Stepan Mélla played as DJ more than 17 years. Before becoming a DJ, Stepan Mélla was part of the rave community, whom he met through forums and together they gathered for unofficial techno, drum and bass and trance parties in the early 2000s. Everyone loved to dance and especially hardcore techno, rave events. Around 2005, not at raves but at more intimate parties, synth-pop-punk prevailed, something like Meet Sue Be She by Miss Kitten, there was no counter-genre, after this track anything could start playing, but the point was to choose something cool. Before becoming a DJ, Stepan Mélla traveled a long way through the history of electronic music, listening to tons of albums and mixes of interesting DJs. Stepan Mélla worked in music stores as a sales consultant and then for a long time in a multimedia warehouse. "As a child I listened to hip-hop, and somehow after the DJ Spinbad - Fabric Live 14 2004 mix I became interested in podcasts from this series and more of other electronic music". "We went to different evenings, it was experimental Swedish techno (IDM) in a Russian drama theater, just imagine that." The first idols are literally the entire Detroit community, techno, deep house, electro, etc. «‎Detroit loves you Stepan Mélla»‎ © Pirahnahead Dâm-Funk, Theo Parrish, Rich Medina became interesting selectors for him, and the love for soul and hip-hop music grew even more. It started to look more like section of disco folder or synth-funk. "when we were kids we chose hip-hop because we felt that it was the music of the struggle, the fight against poverty, we were the resistance, we felt that this music was helping us" The first parties were held exclusively on vinyl records. A small company gathered in an underground punk rock club and played soul, house, and ghetto techno there. A long time passed in a circle of small original parties and at one point the famous painter Arsen Chelidze invited Stepan Mélla to do something in his new fashionable bar, where he began to play very often. The city's funniest personalities literally gathered in this bar. Some people who went to this bar today are filming videos for Rosalía, Lenny Kravitz, Doja Cat etc. Ukrainian clothing designers, and others. In this bar, he was noticed by the art director of a huge nightclub club and he took him as a resident in 2010 here. "Autobiography of Laurent Garnier, "Électrochoc", The History Of The Disc Jockey by Bill Brewster, The Legend of Kaspar Hauser by Davide Manuli, Wholetrain by Florian Gaag, all this was absorbed with a variety of music, completely diverse. Something between Red Tape by Brooks and Ray of Light by Madonna. Of course, we listened to MTV like everyone else, Prodigy, and Eurodance, but we were something more advanced with all this underground techno that had nowhere to go." After moving to the capital of Ukraine Kyiv in 2014, Stepan Mélla became a resident of a popular jazz bar, whose guests were the lead singer of the group Okean Elzy and the like. Where he played mostly more soul music than techno. "I was rather given the image of some intelligent DJ who plays something diverse, but nevertheless I really loved and still love techno and electronic music in particular." Stepan Mélla does not have a music agency and negotiates his own performances. He can always introduce the audience to something new. His set can intertwine with liquid deep Detroit acid techno into something strong and very flexible. Everyone listened to jungle, breakbeat and electro in childhood, it was our music. And now it’s something more, it’s a hyper-mixture of genres, as if the artists are like newfangled designers. Stepan Mélla has always stayed closer to the underground party than to the stereotyped market music, he is more interested in small parties with a crowd that wants to have fun, since in his huge collection of music there is always something soulful even for the most ardent raver`s, since he has been too since childhood loved going to parties like this Now Stepan Mélla lives in Paris, and has already managed to play for one of the most fashionable underground places which is famous for its exotic approach to techno as La Station — Gare des mines. Stepan Mélla loves to play literally everywhere, for him it’s not just work, it’s entertainment, it’s interest, it’s passion, any non-standard places, all this is also considered. "I love every places, but between the name and the place, I rather choose the people. if people come to my dark basement, we can have a blast there too." Stepan Mélla is a very active, positive and open person. Despite his small presence on the electronic scene, many advanced artists know about him, as he often popularizes music and puts it in the forefront, in front of himself. But probably in days when there are too many DJs, you shouldn’t count on going a long way playing and producing music so that someone important will notice you and take you. It’s worth somehow promoting yourself and taking into account new realities. Maybe a small proper new party with good people could be what we need. Small opportunities for artists are very important these days. If they want to lead us, they won't do us any good. There should always be underground resistance for people. Really fun. People who love to dance, love music.