Life of a Bali DJ
Hey this is me Maex! A funny guy and Bali DJ which is easy to remember! It’s even more easy to recognise me by my red, curly hair and the colourful shirts. And I’m gonna help you to find your perfect party spot on the party island in Indonesia – and also where you will find me performing 🙃 Read here about my current residence clubs, beach clubs in Bali and what you definitely should not miss. It will be funky & housy for sure!
I’m a House Music DJ in Bali for a few years already. I started my music carrier in Germany in a little town called Detmold. Here you can read my full bio. Now I’m sharing funky and happy vibes in Indonesia, on the island of gods. From Canggu over Seminyak and Kuta to Uluwatu: I probably saw every party place in Bali from the inside and can give you some details about them. Also you might want to know where you can see and hear me or other good artists djing?!
Bali Party: Nightlife Club’s and Beach Clubs
In such a vibrant place like Bali, things can change rapidly. New venues open, old ones close or change their concept. That’s why I give you here a general info about where I usually perform. You can always find recent updates about bookings and shows on my Instagram. There I’m posting next to photos and party videos my weekly my DJ schedule for Bali and international dates as well hopefully soon 🙃
Savaya Bali
The most stunning venue in Bali since years. Former known as Omnia, Savaya has the most amazing range of events and DJ line up such as Defected Records, Keine Music Crew, Black Coffee, Fat Boy Slim, Diplo, Hugel and many more. Every week you can experience highlights here on Saturdays and Sundays.
Atlas Beach Club
The biggest beach club in the world – ok at least in Asia. On Berawa beach right next to Finns you will find the huge complex with countless sofa’s day bed’s vip pools and much more… Acts like Martin Garrix, Don Diablo and Mark Knight already performed there. They also have the Atlas Superclub, a huge nightclub.
Luna Beach Club
Bali’s newest immersive beach club nestled cliffside along the stunning coast of Tabanan. Located in the Nuanu City this club reminds me of Burning man, because there is so much art incorporated. With various parties and festivals, the spacious location offers something perfect for every guest.
Old Man’s Canggu
Certainly one of the oldest and most famous names on the island: Old Man’s Canggu. With different events like bear pong games, live bands, international artists and a massive range of good dj’s I’m very proud to be part of the family!
Finns Beach Club
Currently one of my regular places where I perform is the famous Finns Beach Club literally at the beachfront of Berawa, Canggu. They having DJs and live singers from midday to midnight every single day of the week.
Red Ruby
Let’s get wild and dirty. Red Ruby is a cool small familiar club and a guarantee for long nights. Depends on the night they have different music concepts. I usual play Wednesdays or Sundays for the House + Tech House nights.
More Bali venues and former residence clubs from DJ Maex
W Hotel Seminyak
A W Hotel is not just a normal hotel. They throwing regular big events with big names every now and than. Also they have DJs every day for sunset sessions at the Woobar, the hotel bar on a sun deck with palms infront of Seminyak beach close to Potato Head.
White Rock Beach Club
A brand new beach club at Melasti Beach in Uluwatu. they have two pools, several cool vip areas and a massive dj stage. It’s super fun to play there! When it’s getting dark and they starting the light show you feel like one of the big ones like David Guetta…
Ulu Cliffhouse
Ulu Cliffhouse is built right onto a cliff so you have such a nice view on the sunset. You can also go down to their ocean deck where they have big parties every weekend. Sometimes they also have big artists there such as Carl Cox, Richy Ahmed and others.
I almost played in all clubs in Bali so fare. I was resident Dj at Shishi for about 1 year. Other Bali clubs and bars I played sometimes or I played in the past years:
- Luigi’s Hot Pizza
- Alternative Beach
- Shady Pig + Shady Flamingo
Here can you check my full club list for Bali, Spain, Germany and other countries I was already djing 😎
Where to find cool Bali DJ events?
You are looking for news of the best parties and events of the island or need a overview which artists will perform during your holidays? Besides the big clubs who always serves a huge program like Savaya and Atlas there are lots of event and nightlife pages out there who inform you about whats happening. The Beat Bali is doing a good job, also the Bali Event Calendar.
Bali
Poolside
Grooves
Bali DJs in 2024
Bali venues are bringing more and more big names to the island. Every week you can see at least two different international names. That’s why we call Bali the Ibiza of Asia. 2024 was full of high notes: John Summit, Solomun, Hugel, Vintage Culture, Boris Brecha, Deadmau5, Dombresky, Chelina Manuhutu, Piem and many many more.
In 2023 we had Fisher, Claptone, Meduza, Jamie Jones, Shouse, Stella Bossi, Nervo and many more. The Bali clubs having the most big Das: Savaya, La Brisa, Atlas Beach Club, Potato Head, Morabito Art Villa, Mrs Sippy and Kabana. Check these places for their weekly schedule to plan your Bali party holidays 🙂
Next to the headliners there are the usually underrated resident DJs. In Bali we have a lot talented music artists from all over the world! Here is a list of DJs who perform regular many shows on the island:
- Manu-L
- Kaiser Waldon
- Andy Chunes
- PNNY
- Papü
- Scotty Cal
- Koyuki
- Shammui
- Nacho Corominas
- Wilson
- James Taylor
- Thess Fischer
How to get a dj gig in Bali
Rocking the Bali clubs is dream which came true even that I didn’t dreamed about it… I became a Bali dj in 2019 by accident. While I was traveling through Asia with my best buddy Point85 we visited the island in Indonesia and we both fall in love with this spot right away – and of course with the girls as well. Another reason for us to stay was we saw the huge amount of opportunities working as a House Music DJ. But get this project rolling was harder than we thought…
Playing in a club in Bali is super fun! But it is hard work to get there. It took us about 6 months to play our first proper club gig. Even that we were quit experienced DJs from Germany with a big music vita that was not really helping as we thought. The biggest lesson we had to learn:
In Bali it’s all about the network!
If are not in the network you won’t get dj bookings. Without any dj bookings it’s hard to get into the network. Maybe you know this problem already from your scene back home. There you have at least the advantage that you are already longer in the nightlife scene and thus already know a few people. At least from the perspective of the party guest. Here, we actually had to start from scratch.
What do I need to DJ in Bali?
First of all you need a visa/ working permission. This is called artist Kitas and is valid for 6 month. After that you need to renew it. The current price through an agent is 750$ + 13.000.000IDR (Indonesian Rupia). I usually use a visa agent to do it for me because it is really a hustle to do it by your own. Doing it with an agent is more expensive, but you get rid of the paper work hustle! Getting a Kitas takes usually 4-6 weeks.
Besides the legal side of working in Indonesia you probably ask yourself how to get dj bookings in Bali right? Well I mentioned the network already. This is the key – not only in Bali of course but here maybe even more – to get your first bookings and your first exposure. Getting your foot in the door is always the hardest part isn’t it? But how to make this work? Well I can tell this takes time. Figuring out which are the important people (promoters, djs, club owners…) and to get in contact with them just takes time and the willingness to give everything for it.
For almost 6 month I went every Monday to Luigi’s Hot Pizza in Canggu for their famous Monday event to meet the owners and the music director. And one day he needed a DJ for a special Halloween event. He remembered me and asked me if I’m keen to play for a trial. End of the story I became one of the resident djs.
