Effy: “You’ve Got to Take Up Space For Your Art”

I’ve always been quite musical and my granddad – he’s Scottish – he played the drums in a pipe band, so I’ve always had rhythm and enjoyed a simple beat. And then my boyfriend at the time started getting into house parties and DJing a bit. I always stood behind him and just thought it looked really fun. So I tried it out a bit, and I really enjoyed the DJing part but I don’t really like attention. But I liked making loops of certain tunes and putting them together and making a new tune. I was like, ‘Oh, this is sick. Like, this is really fun’. I started DJing in my own bedroom, then I heard Maya Jane Coles on the radio and I’m like, hang on, that’s a woman. All of the DJs who made electronic music were men so DJing didn’t click at all as an option for me, and I was like, hang on, she’s made this tune, I could make that tune! By then I had started dabbling in Logic and just seeing what I could do. I was at uni at the time but I dropped out and started to intern at a few music labels and got used to the industry.

He’s my ex boyfriend. He’s a really good friend of mine to this day, he’s an accountant.

I think it’s more the latter. When I sit down and make a tune, I don’t know how it’s gonna turn out, and I don’t really know what mood I’m in until I make something and I realise I was clearly really pissed off that day, or I was clearly really upset, or really happy. I guess it’s a form of therapy for me to kind of digest my feelings one thing at a time. I just put a tracklist together of like, 10 demos that I’ve made – I still have songs on that playlist now that haven’t been released yet – and I go, ‘Okay, well, what best describes my sound?’ And then that’s why I condensed [the EP] into those tunes. It just depends how I’m feeling, more than anything.

Massively, it’s crazy. When I made “Not Yours”, I sent it to my friends and they were like, ‘Are you okay?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m fine’. And they’re just like, ‘It’s a very aggressive tune’. And I was like, ‘Oh, it’s not that bad’. And now I hear it back, I’m like, that’s really aggressive. I was not in a good headspace then at all. I was pissed off and upset about things.

The first time we connected through our shared agent, Dylan – he’s not my agent anymore, but we connected through him. I think it was during the pandemic, everything was locked down, everyone was clinging to other people to understand how they were feeling; we were all so depressed. We linked up in the studio just for fun, because a lot of time when you link up in a studio, it can go one of two ways, it can be really awkward, or it can be really fun and organic. And it was fun and organic. So we made “FMG”. We weren’t going to release it, but then Radio 1 hit us up like, ‘Do you want to do a lockdown link up?’ So that’s why we released it. And then with “Run It”, we were really good friends by then, so were just chilling and made it really randomly. We have very similar tastes, but also so different, so they kind of meet in the middle. We challenge each other a lot when we make music, so it was always really fun hanging out with [Mall Grab] and making tunes.

He’s taught me a lot, particularly with vocal samples and chopping them up. That’s always something I love to do, because I used to sing when I was young. We definitely help each other but he’s amazing. He’s so prolific and has helped me in terms of confidence as well as just owning it and doing your thing.

Absolutely not. I used to be pretty good at it, but I think I was forced into it by my mum so much that I don’t like it any more. I love chopping up other people’s vocal samples. That’s my favourite thing to do.

When I’m DJing I play a lot of techno breaks, but I also play dubstep and grime. When I moved to London from Blackpool five years ago, I was immersed in the in the grime scene so I just fucking love grime. I’d love to work with a grime artist and make some music, do a techno grime fusion? Which might be in the works, we’ll see.

I love NAYANA IZ, she’s incredible. I’ve spoken to yunè pinku; we’re trying to get in the studio together. There’s so many artists that I love.

I love collaborating with artists that electronic producers never usually would collaborate with, because I think it can make a completely different sound.

It’s interesting you ask this question now, because if you asked me a few months ago – I always speak very openly and honestly, but I’d probably come at the question with a bit more positivity. But recently, I’ve been feeling super overwhelmed actually, and a bit depressed about the state of the scene and the misogyny in it. I’ve experienced a lot recently. I was at a show the other day and they again, it’s happened loads of times – they didn’t believe I was a DJ. It was the first time I’d brought my mum and she was super upset. The best way to deal with it is to surround yourself with people that lift you up and empower you. I have a great group of girl mates who are also DJs. So TSHA, Jaguar, who’s just launched the Jaguar Foundation doing a report for gender equality, which is amazing. Helèna Star, Elke… so many amazing women I surround myself with. They have really helped me reinforce myself as an artist, empower myself and make me feel confident and also make me feel a bit more seen. There have been so many spaces recently where I felt like there’s no space for me to take up. And it’s been horrendous recently, to the point where I’ve felt like, what is the point? I’m a woman, I’m not a man, so whatever I do, it’s not going to be good enough. So sadly, right now, I wouldn’t say I’m in the best headspace to help other people with it, because I’m struggling at the moment. But the one piece of advice that I’d say for myself and other people is just to surround yourself with people that understand it. But also, I have male friends that have helped me in this space as well. But yeah, right now it’s a shitshow. To be honest, it is a boy’s club.

It’s not as cut and dry as like, you’re a woman, so piss off. It’s the little micro aggressions that happen and that men don’t even realise. Most of the time it’s not even intentional, but it’s in the foundations of our society, so it’s hard to break down and call people out when it’s so small sometimes, but it all adds to your shoulders and you just end up feeling so invisible. It affects your confidence. It means I can’t write music at the moment.. it has a massive knock on effect. I’m speaking to my therapist about it later today [laughs].

My mental health recently has been terrible, purely because of feeling so invisible. And as an artist, you’ve got to take up space for your art and feel good about yourself. Things will get better and you go through these things, it’s essentially a roller coaster but there are peaks and troughs to everything. There are some amazing people in history that lift each other up so just got to stay positive and also show everyone what you’re made of as a woman.

Well, for me, Not Yours is a bit of a rebellious phrase. When I broke up with my boyfriend years ago, I had it tattooed on my ankle: not yours. I was kind of like, fuck you. Not that he was a bad guy, he’s great. But for me, that was me taking ownership of my body, my personality, my sexuality, and I would like other people to do the same in how they feel. It’s about taking ownership of yourself and it was to empower each other and be confident on your own, be confident within yourself as an individual, no matter who you are. So the Not Yours club night would be for everyone and it would be a safe space, and for people to feel that they have enough space to take up in that actual space if you get me.

So many! I’m doing an Australia tour in October, playing Strawberry Fields amongst some other dates. I’m really excited for that because I’m just fascinated with Australia, I’ve never been and have always wanted to go. I’d love to go to Asia.

In regards to clubs, my favourite club to play is Warehouse Project’s The Concourse, that’s amazing but I’ve played that. I’d love to play Mondo Disco in Madrid. That’s a sick night. I wanna play Planet Rose in the Netherlands. They’re just just so many.  I’m pretty open to anything as long as it’s a good soundsystem. My favourite clubs are ones where the stage is in the middle of a crowd or as close to the crowd as possible because you just like to feel the energy and stuff and it’s really fun.

I’m on to the next one, I think I’ve got another one coming out at the end of this year with some cool collabs. Hopefully, fingers crossed, I won’t say too much because it might not happen but it’s a very cool collab. I’m still a young artist and want people to just enjoy my music and know what I’m about. Festivals are great but I can’t wait for club season to be back. I just love a dark club. So yeah, that’s what’s next for me, just hopefully smashing up the clubs. And the next EP, we’ll see. I don’t even know what it’s going to be about. Let’s see where my mood takes me.