On a sleepy and snowy Thursday afternoon, powerful synth chords and upbeat drums emanate out of the pantry of Ethan Vastola’s family home, which has been repurposed into a makeshift studio. He’s seated behind a desk squeezed between two professional speakers. He has a session pulled up on his laptop, with a synthesizer and keyboard surrounding him.
After experimenting with more sounds, Vastola then pulls up a different audio session of a song that he hopes will be part of his first production venture, alongside his producing partner and childhood friend, Dominique Smith, who is seated behind the keyboard. After reaching a good stopping point, the two trade seats so that Smith can take over from there.
Smith and Vastola originally met in Blatchley Middle School’s music program nearly two decades ago, lingering in the practice rooms alongside a mutual friend to jam out together. As they got older, the two ended up going in different directions, with Smith moving to Anchorage for work in 2019, and Vastola attending college in Bellingham, Washington, where he befriended people in the local electronic music scene. The two then returned to Sitka in 2021 and 2022 respectively, both taking jobs at SEARHC. While their passion for music has persisted throughout their lives, it wasn’t until Vastola had a near-death experience that he was inspired to pursue music full-time.
“I was hit by a drunk driver here in town,” said Vastola. “I just think that that was kind of the main thing that pushed me to kind of realize I was not doing all the things I need to do to feel fulfilled in life… I took a trip, went and saw family and friends, spent some time in studios in LA and New York and in Seattle. And it just kind of solidified for me that this is what I want to do. So we’ll make it happen by any means.”
With Smith’s encouragement, the two quit their jobs to pursue music production full time, culminating in Sitka’s first large-scale rave this past August, and another event on Halloween. Smith said they’ve been overwhelmed with the love and support they’ve gotten across Sitka in bringing the rave to life, from partnering with local organizations like Sitka Fine Arts Camp (which helped spark Vastola’s interest in electronic music in the first place,) and Mean Queen to assist in securing a venue and drinks, to the over 400 people who attended their first event.
“A lot of people that I still come up with or come across [say] ‘I went to your last show!’ ‘I didn’t make it to the show before that,’ or ‘When’s your next one?,'” said Smith. “That’s also been a big question, but it’s just been a lot of good support from the community at large. And that’s been the nice thing about Sitka, they’re always very supportive of anything and everything pertaining to the arts.”
That’s not to say that there haven’t been challenges in bringing a rave scene to Sitka. Vastola said the delayed arrival of a haze machine — essentially a more subtle version of a fog machine — has made him unable to put his large containers of haze fluid to good use, so they’re currently shoved between his desk and the wall. And the challenges of bringing DJ and rave decorations like laser lights to a rural Alaskan town is something that Smith seconded.
“This has been the biggest obstacle, especially this time of year, given the constant weather changes and delaying with so much stuff,” said Smith. “Even during the summertime, when we were getting set for our flagship show, we had to deal with the challenges of getting some of our supplies and our other equipment here on time.”
Despite these challenges, both Smith and Vastola agree that the joy of bringing an electronic music performance space to Sitka is deeply rewarding to them.
To further provide more creative opportunities for youth in Sitka, Vastola has begun offering DJing and music production classes at his home to students of all ages.
“My seven year old student that I work with, he navigates this equipment like he’s been using it his entire life,” said Vastola. “Just seeing [his] eyes light up, and having him just have ideas, and playing things on the keyboard, recording it down, every moment like that for me is definitely very, very cool to witness.”
Smith agrees with how valuable it is to have access to in-person training to work with industry-standard DJand music production equipment.
“We taught ourselves, but I think having somebody at the helm who is a lot more experienced would definitely have benefited both of us,” said Smith.
In response to their most highly asked question, “What’s next?,” Smith and Vastola will be DJing SEARHC’s holiday party, a full circle moment for them to return to their former workplace while pursuing their passion. Vastola also plans to continue offering his lessons, and the two are currently working on planning next year’s events and launching their music production venture. As they head into the new year with high ambitions, Smith and Vastola plan to keep the decks spinning in Sitka for a long time.
