Biography
Hailing from Chicago, Eris Drew embraces the self-proclaimed title of High Priestess of the Motherbeat while working as a spiritually minded DJ, producer, and transgender advocate. She recognizes the communal and ritualistic dimensions of the rave experience, turning her club performances into ecstatic gatherings where uplifting track choices weave together techno, garage, trance, and electro, accented by nature recordings and other atmospheric elements. Alongside her partner Octo Octa, she established the T4T LUV NRG label, and the pair issued a Fabric Presents mix in 2020. Her solo work, featured on releases such as the 2020 EP Fluids of Emotion and the 2021 album Quivering in Time, consists of breakbeat-heavy house pieces marked by turntable scratches and euphoric synth melodies.
Perth, Australia, marks her birthplace, after which she relocated to the United States during childhood and eventually took up residence outside Chicago. Synthesizers entered her life as a preteen, and she began attending raves in the early 1990s. A spiritual awakening arrived after a 1994 rave, prompting her to pursue DJing and dance-music production as avenues for healing and personal expression. She became a fixture at Chicago’s Smartbar and, together with fellow residents Justin Long and Sevron, launched the Hugo Ball party there in 2012. Starting in 2015, she co-hosted Daphne—an annual festival and workshop series named for British musique concrète pioneer Daphne Oram—devoted to women, female-identifying, and nonbinary electronic musicians and DJs.
In 2017 she encountered fellow house DJ and producer Octo Octa, whose real name is Maya Bouldry-Morrison, and the two immediately sensed a profound bond. They soon became both romantic and musical partners; their split EP Devotion appeared on the Lisbon-based Naïve label in 2018. The pair then founded T4T LUV NRG, through which Drew issued the 2019 mixtape Raving Disco Breaks, Vol. 1. Her solo EP Fluids of Emotion followed in 2020 on the Detroit-based Interdimensional Transmissions imprint. Later that year, Drew and Bouldry-Morrison joined the BBC Radio 1 roster of resident DJs. Captured inside their remote New Hampshire cabin, the commercially released Fabric Presents Octo Octa & Eris Drew mix surfaced in November. One year afterward, Drew delivered the breakbeat house full-length Quivering in Time.
Perth, Australia, marks her birthplace, after which she relocated to the United States during childhood and eventually took up residence outside Chicago. Synthesizers entered her life as a preteen, and she began attending raves in the early 1990s. A spiritual awakening arrived after a 1994 rave, prompting her to pursue DJing and dance-music production as avenues for healing and personal expression. She became a fixture at Chicago’s Smartbar and, together with fellow residents Justin Long and Sevron, launched the Hugo Ball party there in 2012. Starting in 2015, she co-hosted Daphne—an annual festival and workshop series named for British musique concrète pioneer Daphne Oram—devoted to women, female-identifying, and nonbinary electronic musicians and DJs.
In 2017 she encountered fellow house DJ and producer Octo Octa, whose real name is Maya Bouldry-Morrison, and the two immediately sensed a profound bond. They soon became both romantic and musical partners; their split EP Devotion appeared on the Lisbon-based Naïve label in 2018. The pair then founded T4T LUV NRG, through which Drew issued the 2019 mixtape Raving Disco Breaks, Vol. 1. Her solo EP Fluids of Emotion followed in 2020 on the Detroit-based Interdimensional Transmissions imprint. Later that year, Drew and Bouldry-Morrison joined the BBC Radio 1 roster of resident DJs. Captured inside their remote New Hampshire cabin, the commercially released Fabric Presents Octo Octa & Eris Drew mix surfaced in November. One year afterward, Drew delivered the breakbeat house full-length Quivering in Time.
Albums
Singles
