Andrei Mazandarani

In July 2026 Mazandarani was admitted to hospital in Perth with severe abdominal pain and was diagnosed with gallbladder cancer. Doctors initially planned aggressive chemotherapy to shrink a tumour to operable size, but complications mounted and the illness progressed rapidly. He died in hospital on the night of Monday 21 September 2026, aged 55.

Anton said the speed of the decline shocked even people close to the family, because Andrei had preferred to keep the diagnosis within a small circle. A GoFundMe was opened for funeral costs and for his wife and children. Tributes filled social media from Perth's music community.

Mazandarani grew up in Perth and at 18 bought a one-way ticket to London, living there for a year around 1989-1990. He later described attending warehouse parties, dancing at illegal raves and hitchhiking across Europe to see the fall of the Berlin Wall.

He returned to Perth in 1990 and threw himself into the local music scene, forming Yummy Fur (later Six Mile High) with his brother Anton and friends. The Madchester-influenced band sold out venues and signed with Columbia Records before periods in Melbourne and the UK.

After returning to Western Australia in 2004, Mazandarani worked as a freelance music programmer and club DJ under the names DJ Andrei Maz and DJ Maz. With Anton he launched Death Disco at Amplifier Bar / Capitol, running 620 consecutive Saturday nights from 2007 to 2019, a rare longevity in the Perth club calendar.

The West Australian profiled the brothers as Daddy DJs who balanced family life with late-night residencies. After Death Disco ended he continued to fill rooms across the city, mixing styles to suit the room rather than sticking to a single scene. Younger DJs later credited him with teaching them the craft.

Mazandarani was married and had two children. His brother Anton told 7NEWS that he was a family man who tried to shield his children from his final illness and disliked fuss, remaining private even while entertaining hundreds of people every weekend.

He had lived with Crohn's disease since his early twenties, which left him familiar with chronic pain. Friends and colleagues remembered generosity and mentorship as much as playlists.

Death Disco's 620 Saturday nights left Mazandarani woven into Perth nightlife for a generation of clubgoers. Tributes after his death stressed not only the parties but the mentoring of younger DJs and the habit of reading a room across ages and tastes.

Anton described the public messages as a record for Andrei's children of the kind of man their father was: short in years, packed with human connections and with the habit of bringing joy to dancefloors.