Snowbirds Octo Octa and Eris Drew Flock to Miami for All Things Vinyl and Love

Any back-to-back set featuring DJs with opposing styles could quickly go south. Add to the delicate dance that your partner is your significant other, and you are flirting with disaster.

Miraculously, for Octo Octa and Eris Drew, the harmony that the two share sonically, spiritually, and emotionally seeps onto the dance floor.

The style is far from dissonance — it's unfettered adoration. In December, their abridged set at Rakastella left the crowd hungry for more. Now, the pair returns to perform at Where Are My Keys? at the 94th Aero Squadron on February 20.

New Hampshire-bred DJ Octo Octa (AKA Maya Bouldry-Morrison) has created some of the most enthralling, euphoria-dripping music of the past few years. Her sound is in the key of a snowed-in teenager discovering music on the internet for the first time. The rollicking beats bounce and slither into house and breaks with a blanketed deep tempo.

Conversely, Eris Drew drapes dance floors with a Chicago footprint that only a native could mimic. The centralized percussions run frantically amid well-oiled synths and captivating samples.

When combined, the two buttress their already expansive skills with a heart-melting passion for music and one another.

"I think my whole life has been a tug and pull between me being very rational and in control of things and needing to embrace the moment and the irrational," Drew tells New Times while driving back to New Hampshire from Boston with Bouldry-Morrison. "What's great about DJ'ing is that this control has to go out the door. There's a lot of preparation when you play on your own, but when you're playing with someone else, there is a lot of in-the-moment stuff happening — I found myself embracing that part of our B2B when I got together with Maya. I think I was deeply, spiritually looking for someone to help me with that."

The two met in the Chicago club scene, sharing their knowledge of electronic music and the ostracization of being trans women. Considering the abysmal loneliness of touring, it makes sense they'd want to share the experience of life on the road together.

"I was experiencing all things, but I was alone, and I had to think about this life," Bouldry-Morrison says.

"Being alone is hard, so being able to do this together gives us space to be with each other," Drew adds. "It's weird when you're on the road by yourself constantly; you want to share these experiences with someone."

They usually play three records each before handing the decks to the other — giving time to build up some space and pick up the tempo or change the sound.
"We will be bringing our high-energy sound and the best of house and breaks over the last 30 years," Bouldry-Morrison promises for the Where Are My Keys? date. "We play all records."

Living in a cozy cabin in New Hampshire since the pandemic, Bouldry-Morrison and Drew hunkered down and built two bonafide studios while enjoying the Thoreauvian lifestyle.

"When I lived in Chicago, it was always a dream of mine to live in nature," Drew says. "New Hampshire is really about living off the grid. It's a good contrast to being in the clubs every weekend."

Bouldry-Morrison's youth in New Hampshire was without clubs but no less pivotal to her artistic progression. She discovered Bass Drive, an internet drum-'n'-bass radio station she listened to religiously during her teenage to early adulthood years before moving to New York.

"There was a lot of cross-pollination between experimental and noise music," Bouldry-Morrison says. "But there are weird teenagers all over — now I have this beautiful girl, Eris, alongside me. I took her to the woods."

In June of 2021, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Fairness in Women's Sports Act into law, thereby banning transgender youth from participating in public school sports based on gender identity. But despite the unwelcoming aspect of life in Florida, for Bouldry-Morrison and Drew, putting the state on their itinerary means representing the community.

"Often, the places we are invited have anti-trans legislation on the books or anti-queer law. Even if there are no legal issues, the dominant cultures in these places view trans people negatively, but the underground is potentially an alternative space," Drew says. "So, for us, when we go to a place, we have to access this duality. As long as we go in with partners who respect us, we're going in there not as objects but artists, and we feel that there is a community there that we represent — then we want to go."

"We're always willing to play as long as the people bringing us there have the right intentions because we want to be there and be visible," Bouldry-Morrison adds.

Considering Miami's expansive legacy in electro, IDM, and the occult, the balance is usually tipped in favor of the queer scene and blending the dance floor.

"We really like Miami music. One of the DJs that have influenced me more globally is Miami's Mystic Bill. It's a special place," Drew says.

The cabin has proved wonders, and both are excited for 2022 and the forthcoming tour and upcoming projects on their label T4T LUV NRG."

"T4T LUV NRG is going to have a bunch of artists off the label that are not just us," Drew says. "We had our first release last year with Bored Lord. We want to continue to support artists like us. I'm also going to be doing my first live sets from my latest album, and we want to support the rave scene. There's a lot of energy right now; there are all these smaller cities with young people who want to push the scene, but sound systems can be challenging."

The two will be hosting ad-hoc parties highlighting emerging talent later this year.

"We're buying a sound system so we can start throwing our own parties in our own spaces," says Bouldry-Morrison, who's also excited for her next project. "It's taken me nearly two years to finish this upcoming EP. We should both have a new set of mixtapes, Raving Disco Tapes Breaks Vol.2, on the label, too."

Five years of being together may not seem like much in the grand scheme, but the half a decade has undoubtedly been most fulfilling.

"For me, the five years have shown the importance of our partnership," Bouldry-Morrison says. "And the joy I have finding my partner in music and life and also my love."

Where Are My Keys? With Eris Drew and Octo Octa, Billy Nightmare, Brad Strickland, Hiltronix, Puma, Terence Tabeau, and Will Renuart. 4 p.m. Sunday, February 20, at 94th Aero Squadron Restaurant, 1395 NW 57th Ave., Miami; 305-261-4220; facebook.com/wrmkmiami. Tickets cost $22 to $50 via ra.co.