EQUALISER: THE INCLUSIVE DJ COLLECTIVE SHAKING UP LEEDS’ MUSIC SCENE
Everyone wants to be a DJ; getting to be the one in control of a party’s pulse is an amazing and empowering feeling. DJing offers a great way to express yourself while connecting with others by sharing the music you love and yet, it’s still very much a boys’ club – from an international to a local level. That’s why Equaliser was set up. This Leeds based collective (which also has a sister collective based in Beijing) offers monthly, free-to-access, DJ workshops for women, non-binary and trans people. Their aim is to create a welcoming and non-judgemental space for marginalised people to learn and practice DJing. Equaliser funds their workshops by regularly hosting parties and club nights at which they feature their members and workshop attendees on the line-up; and everyone's invited.
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“Why was it that something as universal as music has been monopolised by men?”
“When I started out, I’d get really frustrated at only ever seeing guys DJing,” says committee member Tami Pein (AKA TamTam) who helped found Equaliser while still at University. “Why was it that something as universal as music has been monopolised by men? Even in smaller DIY spaces we create for ourselves, like house parties.”
Combating the lack of representation for women and LGBTQ+ people, as well as challenging stereotypical assumptions like “women can’t understand technology” were major motivations for creating Equaliser; they wanted to make somewhere for people who felt alienated by the male-centric spaces that already existed in the DIY scene.
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Equaliser stresses the importance of their workshops being free, since another main barrier to entry is simply affording access to DJing equipment. Even the cheapest entry-level gear can cost upwards of £200, and to buy a ‘club standard’ set-up you’d need to be spending thousands of pounds. So, unless you’re lucky enough to know someone with decks you can borrow for free, just having equipment to practice on can require a big investment that a lot of marginalised people won’t be able to afford.
Tami now leads some of their workshops, and regularly DJs at events across Leeds and London. “A lot of people who come to the workshops are quite nervous and they’re looking for a bit of a confidence boost while they’re still figuring things out” she says,“but it’s so inspiring when you see how with time they get over their self-doubt – going from unsure of how to even play a record, to performing in front of hundreds of people – all because they’ve been allowed to learn and make mistakes in an encouraging environment.”
We still have a long way to go in addressing gender inequality in music, but thanks to Equaliser we’re seeing more diversity behind the decks and more women, trans and non-binary people joining the party.