TMC interview: Lauren Flax, lesbian DJ and purveyor of dark dance
interview by Anna, photos by Holly
Pushing through gays and hipsters in seasonal knitwear, we found house and electronica DJ Lauren Flax in a red-painted booth in the basement venue of Barden’s Boudoir. Just before she went on to DJ we chatted briefly to this purveyor of dark dance and echoey house. With long dark hair, a pint, a black t-shirt and black and blue tattoos curling up her arms, she’s a quiet presence but a quick glance at her credentials reveals a constellation of showbiz connections – Lauren is friends with Canadian electronica duo Telepathe (gay bowl-cut pixies) and collaborator with Sia (australian jazz-influenced pop-singer who happens to be bisexual) she is also rated by Madonna, and then is chums with Peaches (Geldof) and Romy, from the XX.
Gay herself, Lauren Flax is in with the gay royalty and top-level musicians but is reluctant to boast about it, and her clothes and attitude are much more grounded in unpretentious Detroit where she was born. Detroit is at the pumping centre of America’s DJ and rave scene, so growing up there as a musical kid Lauren sees it as almost inevitable that she fell into DJing…
“It was nothing to do with chance, it was where I was at the age I was – no-one around me was playing guitar, they were all DJ-ing. Kids would sit in their rooms playing their turntables. It was about electronics and technology and gear… I am what I am because of Detroit.”
She stuck out a bit at first with an old-school attachment to guitars but then she got converted – by her first experience with decks.
“I started with guitars, I was like – oh you guys are so lame but then I had a turntable moment… I went to my friend’s apartment, he had some decks, I put a jungle record down and something else and the room was suddenly quiet. I remember thinking ‘I could get used to this’.”
Is that the good thing about DJing? “The feeling people are listening to you?” She laughs… “Yeah I guess it is.”
I prod her a bit on her big-name music collaborators – she’s uh working with Christina Aguilera right?
“No I’m not working with Christina Aguilera – yet. But yeah it’s been great working with Sia. Telepathe, yeah I used to live across the road from Melissa, now I’m three blocks down…”
And what was she planning for Mofofest? “Tonight I’m all across the board, mostly new music, some dubstep (New York dubstep) – a lot of the dark stuff. Dark cinematic music…”
But though she’s a DJ and remixer in international demand, she’s got her eyes elsewhere, with some quirky new projects on the go: “I’m built for writing film scores… I’ve been wanting to write one for a while. I’ll continue writing pop music for other singers, but that’s my next project.”
And Lauren has just started a band – one to keep an eye on… she explains:
“I’m starting a new band called Creep with Melissa from Telepathe, and Lauren Dillard who’s at the heart of it. We want to move the focus to the darker side of dance, to cross dance with a four on the floor sound to make a dark and cinematic sound. We’re getting Romy from the XX and Peaches Geldof to sing for it. None of us want to do vocals so we’re just getting our friends to guest…”
Pretty nice if your friends are famous singers, or, well, famous at least. Anyway, expect some interesting music from this collaboration.
Lauren DJ-ed at Mofofest (club mf) in Barden’s Boudoir on Saturday 9th Jan: see our pictures from the night.
See Lauren’s MySpace http://www.myspace.com/laurenflax
Listen to Lauren Flax’s single You’ve Changed featuring Sia on Spotify
her tattoos r hot.