Mash Up is a platform, label and campaign for electronic music artists. We declare that every release and event through Mash Up will feature an equal amount of artists who identify as trans, female, woman, male, non-conforming or queer. Affinity is our vision, through collaboration based on mutual respect and through all forms of music technology. We understand respect as a mutual recognition and valuing of differences in creative approaches, inspiration and backgrounds. Therefore, we purposely aim towards a balanced formula of artists and putting underrepresented talent on lineups and featuring them on our platforms.
Interviewed by Emma Nicholls. www.shesaid.so
Interviewed by Emma Nicholls. www.yorkshiresoundwomen.wordpress.com
“I DIDN’T LIKE YOUR SET BUT I COULD SEE YOUR TITS SO IT’S OKAY”
NIGHTLIFE MATTERS NIGHTLIFE MATTERS NIGHTLIFE MATTERS
t h e F i g h t f o r t h e R i g h t t o P a rt y is becoming evermore urgent
#MASHUPTHEMUSICINDUSTRY
In 2013 I wrote what I suppose could be best described as an open letter - but to myself or perhaps it was even dressed to my own fear itself. It was about the longing that I had to create music for my entire life, and the anxiety I had suffered from up until then to actually pursue it. Like many girls I knew as a teenager, I was a mixtape-junkie, a dreamer of wanting to sing, a fan with band posters plastered on the wall and merchandise on my back. And yet I was also an observer on the sidelines of my male peers who all had both the confidence and education to make music whilst I did not. I think it is a common thing for women to feel like they need to know how to make music before they can actually start making music. As if we have to prove oursleves to everyone before we can even begin, in fear of the sexism and judgement that comes with the female gender making music. At school, for the short term that I tired to take up guitar lessons, my guitar was laughed at for not being cool enough, and I struggled to stretch my small hands across the fretboard - and I even began to convince myself that it was a problem brought about because of my gender. The one time I tried to sing in public, I heard boys snickering in the corner of the room. The times I auditioned to be in school musicals, I was cast aside as an extra. To recap the aforementioned open letter (if that’s what I should call it): Two and a half years ago, I decided that my dreams were not going to unfold for me by themselves. Achievements take confidence and hard work, and I released that I needed to jump into the abyss and at least try to gain both if I would ever fulfil my desire to make music. Ira Glass said something to the effect of beginners getting into something because of their taste and the things you make is often so large in the beginning, which is why a lot of people quit before they succeed. But the only way to close up that gap and get to a point where your work is as good as your ambitions is to work hard and right through it. In 2013, a combination of passing my driving test in conjunction with my friend giving me some Kate Bush mixtape was the stepping stone to me having a safe place to learn to
sing and find my vocal style. Up until then, I never believed that I could sing - most likely because I had never had a space where I felt confident enough to improve my singing at full volume. I think nearly everyone has an interesting vocal style, and the problem id finding a safe space to work it out. At this same time, my then-boyfriend was also encouraging me to have a loop pedal jams with him using a microphone and singing and sampling found noises. This was around a period when I was discovering more and more female musicians taking a DIY approach to electronic music: Grimes, FKA Twigs, Glasser, Le Tigre. I felt a new burst of inspiration. I realised that punk and riot girl in 2013 wasn’t picking up a guitar and playing some chords. To me, it felt that a continuation of such a movement, which had already happened and succeeded is no longer necessary. We have already proven as women that even if we don’t know the technicalities of guitar before we play it, that we can still play it in a meaningful and talented way. Kim Gordon, Patti Smith, The Slits, Bikini Kill, X-Ray Spex and more had all proven to me that a transition from a women with an artistic vision into a female musician was possible with just a pinch of belief in yourself combined with the ability to let go of the fear to experiment in public. With my passion lying in electronic music, I felt inspired to approach electronics in a punk way. In fact, I decided that the less I knew about it, the less I knew about it, the more unusually I might approach it - so I used my naivety to my advantage. So two years ago, with the help of some music geek friends, I worked out a synthesiser to buy and took the plunge. Shortly after, my friend, who knew I had been starting to make music, subsequently asked me to play a gig at her birthday party, I asked a friend to help me develop my initial jams into songs together, and I never looked back. And now, after two years of making music, I can feel the gap, the one that Ira Glass spoke of, beginning to close. Eleanor Hardwick is a 22 year old multidisciplinary artist and musician currently based in London. www.moonbowmusic.co.uk