In collaboration with Fatboy Slim and the Wudjuk Noongar, I was asked to help build a soundtrack to launch an incredibly ambitious creative vision by Arcadia at Glastonbury – the Dragonfly.
Taking care of all original composition, sound design, remixing, music editing, mixing and final show mastering was probably the biggest creative challenge I have worked on to date. The show was performed at the end of a 1.5 hour opening DJ set by Fatboy Slim, to 60k people, and each night there after.

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Project Overview

Built from an ex-military Royal Navy helicopter, transforming a ‘weapon of destruction’ into ‘a unifying symbol’, the Dragonfly embodied the spirit of Arcadia’s roots. Equiped with ground breaking technology, it metamorphosied into a moving work of art throughout the festival, with many saying it was unike anything they had seen before.

It was an honour to work with the Wudjuk Noongar again following the Yallor Keeninyara collaboration, and to then also combine it with Fatboy Slim’s legendary ‘Right Here, Right Now’ (a track that has inspired me for years) and also have the opportunity to remix that for the show, to be played at the end of Fatboy Slim’s set, together with all the sound design elements – it really was a creative dream.

There were many creative challenges in this project, including:

Building music around the ancient Wudjuk song 'Warralo' working with just the acappela recording
Developing sound design and music to help lead VFX team in building a visual metamorphosis of the stage
Find a musical way to transition seemlessly between Warralo and Fatboy Slims 'Right Here, Right Now', when both tracks were in very different keys and time signatures
Rework 'Right Here, Right Now' using Fatboy Slim's original and the Camelphat remix stems to create a one-off show remix of Right Here RIght Now, incorporting elements of the ancient Warralo song, dragonfly wing sfx, hellicopter sfx, additional bass lines, percussion and sound design.
Mix and master the entire 10 minute show specifically for the Arcadia arena's sound system and stage setup.

As featured in:

My roles –

  • Musical director – overseeing all musical aspects, working with creative and technical directors, show producers, and management of Fatboy Slim and the Wudjuk Noongar tribe from Aboriginal Australia.
  • Music composer: created an exciting and engaging score that aligned with the narrative concept, drawing the audience in and keeping their attention over 10 minutes of show time following Fatboy Slims 1.5 hr DJ set, elevating the energy from start to finish and ending on a finale that included remixing ‘Right Here Right Now’
  • Sound designer – created bespoke sounds to represent many of the natural and otherworldly visual aspects in the show, from Dragonfly Metamorphosis to laser wings.
  • Music producer – built the full music track with the intention of it being the centre piece and finale for a festival crowd – using many modern production techniques to achieve a forward thinking, current sound that needed approval of Fatboy Slim and Arcadia.
  • Mix engineer – mix the full composition to be performed on an open air stage to crowds of over 60k people.

Working alongside and collaborating with:

  • Fatboy Slim
  • The Wudjuk Noongar tribe – transforming their traditional song into a modern electronic piece, gaining their respect and trust to do so
  • Creative & technical directors
  • Lighting designer
  • Lighting engineers
  • Projection mapping team
  • Laser team