Let’s Be Friends celebrates the people who shape the dance music community. Each month, Pretty Gay Friendly brings a mix of music and conversation, highlighting DJs, promoters, and organizers who create spaces for connection and belonging.

The show focuses on sharing stories, building friendships, and recognising the people who make the dancefloor feel like home. Guided by the same warmth and floor-driven sensibility that defines his DJ sets, the aim is to foster inclusion, connection, and the joy of bringing people together.

This month on Let’s Be Friends, I’m joined by Drew LaBarre, a deep listener and selector whose journey through sound has taken him from the Midwest to the West Coast. His approach to music feels expansive, grounded, and full of intention.

“A Wisconsin native, now LA eastsider via Chicago and Portland OR, I have long been an explorer of sound.  With a foundation in Midwest music, I became immersed in the chaotic electronic tape collage culture of 2010s era Chicago.  From that point, I’ve spread out into an expansive pursuit of listening to and producing any sound or musical idea that connects me to the feeling of the infinite. It was in Portland though, that I fell in love with dancing and the movement of timeless house music.  Now in LA, I’ve dug deeper and deeper into the connection I have with the one big sound holding us all together.” - Drew