Sister Bliss: DJing Is A Guy Thing- Like Computers Or Chemistry

As well as being one of the main players in one of dance music's biggest bands Faithless, North London's Sister Bliss is one of the world's biggest DJs, regularly touring the world and spinning at prestigious clubs in the UK. An outspoken former acid house raver, she helped form Faithless alongside Rollo (brother of Dido) enjoying a massive worldwide hit with their debut single Mea Culpa in 1995. Since then the band have become hugely successful commercially, with their simple yet effective formula of powerful melodic house tracks working both in clubs and on the radio.

And while they've rarely attracted the critical adulation many lesser contenders seem to get by birthright (Basement Jaxx and Adam F being just two prime examples) they've long since carved themselves a niche where such issues become irrelevant. However, while fortune has favoured their bold single-mindedness, fate intervened just before Christmas, when frontman Maxi was badly injured in a car accident. Forced to cancel the band's planned South Africa and Australian tours, Bliss nevertheless has continued her solo DJ tour which broughh her to Kuala Lumpur over the break, where she met Skrufff's Angie Ng.



Skrufff (Angie Ng): How's Maxi's health following the car accident-

Sister Bliss: "He fractured his pelvis and it's going to take 3 months to heal though we're really happy he's alive; it was a bad accident but he's OK. He's a Buddhist and he has a very positive attitude towards getting better but I think he's very shocked because he drives racing cars as well; he's crashed before but always on the track, in a controlled environment. This was just 5 minutes from his house, he'd just popped out to get petrol. It was very icy and he skidded on some ice and hit a tree. Everybody was just in shock."

Skrufff: One of your biggest hits with Faithless has been God Is A DJ: how does the DJ role differ from being in a band-

Sister Bliss: "It is different, I guess because I'm on my own. In the band, Maxi does all the hard work because he's the one who's the front person always jumping around like crazy. It's more of an ensemble, team effort in the band. There are 8 musicians; we have a drummer, there's bass, guitar, keyboards, and singers so it's like a proper rock & roll band. When I'm DJing, I just have my records and just turn up, which is freer in a way. Also, with records, I change which ones I'm playing every week, so it's fresher for me. With Faithless, I'm playing the same songs, some of which were written 6 years ago. You have to keep making them interesting; we change the arrangements of the songs, we play them slightly differently every night but it's still not quite the same as changing your records all the time. But I guess it's less lonely (laughing) being with all the guys."

Skrufff: You're one of the first females to succeed as an international DJ; how much did you (or do you still) aim for the top-

Sister Bliss: "I'm a bit of a perfectionist I'm afraid; I'm a Capricorn, I'm always climbing the mountain, I'm a little goat. It is an industry that is very male dominated so it is important that women show that they're just as capable as any guy."

Skrufff: There are more female DJs around these days though it's still very male-dominated, was it difficult for you when you first started-

Sister Bliss: "I was very lucky because I didn't become a DJ just to win in a male-dominated industry, I did it because I love music and I'm passionate about what I play. And I also learnt to mix so I didn't embarrass myself too much in my early DJing days. But I think it's to do with the fact that technology is a very much a male-dominated thing and maybe people see operating a pair of decks and mixer as a guy thing, a bit like computer stuff or chemistry. House music originated from a very gay, male scene in America, in Chicago and in New York. It wasn't a particularly female scene, though of course there were women in it, but the actual DJs t Tags

• sister bliss
• faithless
• rollo