- The Berghain resident talks about re-queering the goth scene, exploring a lighter side of his sound and preparing for marathon closing sets.
- Hayden Payne, AKA Phase Fatale, grew up fully immersed in the world of music: his dad is a recording engineer and musician, as are many members of his family. After joining post-punk outfits like Dream Affair and consuming a diet of new wave and synth from parties thrown by Wierd Records in New York, he eventually relocated to Berlin, where he saw possibilities emerge around ways of fusing guitar music with sounds for the dance floor. It was only shortly after moving that he landed a residency at Berghain and began releasing music as a techno artist, becoming known for darker-edged sets and productions that fuse industrial, EBM and techno.
In this episode of the RA Exchange, Payne talks to senior producer Chloe Lula about all of this and more, including "re-queering" the goth scene; exploring a lighter side of his sound with his Italo duo, Soft Crash; his label, BITE Records; and sustaining strong ties to dance floors in Kyiv and Tbilisi, two cities that he reflects as being refreshingly socially and politically motivated for queer artists living in the margins. Soft Crash's new EP, NRG, is out now. Listen to the episode in full.