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Misstress Barbara: Techno¹s A Really Boring Kind Of Music But. . .

Author: Jonty Skrufff
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Misstress Barbara is one of the biggest names on today¹s international
techno circuit, as well as being one of its most articulate and outspoken.
And chatting to Skrufff this week, the Italian born, Canada raised producer/
DJ is typically honest about the music she insists she loves.

³Techno is a linear type of music and I know why people hate it,² she
reveals.

³They hate it because they¹ve heard it from too many DJs who¹ve decided to
play techno because it¹s cool and trendy who don¹t know how to play it so
they mix it every 5, 6 or 7 minutes and it¹s boring. Techno¹s a really
boring kind of music, if you don¹t do anything with it.²

What Mistress Barbara specialises in is mixing and matching and working her
records over three decks, pouring her passion into eliminating linearity to
create something special. It¹s a philosophy that means she¹s remained
committed to vinyl despite the increasingly popularity of CD mixers and
Final Scratch.

³I¹ve used Final Scratch, they released a hundred pro versions that they
sold only to DJs and I got it straightaway but I decided never to use it
because I think the energy of a DJ is very different when you¹re creating a
mess with your records, always changing them and throwing them all over the
place instead of always selecting your track from a computer,² she explains.

³For a techno DJ who needs to mix quickly and on three decks, Final Scratch
really doesn¹t bring any advantage. Do you think Jeff Mills will ever switch
to Final Scratch- I don¹t think so,² she suggests.

Chatting to Skrufff this week she¹s upfront about drugs (ŒI cut all the
substances away and became a straight girl¹), getting started (ŒI was really
insulted by so many people¹) and techno (ŒI¹m devoted to it¹).


Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): What is it about techno that so inspires you-

Misstress Barbara: ³I¹m committed to techno because I love it, I don¹t think
it¹s a good idea to play music just because it¹s popular, because if you
don¹t feel it and you don¹t like it, you won¹t be good. You see DJs like
Paul Van Dyk and Tiesto playing trance and being popular; why¹s that-
Because they like what they do. I don¹t particularly like trance but they do
and that¹s one of the reasons the kids like them. The best thing is to stick
with what you genuinely like and then people will appreciate it, they¹ll
feel that you love it. So yes, I¹m very devoted to techno, because I like it
and also because ultimately, people know you for doing something and that¹s
what they want you to do. The internet exists and if people know you as a
hard techno DJ and you¹re booked and they come out of their house to see you
then that¹s what they want to hear, wherever you¹re playing.²

Skrufff: You learned to fly when you were 16 and attended film school, it
seems quite a different world from Djing and nightclubs, were your family
supportive when you gave all that up to become a DJ-

Misstress Barbara: ³Not really, not in the beginning though they we¹re
against it, saying Œdon¹t do it¹ they were more like Œyou¹re crazy¹. At the
beginning I was spending three or four hundred dollars a week on records and
I remember my father saying to me on day ŒOK, you spend several hundred
dollars a week on records, you don¹t have gigs every week and when you do
have them, how much do they pay you-¹ I was like $75 and he was like ŒOK, if
you do the maths this is not really good for you¹ and I was like Œsure,
you¹re right, if I do the maths. But this is now; one day I¹m going to earn
much more money and I¹m going to make all my money back.¹ He was like ŒOK,
but what if it doesn¹t work-¹ To which I said ŒDad, you don¹t understand,
it¹s going to work¹. He was looking at me with that Œyeah, right¹ expression
but I knew it would.

With another one of my friends, I called her just a week after I had decided
to become a DJ and I didn¹t even have decks yet and I said to her on the
phone, Œhey Natalie, I¹m a DJ
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