{"id":9994,"date":"2017-01-19T10:41:46","date_gmt":"2017-01-19T15:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/?p=9994"},"modified":"2017-01-19T10:54:03","modified_gmt":"2017-01-19T15:54:03","slug":"lauren-flax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/lauren-flax\/","title":{"rendered":"Ground Your Sound: An Interview with DJ Lauren Flax"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lauren Flax\u2019s first memory of music is listening to the Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers Christmas album with her family on Christmas morning in the early ’80s. Full disclosure: Lauren is one of my best friends and we have been house-mates for nearly a decade\u2026and she still loves that Christmas album. \u201cI remember hearing Herbie Hancock\u2019s ‘Rockit’ for the first time while driving somewhere with my mother and becoming obsessed. That should have been very telling of my future,\u201d she tells me. \u201cMy father always listened to Foreigner and Journey which I didn\u2019t like as a kid, but he did turn me on to Fleetwood Mac, who are still super influential to me today. Then, of course, I was all about Tiffany and New Kids until a schoolmate gave me a Primus tape and brought me to my senses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lauren<\/a>
Photo by Asher Torres | Top: Jose Duran \/ Bottom: Martin Keehn \/ Bracelet: WXYZ Jewelry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cTo be a boss means listening as well as offering; to let yourself live and to let yourself work, in equal parts…”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thankfully, there is very little influence of Primus evident in Flax\u2019s own musical output. Her music is uniquely dark, but danceable, full of house beats and swelling symphonic strings. Her sound often strikes me as paradoxical: a warmly ecstatic core encased in a melancholy veneer. Flax favors the yin and yang symbol \u2014 she owns a number of clothing items and accessories featuring it, and this seems fitting, given the duality of her nature and art. She has managed to stay relevant, respected, and consistently booked for a decade and a half due to her undeniable talent and ability to remain balanced amidst excess. She is serious; she buckles down and works for long stretches every day, but is also capable of slipping seamlessly into an easy-going moment more than anyone else I have ever known.<\/p>\n

People like to be where Flax is, because where she\u2019s at is always more fun. Born in Detroit, Flax is the youngest of three children, all girls. When she was very young she was sure she\u2019d grow up to become a nun, but now it is impossible to imagine her as anything other than a musician. There is a vocational element to her relationship with music, which enabled her to be comfortable in her own skin; music is woven throughout her entire identity. \u201cI grew up playing the drums and took up playing guitar in high school, but I didn\u2019t start DJing until 1997,\u201d Flax recounts. \u201cI learned on 2 Belt-drive turntables with a wheel pitch control. I mixed a Sade record with a Jungle record and everyone at the party went quiet. I was literally hooked from that second on.\u201d Her musical landscape, from Dolly and Primus, to adventures with the underground dance scene, gave her relatable experiences with genre outsiders and music junkies.<\/p>\n

\"Lauren<\/a>
Photo by Asher Torres | Top: Julian Zigerli from Elkel Boutique \/ Bottom: Levi\u2019s from What Goes Around Comes Around \/ Necklace: Alibi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAs a teenager I had an unhealthy obsession with Hole and Courtney Love. It was a mixture of my teenage angst and coming-of-age sexuality. She gave me an outlet for my discomfort when realizing my sexuality in a very religious, Catholic family. I was allowed to scream and yell it out with every song. It was\u00a0the first record I learned to play from start to finish on the guitar. \u201cLater, Shirley Manson became a more positive role model for me. She still is. Her humor and genuine, grounded attitude has always moved me,\u201d Flax says when I ask if her idols have changed after years navigating music as a queer woman. \u201cNow that I\u2019m older, I find that I can\u2019t celebrate someone\u2019s art without being able to celebrate their character.\u201d Riding the wave from that first Sade mix, eighteen years old and freshly out of the closet, Flax stayed with friends in an assortment of dodgy living situations (above a strip club, in a closet) during a period she still describes as the time of her life. She was attending the Recording Institute of Detroit, where she found the program disappointing. \u201cWe didn\u2019t touch any gear until the final exam,\u201d she complained. \u201cI learn from doing, not from just reading instructions and taking tests, so I didn\u2019t really benefit much.\u201d Thankfully there were plenty of opportunities to learn from doing. Adriel Thornton, a hugely influential pillar of the Detroit electronic music scene, gave her a residency at Motor Lounge \u2014 one of the top clubs in the country. She recalls this with gratitude, especially given how young and new she was to the DJ scene. Legendary DJ Carl Craig was also an early mentor, believing in her enough to book her for the first Detroit Electronic Music Festival in 2000. \u201cI looked up to him and his wife at the time, Hannah. She is a wonderful artist and was always looking out for me as a teenager, on my own for the first time. We\u2019re still in touch today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lauren<\/a>
Photo by Asher Torres<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A few friends had moved from Detroit to Chicago and she decided to take one up on an offer to be taught music production if she joined them in the Windy City. \u201cIt was so great living there \u2014 both Detroit and Chicago have the deepest roots in dance music. To be surrounded by the people that created house and techno, all these like-minded individuals that had a deep care for the music \u2014 those things all put me on the right path.\u201d A path that ultimately led to NYC, her home base since 2002. \u201cMy time in New York can\u2019t be summed up easily,\u201d Flax reflects. \u201cThis place has made me feel like I\u2019ve lived many lives in one body; so much personal growth. I had the time of my life in my twenties, but I didn\u2019t get a whole lot done musically.\u201d This carefree period came to an end when, over the course of 2007, four close friends passed away unexpectedly. It was a time of tremendous grief and anxiety. \u201cI had lost the plot somewhat, but when tragedies happen we get our shit together. From 2007 on, it\u2019s been a non-stop journey of growth: some forced, some sought.\u201d \u201cI found myself again with my band, CREEP,\u201d she realizes. The duo, a collaboration with longtime friend, Lauren Dillard, released their widely-praised debut album, \u201cEchoes,\u201d in 2013. The album featured collaborations with a diverse cast of music-world luminaries, including Sia, Holly Miranda, Romy Madley Croft, Lou Rhodes, Tricky, and Nina Sky. \u201cCREEP was my first foray at just writing exactly what I was feeling with no intentions other than to create. I thought things had to sound a certain way, but really I just needed to find myself, my sound, my voice. Then came the time to perform and I had never really performed\u00a0live before, so we were thrown out there to just figure it out in front of an audience. It was very humbling and I\u2019m so thankful for it. I had to face and overcome these new and powerful fears that ultimately gave me the confidence I needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Photo by Asher Torres \/ Top: Martin Keehn \/ Bottom: Martin Keehn \/ Necklace: We Who Prey<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I ask Flax how her identity ties into her work; how she understands where it fits, where she fits. \u201cDating back to the rave days in the 90s I would always try to stay away from the all fe-male lineups,\u201d she confesses. \u201cMy feminist belief says that we are equal to our male counterparts, so why separate us? But at the very same time, women booked at major festivals worldwide average around 3 to 10% of the entire lineup.\u201d She continues, \u201cI don\u2019t necessarily think that we need to have more female-focused festivals to make ourselves better known, although I\u2019m not saying that those events shouldn\u2019t exist either. We simply need to be booked more, sought after more, heard more [as women]. I am surrounded by unbelievably talented female producers and DJ\u2019s, so I am in my own bubble. There is no shortage of us to take up space on these lineups. We deserve to be booked.\u201d Expecting the kind of pessimistic reflection that is common from a long-time musician, I question where Flax thinks dance music is headed and receive a uniquely optimistic answer. \u201cI think the underground dance scene is as strong as it has ever been,\u201d she shares. \u201cWhat is happening in the EDM world hasn\u2019t affected the validity of what is happening underground. Fads definitely come and go in all forms, but house runs so deep and has a very solid foundation. It\u2019s a wonderful movement and innovation is happening.\u201d Wondering what it means to her to be at the top of a game, the best, a boss, I ask how she understands the idea. \u201cTo be a boss means listening as well as offering; to let yourself live and to let yourself work, in equal parts. To be a boss is to be grounded, open and compassionate. We are strong and we are weak, but we always get back up because we are brave. Being a boss is to be a warrior. You\u2019ll only become stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lauren<\/a>
Photo by Asher Torres<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Are there pitfalls Flax has learned to avoid over her lengthy career? \u201cI\u2019ve seen quite a few people become successful, or even moderately successful, and lose themselves in it. It\u2019s always frustrating to watch because this industry is so full of ups and downs and if you don\u2019t stay grounded throughout the process you\u2019ll have a more difficult time bouncing back from those downs. You have to stay grounded and not accept the highs as permanent \u2014 or the lows.\u201d In an industry as fickle as music, keeping a level head is something Flax considers especially important if sustaining a career is your goal. Likewise, it\u2019s important to understand the difference between fame and success. \u201cYou can be famous and still be broke. I could care less about fame; success to me is being able to take good care of yourself and care for your family and friends if needed. Oftentimes fame comes with success, but not always. Success means staying true to your sound…not succumbing to making music for anyone else aside from yourself.\u201d Lauren Flax is currently focusing on her solo career, but one that is especially filled with collaboration; She\u2019s been working with musicians Fritz Helder and Josh Caffe and will be releasing new tracks with Nina Sky. The near future includes a couple of EPs and a European tour. As of this writing she is halfway through a season in Berlin.<\/p>\n

For more information, please visit Flax’s soundcloud<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n