vol. 03
WOMA N U P
WOMAN UP vol.03
www.woman-up.squarespace.com
Photography and edits (unless stated) by Ella Kenneally
CONTENTS:
In conversation with DJ and RADIO SHOW HOST
Who are you and what do you do? “I’m Freshta (she/her) and I’m a DJ and radio host from West London.” How would you describe your DJ style? “ I usually play from the range of 120 - 150bpm, across the genres of grime, dubstep, leftfield bass, hard drum, funky and percussive sounds.” The DJ scene is known as something of a “boys club”, is this something you noticed when entering the industry? “ Yeah this is something I clocked even before I
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entered the industry. Going to so many shows/raves when I was growing up, which heavily influenced my music selection, it wasn’t difficult for me to see the lack of female representation on lineups. I know I’ve always been hyper-aware of lack of gender and race diversity in any surroundings but it has always been obvious to me since seeing the lack of women on the decks at raves or when I walk into a radio set and I’m the only female in my room.” What do you think the music and events industry can do to help womxn Dj’s and Producers gain more visibility? “I think everyone has a part to play, if you claim that you are against gender inequality, in any social aspect
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or industry, then you have to show that by actively taking steps to combat this from whichever position you’re in. Artists can play their part by implementing rules in their contracts of ensuring shows they’re playing have an equal ratio of womxn and men on the lineups, if all artists did this it would leave promoters with no choice but to make an active effort in diversifying their lineup. Promoters and venues can do the same by controlling this ratio when they host events, shout out to The Yard in Hackney where I’ve noticed they make an effort in the inclusivity of their events. Alongside helping increase visibility, it’s also important to ensure promoters and venues value the safety of womxn, in the crowd and behind the decks. Obviously this can’t always be guaranteed however enforcing measures to allow for personal space behind the decks etc is important. There’s no reason for 20 man to be behind the decks just because they’re on guestlist when they’re possibly making a womxn artist uncomfortable with the lack of space.” Do you feel like the issue of appropriation in the music industry is spoken about enough? “Definitely not, if anything it was probably avoided. I find the lines with tokenism and appropriation are tricky, because does it mean you can only play or produce music from the background you’re from? If so, it would end up being more exclusive than inclusive and lets be honest then white people wouldn’t be able to play or produce many genres. It’s important to maintain respect and acknowledgement of where the music comes from, and remember that by being involved in spaces built off music from a certain race you have to maintain that respect outside of music and into everyday society. I have openly spoken about my feelings, as a south asian and middle eastern woman, on how many white producers in the dubstep scene sample music from the background I come from. Although sometimes the samples don’t make sense as they’re cut mid sentence (lol), I don’t hesitate to play
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them in my sets if I’m feeling them especially since its a blend of music I grew up on into the type of music I would hear in raves. Obviously, I have highlighted in the past where it can go to a point where I don’t understand the point of the narrative like I mentioned online with the track ‘Tehran Gunshots’, where the song title and artwork portrayed Iranian violence however the actual track sampled Turkish music (?). When you deep that the white producer is making a profit off this very confusing narrative with no correlation between the samples and title/artwork, it screams appropriation to me.” Do you think black DJs are given enough exposure and are credited enough? “Not anywhere near where they should be, especially black women in the music scene. Considering we are all occupying spaces in a scene built off black music, as non-black people we need to be doing better in ensuring there are black representation at every event, radio station, labels etc. Without black people, we wouldn’t have jazz, blues, funk, r&b, techno, house, grime, uk funky + more. A recent example of how black DJs and producers are not given enough exposure or credited enough is the Awakenings Festival lineup, a techno festival (online this year due to the pandemic) with a white washed lineup. One of the artists Amelie Lens, a white woman, claimed on twitter that she needed to do more in supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, however she is continuing to be on two stages at Awakenings Festival with all white artists, whilst occupying space in techno which wouldn’t be here without black lives.” Who are your top 5 favourite womxn Dj’s, Producers, Mc’s that we should be looking out for? “In no order: Talifah (MC), Anz (DJ and producer), Frankie StayWoke (MC), Ikonika (DJ and producer) and LCY (DJ and producer).”
Artwork: Nick Wotton Production: Henny Knightz Co Production: Amy Hurford Photos: Nick Wotton
In conversation with HIP HOP ARTIST
Who are you and what do you do?
Whats your earliest memory of Hip hop/ Rap music?
“I am Nicki Knightz - an artist from Hackney underneath ‘The Knighthood Society’ label. Who or What inspired you to get into music?
“My earliest memory would have to be probably be MTV base. Man, that was dope. I would sit perched in front of the Tv for hours on end watching music videos back to back. There was always something that made me connect to Hip Hop more than other genres, I guess because how they presented themselves and what they spoke about hit closer to home for me more than anything else.”
“My older brothers both did music when I was growing up. So I would say thats what sparked the interest in me for music. I guess as a younger sibling I was just following what came before me not knowing it would blossom into being my main focus- career path. Alongside family, it would probably be my environment and friends, Music was/has always been a way for inner-city children to express themselves.”
What track are you currently rinsing? “Pontiac Black by ‘Henny Knightz’!!! Not even no biased thing but this song is ill. Trust me. Do yourself a
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favour and go ring that off. Perfect for the current heat we are experiencing.” Why do you love what you do? “I love what I do because it enables me to reveal parts of myself in a way that doesn’t involve awkward conversation. Everything I talk about is real in my music, i have lived all of it. Some people even close friends have listened to certain songs I made and are like ‘what? I didn’t know that?’ And thats simply because I am quite introverted and keep most of my internal thoughts/feelings to myself. With Nicki Knightz, I feel like its genuinely the better side of me, the more confident character that I’ve always wanted to be. She is my muse and with her I’m able to do anything and everything I want with from bold hairstyles to styling to the music that I want to make.” Can you tell me a bit more about your collective ‘The Knighthood society’... “The Knighthood Society is a duo, a brand, a label. This was the place Nicki Knightz was birthed with the help of the founder Henny Knightz who is/has also been my best friend for the best part of ten years. Knighthood is for the weird kids that never really fit with the popular people, it gave me a sense of belonging that has in turn made me into the artist I am today. The history behind Knighthood isn’t surface level, it’s taken a lot of work to get to were we are today. It’s a family. It’s with me wherever I go.” I loved your recent release, ‘Blacker the Berry’, the first release from your EP ‘For The Uniformed’, can you tell me a bit more about the meaning behind this track and video? “Thank you girl! Appreciate it! Blacker The Berry is raw, bold excellence. The song is essentially me discussing my Nigerian heritage/my fathers History within the Uk and also back home. It’s me highlighting that being half Nigerian equipped me with strong work ethic and a strong sense of pride. The video features Alessandro Babalola , Haze from Topboy. The video again is the retelling of my fathers story as a Nigerian man that includes ‘African Uncle’ stereotypical references throughout, it’s un-cut truth.” Why is the EP called ‘For The Uninformed’, what’s the story behind it? “I called the Ep ‘For The Uninformed’ because I felt/ feel a lot of people aren’t aware of what being mixed race entails. I wanted to speak about my own experience and in turn hope it would resonate with people like myself (biracial) also with both individuals worlds, both black and white. “In general though, I’m often misunderstood. This project is me being a lot more vulnerable and open than the last, and that’s where the name also turns to. Its for people that may
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of already had a preconceived idea of me. This project reveals some truths that may or may not give people a better understanding of who I am.” You mentioned on instagram about releasing this EP in the current climate and how it was ‘coincidentally relevant’, which I completely agree. Why do you feel this was such an important release at this time? “I mean, what a time to put out a project with similar topic matter. It’s crazy. Its important because I’m legit the product of these two worlds. As a mixed raced person, it’s important we also tell our stories and speak up. For instance, we have ‘Blacker The Berry’ that explores the hardships yet greatness being black brings but then in contrast we have India Arie that talks about the complications that my white mother and black father faced when dealing with my afro hair.Right now, everyone wants to learn and be educated to prevent them from being ignorant or insensitive to what’s actually going on. India Arie in particular explores the idea of what being uneducated results in. It may be seen as if it is just about hair but this small topic is a birthing ground for so much more.” You spit poetry as well as bars, how important to you is written word in music? “Words are everything. I studied Creative Writing in University and started up from Spoken word. My focus has always been on my lyrics and what it is that I’m trying to get across. I take pride in the fact that I have a strong sense of lyricism in my work. This is why I love a lot of the artist that I do, it’s what they are saying and how they say it.” Do you think womxn have often been seen as inferior in the UK rap scene and do you think it has changed in recent years? “You know what, i’ve never ever seen it as male vs women. Ever. I mean it probably was that as was a lot of professions, men often outweigh women regardless of their actual abilities. I mean still now I wouldn’t say there is much women reigning in the Uk hiphop world as much as there is men. I try not to look at the mainstream world too much cause I believe in myself and what I can do. For me it’s not that.” Who are your favourite womxn in music that we should be looking out for? “IAMDDB, YOUNG MA, Little Simz. But you probably already know these, but yh these are my top 3 females.” What are your plans for the rest of 2020? “I plan on releasing and making a lot of music this year. Some more cool videos and just more greatness man. 2020 is still special regardless of the first half of it all.”
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In conversation with DJ, PRODUCER and MEMBER OF
Who are you and what do you do? “I’m DaiSu (or Daisy, usually) and I’m a DJ (and producer, I guess?). I mix a big range of stuff, recently lots more two-step like garage and dubstep, but also plenty of techno, house and breaks. I’m also a very, very amateur producer in my spare time (which is all the time right now).” How would you describe your DJ style? “Messy - does that count? It’s hard to pinpoint a specific style if I’m honest, I like trying out new little tricks that I’ve learned from watching other people DJ but I don’t know if I have a style that’s unique to me (yet). I’m trying to learn how to scratch though, I feel
like it’s becoming a bit of a lost art in DJing so who knows, maybe that will be my thing (very optimistic considering I’ve practiced it twice so far).” What track are you currently rinsing? “I’ve had Uckers by Shygirl on repeat for the past few weeks, that and Burn The Witch by LSDXOXO. Sorry, I know that’s two tracks but they’re both huge bops.” What would be your dream set? “I’d love to play a small to medium sized festival, like Gottwood or Shambala. Shambala in particular would be dreamy, it was my first festival so it has sentimental value, but it’s also consistently a good time and the
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Photos: L5 FAD Students, edited by Ella Kenneally
“Our main aim is to promote
equality on line ups, mainly in terms of gender but we’re also now trying to support BIPOC people in the music industry too. It’s important to be able to reflect and criticise your own activism at the moment and I think we realised we weren’t doing enough on that front.” people are always lovely. Be very keen to play White Hotel as well, not exactly dreaming big but it’s such a sick venue. I love tiny clubs with weirdly muddy floors where you have to wear shoes you don’t give a shit about.”
seriously a lot of DJs take themselves, particularly men. Yeah music’s cool but it’s meant to be a good time too; we like to do stupid games on our Reform Radio show like who can blow up a balloon the biggest, or guessing the price of random items on Facebook You’re part of a collective called marketplace. I’ve put another one Not Bad For A Girl, what are you together that involves reading and what are you aiming to do as a excerpts from Wattpad fanfiction collective? about different DJs and guessing which DJ they’re talking about, but “We’re a collective of seven female we haven’t yet had the chance to do DJs, plus our momager, Martha, it. Fingers crossed for the future?” and financial advisor (?), Sophie. We all play a good mix of genres What can we expect in the future so we’ve been fairly prolific in terms from you? of appearing on line-ups and that. I’ve found that I’ve got into so much “I’ve got a couple of tracks coming music I never would really listen to out (feels weird to say that), one without the others, I steal so many with Shifting Spheres and another tracks off of Alice (Egg On Toast) with Vandelay Radio, who we have when we play together, her track a monthly show with. The Shifting selection is next level. Still not quite Spheres one is part of their isolation got into drum n bass but I do compilation which is raising money actually like it now at least. Our main for Southall Black Sisters, a charity aim is to promote equality on line that helps BME women escape from ups, mainly in terms of gender but domestic violence. All the tracks on we’re also now trying to support there are by womxn producers and BIPOC people in the music industry they’re all bangers, that’s out 20th too. It’s important to be able to July. The Vandelay one is for their reflect and criticise your own annual showcase, where they get activism at the moment and I think producers from all their shows to we realised we weren’t doing submit tracks for a big compilation enough on that front. We’re hoping album. I don’t know what else is to do an event to raise money for going to be on there, but based on BLM once lockdown is lifted and their last one it should be sick.” I know Martha’s in the process of adding an inclusivity clause to our Do you feel like womxn are often rider. I think our second, less official used as a marketing tool on aim is to have fun, as cliche as that line-ups? sounds. We always talk about how
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“Constantly. I think a lot of promoters and organisers think they can stick one womxn on their line up every few months (usually cis and white) and then give themselves a pat on the back and call it a day. They chat all this shit about wanting to promote equality but can’t be bothered to seek out new DJs to book and just use the same few they already know. It’s lazy and tiring. Sophie was the events manager for Fuse FM last year and when she put out a post on Facebook looking for women, non-binary and trans DJs for an event, every boy with a dead sense of humour seemed to crawl out of the woodwork to comment how they suddenly identified as a woman. I can’t imagine how much harder it is trying to break into the industry as a non-binary or trans person.” Have you ever felt your abilities have been doubted due to being a womxn? “There have definitely been times where I’ve felt like I’m being brushed off because of it. I’ve had times where I’ve tried to help with setting up tech and been pretty much ignored, but if I’m honest I’ve been fairly lucky in terms of support of my actual DJing. I did have a boy come up to me whilst I was mid-set (and killing it, may I add) just to tell me I was red-lining a bit. Lottie (ThtGrl) had a guy come up to her after a set and tell her she was “actually pretty good, girls are usually a bit shit”. He then tried to network with Martha. The audacity. I feel like the reaction a lot of the time is surprise, as if we’re usually born without the ability to count in time to music.” Do you feel like the way the industry views gender creates barriers for women in the DJ scene? “For sure, first off the whole thing about line ups being ‘50/50’ is great in theory but it’s still enforcing the idea that there are only two genders. I suppose it’s to make line up equality more palatable for all the gammons out there, but it’s still
harmful to anyone who’s identity falls outside the ‘traditional binary’. As well, you get some DJs commenting on how women are only booked because organisers want to sleep with them. To me, that just screams of bitter dudes who aren’t getting booked and want someone to take it out on. It’s sad because it’s then perpetuated by audiences in places; there’s a Boiler Room from Dekmantel with Jayda G doing a vinyl set and so many of the comments are men commenting on her mixing technique. Why go to the trouble of opening up Youtube, searching up her set and watching the whole thing if you’re just going to whinge about a couple of transitions?” “I’m getting off topic, but essentially I think there’s this perception by some men that womxn just aren’t interested in DJing or producing, which is obviously bullshit. Since learning to mix I’ve had so many female friends tell me they’d love to learn (ashamed to say I’m yet to give many lessons). It’s difficult when the whole thing is a bit of a ‘boy’s club’, even if the promoters and organisers are nice it can be really intimidating turning up to an event by yourself and being greeted by a load of dudes, which I think they don’t always realise. You need representation of all genders at every level if you want to see any kind of actual equality and that won’t happen until the people who currently hold the decision-making power start making a conscious effort to promote people from underrepresented groups.” Have you found the current situation inspiring to start any new projects? “It’s been very up and down, but as I’m currently unemployed and on an interruption from my masters I have buckets of free time. Like I said before, I’ve started learning how to scratch recently. Turns out it’s really hard, but occasionally I’ll nail a transition and feel very smug for about a minute, until I fuck up again. I’m also trying to spend more time producing but it’s hard to motivate yourself when you’re not doing much in the day to day. My parents are popping up to Manchester for a socially distanced day trip and I’ve asked my dad if he’ll bring up his old bass guitar, so hopefully I’ll be able to piss off the neighbours even more with that.” The NBFAG 1st Birthday Online Festival - 4 day livestream - was incredible and so innovative, what made you decide to do it? Can you tell me a bit more about it? “We’d been talking about what we wanted to do for our 1st birthday for months and one of the ideas we’d all liked the most was hiring a fat house in the middle of nowhere and inviting loads of people we’d worked with to come party and livestream with us. Obviously that couldn’t happen in the end and we weren’t really planning on doing anything until practically the last minute. Me and Martha sat down a few weeks before the festival itself, made a big list of people we’d worked with and then started contacting them all to ask if they’d be game. We were only expecting to get a few Photo source Unknown
responses but almost everyone we asked was on board, so it went from being a 24-hour livestream to a full four day event. Martha runs all the behind the scenes bits usually and it definitely gave me way more of an appreciation for how much work it takes to organise events. It ended up being over 60 people involved so our house was a bit of an intense place to be once it got started; we did pretty much everything ourselves (me, Martha, Sophie and Alex, Martha’s boyfriend). None of us had ever used Twitch or Streamlabs OBS so we were having to learn on our feet a lot, still not sure how we pulled parts of it off. It was really rewarding having such a hands on approach to the organising though, I’m really proud of all of us.” You were also raising money for #SAVEOURSCENE, why did you feel this was an important fundraiser at this specific time? “Manchester’s known its music scene and as an active part of that we felt it was important to step up and support our peers/colleagues where government intervention had failed so miserably. We weren’t ever looking to make money off the festival but it seemed like the perfect opportunity to help promote a cause that would actually make a big difference to the local community.” What were your personal highlights of the festival? That’s a hard one. There were so many sets that had us all jumping around the living room yelling. All the NBFG lot smashed it of course, that goes without saying. Ynez from Wxmb 2 had an incredible selection, she’s amazing at mixing together tracks that you would never normally combine and making it look effortless. Liam Oliver from All My Friends as well, his set later that day really revived me - he did an all vinyl set of loads of funky house and disco. From the Friday as well, I know that I’m biased because I used to live with him, but Steamboat did a hardware set of all his own music that was unbelievable. I was sat in bed with the cat and I kept freaking her out where he’d drop something in and I’d just go nuts and start screaming “LET’S GO” at my laptop, like someone’s dad watching football. Kitsu and Gina B on the last day both killed it as well. I know I said I’m not mad on dnb, but Kitsu’s set was fucked (as was Rocco’s from the day before). I could honestly go on forever, the whole festival was a highlight in and of itself.” How do you think the music community has pulled together during this time? “There’s been a lot of people collabing on tracks or curating compilation albums which has been really nice to see; it’s great to think that we’re still putting out all this creativity even though everything’s a bit wank right now. I think there’s also been more of a push from established producers and DJs offering tutoring and advice. Everyone’s been so keen to support each other in general, I’ve seen a lot more of my friends doing guest mixes for labels and stations that they might not have done otherwise.”
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Who are your top 5 womxn DJ’s and producers that we should be looking out for? “LCY (fka L U C Y) is one of my favourite DJs/producers right now. She makes some insane 140 stuff, kind of experimental with lots of breaks and cool samples. I’m very smug about the fact that she’s also from Bristol as well. Yazzus, who’s also part of 6 Figure Gang, is another one. I bought her album of bootlegs, It’s Ya Girl’s Bootlegs, at the beginning of June and it’s incredible, big fan of the edit of Missy Elliott’s Pass That Dutch. Huge fan of Shygirl too, I first heard her track BB in a mix that Ynez did for our Reform show earlier this year and I’ve been obsessed ever since. Her songs all feel like the musical equivalent of rolling your eyes. Octa Octo I’ve been a fan of for a while, she’s made some super cool experimental stuff as of late and I feel like she doesn’t get nearly as much recognition as she should. I want to say Sherelle for my last one but I feel like I shouldn’t just be naming all of 6FG, so I’ll go with HAAi. I saw them both at WHP last year, both incredible DJs and producers, never been so gassed by dnb as I was during Sherelle’s set. I would risk it all for HAAi though, she’s so cool. Not ashamed to admit that I completely lost my shit when she played It’s Something We Can All Learn From at WHP.”
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In conversation with DJ, RADIO HOST and CLUB NIGHT DIRECTOR
Who are you and what do you do?
How would you describe your DJ style?
“My DJ name is Emma Rose. I run a club-night called Liminal Project and I present a monthly show on Reform Radio.” Why do you love what you do?
“Ooo that’s a difficult one. I find my style changes depending on the genre that I mix so it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what my style is. I mainly mix 140 so when I mix that I will never strictly stick to dubstep and like to mix it with trap, drill or rap. I like to keep the energy high so set-planning is very important to ensure a crescendo of energy throughout my sets.” What would be your dream set?
“I’ve always loved music and going out so DJing is combining everything I love into one. Promoting my night is really good fun as I can curate a line up of my favourite artists that I’d wanna see on a night out.. also watching a whole night that I’ve planned unfold successfully is really satisfying as well.”
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“A tricky one - there would be a number of places, a set on one of the main stages at Outlook would be
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sick. Would love to do a set at WHP, Fabric or Printworks. They would be dream places - it is going to take a lot of hard work as I have a long way to go until I can get to that though!” How do you find it running an events company and being a woman? Do you feel like your experience may have been different to a mans? “I run my event with my two friends Tilly and Fynn. At first, when we would run events and DJs we had booked would come, they would introduce themselves to Fynn and was surprised that me and Tilly were also running the night. I think it was an innocent mistake as there are less womxn in general who are promoters. I also felt at the beginning a lot of people struggled
to take me seriously, when I would mention to people that I was running a night I had one boy laugh in my face saying “what would you know about music” even though he did not know anything about me. Sexist remarks like that do annoy me but on the whole Manchester is a very open and accepting place and I have been lucky to be supported by many people in the industry who have really helped me out. I am very aware that as a white woman that comes with privileges in itself and I am sure black womxn face a whole set of different struggles that I would never be able to fully comprehend, so I imagine our experiences in the scene would be quite different.” Do you feel like the way the
industry views gender creates barriers for womxn in the DJ scene? “Yes and no. I found on the whole it has been very accepting but I think people do not take womxn DJs as seriously. I have heard people say “you only got that set because you are a girl”. I think when people put down women getting sets due to their gender rather than their talent is what needs to change so I guess that creates a sort of barrier for womxn as we are treated differently to our male counterparts.” What do you think the music and events industry can do to help womxn Dj’s and Producers gain more visibility? “I think promoters need to make a
conscious effort to include womxn on line ups quite often you see an all white male line up. When people say there aren’t any girls that are good enough to put on/ there aren’t any - it is complete bullshit there are loads of talented womxn DJs across the UK.”
mixes for a few different radios but as a result of covid I lost a few opportunities that I was really excited for - I was meant to play at Hidden for an end of exam party but that got called off. I am hoping it will all pick back up when this is all over though- so fingers crossed!” Do you feel like the issue of racism and racial discrimination in the music industry is spoken about enough? “Definitely not - it needs to be spoken about a lot more. Promoters need to actively include black people on lineups. I think after the death of George Flloyd and a reinvigoration of the BLM movement has forced many people to reflect on their own prejudices, if there are any cracks in their organisation and
moving forward how they are going to improve this. I know for me, I am going to make a conscious effort to include black people on line ups as there are so many talented DJs out there that need to be given the platform they deserve.”
Have you found the current climate difficult/ inspiring to start any new projects?
What do you feel like we can do as white womxn in our positions of privilege, to be allies to non-white womxn in the industry?
“A bit of both really - I could no longer go into the studio and interview artists on Reform so I started a podcast called “chats w/ Emma Rose” that caught up with artists about how they are coping creatively in quarantine. With regards to mixing, I recorded a few
“I think as a DJ it starts simply by buying music from black womxn as this helps them financially and more directly. I think promoters have a responsibility of including black womxn on their line ups as well. Also, I think what really helps the artist is sharing their music on your
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story/ platform, even if you have a small following your share may gain the interest of a few people who have never heard of that particular DJ/producer before.” What are your thoughts on the future of the music industry post-pandemic? “I think we are going to see a lot of small venues go under which is really sad as they are essential to the fabrics of the scene. I found it upsetting that our government failed to financially support Britain’s culture industry that is a major contributor to our economy at £10.8 billion a year. The pandemic has had and will have a major impact on the music industry. I think everything will become more localised as smaller promoters will not be able to afford to book big artists from abroad due to the loss of revenue due to the pandemic. However, the underground music scene has always regenerated itself so I have confidence that it will pull through.” How do you think the music community has pulled together during this time? “The music community has been great, there have been loads of campaigns such as Save Our Scene where people bought raffle tickets to win prizes and that money has been donated to organisations within the music community that the government has failed to support.” Who are your favourite womxn Dj’s/ Producers/ Mc’s/ Events Companies that we should be looking out for? “Producer/ DJ wise... Anz is so sick.. I have only started listening to her stuff recently but her production is so clean and original. Definitely check out her new mix spring/summer dubs 2020 that showcases her eclectic productions - raw talent. Tailor Jae - she had the maddest mixing skills I am genuinely in awe when I have seen streams of her mixing - go and check out her Kiwi Hush 2 DJ set - it’s one of my favourites - she is an incredible producer too. These two you should definitely be looking out for they’re making some serious movements. Manchester-based MC Boa is top - she regularly spits over sets on Bloc2Bloc - definitely one to check out. Lucid Juice, a night run by Gina is proper sick - I am still yet to go to one but I have seen her previous line ups and they are fire. Notbadforagirl - have been making movements for a while they are an all-womxn collective who I have seen put together a number of mad line ups and have talented selectors within their collective. B.L.O.O.M - another all-womxn collective in Manchester who are talented DJs and put on sick nights!”
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Album Artwork by: Ruby Ramelize Photography and edit by: Ella Kenneally
In conversation with SINGER
Who are you and what do you do? “Hey my name is China Lilly Ramelize and I’m a singer.” Who or What inspired you to get into music? “I guess my whole family has always been very musical, I always loved to sing since I remember, I was inspired by musicians I saw on tv and listened to on the Radio, when I met my boyfriend (who is my producer) he started making beats and he found out I could sing so we started experimenting and here we are now.” Whats your earliest memory of music?
“We used to have a grand piano in my mums home and I always used to make up my own little tunes and using along to them, I have always loved singing and used to perform in plays at school.” What track are you currently rinsing? “You’re so precious by James Blake, the vocals are incredible, makes me so emotional to be honest.” What’s one of your proudest moments of your career so far? “Performing at Manchester international festival ! Great experience, also performing at BBC highest point festival.”
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I loved your recent release under SINDYSPLACE, ‘WHATISRIGHT?’ , can you tell me a bit more about the meaning behind this song? “The track is one big double entendre, covering the heavy emotions and self doubt that come with fighting for something important to you, that may not be important to those around you. It is in relevance to the BLM movement and also my own personal experience, I wanted it to be relatable to both individuals suffering with self doubt and the whole movement.” Do you think female empowerment is important when working in an industry like yourself? “Yes I think it is, music is a great way to get your point across to a large audience, the lack of respect towards women on a daily basis in any industry is an extremely important issues that needs tackling in today’s society. In hip hop there is a huge lack of empowering content relating to the daily struggles in the life of a normal working class female. leaving a lot of women feeling insecure about their natural selves due to Male artists setting an image women feel they have to fit into. I feel blessed to be involved in a huge uprising of extremely intelligent female poets, vocalists + rappers rising up and showing not all women have to be a big ass in small panties, any shape and size can be beautiful and can be much more than an accessory to a music video. At almost every event I’m at I am the only woman. IF YOU ARE A TALENTED FEMALE AND YOU ARE AFRAID TO STAND UP AND SHOW OFF YOUR BEAUTIFUL TALENTS THEN DM ME, INBOX ME, EMAIL ME! I would be more than happy to try my hardest to help you rise to where you belong. Women are not just “bitches” and believe it or not we pack a lot more talent than we are given credit for, so let’s show em what we got.”
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In conversation with DJ and GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Who are you and what do you do?
What’s your earliest memory of dance music?
“My name is Holly, I’m 23 years old from Manchester and I am a DJ who goes by the name HØLEIGH. I am a resident DJ for Warped events.” How would you describe your DJ style?
“My earliest memory of dance music was when I first started listening to House music when I was 16. I had always been very passionate about music but never knew how broad the electronic music scene was, I spent hours on soundcloud, spotify and youtube finding new tunes and discovering different sub genres.”
“My taste can be quite versatile, I started off playing a lot of 4x4 niche and bass music and collected a very broad range of hard uk dance styles. I then recently discovered my love for Techno and Trance music in late 2019 and rapidly transitioned to a whole different scene. I’d like to describe my style as energetic, fast, fun but also intense depending on what kind of set I’m doing.”
What would be your dream set? “This is a great question because I’ve imagined this too many times. I would love to play at Reaktor, which is a huge underground warehouse based in Amsterdam. I’ve watched a lot videos of my favourite
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artists playing at Reaktor and everything about it from the lights, to the atmosphere to the crowd looks unbelievable” What can we expect in the future from you? “During lockdown I have been able to use my time to start learning music production, it’s been incredibly difficult so far but this is something I have always wanted to pursue and hopefully in the future I will be able to play my own music. The Industrial Techno scene in Manchester at the moment is growing very strong and its great to see how popular it is, I’m looking forward to getting back behind the wheels for upcoming events.” Have you ever felt your abilities have been doubted due to being a womxn? “In my experience of being a female DJ I haven’t felt like my abilities were doubted as such but the scene is very much male dominated, perhaps people have been surprised about the type of music I play because I’m a woman and just because it’s not ‘popular’. Whether you are male/female/other is not important, it is the passion, talent and quality which are the only aspects that a DJ or Producer should be judged on.” Lady Love said “As the DJ industry got bigger it got more white, more hetero, more male.” - do you agree with this?
Why do you think LGBTQ+ representation is important in the music industry? “I think it is very important, whether you are playing, making or dancing to music, to me it’s a platform for expression and diversity. Many LGBTQ+ Djs and producers have made extremely valuable contributions to the music scene.” Do you think labels within the music industry are a good thing, or are they a way of singling out female and LGBTQ+ artists? “Definitely, I think a label is usually looking for a particular sound, style and presence. I have in fact just been working with a woman from Berlin to participate in her female dj mix series ‘Girlcast’. It’s labels like this where us female DJs are given an opportunity to shine and show off our talent!”
Who are your favourite womxn Dj’s and Producers that we should be looking out for? “A few of my favourite female DJs and producers are -
Neri J Nene H Rebekah Vixen”
“I agree, the industry has increased massively over the past few years and it is very much dominated by straight white men. Whilst the movement seems to grow and more females are contributing to the scene, there is still room for improvement regarding non-white women and transgender musicians for example.” Do you think LGBTQ+ Dj’s are given enough exposure in the industry? “In my experience, I have seen a lot of DJs from the LGBTQ+ Djs exposed from the techno scene and some of them are arguably the most talented Djs today. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that there are many gay fetish clubs associated with techno, For example the famous Berghain club in Berlin stemmed from queer culture and continues to welcome any gender or sexuality into a safe place where you can fully express yourself. However this is just from my experience, I couldn’t speak for all genres and I can’t speak for every LGBTQ+ Djs and how much resistance they may have encountered during their career.”
Photography by Jake Heath
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Artwork by: Holly Brown Photography by Jake Heath
Photography by Jake Heath
WOMAN UP vol.03
WOMAN UP
VOLUME 03