G-FORCE 003: Surusinghe (Monaco)
Hello! Welcome back to G-FORCE as we head into the third edition for the iconic Monaco Grand Prix. With the season starting very dramatically off track, it’s nice to finally see things heating up on track. We’re finally being treated to some spicy race day action. Lando Norris has won his first ever F1 race in Miami (not sure how he pulled that one out the bag with a broken nose from Kingsday celebrations earlier in the week - god bless the powers that be Martin Garrix), Charles Leclerc is back on the podium again, Max Verstappen has beef with cones, Leo Leclerc has quite rightly entered the chat, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton’s rivalry continues, Valtteri Bottas is becoming a firm favourite character off the track and in all honesty, we’re just holding out for Daniel Ricciardo to score some points. Oh and the question on everyone's on the lips... where will Newey go?
We’re so excited to have Australian-born, London-based DJ and producer Surusinghe on the series — a well-known Lando girlie but this could all change in the blink of an eye as mentioned in the accompanying interview, performances matters! Channeling the rollercoaster energy of race day, things kick off in breathtaking style before settling into the track with anticipation of a safety car moment.
Taking on the most famous race in the F1 calendar, Monaco has been in the schedule since the first modern F1 world championship in 1950 - one of seven venues. However, the first edition was in 1929 as an invitation-only race with 16 cars participating - only 3 were able to complete the scheduled 100 laps. A very challenging street race which doesn’t leave much room for overtaking, Ayrton Senna has the most pole positions and wins for this race. It’s history is filled with so much drama and iconic moments, one shown on our socials this week with Kimi going from DNF to getting incredibly lit yacht style. When in Monaco, right.
Introduce yourself?
Hello I'm Suze (otherwise known as Surusinghe) and I'm a Naarm/Melbourne born artist who is now living in London. I'd like to think of myself as a pretty big F1 stan. I am not ashamed (but also pretty damn ashamed) to admit that I did get obsessed due to 'Drive to Survive' *sigh* but I swear!! my obsession runs much deeper than the show and I hardly ever miss a race.
Who’s your favourite driver?
This is a tricky question. I love drivers for different reasons and I really do change often due to performance. I'm really not that loyal when it comes to drivers. I think I must believe I'm like a principle where I only care about performance hahahah
But if i had to choose, I've been consistently in love with Lando for the longest.
Firstly because I used to have a cringey as crush on him (which is quite jokes when you realise how young he is) but also secondly because you always knew he was an exceptional driver who always performed really well but was just being held back by his car.
What’s your favourite race? And if you had to pick a track to sum up that race what would it be?
Monaco (in the rain) is definitely the one for me. It's funny how a lot of the time not a lot happens in Monaco because it's so hard to overtake.. but the drrrraaaaama when it does, wow - it's unmatched!
You also just can't beat a street race. The aesthetic of it all is so hot.
I'm not sure if this is specific to Monaco but the second Chanel asked me to be apart of this series, I instantly thought I had to include Rhyw's 'Engine Track'. This track is seriously like an F1 race in itself. The way it builds and holds momentum (and of course how the sounds actually sound like driving ha) it's just one of my favourites that is so freaking well done.
What is it that draws you to Formula 1? Do you find yourself drawing influence from the sport?
Haha it's funny - I was reading (the amazing!!) Club Fitness' response to this question and she spoke about how she loves the science behind the cars and don't get me wrong -- there was a phase about 2 years ago when I was listening to three F1 podcasts a week trying to learn as much as I could aerodynamics haha but honestly.. it's the drama for me (:
As off brand as it feels for me due to my lack of interest in most other sports, basically all of my at home watching on weekends is sports documentaries and films. I find the dynamics behind things like teams and their coaches, branding and financing and how rules are applied just so interesting.
And my god, does F1 has some ridiculous rules lol. And it's getting worse by the year because they know the more dangerous the sport is, the higher viewership is! Which I also find hilarious because it really feels like the wild, wild, west some times. Like I honestly spend 80% of a race just praying for a safety car to come and cause some trouble just for the chaos haha.
What are some of your favourite memories watching Formula 1?
Hmm, last year I played in Montreal and after the set I was sitting in the greenroom with about 50 strangers who were all really on one. I remember feeling quite lonely and was sitting in this corner refreshing the F1 app to check the scores as there was a race on at the time and this guy came up to me and was like "you like F1?", hands me phone and I saw he was watching the actual stream of the race. I was instantly 1 billion times happier and me and this random guy just spent the next hour chatting so much F1 garbage and watching the race together hahah
It was just nice how you can be on the other side of the world in a room filled with complete strangers and this one sport allowed us to have such so much to talk about and an instant connection.
Every driver has their own pre-race rituals from Max Verstappen playing FIFA on the morning of race day to Michael Schumacher peeing his race suit before the race started. When you are about to head to a gig or to the studio, what helps you get in the headspace for the environment you are about to enter?
I always get quite nervous before shows so if I can avoid being super social, I'll try to. In terms of pre-show rituals, I love to moisturise my hands haha. I think it's more of a nervous tick than anything, but I'll always really notice if my hands feel dry when I'm playing if I don't do it... idk why I am the way that I am haha
During intense touring periods or dealing with creative blocks, what is your favourite way to disconnect?
My best mates are usually my favourite way of disconnecting. My friends bring me the most joy and getting quality time in with them usually makes me feel like a new person.
Otherwise, I play a lot of Tetris haha. Sometimes when I'm having a creative block or i've just had an insanely long day, i'll get in to bed, order an Indian Deliveroo and play like 3 hours of Tetris. For some reason this really calms me.
Do you usually have a go-to solution for when you’re feeling creatively tired?
I wish! The only thing so-far that has helped me is therapy hahah
I feel like the answer is probably just going to be experience and repetition. Hopefully I'll get better with it as I age!
What was your approach to creating this mix? Any anecdotes related to the soundbites used within it?
So in terms of structure of this mix, I *attempted* to follow a similar structure as an F1 race would.
The beginning was super dramatic and intense (just like lights out and turn one) and then it calms down and it's all about the build. As the mix continues, I tried to use a lot of tracks that had industrial sounds that reminded me of machinery or songs that feel like pressure is building. The end of the mix is similar to the final sprint where you're not worried about petrol or car durability and I just go in and hard hah
What are you most looking forward to for rest of the 2024 season?
Hmm, now that Lando's finally got his win I would really just LOVE to see Alonso get another win. Our man deserves it. It's been so long and he's tryin so hard :')