Perth DJ Andrei Mazandarani dies at 55 after gallbladder cancer battle

A Rapid Diagnosis and Brave Hospital Battle

Andrei Mazandarani was admitted to a Perth hospital in July after experiencing severe abdominal pains, according to his younger brother, Anton Mazandarani. Medical professionals initially planned an aggressive chemotherapy regimen to shrink the tumor to an operable size. However, complications accelerated the illness rapidly.

“That was the initial plan but literally every day, and as the week’s progressed, it was just bad news after bad news because of the complications,” Anton told 7NEWS.com.au. “It was just brutally quick — from standing up and being fine to bed-ridden in the hospital in excruciating pain.”

Having lived with Crohn’s disease since his early 20s, Andrei was already accustomed to managing chronic pain. Throughout his final illness, he maintained a stoic approach, shielding his family from the severity of his condition. “He didn’t like the fuss, didn’t want everybody being sad about him,” Anton said. “He was a real family man, just trying to shield his kids from what he was going through.”

Decades Shaping the Perth Music Scene and Beyond

Andrei’s career in music spanned decades and continents. At age 18, he purchased a one-way ticket to London, spending 12 months attending warehouse parties, participating in the poll tax riots, and hitchhiking across Europe to witness the fall of the Berlin Wall. Returning to Perth in 1990, he co-founded the band Yummy Fur—later known as Six Mile High—with family and best friends. The band sold out venues, signed with Columbia Records, and relocated to Melbourne and later the UK before Andrei moved back to Western Australia in 2004.

Back in Perth, he used his encyclopedic knowledge of music to build a thriving career as an in-demand DJ. Alongside Anton, he famously ran “Death Disco” at Amplifier Bar and Capitol for more than a decade, hosting 620 consecutive Saturday night parties between 2007 and 2019. Following the conclusion of Death Disco, he held multiple residencies across the city. “There wasn’t a dance floor he couldn’t fill,” Anton said of his brother’s ability to read a room’s demographic and act as an “intergenerational, DJ wizard.”

Tributes Flow From Mentees and Peers

Following news of his death, tributes surfaced across social media from musicians, promoters, and fans who spent years dancing to his sets. Alex Taylor-Vivian credited Andrei with shaping his professional path, noting, “Andrei took me under his wing at the age of 21, taught me how to DJ and showed me the world of music. Some people have heroes or idols. He was my hero and my idol.”

Heath Bradby also shared remarks on the musician’s community impact, offering condolences to the family and describing him as a steadfast fixture of local nightlife.

Loved ones have established a GoFundMe campaign to assist with funeral costs and support his immediate family. Anton noted that the outpouring of generosity provides comfort: “(The tributes are) a record for his kids to go and see the kind of man that he was. That’s nice.”