Talking to: REX
Meet REX, a queer Bristol-based DJ taking the local underground dance scene and making it theirs. After completing Saffron’s Mix Nights course in late 2019, REX has not held back in quickly becoming one of Bristol's most exciting DJs, blending everything from Grime and Dubstep to UK Funky and breaks. With guest mixes for brands including Reloaded Sounds, Shellingz, SWU and Resonance FM, a residency with 1020 Radio, as well as mixing for the likes of Wiley at an Eskidance Livestream in 2021, they have never failed to provide a highly skilled mix to get you dancing, whatever the occasion.
We caught up with Rex and talked about the importance of schemes like Saffron and queer-led nights like Crotch providing more queer and femme musicians with the space and tools to make it on the dance music scene, as well as their own musical journey and where they are going next.
So, Rex, first of all, what got you into the dance music scene?
I guess I was just going to raves and stuff like that. I wasn't really involved in it and then as soon as I started getting involved I thought ‘Where are the women? It's not that there aren't any here, it's just that they're not being given opportunities and the same sort of spotlight as men’.
I never thought I would have been able to do it and then it was sort of like, ‘well, why not? Why is it such an unattainable thing?’ If you're not already involved in dance music it just always felt like it was being gate kept. It doesn't have to be like that. You can just play if you want.
So you got into DJing through learning on the Saffron Mix Nights course?
Yeah, it was so good. I was doing events first; I put on all-female grime nights. It was just giving women and people who hadn't really played out before a space to go and be able to play and it was so much fun. Then I thought to myself 'you all look like you're having so much fun there, I want to do that!’ I bought a controller and tried to teach myself and I tried to get on the Saffron course a few times but because there were so many people applying I didn't get onto it until my third time applying. That was pre COVID, and I think I had something like two lessons left and we went into lockdown.
What did the Mix Nights course give you in terms of not just technical know how but also contacts and confidence?
All of your tutors are DJs who are actively playing out and have a career, so even getting to know them was good. If you don't know any DJs or promoters, it's difficult to put yourself out there and get to know the scene. And then at the end of each course you play an event, they do a showcase, so that gives you experience of playing out and how events go. When they put a showcase on it gives you the experience and then the confidence of being able to say, ‘I've done it now’, so you can start putting yourself out there and recording mixes and getting in touch with promoters. It makes it a lot more comfortable.
What sort of music do you play?
I started off mainly playing grime and then I got into dubstep and that side of things, although recently I’ve started branching out into playing bits of jungle and drum and bass. I like trying to incorporate it all together instead of just sticking to one genre. I'll start at like 130 bpm in a set and then I'll sometimes finish it at 175 playing Drum n Bass. I try not to let genre labels keep me down.
I suppose you're really narrowing down your view if you stick to one genre, aren't you?
Exactly. It's so confining. If that's what you want to do, fair enough, but I just love being able to play different genres in the same set and then sometimes people come up to me and say that it’s so cool hearing a UK funky r&b remix blended into a grime track. It's something that you wouldn't think would go together but it actually sounds really good.
And what's the queer dance music scene like in Bristol at the moment?
It's really good, it's getting really strong. There are loads of female led queer nights popping up all over the place, which even five years ago when I moved here there wasn't really that, especially in the queer scene. You would go to OMG on a Wednesday for student night and that was your fill of gay stuff.
What's your favourite night in Bristol at the moment, either to go to or to play at?
My favourite ones to both go to and to play at are the PHAT nights, Crotch. I played for the first one that they had. It's like being just given a space, knowing that there are going to be similar people to you there, and they just say 'do what you want, do your thing, be creative with it'. They even do their own security, all of it is just sick; that's what there needs to be more of, the crowd is so diverse.
Do you think there's enough of a crossover with the straight music scene in Bristol, or do you think that there doesn’t need to be?
I don't even think that there needs to be. It's nice to know that in the queer scene, if straight people and allies go they're going to be welcome the whole time, but they know that the space isn't theirs, they're entering someone else's space. I think at general, normal nights that aren't queer, they need to have more queer artists playing them, they need to be more intersectional. I think it needs to not be just queer nights having queer artists playing. It’s the same for women, we don't want to be on just all female lineups, we want to be on all lineups. Venues and promoters shouldn't say 'oh, we're going to put on one queer night a month and leave it at that!'.
There was a venue that I called out and sent a message to, they had a lineup of eleven artists, and they were all men. I just mentioned it would be really nice to see some women talent or queer talent on the line up and they didn't handle it well; they like deleted my comment and said they didn't like this narrative that was being pushed on them. I wasn’t pushing a narrative on them, they were just getting what I would have thought was helpful feedback from someone who goes to events as a punter and is their target audience, letting them know what people want to see. And that it's not seeing all straight men on every single lineup.
I think you can tell when it's tokenism, when it's like, ‘oh, look what we're doing’, because we need to be inclusive but we aren't really behind it. It's pretty transparent. It all comes down to this weird toxic masculinity. If a male artist comes out as queer, then they become queer artists and not just an artist who also happens to be queer, you know? You should be treated the same whether you're out or not. They should just be having those people in that space because they're talented, because you’re being naturally inclusive and because they deserve it.
I totally agree. Coming back to you, was music a big part of your life growing up?
Yeah, I always loved music. What I was into was always such a contrast. I loved grime from a really young age, but also I really loved metal; heavy metal has always been my thing. I think it was because when I was growing up I idolised my brother and he really liked grime and metal. I don't think my brother enjoyed me clinging to him; ‘I want to do whatever you're doing!’ I don't think he ever really appreciated it! So that really influenced my taste in music and then I just stuck with it. Music was always something I loved. I was going to gigs as a kid and going to nightclubs and raves when I was allowed when I got older. It's always been super important. I think when songs have memories, they stick with you. I can always remember dancing around the kitchen with my mom to Paulo Nutini, because she loved him, so that's super nostalgic.
Who are your heroes on the dance music scene and also your main influences?
In terms of DJs I really love LCY and Sherell. Not just because they are good DJs and producers, not just because of their music, but seeing two queer people that are in a relationship working together but they're also absolutely smashing their careers separately; I just think it's so cool. They're incredible artists anyway; they are a massive influence. Every single set that they do is just so energetic and that's the vibe that I want people to feel when they listen to my music.
Also, I just really, really, really love Paolo Nutini! Like I've said, as a kid, I just used to rinse his music so much. Also Slipknot are my favourite band ever. Even as I got older and found more niche genres of metal like hardcore and stuff like that, I always went back to loving Slipknot, Korn and Lamb of God.
So going back to when you first started playing out, what was your first gig? What was it like playing out live for the first time?
The first one technically would have been the Mix Nights showcase. That was at Strange Brew, a sit-down gig, and that was really cool. I think there were eight of us but everyone that was playing was playing a different genre of music, so the entire night was just like this absolute mash of different genres and it was so good. It was also a celebration, if you like, well, especially with COVID, our course ended up being two years long.
Aside from that the first one that I played out was at Crofters Rights, and it was a Pixels night, and that was a sit down gig as well. That was really fun; I look back at the videos and you can see that everyone's enjoying themselves. I was very much enjoying myself as well; the feeling when you drop a banger for the first time ever and everyone goes mental was just the best feeling in the whole world. Watching people enjoy themselves, especially after COVID, it was still a sit-down event but it was one of the first events that we were allowed to do, it was just really nice. I'd been working really hard learning this thing I didn't think I'd ever be able to do and I'm doing it in front of people that have paid to be there and they like it; it's just the best thing ever. That was really good for my confidence as well.
Was it a challenge trying to establish yourself during those times?
I think as much as you can put out mixes and go on radio shows, although they are super-valued and they can still be really, really good, not everyone listens to them. Not everyone listens to mixes and stuff like that either, a lot of people do just go to events. When that wasn't a thing, and you couldn't do that, it was hard to put yourself out there. Also, during COVID it was very uninspiring sometimes to just be stuck inside. Everything was kind of scary, and it was hard to be creative and motivated; you had to push yourself a little bit more. But I think I appreciate it way more now when I got bookings.
Have you done many mixes and radio shows as well as live stuff?
Yeah, I used to have a show on 1020 Radio but I stopped doing that after a couple of months. It started pre COVID and then when we went into lockdown I couldn't really do it from home. I did a couple from home but it was tricky figuring out how to record it all and talk over it and do it all right. I found it really stressful so I just stopped doing it. But I've done a few guest mixes for other people's radio stations, I put out my own mixes over lockdown; I kept myself busy.
What music is exciting you at the moment?
At the minute the dubstep scene now is so exciting. We’re seeing dubstep artists selling out Motion or doing massive events where typically it would only really be jungle or drum n bass. Before, dubstep was more seen as underground and at the smaller events. But also all the metal stuff I'm going to see at the moment is super cool. I went to see Turnstile recently; they were the last band that I saw before COVID, they played at the Trinity Centre and then I saw them in London on Thursday and that was like coming full circle. I think it's just a really good time for music now; everyone's getting back into the swing of being creative and not sticking to the mould of what they feel they have to do, there are loads of artists putting out stuff that is different from what they would normally.
And what about you? What are you doing music-wise?
So I've been learning to produce, that's the thing I want to focus on now; I just love it. I used to get so frustrated because I had this idea in my head, something I thought would sound so sick, but I didn't know how to make it. So I did the music production course with Saffron, that gave me the basics. Now I think the way to go is I’ve just got to get it all on my laptop, do it all from home and try to learn like that, and just really push myself to make some cool music. I made some remixes a year and a half ago and as soon as I made those, I thought ‘This is so much fun! Imagine how fun it is to make stuff completely from scratch!’. So that's what I'm putting most of my energy into music-wise, teaching myself to produce. I want to get back into radio; I'm planning a big queer femme radio takeover. I just want a massive amount of artists all going back to back, I think that will be really cool.
Do you have any words of advice to any queer or femme people who might be trying to break into the dance music scene at the moment?
It's so easy to just say ‘go and buy a controller’, but if you can't do that, if you don't have the funds for it, if you're not privileged enough to do that, then that's difficult. This is where I feel a lot of big companies and brands should step up and make it more accessible for people to start learning. We have things like Saffron, they're doing amazing things in Bristol, London and Nottingham, which is great, but if you're from a low-income household it is tricky unless you know someone and you can borrow their stuff.
I think if you do have the funds or the means to start teaching yourself, then just do it. The worse that could happen is you're gonna clang and it's gonna sound rubbish and then you’ve got to just think ‘well that doesn't sound great, but I know what I need to do better’. But if you're passionate about what you're doing that will always show and will always sound good. And also, it doesn't always have to be a career; it can just be a hobby, something you do because you love it and you enjoy it. If you're bad at it to start, that's fine as well; if you're having fun you don't have to be amazing.
I also think more queer and femme people need to ask themselves ‘Why? Why do I feel I can’t do this?’ If you want to DJ or produce don't let your gender or sexuality, just the fact that you are not a man, hold you back.
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