8Bitch
Interview Chloe McCloskey
Photography Ben Rayner
Maya Medvesek is anything but a bitch. When I met the 26-year-old, Slovenian-born producer, known to most as 8Bitch, I was pretty taken aback by her complete lack of bitch-ness: She’s tiny; she’s gorgeous and she’s very polite. She’s also mega accomplished, being a former judo champ and a total TV celebrity in her homeland, but we’ll talk about that later. Having just moved back to London from Glasgow with her boyfriend, dubstep/grime/electro producer Rustie, Maya eagerly talks of her upcoming releases, body doubling for Penelope Cruz and why she prefers Buckfast to bubbly.
Who are you?
My name’s Maya, I’m from Slovenia originally. I moved to London when I was 18, so that’s eight, almost nine, years ago. Fuck, I thought it was less. Time goes too fast! I moved to Glasgow for a bit, and now we’re back down in London.
Why did you move to Glasgow?
Well, my boyfriend is Glaswegian and it was cheaper, but we found we’ve been coming in and out of Heathrow a lot so it seemed like a good time to move down. We’ve only been here two weeks. Our new place is above a Tesco supermarket so we can make lots of noise, which is really handy for two producers.
How did you two meet?
We met at BLOC [the massive indoor electronic festival at Butlin’s holiday camp in the UK] last year. Rus was playing, and I was there having a good time. It’s just been great ever since.
How long have you been producing?
I’ve been doing music since I was about five years old. My father’s a musician so he put me in music school early. I did theory training and played the flute, which isn’t handy now for what I’m doing. I wish I’d learned the piano. Then I started making a bit of electronic music when I was 14. I had a lot of stuff at home from my dad that I could use. It was good fun. Then I started going out a lot and figured, ‘Oh, I can make this stuff.’ I was very into techno. That’s my background: old electro and techno. Then I moved to the UK, and back then, you couldn’t really make a lot of music unless you had a lot of hardware, unlike now where you can use an Ableton and get plug-ins. I had no money so I stopped making music for quite a few years. Then I did a degree because I was bored. Now I’ve been making music for the last three years with much more discipline.
What kind of music do you make?
I guess electronica would be my first answer. Some of it is dance music, some of it is quite fast. Some is more ambient, or hip-hop-y. I’d say a blend between hip-hop and techno. Sometimes, I’ll sing as well. I’ve done quite a bit of singing before, but that’s another kind of project I’m doing on the side which I’m not letting anyone hear just yet, which is more kind of dub and reggae. I trained in jazz singing in school back in Slovenia, but right now it’s all about production.
Sounds like you had an interesting childhood.
Yeah (laughs). I’m an only child. My dad is a jazz guitarist and producer and a DJ as well. We travelled a lot. He used to have clubs, and at one point he actually ran a strip club. But yeah, my dad is a really amazing musician and taught me a lot. Apart from that, Slovenia is a bit boring so I really wanted to get out. There are only two million people in the whole country, so there’s only so much progression you can make. And the creativity and inspiration is limited.
What does your dad think of your music?
I think he’s quite proud. He understands it. He was very much into early electronica, so he gets it. My mum is the complete opposite. She’s more practical. She works in haematology and you know, she’s not that into music, but she appreciates what I do.
I read you were like, on TV and stuff as a kid. What’s the story there?
I’ve been acting since I was six. I did some films and television. The biggest thing was probably this comedy soap for two years. It’s a bit shit, but it was the main thing on TV back then. I did some presenting of kids and teenage programmes, some ‘cool’ documentaries, but they were pretty poorly produced. When I came to the UK, I had an agent for a few years, so I did some small parts to kind of get by. I really enjoy acting, but it’s nowhere near what music is for me.
Is it true that you’re a trained judo athlete?
Yeah, I did judo for about six years, then I had a really bad injury and I had to stop and then I got into clubbing and music, which wasn’t very complimentary to my athletic career. I was quite good; three times champion of Slovenia in my category, but there were probably only about five people I had to beat.
Why is your name 8Bitch?
It’s a bit of a stupid name. I kind of regret using it now because some radio stations can’t play my stuff as they can’t say bitch. It’s just a play on words with 8-bit. I was really into computer games and 8-bit sounds. Though I don’t really use 8-bit samples anymore. So many people have used Game Boy and Mario samples it’s a bit of a cliché, but I thought it was a great idea at the time.
Is the 8-bit thing done?
I think a little bit, yeah. People still make a lot of 8-bit hip-hop but otherwise I think it’s done.
That’s not the only connection you have to video games is it?
Yeah, I am in a video game! It came through my acting agency. They were looking for someone who can DJ, rollerblade and do a bit of acting. It was for DJ Hero, so I did three characters for them. I wore black Lycra suits with lots of sensors for the motion capture. So I had to do literally every single move in the game, and then they superimpose the animation on a skeleton of me moving.
Did you learn anything new for your DJ career from it?
I’ve got the game at home. I’m shit at it. It’s really hard. I can’t actually do that stuff in real life. I’m really into turntablism and admire people who can do it, but it’s not what I do.
What festivals did you enjoy last year?
Well, BLOC was amazing and so was Sonar. Sonar was super fun. Rus just played and I took all the drink tokens and hung out with our friends!
Did you check out that Brainfeeder party?
Oh, yeah. It fed my brain.
The drinks were pretty insane at that one.
Yeah, I couldn’t even buy those drinks. They were €10 each! I actually snuck in some Buckie.
What’s the deal with Buckfast? You seem to really like it.
I got quite into it. It’s a nice, sort of funny drink, but I think it’s a bit wrong. It’s basically a fortified wine made by monks and it’s full of caffeine and quite high in alcohol. And it’s called ‘tonic wine’ so it’s meant to have healing properties. You’re supposed to have a little shot of it to help the health, but up in Scotland they just drink it straight out the bottle. It’s quite aggro, but really tasty.
Are you all booked up for the next few months?
I’ve got quite a few shows for the summer: Denmark, Czech Republic, Serbia, et cetera. I’m really excited for Serbia. Rus and I might be playing on the same stage and I speak Serbian so I can suck up to the crowd with my knowledge.
Have you gone to Slovenia as 8Bitch?
No, because it would go down really badly. I don’t think anyone back home knows what I do. I used to DJ there under another name because it was different music [techno]. DJ Electra. It was terrible, but I was really young. I guess I was never that good with names. (Pauses) No, 8Bitch is a cool name – it’s just that radio thing. But there’s a band called Selfish Cunt, so I wonder how that goes down. Slovenia has a very different scene. It’s still very much into hard techno and drum and bass. Even like cheesy dubstep is just coming back.
What have you got coming out?
Svetlana Industries, a label from Serbia, is putting out a record for me, which will most likely be an EP but we’re not 100 percent yet. The tracks on there will be “Bit Pony”, “You Are My High”, “Heart Bit” and I think “Jeff the Dolphin”. These are all quite silly names but I think losing oneself in the concept of the name distracts from the music a bit. I’m doing an EP for Seed Recordings, but I can’t give you any track names yet. That’s going to be a bit different as I’m putting a few experimental tunes on there. Then I have a single on Slit Jockey, which is Starkey’s label and I’m super excited about it. Also Rustie’s remix will be on the other side, so that’s really special to me. It’s called “G41”, which is the postcode in Glasgow where we used to live.
Does your relationship influence your music?
Yeah, definitely. Any kind of emotional thing that happens in my life, whether it’s when I’m really down or really happy, always affects the kind of music I make or how creative I am. I’ve just been really happy for the last year and I think that really shows in the kind of music I’m making. It’s got more positive energy in it.
Were you really a stunt double for Penelope Cruz?
I worked on three films with her as her body double. So I did kind of… (pauses) bum shots and stuff. Oh, that sounds really wrong! One was interesting because it was supposed to be a fantasy scene for Martin Freeman [from UK The Office] and he was seeing three Penelopes, and so she and I were in the shot at the same time wearing the same clothes and I had a wig on. That’s my claim to fame – for now!
