For late July 2000, our thirteenth interview was with DJ Curly, Texan drum and bass DJ, promoter and producer.

SISTER SF: OK first off - mini bio: You live in Texas - what's great about Texas to you, and collectives and residencies are you part of?

Curly: Man, that's a big question! First, the collectives: I am a part of Texas Hardcorps and of Rollers Redefined (the all female crew I founded in November 1997). As far as residencies, I am a resident DJ on Studio Pressure, which is the weekly Internet broadcast done by Texas Hardcorps on blastro.com. Firewheel (another member of the Rollers) and I just ended a very short-lived Sunday night residency (Sundays were just too hard, with gigs on the weekend and work on Monday). The Rollers and I also had Austin's longest running drum and bass weekly, but due to conflicts with the club management, we ended the residency in September 1998.

We are beginning a new chapter on June 27th, with the start of what I believe to be the first 21+ electronic weekly in Austin. We are going to feature DJs spinning a variety of sounds, from downtempo and hip-hop to drum and bass and house. Additionally, we want to add a live music element, with some fusions between DJs and drummers, bassists, saxaphonists, etc.

As far as what's great about Texas: well, just about everything. I love the size of the scene here; it's big enough to be very diverse and hold lots of opportunities, but small enough to still feel intimate and personal. We have a lot of reputable, responsible promoters in our state, and the caliber of DJ here is incredible. I guess the main reason I love it here is that it's home. When I go out to play a party, I am DJing with people that I went to some of my first parties with. I have watched the drum and bass scene here literally explode in the past 5 years, from a time when 300 people at an all drum and bass event was a miracle, to all drum and bass parties pulling thousands. It's nice to see that; it's nice to feel a part of it.

SISTER SF: Why and when did you begin DJing? I know you like drum and bass, but what other styles do you play?

Curly: Pretty much from the moment I got involved in the "rave" scene, I always knew that I would start DJing at some point. It just seemed incredibly normal and natural to me, especially since so many of my friends were DJs. I started buying records off and on almost immediately, but it took about 2 and a half years for me to finally say, "ok, I am going to do this". I was on my way home from a party in Dallas in August of 1997 and it just hit me. The bug bit and I absolutely HAD to start spinning, right then. I guess that I just wanted to have more of an impact on the party, and I thought that DJing would be a really great way to do that.

Drum and bass is my first love, and always will be. But, I have started spinning 2-step garage recently, which I am really enjoying. For me, it's a chance to just have fun, to not take what I am spinning too seriously. And, I am playing a bit of melodic, Chicago style house as well, but I don't know if I'll ever actually play that out for a crowd. Right now it's just for me. I've got some downtempo and hip-hop stuff I am playing around with as well. If my time and money were unlimited, I'd be proficient in a lot more than just two genres. The longer I do this, the more I find my tastes expanding.

SISTER SF: Any classical music training?

Curly: I WISH! The most I could possibly say is that I took some years of choir as a youngster, though I really wish I had more classical training, especially when it comes time to sit down and write a tune.

SISTER SF: Who inspired you to begin spinning? Have you had any women mentors in the electronic music scene? If so, who & why?

Curly: I guess all my friends inspired me to start spinning, if I have to pin it on anyone in particular. Really though, I think it was just a desire of my heart, and my friends just helped me to see it through and to see it as something that could really be done. My friends in Texas Hardcorps were really important, especially at the beginning, because they opened their equipment up to me and put up with my trainwrecks while I learned.

The only person I would really consider as a "mentor" is my best friend and agent, Shawn Jimenez, aka DJ Lord Vishnu. He's been my closest friend for years, even before I started DJing. Luckily for me, he's smart, plays a lot and knows the business of being a DJ better than almost anyone in my immediate circle. For me he's invaluable because he taught me about what to charge for my services, what kind of shit to put up with and what not to take, how to ask for things like contracts, fees and flights etc. without sounding like an asshole. He mentored me in the business of being a DJ, which I think was one of the hardest things for me to learn, and constantly supports and encourages me.

SISTER SF: How did you choose your DJ name? Was it your hair?

Curly: Curly was a nickname I got about the same time I got into the scene. It came about when I had to give myself a "handle" on vrave (hehehe who else remembers that?), back in like '95. My friend noel suggested curly (because of my hair), and it stuck. It was the first nickname I ever had that I liked, and when it came time for me to DJ out, I picked curly by default, always assuming I would change it when I thought of something cooler. Well, it's been almost 3 years and nothing cooler's come around yet...so I guess I am stuck.

SISTER SF: How do you feel has the scene changed since you began?

Curly: It's gotten a lot more mainstream and a whole lot bigger. I think that the drug use has gotten a whole lot worse: it's more blatant and the drugs are done in more ignorance and in larger quantities, plus there are a lot more really dangerous drugs (GHB and K for example) going around now that were not around when I started going to parties in '95. A lot of things have changed, but some of them are just inevitable, with it's increasing popularity and attendance.

The saddest change I see, is that the scene has become a trend, and due to that, lost I think a lot of it's "open arms" feeling. What attracted me to the scene was that I didn't have to be cool to belong here; I didn't have to be "hip". Now it seems that there are "hip" things to do (DJ for example), wear, listen to, etc. and I think that some of the new kids really lose out, because they might never experience that feeling of being totally cool, exactly the way you are.

But, some positive things have changed too: there are tons more women DJs around now than there used to be, and that's really encouraging, plus drum and bass is getting much more respect as a genre than it was when I started, and I love that.

SISTER SF: Where is it going?

Curly: I think that electronic music will continue to become more and more mainstream, hopefully not at the expense of quality, ground breaking music or the underground. We've already got electronic music on an unbelieveable amount of commercials, and in movies, television programs etc. and I think that's one of the first steps to true mainstream crossover for electronic music.

I think and hope that clubs will begin embracing this music, as they have done in England and Europe, which will bring us as DJs more educated and mature crowds. This also may help solve the problem of the "mega-rave" scene not being able to sustain itself, whether due to over-abuse of drugs or intense scrutiny from government and law enforcement.

SISTER SF: Played anywhere abroad we should know about?

Curly: Not outside of America as yet, but hopefully that will change soon.

SISTER SF: Female DJs vs. male - is the current media fad portraying female DJs in the right way?

Curly: I think that depends...sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. I have been very disappointed with most media coverage regarding female DJs and artists, especially from our underground publications, as I expect more of them; I expect them to know what is real more so like say a SPIN or Rolling Stone. Some of the coverage has been great, but sometimes it just feels frivolous, or like an afterthought. For example, the xlr8r article in December was great, one of the best written pieces about women DJs and it really dared to say a lot of things that no one else had said. But it was almost impossible to find in the magazine, and the article was tough to follow as a whole, as in which pieces went together, and I think that really diluted it's message.

But regardless of the media coverage, or lack thereof, women continue to rock it. The media really just sucks anyway and rarely gets *anything* right, so why should we be surprised? Luckily, it doesn't really matter much.

SISTER SF: Is being taken seriously as a woman performer an issue for you? What do you do to make sure you're given an equal standing and opportunity?

Curly: I think that being taken seriously as a woman is definitely an issue, in every aspect of life (oh no, I sound militant!). Luckily, I think it's much less an issue in my DJing now than it used to be. One because of time: women DJs are much less novelties than they were when I started DJing. And two: because I am a lot smarter now about handling my business and I can usually see charlatans and people out to exploit me coming a mile away. I just try to listen to my instincts, because they are usually right on the money.

SISTER SF: What woman (in general) do you admire most & why?

Curly: That is probably the hardest question you are asking. How can I pick one woman? There are so many worth admiring, so many that inspire me. At this exact second, I guess I'd like to mention the women of www.about-face.org

This is a group of woman that investigate advertising and media, and the messages they send to women and young girls. It is startling to know "that 68% of a sample of Stanford undergraduate and graduate students felt worse about their own looks after reading women's magazines." (Liz Dittrich, Ph. D.)

I admire these women for making this knowledge readily available and for their own campaigns to combat negative images in advertising and the media.

SISTER SF: How do you feel about "all female" events?

Curly: After spending the majority of my life having no close female friends, I am amazed at the degree to which I require and believe in women-only spaces. It is difficult for me to put my feelings about this in "tangible" terms, but I will try. There is something that happens when a group of strong, supportive women get together and collaborate, whether on politics, poetry, music, etc.

There is an energy there that I find undeniable and unduplicated in any "mixed-gender" setting. I find that energy to be refreshing and empowering. I find it increases my self-confidence and pushes me to excellence in whatever area the group is collaborating in. These "women only" spaces are additionally important because I honestly believe that even the most well-intentioned man can never offer the support and understanding of what it's like to be a woman in a man's world. And I don't think any of us would deny that this is a man's world.

While I do believe that women only events can be demeaning I do NOT agree that they are always demeaning. For example, sister, chicks dig it in TO, hell I have an all woman DJ crew that has been the SAVIOR of my DJing: I would not be spinning still today without those girls. Why is the idea of an all woman party so offensive to some people? No one seems offended by Lilith Fair.

I believe that all-woman events, promoted properly *WILL* help to expose audiences to female DJs and *WILL* lessen the novelty of such DJs. I am thrilled to have been a part of "A Room of Our Own", which was a party thrown by women (Real Time Syndicate), with all women DJs, to raise money for women and children's charities. It was breathtakingly beautiful to me to work with those women.

SISTER SF: How do you define art?

Curly: That's a tough question. I guess that, to me, art is when someone puts his or her soul out for the world to see. In this way, actors, musicians, painters, and even DJs, are artists. I think one of the highest complements I have ever been paid, as a DJ, is when someone told me that my personality really shown through when they saw me spin. To me, that's the whole point: to try and give my audience a glimpse of why I love the music I am playing so much, and to hopefully, get them to love it too. To affect the mood of the crowd, to make them forget themselves and just surrender to the music, there is art in that.

Obviously, as a DJ, other people make most or all of the music I play, but you can give two DJs the same twenty records and get two totally different sets. I think that in choosing to play what I play, when I play it, how I play it, to create a vibe, that is my art.

SISTER SF: What labels do you look for in record stores?

Curly: For drum and bass: Certificate 18, Moving Shadow, V, Full Cycle, Reinforced, Good Looking/Looking Good, Cadence, True Intent, LostTrack, Green Label, 720, Cookin', Hospital, Intercom, Tribe, Thermal, Tiamat, Creative Source, Frontline, Higher Education, Cause 4 Concern, Penny Black, Piranha, Audio Blueprint.

For 2 step: Durex, Locked On, All Good, BAD, Ice Cream, Kronik, Red Rose, DJs for Life, Public Demand, DND, Relentless and a whole lotta whites.

Basically, if it's a good tune, I want to buy it. I try really hard to not only listen to things I think I am going to like, because you never know who's going to surprise you.

SISTER SF: When you're not DJing, what do you do?

Curly: Produce shows for Studio Pressure (http://www.hardcorps.org/studiopressure), read, watch movies, play Perfect Dark, chat and otherwise waste time on the Internet, oh and work my full time 9-5 job.

SISTER SF: Favorite gig? Dream gig?

Curly:I think my favorite gig at this point has to be playing at "A Room of Our Own" for Real Time Syndicate. Such a quality lineup of female talent, and we had a side room for new female DJs, which gave these fresh girls an opportunity to play in front of a crowd on a big system, and I am sure gave them a great memory of a first gig. The party had a great vibe, everyone there knew that they were witnessing something special and giving money to a good cause. It was one of the best parties I have ever been to, and I got to play at it.

As for a dream gig, if I am going to dream, I am going to dream big. So here goes: playing main floor in London at Swerve or the Blue Note, with Bill Riley, Die vs. Krust with MC Dynamite, Storm, Wildchild and MC Chickaboo, DJ Rap, Vishnu, Siren, Firewheel and Freedom on the lineup. If I ever have this dream, please do not wake me up!

SISTER SF: Gig horror story?

Curly: I don't have many of these really. The worst thing that's happened is probably when the owner of the club we had our first residency at told another one of the girls in the crew "you don't really think they come here for your music do you? Keep wearing short skirts and tight shirts and they'll keep coming." What a loser. But, we did get quite an education from that sexist pig, and it made us grow up real fast. Not to mention helped build a name for our crew and gave me (who was an utter rookie) some really good experience working a crowd.

SISTER SF: Exactly what equipment do you use?

Curly: Two Technicss 1200 turntables, Numark DM2000X mixer, Ortofon Nightclub needles mounted on Technicss headshells, and Sony MDR-V500 headphones (though I will probably upgrade to the V-700s soon)

SISTER SF: Any producing in the past/present/future?

Curly: Right now, I really don't have as much time or money to devote to production as I would like. Every day that goes by, I want to spend more and more time in a studio. Right now, to satiSan Franciscoy some of this lust, I have been goofing around with some production on my computer. I have finished one tune (a drum and bass remix of Beck for a launch.com contest) and am playing with some others. It's not the most sophisticated system, but I am learning about structure, etc. if not about gear.

SISTER SF: What are your goals for the future in regards to DJing?

Curly: I'd just like to get better and better and to have the opportunity to play for more and more people. I'd like to do more traveling, to play in different cities, but ultimately, I hope that this stays something that I really enjoy doing. I don't ever want it to feel like work.

SISTER SF: Whose record crate would you steal if you could?

Curly: Oh boy. There are so many! For example: Bill Riley, Ray Keith, Fabio, Rob Playford, LTJ Bukem, Blame, and Storm. Any of those would be *just* fine.

Curly was interviewed by XJS.

Contact Curly for bookings at curly@hardcorps.org