shirley temper
shirley temper
shirley temper
How did you first get into DJing and producing?
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I was a DJ first but have been doing music my whole life. I’m classically trained in piano and violin. Growing up in a pretty working class town (Aldershot) a lot of the kids I went to school with didn’t end up on the best paths in life and my parents worked so so hard to keep my sister and I busy and occupied outside of school. Coming from a working class and immigrant background this was such a privilege. Music has always been a release. Whilst I’ve always loved dance music, I was lucky enough to study abroad in Berlin at uni and fell totally in love with rave culture. It was actually after seeing VTSS on my 21st birthday with the DJ Atalaya that we both decided we wanted to do what she was doing. Few years later we got to play Boomtown on the same stage. Life is crazy.
How did your latest releases ‘Pulse’ on Hardcore Energy and ‘Girlies Love Hardcore’ on Raiders come together?​
'Girlies Love Hardcore' is the first fruits of this vision. It actually came together when I got sick of having to look on splice for some sick female vocals or rip some oldskool vocals. I wanted to just do something that felt 100% original so just recorded my own vocals on my iPhone and sent them to myself and the rest of the track just discovered itself. I wanted something that was booty shaking, stompy and sexy - I’m actually working on a free-party inspire VIP remix for this right now too.
'Pulse' came together when I was wanting to play around with different rhythms and drum patterns. I’ve been really fixated on the idea of transcending genres and just merging all my influences together. It’s something you’re gonna be hearing a lot more from me moving forward. In general I try to avoid going for a specific sound when writing music but rather focus on the feeling or vibe I want to create, the narrative I want to pursue and write intuitively from there.
You released ‘The Office Party’ EP at the start of last Summer, what were your main inspirations for the project?​
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The Office Party EP is definitely my fave project so far by a mile. It actually came together after seeing a video of myself at SSBB/BFR in Sheffield last year. I was wearing one of my fave office shirts for the set and had the booty bouncers all around me going crazy. Samurai Breaks and I joked that I looked like I was directing all of them and then the idea was basically born there. The tracks I wrote for the EP came together super quickly and are definitely peak Shirley tracks - playful, c*nty, yet hard and fast. My corporate persona is part of my world and I wanted anyone who related to it to be able to feel they could tread between the two worlds too.
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You also released another EP ‘Gxrl Power’ for International Women’s Day last year - how was the process of putting it together?​
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GXRL Power came together super quickly too - I really wanted to do something for women’s day and dedicated to all the amazing women in my life. It was definitely more an exploration into the jungle techno and hardcore sounds I enjoy producing too so I’m glad people seemed to resonate with it. Getting some of my JGNG friends to do vocals for the GXRL POWER track was really special as it was inspired by all of them too.
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‘Mistaken Identity’ shows a slightly different side of your sound. How important is it for you as a producer to stay creating within a range of sounds?
Mistaken Identity was actually a happy accident that I just continued to roll with. It was when I was just getting to grips with serum and making big warper tracks. To be honest the two on that ep are not my favourite tunes looking back - but at least we got a banging remix track from that release!
"I was lucky enough to study abroad in Berlin at uni and fell totally in love with rave culture."
Your productions draw from hardcore, jungle, booty bass, footwork, donk, dubstep, and jersey club. How do you go about merging all of those genres into something uniquely “Shirley Temper”?
So a fellow artist recently described my music as “160 Pop Music” and I cannot state how much that resonates with me. I’m a deep lifelong lover over pop music and have so much love for female pop stars outside of dance music and the image and vision I have for being able to merge all of this in Shirley World…I’m so excited!
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Something uniquely Shirley Temper - sassy, flirty, empowering and powerful. I definitely try get that sound across all of my tunes, whether it doing all of my own vocals or even remixing a track that the girlies love, capturing these feelings and getting people to feel sexy at 160BPM is definitely at the centre of the Shirley World I’m trying to create. Shirley Temper is a 160BPM Diva Popstar and you’re going to hearing so many more original tracks with my own vocals going forward. I’m so so excited to share it all!
As a resident at Jungyal and Gays & Das Booty, you’re rooted in two vibrant and gowing communities. How have those residencies influenced you creatively and personally?
Das Booty have backed me from the very start. They’ve been such good big brother figures for me and have helped me achieve so much and even put up with my meltdowns! They welcomed me with open arms when I was brand new to the London circuit and haven’t stopped backing me since. I love playing and dancing at their events as you can meet so many different people from all walks of life who all come together over a love of so many genres.
JGNG are well and truly my family too. I’ve never been part of a group that is so so supportive of one another and also just enjoying going out dancing and doing wholesome shit together too. I feel so so understood by them and we back each other 100%. Just so grateful to have all the JGNG crew in my life!!
If you could choose any artist for your dream b2b - who would it be and why?​
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Dream b2b? There are so many amazing artists I admire for this. I actually recently got to tick one off the artists by going b2b with I.JORDAN on their rinse show. Would also love to b2b Sherelle and Samurai Breaks - no doubt about that. B2Bs I’ve yet to do that promoters need to make happen for sure include: Amelia Leigh, SYNTAX, Cheetah, Hypershè, Cheff the Boy, Melba.
"Through my music I want people to feel sexy, flirty, cheeky and playful in the dance."
You’ve always been vocal about supporting new talent. Which women or gender minority producers and DJs would you recommend we check out?​​
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My absolute favourite at the moment is Haaji ka Halva. She’s a wicked South Asian artist based around Manchester that does all of her sets in Ableton Push and she live samples her favourite South Asian music and 90s R&B over jungle. It’s so fucking cool and I’ve not heard anything like it before. It makes me want to start doing it with music from my Motherland Thailand too! Also two producers based in Wales, Grace Wolfe and TOMI2TEKI. Both doing absolute bits with 160/Jungle fusions which is right up my street. 2CUTE2CUE has also been sending me some wicked tunes too that I’ve been super inspired by.
Visuals, artwork, and identity play a big role in your projects. How important is it for you to create a full Shirley Temper world beyond just the music?​
Shirley World is a state of mind and feeling for sure. Shirley Temper is a 160 Diva Popstar. I’m really trying to hone in on being an artist with actual artistry so have been really focused on having a distinct essence and vibe for each release.
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I’ve also been really inspired by the other artists I’ve worked with for releases. For example, for GXRL POWER I collaborated with 100% queer artists for the visuals and mastering. It was a release that celebrates both femininity and queerness and they understood the vision of the world I was trying to create and were able to help feed into it. From then on I’ve been super intentional with every track I write for each release, even going as far as to create vision boards by hand before I’m even writing and write my narrative and intentions in my journal. I think it’s why I struggle with compilation releases as I can’t just make a single track and want to have more creative control and vision for a bigger world and picture. The bigger world is Shirley World. Through my music I want people to feel sexy, flirty, cheeky and playful in the dance.
