Dance Until You Die with Fungus Funk at Shiva Moon

Fungus Funk will Headline Shiva Moon Tonight for the 'World DJ's Day' Event, we got him into Phanganist HQ to have a quick chat...

Hello! So what brings you to Koh Phangan Mr Funk?
I was here 3 times before since 2010, I have been visiting Goa in India since 2003 for mostly every season and it was beginning to get a bit commercial. My friends told me it may be better to start to go somewhere else, to find new emotions, new feelings and white beaches, they asked me to come to Koh Phangan and told me there were also parties here.

I really was happy to see something different and was excited to come here. First I stayed just 2 weeks as I had too many gigs elsewhere, it was not long enough of course but me and my family enjoyed it a lot and there were a few parties so I was very delighted.

It was new and different as I had never experienced having a party on a white sandy beach.

How did you begin your music career?
In 1998, I was involved in a party organisation and at that time I was in love with Hardcore and Gabba, I was 19 years old. My friends wanted to make a party to introduce different music styles to the Russian public, they asked me to do the first DJj set so I did one hour of Gabba. There were some Jungle djs, Goa Trance djs, Techno djs, about five or six different styles. When I entered the club I was shocked at the one track that was playing, I asked ‘what is this?’ and they said that it was Psychedelic Goa Trance and so

I fell in love with this music. I even tried to make something on my computer to create the sounds, it was not good but after 3 years I released my first track on a Greek label ‘Acidance Records’ which was the best for that time.

Since then I was asked to release some more tracks on different record labels and to play gigs. I then started to travel a lot and play a lot in many countries and now every weekend I play somewhere outside of my home country of Russia and now I’m here again and very happy to play as I have not played here before.

What’s the difference between the Goa scene and here?
That’s an interesting question because the scene is totally different. Goa is a place where we have a specific music style and most people are waiting for psychedelic music only so of course you see more Trance parties but I can’t say it’s better or worse as it is totally different feelings.

If you want to enjoy sun a lot and see white beaches and clean country then here is good for many reasons. Every one chooses his own and I like both, I was just in Goa and played 9 parties in 2 weeks in India which was a nice experience but I hope it will be really nice here too, I’m pretty sure it will be.

What kind of Trance do you play?
It's a kind of more night time psy Trance with mainstream, styles like Bom Shanka Records, Looney Moon Records, Sangoma Records, if you know these then you know my style but it’s
better to hear it of course and come to Shiva Moon!

What do you hope to do for Shiva Moon as a DJ?
I will try to bring some kind of good energy, some Goa vibes, something special and a psychedelic experience.

What dancefloor do you like to create?
Be peaceful, calm, shanti and more open in relations and of course dance, dance, dance like nobody's watching.

What do you enjoy in your free time on Koh Phangan?
Enjoying the island with my kids and family, white beaches of course, sun and fresh juice, I don’t know how to explain it I just love it!

There are many friends here each season and one of the most important things is that I have 2 kids that come here and they really love it, my son remembers the smell, it’s such a nice thing and he is happy to be here. He is like me and understands these kinds of feelings, it is just magical.

And leave us with your music philosophy…
The mission is to blast the dance floor, to make them dance till they die!