Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Female DJs Get 'Er Done

History, respect and talent go into producing good music
64329_l

Who: B.Traits, Betti Forde, Bitchin' & Jubilee

When: Friday, Oct. 29, 9:30 p.m.

Where: Garfinkel's

Cost: $10

"Women DJs are viewed as either gimmicks - if we're not good at what we do, then we're gimmicks - and we're only DJs because we're girls and we have tits or we sucked off the promoter, or we just look good when we're up there," DJ Betti Forde stated matter-of-factly.

"If we're good at what we do, then we become tokens. We're good despite being a girl. But if a guy DJ goes up to DJ and he sucks, he's just a bad DJ. No one's ever like, 'He's just up there because he has a penis!'"

Well, there you have it, then. Seriously, the woman pictured above may be blonde, but she's no bimbo.

Forde (also known as Maren Hancock) is a veritable veteran on the DJ scene (she's been at it since 1998), but she's also a feminist academic who has already earned a B.A. (Hon.) and a M.A. in Women's Studies & Gender Relations, a musicologist and activist.

"I'm doing a PhD right now, and my dissertation is about female DJs in Canada," she said, explaining that she's moved from Vancouver to Toronto to enroll in a scholarship program at York University.

But so far, she's been finding that there aren't a whole lot of textual or virtual resources available on the subject. In fact, she can only seem to find a handful of other scholars that have even touched on the topic of female DJs. Rebecca Farrugia, another graduate student at the University of Berkeley who is studying contemporary women DJ collectives, is paving the way, with Hancock hot on her heels.

"I'm conducting a historical analysis of women DJs specific to Canada. We've had DJs for about 100 years now," Forde said, explaining that 1904 was when the first piece of recorded music was played on the radio. It was played by a guy.

"But the second-ever person to play a piece of music on the radio was a French (Canadian) woman," she added.

"So, basically I want to document the history of women DJs in Canada just to document that we've always been here, because we're being written out of the picture."

She points to the examples of a well-known book, Last Night A DJ Saved My Life , which claims that women have been frozen out of the craft in the past 94 years, and another more recent text that says, "There are no women in this book. That's not our fault, that's just how history has dealt it."

"In saying that, you're really closing the door on the possibility that we have existed for 100 years, and I don't think that's true! Historically, women have always been shut out of history and then we have to go back and reclaim our heroes."

So, would an all-female DJ tour could be considered a research trip? Okay, that might be a stretch.

Forde is just one of the veteran DJs heading out on the Get 'Er Done tour for a third straight year, playing stops in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Nelson and, yes, right here in Whistler next Friday night.

Before moving to Toronto, Hancock was truly the queen of Vancouver's underground music scene, incorporating a huge range of styles and genres - everything from hip hop to disco - into her unique electro-funk sound. On top of all that, Forde is the recording MC for the electro-rap band, Stinkmitt, a group that has opened for some big names (Diplo, Peaches, Chromeo and Keoki).

Of course, the concept of an all-female tour wasn't altogether foreign to this seasoned DJ. She's toured worldwide with Stinkmitt, but she said it's always an inspiring experience to head out on the road with an all-female crew.

"All of us are over 30 and we all have over a decade of DJ experience behind us, so that's really exciting, because you don't often see all these women with all this experience, and you don't really get to see them play all together."

Anna Von Frances is tour manager and founder of the Pink Mafia, a promotional company that does it all - bookings, PR, event planning, you name it. They're also the crew behind the Get 'Er Done tour, which features some of North America's best and brightest female talent. This year's lineup includes some big names alongside residents Bitchin (Mama Miche and Kenzie Clarke), Riviera and Forde. The Pink Mafia has also brought on Star Eyes of Trouble & Bass out of New York, B.Traits of the Digital Soundboy crew, and two more New Yorkers, Roxy Cottontail and Jubilee. And at the Whistler date, we have B.Traits, Betti Forde, Bitchin' and Jubilee stepping to the decks.

"I work with a lot of DJs, period - guys and girls - and I was sort of hearing from my guy friends all the time about tour stories and road stories and all this 'bro-ing down' with each other, and I just wasn't really hearing that from my girl friends, because when they went on tour - if they went on tour at all - they were the only girl, usually," Von Frances said.

"It's a very different experience for a girl on the road with a bunch of guys than it is for a bunch of guys. So I thought, 'Well, how come they don't have an all-girl tour? Like, that's ridiculous!'"

Never one to sit around and wait for someone else to do the work, Von Frances started coordinating the first Ger 'Er Done tour. The concept received a positive response from most promoters, booking agents, sponsors and the industry in general. And it has only improved.

"It's one of those things where they're either: 'Who wants to come and see a bunch of girls?' or they're like, 'Oh my god, that's such a good lineup!'"

Even though Forde finds that people aren't as shocked to see female DJs anymore, she does notice that people still seem to be constantly surprised at their level of skill.

"Part of it is sexism - they don't expect women to be good DJs," she said. "But I think also, we are all really fucking good, and these days there are a lot of DJs that are young and didn't grow up playing records - they grew up with their iPods and digital music, so they don't understand sound and what actually sounds good in a room.

"I think a lot of people are getting used to hearing shitty DJing from young, inexperienced DJs."