Interview With Aurora Avila

by Grease Coakes

Aurora Avila has a small following for her unique DJ play list. She DJ/s 6-9 SL time Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Saturdays are special as her naked penguin Saturdays. Her song selection consists of remixes of music from various video games and Asian music. It’s an understatement to say she’s unique in SL for her music playlist.

I went to her Thursday set and thought what the heck why not interview her again? After all her and DJ sets was the first article I wrote for the SL Newser. Aurora said her first year in SL was very productive as she learned how to build with help from her friends. I asked her how long she has been djing and she answered, "Well, was around the middle of '08 that I started, so right around five years."

Five years? That’s a really long time. She’s not a one trick penguin either as Aurora is also an expert builder with the help of her friends. Like me she was a nooblet

Aurora Avila: "Well, I had people helping me out.  Not that I wasn't a flailing nooblet, but still. You don't build with SL's build menu so much as build in spite of it, finding new and exciting ways to sneak around its limitations.  Which sounds terrible, but it's actually pretty rewarding!"

Aurora creates stuff at random as she said she was working on building a spaceship. Knowing how she likes Samus Aran I asked is it a starship from Metroid? She answered bigger so I went to the extreme and asked, "Wow something like the starship Enterprise?"

Aurora Avila: "Not quite THAT big!  Something big enough to need a crew though."


Aurora also made a bald eagle avatar that was a challenge for America’s birthday the Fourth of July, "A bit!  It was mostly in the concept, though.  Once I got the parts to put together to make the avatar, the actual modifying wasn't all that bad."

Aurora does make really good things in Second Life as she’s old school when mesh is becoming the new school. I myself wear mesh sometimes, but it’s a pain when you can’t wear regular clothes.

Sylys Weezles who is a fan of DJ Aurora’s DJ sets had this to say, "She was co-creator of a club that was the second club on a single sim. They shared the sim and co-promoted each other.  So, now we have furry clubs lasting for years instead of months.  She and Ty had their own club Ari Sen, and they shared a sim with Saros and Ezrin."

I agreed with Sylys that her DJ sets are a good way to relax and blow off steam.

Aurora is a big fan of video games so I asked what video game character would you be or what video game universe would you want to be in?

Aurora Avila: "Not entirely sure...  Might have to get back to you on that.  Maybe Xenosaga..."

There are lots of bad things to worry about in real life and the daily grind. Aurora’s music DJ sets according to Sylys, "For me, her shows have helped me maintain a positive attitude during some bad times."

Aurora has been djing for 5 years and as Sylys pointed out she almost never misses a DJ set. Her DJ set has always been a positive experience here in second life. I also give Aurora credit as I add some of her songs that you can download and hear from OCremixed. Don’t get me wrong I find other songs to play from OCremixed plus other house and trance songs I find too plus my CD collection so I don’t mimic DJ Aurora. However over the years she has been a musical influence.

I’d say her music and the community spirit of her DJ sets is certainly a magic potion to restore your hit points and restore your spirits when the real world can be a scary place. DJ Aurora keep playing your tunes! Oh yeah and she does something unique when anyone tips her so watch out when you tip her!

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Elliquiy/57/144/1066

Grease Coakes

Interview with DJ Aurora Avila

Anyone who has been in Second Life a while knows that most music clubs are filled with DJs playing house, trance or drum and bass or rock genres ranging from the 80’s to current music trends. In genres of dance music everyone can see a DJ that stands out that puts in the extra effort or extra vibe to push into the music files that these performers blend into when they mesh songs together moving into the next song.

Then there’s DJ Aurora. She doesn’t play 80’s music, she doesn’t play trance on Saturdays, she doesn’t wear pants.

This is my first article for SL Newser, so I picked DJ Aurora Aliva who I’m been shaking my tail to for a while now. You won’t see her in a human club because she doesn’t DJ at one. Aurora plays video games remixes straight from Mega-Man Metroid and Final Fantasy games. You have to travel to the distant furry club of AX, aka AnthroXtacy, as she plays there. I asked her a few questions and here’s what she told me.

Grease Coakes: I wrote up some questions for that interview whenever you're ready. (smile)

Aurora Avila: Cool.

Grease Coakes: What made you want to be a DJ in SL and play the music that you play at your sets?

Aurora Avila: Well, I first started DJ'ing at a club I already frequented. It just seemed like a fun way to be a little more active in the get-togethers! As for the specific music I play... That actually started out of necessity, and just became my gimmick. Video game remixes all around! Because that's just what I had ready.

Grease Coakes: oh? So you had plenty of game music already? And you liked DJing to hangout more with your ax friends?

Aurora Avila: Well, back then, I hadn't even heard of AX. There was a place called Ari-Sen that I was attached to.

Grease Coakes: Ari-sen, is that a 1/2 human 1/2 furry club? That sounds familiar.

Aurora Avila: It was phoenix-themed. And in a gigantic tree, which was kind of cool.

Grease Coakes: Oh wow, that sounds fun! The big tree sounds cool, like something out of a fantasy book or video game.

Grease Coakes: So you started at Ari-sen not AX?

Aurora Avila: Yep! First DJ job was out there. It's funny how it started because one of the owners was all 'We're looking for DJ's...' I joked that I would try, but my selection sucks, and he said that there are specialty DJ's all over the place, so... I figured why not?

Grease Coakes: Yeah, you are a specialty DJ if you walk into any human clubs, and most furry DJs play dance music.

Grease Coakes: So I would say and most other people who come to your set your music is very special and outside the norm.

Grease Coakes: DJ Qwark and Healer for example play psytrance, and Amariel plays 80's music, so your genre fits in its own box.

Aurora Avila: I'll be honest; I get intimidated by human-majority clubs. I'm aware of my demographics’ reputation, and it's hard not to feel self-conscious sometimes... But as for the music, I'm just glad so many people like it! I'll admit I mostly just rip OCR right the heck off, though, so it's not like the listeners can't legally grab the majority of my playlist for themselves if they like it.

Aurora Avila: Which, I guess, is a pro AND a con!

Grease Coakes: OCR I guess that's where you get your video game music what does OCR stand for?

Grease Coakes: Just curious why do human clubs freak you out?

Aurora Avila: Well, OCR's a great resource if you like video game remixes. Gigantic site with categorized music. Overclocked Remix (www.ocremix.org). Totally free for download, even! And, well, human clubs sort of freak me out because I tend to really stand out. Most humans, by necessity, are not penguins!

Grease Coakes: Oh I see, so you just download your music from that website? Cool. And you're right, not many humans see penguins or foxes.

Grease Coakes: If someone was curious about your DJ set what times would they stop to see you play?

Aurora Avila: Not all of my music is OCR! I've got a lot of remix albums from Japan, and a few independent albums as well. But I won't lie, OCR's kind of a huge chunk. Anyway, at AX, I go for morning slots. 6:00 - 9:00 AM, SL time, on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I also do two-hour sets from noon to two (SL time again) on Monday and Wednesday. It's all the same kind of music, though. I'm kind of a one-trick pony. Or, uh... penguin.

Aurora Avila: The latter mention is at Blue Bear, which... sort of fits me a little more, thematically, being all icy and such.

Grease Coakes: That's not exactly a bad thing. DJs in the club scene just mix on genres of music, say for example Charles Feelgood. All he plays is house music but he DJs around the world. Or Akira, she plays club music too and does a great job.

Grease Coakes: Yeah I’ve been to the blue bear too it's a cool place to be.

Grease Coakes: Because your music is based on mostly video games along with the Japanese music what are your fave games?

Aurora Avila: Oh, Lord. I actually tend to look at the ambience of games a lot. I'm all about Mega Man, Metroid, and games like Star Ocean and Xenosaga because I'm kind of a massive sci-fi nerd and I really like the worlds those different series depict. If I had to pick a genre, though, it'd be somewhere between platformers and RPG's.

Grease Coakes: So sci-fi is something that interests you? I guess a mega man or Metroid RPG would be heaven to you.

Grease Coakes: Just one last question, as a furry what are your fave furry avatars?

Aurora Avila: They actually made a Mega Man X RPG. Not bad, but not really game-of-the-year quality, either. And, honestly, I think of myself as Trans-humanistic, but anthropomorphic animals are just too cute not to have predominance! But I like birds. Always have! If I had to have a favorite, I'd have to say it's my AX penguin. It just represents me the best, I guess.

Grease Coakes: Oh cool. So birds in general are your fave furry avatar, including the penguin. I have a 1/2 bird avatar as a griffin so I guess that makes me 1/2 bird like Aurora? Haha.

Aurora Avila giggles.

Grease Coakes: I grew up playing those same games as kid, Mega-Man, Metroid, etc. Maybe that's why your music sets are popular because everyone has played or at least seen video games it's a part of popular culture.

Grease Coakes: Thanks aurora for your time. I'll work this into an article and talk to Bixyl or Gemma about it.

Aurora Avila: Well, in that case, it'd be good to know I'm not a COMPLETE pop-culture Martian! I never watched cartoons or movies as a kid.

Aurora Avila: And cool. Thanks for the interview!


Just a FYI to the reader AX is an adult club/sim. Aurora does have her own fan group “Aurora’s squeebity army.” You can catch her djing at club ax at Tuesdays/Thursdays and Saturday at 6-9am SL time at AX. Saturday is also naked penguin Saturday. She also plays at another furry club called the blue bear Mondays and Wedsdays 12noon to 2pm also SL time.

Grease Coakes