FreQ Nasty’s encyclopediac knowledge of all things dub-wise and bass heavy have made him a fixture on the global festival scene for the last decade and a half.

But in 2013, it’s the NZ-raised, US-based producer and DJ’s spiritual studies that truly excite him. “I'm reading a lot about the intersection between neuroscience and meditation,” he explains. “There are so many cutting edge areas of science that are starting to ratify the texts of Yoga and Buddhism, right down to the granular level of how the mind works and the ultimate nature of reality. I spend my time bouncing between the studio chair, meditation cushion and then push out to aeroplane, train and car seats now and again, too.  

“Making music and practising meditation are similar in that you can get some real benefits from them by doing a little bit when you can, but you have to be kind of obsessed by them to make any real progress. I'm no great master of either but I love the flow of both.”

Having developed a wealth of knowledge on the topic, FreQ Nasty now shares his meditative experiences through a series of talks with teacher Claire Thompson called ‘The Yoga Of Bass’.

“We talk about the parallels between the peak experiences that people have with music on the dance floor, and the ecstatic experiences of the meditative tradition of Yoga. People who experience these peak states in both situations come back talking about feeling fundamental oneness with everyone and everything around them, a sense of timelessness, and of being incredibly blissed out at the same time. In fact sometimes the descriptions seem almost interchangeable, so we talk about why both music and meditation can bring you to the same place, and how to have those peak experiences off the dance floor in the rest of our lives.

“The people who are interested are not really of any one kind — but mostly they LOVE music and are looking to find out why music does what it does to them, or they have some sort of spiritual practice themselves and are passionate about music and want to see how music can be brought into their spiritual practice. It also really speaks to those who have taken enough drugs to realise that there needs to be other ways of finding those highs.”

FreQ Nasty will play Rainbow Serpent Festival (and conduct 'Yoga of Bass' workshops) In Lexton, Victoria from January 24-27.