Profile — Maddy O’Neal Talks Embracing Potential and the Importance of Community Ahead of Red Rocks Show on August 30 (Exclusive Interview)

Denver-based DJ and producer Maddy O’Neal is a beacon of sorts, a light both familiar and distant that shines gloriously in the night sky, warmly inviting you to follow it to safety. Her music—sometimes funky and heartfelt, sometimes dirty and all-encompassing—feels like lacing your fingers with a new friend and running through the city streets, laughing and letting loose as you’re led deeper into the unknown. In this sense, O’Neal and her creations symbolize a clear sense of courage, a willingness to trust the light in your chest and bring it to the surface so that you can brave the darkness in which you are lost. For these reasons and many more, O’Neal has become one of Denver’s most beloved and sought-after EDM artists, and her star continues to rise. She’ll prove it again on Friday, August 30th, when she opens for REZZ at Red Rocks, one of the biggest shows of the season.

303 Magazine I recently sat down with O’Neal to talk about the show, her early interest in music, embracing potential, the importance of community and much more.and

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Born and raised in St. Louis, O’Neal grew up in a home full of music. She described her father as a “very psychedelic rock guy in the ’70s” who “was in bands before (she) was born,” and traveled the country in a “hollowed-out Wonderbread bus” that he used as a tour bus. As a result, O’Neal believes she and her brother grew up with “music in (their) blood.” They had a communal “music den” in the house where she grew up, a room filled with “drums and a lot of other crazy instruments” where the family’s record player was also located, on which her father played old blues and Grateful Dead records. O’Neal and her family would gather in this room for “family music time,” which she says is one of her fondest childhood memories. These experiences eventually inspired her brother to “start a bunch of indie bands in St. Louis.”

Despite her upbringing and her brother’s and father’s dedication to pursuing music professionally, O’Neal always thought a music career was “their thing” and that by the time she moved to Boulder in 2008 to attend the University of Colorado, it was “too late” for her to pursue music on her own. However, she started noticing the EDM scene that was emerging in Boulder at the time and became curious, describing it as a feeling of being “opened up wide.” Realising she didn’t need to “have a classical guitar education to be a producer”, she eventually taught herself how to sample vinyl and make beats before “diving in” and deciding to “find her niche”.

O’Neal elaborated on this feeling of “diving in,” saying that she initially started producing for fun in her sophomore year, but eventually “got the hang of it” and “immersed myself in the scene,” making the right connections and “learning how the industry worked.” As she delved deeper, she began to see a future for herself in music and joined a now-defunct group called Krooked Drivers. After playing music with them for about four years and “touring lightly around Colorado,” O’Neal decided to pursue her solo career and released her first project, Penetrate2016. She said that around this time she thought to herself, ‘I’m going to pursue this because I’ve put so much time into it and if I’m going to start over with a solo project, I’m going to give it my all.’

O’Neal learned some valuable lessons during this time that she thinks can help other young artists just starting out, the biggest of which is finding a community. She said, “I think a big part of my early days was finding and immersing myself in the community. A lot of what helped me was meeting other artists and sharing the experience with them. I met Late Night Radio and Artifacts and Daily Bread. I think it was really important to be able to talk to them and share things that we learned and tips and tricks about the industry. It can be isolating just sitting in your house and trying to learn crazy stuff. I think it’s important to have people to talk to and make it more of a community aspect..“

In the eight years since the release of penetrate, O’Neal’s sound is quite expansive, which she attributes to experience combined with her deepening interest in artistic evolution. She said, “I started sampling vinyl and going super old school, going to record stores, buying samples and making beats. Then I taught myself a little bit of music theory and started using synthesizers. The next step was really diving into sound design and figuring out how to get that big sound that I wanted. The further I got into DJing, the more it helped me as a producer, because it made me think about how I was producing and how that translated live. I think a lot of those steps helped me level up. The last two years I’ve definitely focused on sound design and getting that big sound out of my production.”

One full album (RicochetReleased in 2022) and many singles and remixes later, O’Neal now approaches each of her projects with her eyes wide open and can adjust her approach based on the context of what she’s working on. She spoke about the differences between writing full-length albums and writing singles, saying: “The cool thing about writing albums is that I feel like I have more freedom to branch out and write chiller material. I definitely lean into the feeling of what I’m writing, rather than, if I’m writing a single and I’m imagining myself playing it at a festival, I’m like, ‘I need this to be right,’ more than I want to make someone cry. So it depends on the context.” Regardless of the project, O’Neal wants everything she creates “to feel intelligent and make people feel something.”

As O’Neal grew and evolved as an artist, she saw the broader EDM scene as a whole change, and she attributed much of this change to the increased reliance on social media that has taken place over the past 10 or 15 years. She said: “I think the industry as a whole has evolved a lot because of social media and how we have to market ourselves. People are popping up out of nowhere on a viral video or TikTok or this or that, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s more accessible to everyone, which is great, and it’s a lot easier to discover.”

Although O’Neal described her career as a “slower climb,” she said she felt like she was “only now getting her time” and that she deserved it. Since she began her solo career, O’Neal has toured nearly full-time, saying she now plays about 70 shows a year. As a result, she’s become one of the most visible rising stars in the national EDM community.. She has played some of the biggest festivals in the country including Coachella, Lollapalooza, Summer Camp, Electric Forest, Envision and many, many more. She has been supported by titans of the genre such as Pretty Lights and has collaborated with a plethora of artists including CloZee, jackLNDN, Big Gigantic and many more. “Now I just pick my moments,” she said. “I’m mature enough and focused enough to really tackle what’s in front of me now.”

O’Neal credits much of her success to Denver itself, saying it has become the “bass capital of the country” and that as a result the city has cultivated a dedicated and loving community within its EDM scene. She said: “Denver has attracted a very specific niche of people who are all very like-minded and open-minded and looking for a more free lifestyle. It’s very laid back and the people are friendly. I think the size of Denver is a big factor too. It’s just big enough for everything to happen at once, but also to meet people and experience a certain familiarity.” She specifically mentioned Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom’s weekly SHIFT Thursday events as a place to meet Denver’s thriving EDM community.

Although she says she doesn’t actively think about it, O’Neal has become a fixture in Denver’s growing scene. She’s never really been able to avoid the fact, but she’s confronted with it more often now than she used to. She said that “younger producers” now treat her with a little more deference than she used to, which speaks to both her humility and how much of an indelible example she’s been with her career. O’Neal has proven that someone can be self-taught and drag themselves through a notoriously brutal industry and come out the other side shining bright.

EDM was once, and in some ways still is, a real boys’ club. “When I started, there were maybe six female producers/DJs that I knew,” O’Neal said. “And I couldn’t be friends with them. It was much less accessible.” That’s not the case anymore, largely because of the success of artists like O’Neal and other female contemporaries. She said: “I think the coolest thing about what I’ve done is that I feel like I’ve played a part in paving the way for other women. That makes me feel great that I’m connected to a bigger movement than just myself.”

Now, O’Neal is on the cusp of what she’s described as her “biggest show ever.” This Friday, August 30, she’ll open for REZZ at Red Rocks. With an all-female lineup, the fourth annual “REZZ Rocks,” as it’s colloquially known, is one of the biggest events of the summer, and this year looks set to be no different.

This show has been in the making for a while, as O’Neal has been trying out ideas for her set at festivals throughout the summer and refining everything until it’s as close to perfection as possible. Red Rocks means a lot to her. She described it as “the final boss” for so many artists, especially those from the area. She said: “Every time I’ve played there, I’ve cried tears of joy when I walk off the stage. It’s a pretty wild feeling. My mom lives here now and I credit Denver and this community for a lot of my success. So when I play there, it feels even cooler knowing that the people watching me have been a huge part of my journey.”

In addition to the Red Rocks show, O’Neal has so much more in store. She’ll be releasing a new collaboration with Jason Leech and legendary DJ Paul of Three Six Mafia, “Run It Back,” on September 4th. She’s also finishing up her upcoming album, which is yet to be titled and is set for release sometime in October. In addition to all the new music, she’ll continue to perform at shows and festivals both locally and nationally through the end of the year.

Maddy O’Neal is a testament to what can happen when a creative person trusts that they can unleash all of their potential. There is light within all of us, fire that burns so hot it could scorch the world if we let it. O’Neal has burned her footprints into this plane of existence and shown those who listen to her music that they can forge their own path in this life if they let themselves. It’s never too late.

Buy tickets for the 4th annual REZZ Rocks here!