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Girls are turning the tables on male DJs

From the archive, first published Friday 11th Mar 2005.

A GROUP of fun-loving female DJs are out to prove that girls are better than boys. Abbie Saward, Lucia Tomek, Jenny Wren and Allie Wray are the record spinners behind Siren, Southend's only all-female DJ night. The DJing divas are hoping to encourage more women to take up the profession and show off their turntable talents, as well as showcasing their own skills. "We're trying to get women out of their shells," says Lucia, who goes by the name of Elektrobunny. The 24-year-old took up DJing eight years ago with the hope of making an impression on an underground music scene she felt was deteriorating.

Lucia now plays electro beats at Siren's twice-monthly night as well as at clubs in her native America.

Abbie brings breakbeat into the mixing pot of underground music the girls like to play.

She has been playing for four only years and sees DJing as a way of becoming closer to the music.

"It's a way of communicating the music that you love so much," adds Abbie, who is known in the clubbing world as Underground Girl.

"I was shy and had so little confidence that I didn't start DJing properly until last year, but now I've started I don't want to stop."

Techno DJ Jenny Wren has been a regular sight in DJ booths in Southend and London for six years.

After getting a pair of her own decks she says it was practice, practice and more practice which got her to where she is now.

"Live it, breath it, have your own decks and just obsess about it," she adds. The girls play at the Royal Hotel, Southend and you can catch them there tonight.

"The Royal Hotel's fun for now and we're very appreciative that we've been given this venue to play in," says Lucia, 24.

Abbie, 25, adds: "We just want to play music to people who love music.

"I want to be treated as a DJ, not a girl who's a DJ, I want to be appreciated for my technical ability."

Siren Royal Hotel, High Street, Southend, Fri, 9pm % 01702 434108

Taken from Weekend, every Friday in the Echo

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