Mixing It Up With Lisa Lashes

VIVA Ems | 26th August 2015

The original Queen of dance music, Lisa Lashes, invited VIVA down to her house in the Leicester countryside to talk Basement Boutiques, PsyTrance, Carl Cox and gave the VIVA Girls a lesson on mixing and scratching it up on those decks. VIVA Ems reports…

American 50’s Matisse ‘Nefertiti’ Necklace and Bracelet in Copper, with pale blue enamel., £170 set, victoriavintage.co.uk, Vintage “JABiO” Cap Sleeve, Wide Collar Waistcoat, One off Bespoke piece from Final Degree Collection, £90 to £275, littlesleeves.co.uk

Lisa Lashes is the original Queen of dance music. She’s been on the scene for eighteen years now and is the only woman to break into the Top ten of DJ MAG’s Top One Hundred DJs. She was one of the first DJs I went to see, at the start of my raving days back in Bournemouth. So I was slightly excited when Jo, from Jabio Womenswear, arranged a road trip down to Lisa’s house out in the Leicester Countryside. An extremely friendly face welcomed us at the front door when we arrived, Lisa’s best friend and ex-manager, Victoria Ball. Victoria brought along some very stylish vintage jewellery for the photo shoot, from her business Victoria Vintage. Lisa took us down to her Boutique Basement where she records all her podcasts and makes her music and I was blown away by her set-up as I am in total awe of this lady and what she has achieved. Being the DJ geek that I am, I’d brought my headphones and asked Lisa if we could have a little mix-up on her decks before we started the interview. Of course being the lovely lady that she is, Lisa said yes and started teaching me and the girls some scratching moves. It was very inspiring to meet such a world class DJ. Here’s what Lisa had to say...

VIVA Ems: Firstly Lisa, can you tell us a bit about Lisa Lashes presents Basement Boutiques. You’re going to be doing one up in Manchester soon, right?

LISA: Yes, that’s right! So, Basement Boutique started its little life in the basement at home. The Basement Boutique was born because I wanted to play a different style of music when I play out because, like anybody, you don’t want to do your job when you get back home. I didn’t want to listen to Hard House or Trance and stuff like that. I like loads of different styles of music like Breaks, Techno, Electro and I’ve been out there eighteen years now and had the accolade of Number One Hard House Female and, even though it’s amazing to have that accolade, it’s quite hard to shake off as well. Sometimes people want you to move out of that but you’ve got to go forward in music, don’t you? Otherwise you can’t be creative. So yeah, I’ve done a lot of techno mixes, put them on Soundcloud Mixcloud and I’m getting into the Top Ten in the ratings. So I decided why don’t I do another side of me, the Basement Boutique side, which is more chilled, a little bit more laid back and just makes me able to express what I want to do. Basement Boutique will kick off on August 1st. We’re doing intimate venues throughout the UK, so I’m just looking at the vibe that you get in my house which is just chilled, do what you want to do, upload some good music. There’s no stipulation of what you’ve got to do, I’m just a free spirit doing what I want to do. We are getting local DJs, in each town and city to come and play on the night; there’s a competition to put your mixes into Soundcloud and I’ll pick one or two Techno or House DJs to come and accompany me.

American 50’s Matisse ‘Nefertiti’ Necklace and Bracelet in Copper, with pale blue enamel, £170 set, victoriavintage.co.uk, Vintage JABiO Cap Sleeve, Wide Collar Waistcoat, One off Bespoke piece from Final Degree Collection, £90 to £275, littlesleeves.co.uk

VIVA EMS: Brilliant concept. So you’re also the ambassador for ‘All Girls on Decks.’ I know you’ve already had the big competition last year but is there going to be another one this year?

LISA: There’s definitely going to be another one at the end of this year. I started it last December and we know a lot more about it now. It was hard to do something that was just predominantly girls. I found out that only less than one percent of festivals in the UK have female DJs playing and I’m like ‘why is that?’ So I want to give female Dj’s an avenue, kind of like a starting block that I didn’t have, from the beginning and there’s some amazing prizes to be won!

VIVA EMS: The girl that won it last year was Miss Kiff. What made her stand out from the rest, why did you pick her as the winner?

LISA: I liked her music anyway and she was a pretty cool girl. She’s South African. Kiff in South African is cool. There were six of them shortlisted in Manchester at the SSR Studios. I basically put them in front of a panel. When Miss Kiff got up to play the decks weren’t working properly and she just basically sorted it out. Whereas there were a couple other girls who just freaked out. The headphones didn’t work and this and that and it wasn’t quite right and they didn’t know what to do. Well you can’t do that when you’re on stage in South Africa or Australia or anywhere. There’s no-one there to help. She’s an amazing DJ anyway, great music, great presence to be on the decks and I knew she’d be able to control the crowd.

VIVA EMS: So what would you be looking for in a girl DJ in this year’s competition?

LISA: Confidence, technical ability and just knowledge of music and it’s not all about just putting music together to be a DJ. It’s putting the music together in a selective way to build a set. If you’ve got an hour set you build that to the hour, a two hour set you build it to that, so I’m just looking for confidence, somebody I know I could put on a stage.

VIVA EMS: Why do you think that men are dominating the DJ world at the moment?

LISA: They’re not dominating in every genre because Techno is embracing girls who are feisty girls as well. You go out there and you play a set and it’s your music choice and if people don’t get it then you feel like ‘why didn’t they get it?’ You’ve got to have the ability as well to read a crowd and be able to change and adapt to the music. You can’t walk off a dance floor with five thousand people which hasn’t happened yet, thankfully! You’ve got to know how to turn it around if you’re a good DJ.

VIVA EMS: You are literally the Queen of dance music. I remember, when I was sixteen, seeing you at Cheeky Little Monkeys in Bournemouth with the Tidy Boys. You were playing some seriously cool Hard House tunes back then. Throughout your career you’ve taken on Trance, Breaks and, most recently, PsyTrance and Electronica and now Techno. Are there any other genres of dance music you haven’t explored yet that are on your radar?

LISA: I’m always exploring and finding new electronic music and different sounds that I love, theres so much diversity out there these days who knows what I’ll come across next, that’s what keeps me excited.

VIVA EMS: Carl Cox premièred your first Techno release ‘Space Manoeuvres’ at Ultra Fest and in Manchester at the Albert Hall, so how did you and Carl become friends? Are you guys going to be producing any stuff together?

LISA: I would love to. yes. Even just to go over to Ibiza this year to see his night on a Tuesday would be enough for me and for him to play my tracks is amazing. When I went to see him in Liverpool recently, he said that I’ve got kind of like a progressive edge with a thundering tech baseline that no-one else has got and that’s why he liked my music. It’s different because I’m pulling loads of different styles. I’m like ‘wow’ I mean you can’t get better than Carl Cox, can you? I’ve known him for years and years and years. I was on his radio show years ago and now he’s doing the Techno and I’m producing some Techno which he heard about through the visual guy at House, who gave him some of my stuff. He’s just been really inspirational. He said he knows how hard it is anyway, as a DJ, to change music styles and he said I’m kind of there to make the tunes like this which are different from anybody else and I’ll play them all day long because they’re different.

50’s Multi silver chain, cardigan sweater clips, £16, 90’s Large Chunky plastic bangle, £8, all from victoriavintage.co.uk, JABiO 2015 Cap Sleeve, Short Wrap Wide Collar Waistcoat, One off Bespoke piece Designed for Lisa, littlesleeves.co.uk

VIVA EMS: Your Podcast has become a massive hit. Top two in the Mixcloud charts and in i-Tunes Top ten dance casts in the world! What can people, who haven’t had a listen yet, expect from it?

LISA: I suppose they can expect an hour and a half of tunes that I basically love to play. I would never go and play a track that I don’t like, whether it’s called good at the time, I’m not that kind of person. I’ll always find the B side of a track or the double B or look a little bit more into it. I’m not someone that follows any kind of lead, I just do my own thing! Eighteen years I’ve been doing this and I’m thankful that people get the music.

VIVA EMS: You’ve played across the world at some pretty amazing places. I’m just at the beginning of my career and have had a couple of pretty horrific gigs! Can you remember any really bad experiences you had at gigs when first starting out?

LISA: Yeah, most of them in the beginning because you’ve just got to do them, don’t you? You’ve got to do the bad with the good at the end of the day but, if you don’t do those bad gigs, then sometimes you get it into your head, ‘I don’t want to do that, I don’t know what that’s going to be like’ and then, when you actually get there, it’s the best gig in the world. Don’t ever have any preconceptions and don’t ever be swayed by what a promoter tells you because you ask ‘Why did you book me then if that’s not the muisc you want me to play?’

VIVA EMS: Ya, right on girlfriend! So on the other hand, what is the gig that stands out for you when you thought, ‘actually this is it now, this is what I love doing, this is where I want to be?’

LISA: It’s probably the first time I was playing with Pete Tong. This was after being on the decks for not even six weeks or so.

VIVA EMS: WOW, that’s amazing. You were only on the decks for six weeks and got this gig; tell me more!

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LISA: I know, what happened was I was working at Marks and Spencer and I used to come back home and play on my housemate’s decks when he wasn’t there. I DJ’d a friend’s party where the guy who was going to be starting the Super Club in Birmingham asked me to be the resident DJ. I was not even ready at all obviously but I was playing with Pete Tong, Robert Garnay, just everyone, in my first month.

VIVA EMS: At today’s shoot with VIVA, you’ve been dressed by Jo from Jabio Womenswear, I know you’ve worked with her before. What do you like about the brand?

LISA: It’s just so different, it’s edgy. Jo’s stuff is perfect, everything I would want somebody to make! I showed Jo some of my favourite clothes in my wardrobe and she created some pieces around these, she’s amazing!

VIVA EMS: Going back to the female DJ scene, which female DJ is on your radar at the moment?

LISA: Monika Kruse and Nicole Moudaber, two females showing the DJ world how it’s done and a very talented DJ/Producer Justher a fellow Leicester girl who’s making big waves in the music scene.

VIVA EMS: There’s a really good one in Manchester ha ha!

LISA: Yes, really, really good one in Manchester, I think she’s a bit of a good scratcher too!

VIVA EMS: From one of the biggest female DJs in the world, if not the biggest female DJ of all time, what top advice would you give to a DJ like myself just starting out?

LISA: Well it would be definitely find the style of music you want because people want you to have that uniform. What we book is what we expect but then again I’ve got that accolade of I’m going to play that! Just be good at your job; practice; don’t let anybody put you down; don’t follow any trend because it’s just going to be in and out; just play what you want to play.

VIVA EMS: For you personally what has been your greatest achievement in your DJ career so far?

LISA: I could say something about what I’ve achieved, the awards and stuff like that but probably not that. It’s the fact that I can help other people. I am inspiration and I didn’t even know. I was in Belfast the other weekend and this girl only DJs because she saw me at a club and at that moment went ‘I want to do this.’ I don’t realise sometimes that the music I’ve made has helped people through good times and bad times. I’ve played some of my stuff at their weddings. When I’m feeling down I’ll listen to music, it makes you feel better and if I have given that to somebody else as well to make them feel better, if they feel that way, that’s amazing. It really is amazing.

THE VIVA HOT SEAT WITH LISA LASHES…

Favourite DJ of all time? Carl Cox.

Drinks rider at gigs? Two sparkling water and a white wine.

Best headphones you’ve ever used? Sennheiser.

What music do you whack on in the morning to get you going for the day? Im a big fan of DJ Shadow, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Air and Bookershade to set me up on a chilled vibe to start my day.

First ever Saturday job? Was with my Mum at place called B Wires where I used to work in the kitchen, doing the dishwasher

Your guilty pleasure tune? Suzie Carr ‘All Over Me’.

Do you know what the number one hit was when you were born? T.Rex called Hot Love.

First single you ever brought? ‘Stand and Deliver’ by Adam and the Ants.

Eastenders or Coronation Street? Coronation Street but I don’t watch TV