Miguel Ramirez
Sydney DJ/producer and host of Advanced Music radio show on Afterhours.FM, Amy Parnell, recently shared with The Trance Project her experience as an artist in the male dominated industry and gives advice to upcoming female trance artists.
Amy Parnell has had quite the remarkable start to a promising music career. She became a finalist for several industry awards including Budweiser’s 2013 DJ/Producer of the Year, won 2010’s Pioneer Your Shot DJ Competition (Alize Room), and has shared the stage with some of the biggest names in today’s scene including Bryan Kearney, Coming Soon, Standerwick & Indecent Noise.
There’s no stopping the local legend, and in a recent interview with The Trance Project, she encourages women to fulfill their musical dreams.
“Just go for it! If you love being creative, performing and having fun, what do you have to lose?” Amy said.
“Trance is a male dominated genre in both the punters, and managers, DJs, producers and label heads, and if I had a dollar for every time someone said to me “oh, you don’t look like a DJ” or asked me if I play topless, I’d have a decent little piggy bank!”
“But I kinda like being one of the few active female 140 artists in the country (special shout out to Pinkque who was super lovely to chat with when I was first starting out).”
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“For me, I feel the trick to dealing with those comments is to twist it to your advantage without it being the focus. Find the balance so that people are intrigued by this female who plays or produces 140 BPM tech trance. Show them that just because you look like a girl, act like a girl and are in fact a girl, it doesn’t mean you can’t play just as well or better than your male counterparts.”
“I use to get upset over negative comments about being a female DJ, but when I see that those same people trolling online have also played my new mix on Soundcloud several times, and are in the crowd dancing away, or have messaged me to say that they ‘came for the boobs but stayed for the tunes’, I have a little chuckle about it, because you’ve managed to chip away at that stereotype.”
