I sat down with DJ Minx to talk about winning the She Can DJ competition and find out what happens next!
What were the steps involved in you getting into the finals of the She Can DJ Competition? I’m sure there were a lot of them.
Initially it was a word of mouth competition within the industry directed at already existing professional females. We had to submit a twenty minute mix, and our bios up until today. They then narrowed it down to a top 75, then we went through another interview process. Later they came around to our clubs and watched us DJ, then it was narrowed down to a top 30. From there they selected a top 10. All the girls got to meet, we spent a week together doing photoshoots and interviews and then we went about our business as usual leading up to the final night.
Last night, you were crowned the winner. Can you point to anything that might have pushed you over the line?
Definitely my Dad on other people’s shoulders. Definitely a tick in the box there.
Crowd interaction is really important, I got the crowd pretty pumped. There is nothing worse than a DJ not enjoying it. If you’re jumping around, having fun, getting the crowd involved that all helps. I’m a bit of an animal, I like to get up there and dance and sing along.
So what did you throw into the mix?
A few favourites actually. I have a few friends that have made a few mixes lately, a bit of Swedish House Mafia, and I started with Aviicii “Levels”. It was a pretty big, epic track to start with.
So you got the crowd on your side then?
Yeah, and like I said, my Dad on shoulders would have definitely helped.
This competition of course has a lot of amazing opportunities especially getting to go to Ibiza and DJ alongside Guetta and Swedish House Mafia.
Hell yeah. I’m pretty damn excited about that, getting to rub shoulders with those guys and play a couple of gigs. I leave tomorrow. Packing tonight and off tomorrow.
When you got into this competition did you have to put anything else on hold?
No, it was business as usual. You need to be out there working and touring, and they wanted us to keep doing that. The more you’re out there promoting ourselves the better it would be for the winner in the long run. I actually just got back from New York, I played Quick Silver over there on Saturday. I got enough time to quickly do my washing.
When did you get your start as a DJ? When did you realise that this was what you wanted to do?
I think when “One Love” came to Adelaide when I use to live there, that was a huge thing. We never really got big nights like that down there so to cement a weekly one night club event that was huge and to play amongst some of the biggest DJ’s in the country and in the world for that club night I thought this is amazing, this is what I want to do.
What would be your top tips for up and coming DJ’s trying to make their mark?
I think other than being able play, you have to get out there and network with other people in the industry. It could be the people that you meet along the way that help you in the future. You just need to get out there and meet as many people as possible, that was the biggest thing for me
.
And with DJing itself, do you use CD’s or computer programs?
I use CD’s, I started out on vinyls and CD’s, I learnt on both, but when it came down to it my bank account didn’t allow me to buy lots of vinyls. I’ve seen too many computer failures in clubs to make me move over.
With the other girls in the competition, do they just go about music as usual?
I think so. Alison Wonderland also got a record deal with EMI through this competition which is fantastic. She’s a bit different to me, she’s a bit more party mash up and she’s producing at the moment. Helena’s producing at the moment as well, and all the other girls tour and gig all weekend so I’m sure a few opportunities will come out of this for them as well.
You mentioned party mash up as one of the genre’s of DJing, what would you consider your genre?
I play big room house and progressive house. In big room, big club rooms.
How do you discover a new track to play? Is it word of mouth, or a hype machine website, what is it?
I think the more contacts you have in the industry, you filter it through them. You get them through the contacts itself, through them direct.
In the 80’s with the rise of Hip Hop, DJing was respected as a way of performing. When digitial came around people stopped celebrating it because it seemed easier now. Competitions like She Can DJ are really showing that the respect is back.
It’s more than just getting up there and DJing, it’s performing. It’s such a huge industry, it’s not enough to just DJ anymore. You have to get up there and perform. There’s a huge entertainment factor now.
What would you say is the best DJ set you’ve seen?
That’s really tough, I’ve been to so many gigs. Actually Sebastian Ingrosso at Stereosonic last year, when he closed his set, that was epic. Dirty South I just saw in New York over the weekend, that was pretty amazing.
