TRIALS Whilst being a woman in a notoriously masculine scene may have helped
B.Traits break into gigging abroad, this came with inevitable downsides, and on more than one occasion she had to resort to a hard ass attitude to keep patronising chumps in line. “Now there are loads of female DJs, it’s awesome… back then I got loads of shit, I paid my dues, and constantly had to stand my ground and be a bitch. I had my rules, always be professional with everyone, but I had my line, and if someone crossed my line I’mma fucking let them know about it — I mean I’d be like, ‘If I’m too nice to you, you’ll think I’m hitting on you or something!’ I was much more aware that I was looked at a certain way because I was a girl in the industry. I admit I was maybe a little bit harsher back then. The stereotype I messed with a lot was
the idea that being a girl in this industry, obviously I was sleeping with someone to get where I am, which fucking killed me. I was like, ‘I do not date people in this industry’ — I had a really serious boyfriend at the time, and it would just drive me mental, a constant drama that was so unnecessary.”
Much to the disconcertion of her haters,
B.Traits quickly picked up international renown for her quick mixing, bpm hopping, party style. Eventually she found herself touring with Shy FX, and the next major part of the puzzle fell into place. “I was on the World of Drum & Bass tour with Shy, and we just talked loads and loads about different music, different scenes, and the genres we were into. He was coming out early to watch me DJ, and said, ‘Yeah you’ve got the stage presence, I want someone on the label who can bring that kind of energy’. He asked
me to send him some tracks, then eventually asked me to join Digital Soundboy. I was like, ‘Oh my God I’m on the best label ever!’ But then I kinda didn’t really do anything for years. I was living in Vancouver, I was in a serious relationship, I had a house and a dog, I wasn’t producing as much as I wanted to be, using Logic and getting really frustrated. I’d be phoning Shy for help and it’d be six in the morning in England and he’d be like, ‘It’s too early to answer your questions!’ “So then I decided that I wanted to move to London in 2010. I came over here and did some work with Donae’o, then I went back to Canada, and I was like, ‘I’m done with this place’. And I left my boyfriend, my dog, my house, sold all my shit and came to London. The first few months were very weird and emotional for me, I started from the absolute fucking bottom again, no gigs, no way of making any money, Digital
THE TUNES THAT SHAPED BRI
SHY FX ‘Original Nuttah’ “Obviously.”
Dillinja ‘Live Or Die’ “The first drum & bass record I ever bought. I’m gonna do a whole fucking show of Dillinja, get him on and play a load of Capone stuff, everyone would love it.”
The Prodigy ‘Breathe’ “I loved it, I loved the energy. He’s [Keith Flint is] just talking about how he’s such a badman. When I was a kid, I had this tape deck, and when my parents were out, I’d give the tape deck to my little brothers and hide in our big creepy house. They’d play the tape, like a mix of stuff I put on there. When ‘Breathe’ came on they’d get really scared cos they knew I’d run out of my hiding place screaming at them. They’re still freaked out by it.”
Awesome 3 ‘Don’t Go’ “I love ‘Don’t Go’ and anything like it, with that euphoria, the energy it’s got just sticks with me.”
Digital Mystikz ‘Anti War Dub’ “A huge track for me, when it came out, I was just like, ‘This is me!’ It was different, I absolutely loved it.”
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