw my own party where I’m the client and I set the brief, no requests.
I had a pretty good excuse for it, too.
After going by DJ CASS for years, I’d decided to switch up and start performing under a new stage name: Thailo.
This laptop skin took me a normal amount of time to design and I didn’t agonise over the exact placement at all.
Hey Thailo!
Why ‘Thailo’? I have a few post-hoc explanations. I quip to friends that it’s about me being ‘low-key Thai’—I’m Thai on my mum’s side but it isn’t immediately obvious except to other Thais and luk khreungs. Or, I say that it’s an homage my love of lo–fi hip‑hop from my uni days. Mostly, though, I just liked the sound of it.
But you went by CASS for so long, I hear you say. Why did you change it? That’s a story for another time.
No requests
So, what better excuse to throw a party than to debut my new name?
And since the more, the merrier, I enlisted some cool friends—Iyzo and Missy—to join me. Their brief:
Do an hour, play whatever you want, take us on a journey.
Hey presto, Thailo & Friends was born: a super-chilled semi-regular event, sonically steered by the DJ.
Me and the gworls.
Blue skies, chill vibes
As a proud girlie from The Area, I wanted the first Thailo & Friends to be a local hang.
I rang the effervescent Chi Mai to let her know our plans and she graciously agreed to let us host at the incomparable Pitago Restaurant in Bankstown (they have live music every Saturday night and eating there feels like you’re on holiday abroad).
We called up some mates to come join us for some good food, good company, and good music.
It was a vibe.
A huge thank you to all the good-looking people who came down and had fun with us.
Looking sharp
A major theme of the past six months has been getting over my reluctance to be perceived. While I’m not trying to become a content monster, I realised how many amazing moments were flying by undocumented.
Luckily, I’m able to count the incredibly accomplished Helen Ngoc of C Studio as one of my talented friends and creative collaborator. Helen perfectly captured the sun-soaked vibe of the very first Thailo & Friends with her beautiful photo and video work (she also has a stunning book of photography in the works which you should check out!).
Mission accomplished: Helen and Thailo.
BTS and prep
If you’ve read this far then you’ve earned a peek behind the curtain. Thailo & Friends is a labour of love—emphasis on the ‘labour’.
Fortunately for me, my partner-in-crime, Nam, is talented at managing the literal heavy lifting. And practical planning. And technical know-how. And…
We’d been talking for ages about starting a production outfit and throwing a vibey event where DJs could showcase their sets. When we ticked over into the new year, we knew we had to just do it and learn anything we didn’t already know as we went.
In preparation, we scoped out the space, tried out different setups for camera blocking, did a bunch of test shots…
A bit of reconnaissance and many, many font changes.
Final stretch
I’m pretty handy with most things digital. I’ve been a digital designer for donkey’s years so I decided from jump that I’d edit the videos myself (I’m also too Type A to let anyone else do it). How hard could it be? Turns out, quite a bit when you’re directing, starring in, and editing the shoot!
The first ‘fun’ thing we learned is that cameras shut themselves off mid-recording if they get too hot. Not only were we enjoying the full force of a Sydney sunset in summer, but we had the cameras shooting at top quality—all at the same time. This meant there were no fresh back ups when they eventually konked out.
This mofo was recording nothing at this point in time.
Luckily, I was able to patch the holes in the recordings with emergency iPhone footage from Nam and bonus cinematics from Helen.
Months out from the event itself, I’m learning all the things that make editing such a monster of a task: frame rate compatibility, colour-grading, the interminable purgatory of exporting and the arcane alchemy of uploading to YouTube…
I’m having fun, albeit in a somewhat masochistic way.
