Not bad for a girl
Not bad for a girl
Not bad for a girl
Introduce yourselves and the role that you play within Not Bad For A Girl?
THT GRL: I'm Lotte, and my DJ name is THT GRL. I'd say for the majority, I am just a DJ, but I have been involved heavily more recently on the social side. So I've been doing a lot of silly reels like unwritten rules, or bad advice, or good advice for DJs and stuff like that.
I love the social content …​
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THT GRL: Honestly, I've always wanted to do a bit more with it. We just started coming up with, like, really silly ideas. They started off with, like, good advice, and I would just make really bad advice, but being real.
DaiSu: I'm Daisy or DaiSu again, similar to Lotte. I'm one of the DJs in the collective. I don't know … I consider myself the personality hire! We all kind of pitch in on different projects just based on who has capacity and everything, then Martha is the driving force behind getting things done a lot of the time!
"We want the label to be a place where female, non-binary and trans people can take their music careers from 0 to 100."
How was Not Bad For A Girl brought to life?
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DaiSu: So I think similar to Night Gxrl, just the frustration of being in the music scene and very rarely seeing women on lineups, or even like going to house parties and not seeing women DJing. We do have to credit it as being Martha's brainchild initially, and it was essentially off the back of an event she'd co-organised and been given zero credit for by the guy who was the face of it. The morning after that, we were sitting in Spoons, and she was like - I'm gonna form a collective.
Then there were people like Lotte and like everyone else in the collective, who were other DJs who we knew in the scene. It was only five years ago, but I think pre-pandemic, there were even fewer non male DJs than there are now. I think it was much more male dominated so it’s really good to see the explosion of queer and non-binary people in the music scene.
You’ve also recently launched your label ‘Equal Parts’, can you tell us more?
Martha: We’re done with being harassed in the booth. We’re bored of seeing the same male artists on every line up. It’s time to say enough is enough to the tired pattern of misogyny that is suffocating the scene. The music industry is broken, and we’re here to fix it.
Our ambition is to grow EQUAL PARTS to a level where we can give emerging artists the opportunity to collaborate on creative projects alongside more established music legends. We want the label to be a place where female, non-binary and trans people can take their music careers from 0 to 100.
I want to go back to your amazing unwritten rules and ask you guys, what is your kind of ultimate unwritten rave rule?​
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DaiSu: Just don't start mosh pits when it's not appropriate, which a lot of people really didn't like. There is nothing worse than when you're just trying to have a nice time with your friends, and someone isn't minding their personal space and keeps bashing into you, or like they're doing that thing where they kind of like, throw themselves into the crowd.
THT GRL: Throwing drinks … when you finish with your cup, it's just so annoying. I don't know if it's being really unlucky, but touch wood, I've probably been hit at about every festival I go to! I'm hit by at least one flying drink a weekend, and it's really irritating!
Luke Bryant
You had a really busy and amazing 2024! What was the highlight for you?
THT GRL: Oh, that's a big question - mine would 100% be Boomtown. Obviously it's been on my bucket list to play a set there since I went in 2017. We thought that they had cleared the whole line up but then we got a DM - I was really shocked, but it's been a goal of mine. It was just nice to be able to play at a festival that I've always dreamed of playing at. So I'd say that even though all the festivals are so amazing, that's probably like a standout moment for me this summer.
DaiSu: Mine would have to be Project 6 Festival, which was obviously new this year, and that was right at the beginning of the summer. I play a lot of bass music, like grime and dubstep, and being on a lineup with a lot of people who are so big in that scene just felt like a big move forward. These kinds of full circle moments.
I think playing a warehouse project earlier last year with 6 Music was again, like one of those, like full circle moments. It was mental. It was so much fun because we played there last September in the little pub bit, The Star & Garter, this time it was in Archive. It had visuals running along the like screens on the ceiling - it was just bonkers.
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"I think taking that step and really pushing yourself on that front is a really, really good way to give yourself those opportunities."
You work with a lot of emerging DJs, what would be some advice you would give to DJs starting out?​
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DaiSu: I think so much of it is about putting yourself out of your comfort zone and being willing to network and to reach out to people and say, ‘hey, I want to work with you’, which is absolutely terrifying. Even now, I still find it really, really scary, but that is the best way to get opportunities.
There are so many DJs out there these days, you can be super talented, but that doesn't necessarily mean people are going to know who you are. I think being brave enough to take that deep breath and message that person whose radio show you really like, or this collective or this brand or whatever, and say, like, hey, like, I really love what you're doing. I think taking that step and really pushing yourself on that front is a really, really good way to give yourself those opportunities.
THT GRL: Mine would be - if you want to work with someone or play an event or a guest mix, start sharing their stuff on stories and if you see a mix that they've released, or they put an event on that you like the look of, share it on your story - people get notified for it.
An example is I got a booking for Hide and Seek festival because they saw me interacting with their content continuously. So it kept my name in their mind and that's one of the reasons why they rebooked me. Some people don't like resharing other people's content, and that's fine. I feel like some newer DJs, when you’re trying to get your name out there, those whose content you share will get a little notification. I feel like that's one thing I've learned more recently and you'll probably get a follow back or something!
You guys had some really great partnerships like working with Converse, how important is it for companies to invest and platform organisations like yourself?
DaiSu: Yeah, I think that it's important in the sense that we're obviously still trying to platform underrepresented voices ourselves and I think it's really validating to big companies who are willing to then themselves, amplify those discussions and those voices. I think it's something that definitely we would like to see more of but it's obviously so tricky because it is sometimes quite political.
It's not that kind of pink washing or rainbow washing or whatever, I'm all for companies doing things that are enacting genuine change and are part of a genuine effort to make a difference.
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How was it working with them?
DaiSu: I think if you look at a lot of the other campaigns they've done there does tend to be a lot more diversity. They worked with us for Valentine's Day initially, and then also for pride, and I think the fact that they kind of came back to us for two different, two separate events, was really, really positive. We have sort of maintained a relationship with them which has been really, really nice and really, really positive.
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You guys also teamed up with Fast and Bi-Furious for an event. How did the collab come about and how important is it for you guys to be a champion for other minorities within the scene?​
​DaiSu: We wanted to start building a platform in London because we were a lot more well known up north than we are down here. I think quite a few of us had heard of Fast and Bi-Furious before and being a collective of mostly queer people especially, we thought that we could take the chance and reach out to them and see if they wanted to work with us.
Finally, I want to know who are some DJs that you think that we should be listening to?​
DaiSu: Mine would be Urbi, who has played for us a couple of times. She's Manchester based. She plays a lot of house - super, super cool. She's been popping off recently, I think she launched her own label earlier this year - also an incredible DJ. Also Shirley Temper, they're more London based, they're also just like a sweetheart, amazing producer, amazing DJ, and just the nicest, coolest person. So definitely, definitely, check them out.
Shout out, Ila Brugal, who is one of my friends. I guested on her Rinse show and we were playing back to back and you know when you see someone mix and you're like, oh my god, like, how are you doing? Just unbelievably talented. She started releasing her own stuff recently as well, which, if you're a fan of bass music and like slightly more left-field stuff - 10 out of 10.
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THT GRL: First off, it’s got to be Cicely. So Cicely is originally a photographer. They're based in London and a couple of years ago, she became a DJ and she's been absolutely killing it. She's definitely the harder style of music and it's really cool.
She's created a night called NRG Cru and off of that, she's created like a sub night of it, where it's all new DJs and they bring in an experienced DJ who just gives a talk before all the sets, and then all the newer DJs get a little set as well. It brings a whole community together, then she invites industry people and gets them all to network.
Another one to mention is Awedinary. So Awedinary is based, I believe, in Manchester. They play bassline and I've had a lot of good conversations with them about the industry, and how they’re seeing the problems that are still existing like diversity and the unfairness that still goes on. but she posts a lot of baseline and things like that.
Last is Lara, her name DJ is Larishka. She's relatively new to DJing as well. She co runs Ghosts of Garage, which is a massive UK garage event in Manchester. And she's been making ways with that!
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