Let’s talk about women who spin vinyl records | With Barbara Loden, MorganCree and Sbandee
We spoke to a collective of three women DJs from Trieste about why it’s important to play together and how they experience their music.
How did you start making music and DJing? What’s your story?
Barbara Loden
I started out with a collective called La Jazzera, which was an online radio station. We were a small group of about ten people. I’d already done a bit with CDs with friends, at friends’ parties – you know, birthday parties. I started out with CDs for the first ten years and then moved on to vinyl.
Sbandee
Well, I started in 2023, when I was working as a waitress in a bar in Trieste. Once a month there was “Smart Hangovers”, a collective that plays indie music… I had loads of records at home, because I’d always listened to vinyl with my uncle and my dad; I grew up a bit with that vibe. I had the same sort of music at home, so I thought: ‘Why not try playing something with them?’ And they were really welcoming, in the sense that they encouraged me right from the start.
I got started thanks to them, then I was lucky enough to meet the two of them, Cree and Loden. And well, I felt much more at ease. Obviously, being accompanied by two DJs with more experience than me, and women at that, makes you feel much more at ease, at least the way I am.
MorganCree
I started out in a bit of a carefree sort of way, shall we say. Back in ’95, at the former OPP, the psychiatric hospital in Trieste, they used to hold parties inside one of the buildings, the P. It had these huge halls and they’d organise these evenings with live music; most of the bands were from Trieste. It was great, because there were loads of people, it was always packed, there were even people sitting on the floor in the corridor, but there were also patients inside, so it was all mixed together.
After that, from ’96, I worked for Radio Fragola. Before clubs and such, that was something I kept at a bit of a distance, or perhaps I’d support someone else, always with the vinyls. I’d go out of Trieste if there were gatherings, like Vespa or Lambretta meets. But I always organised evenings with DJs.
A few years ago, the Trieste Affair started, and from then on everyone was like, ‘Come on, get back into it!’ – the more you ask me, the less I do it. The moment they stopped asking, I thought, ‘Actually…’ From then on, I’ve always been organising nights with another friend of mine. Then I wanted to do it with them, but specifically to bring the whole DJ thing back into the spotlight.
When did the three of you start working together?
MorganCree
I’d organised a gig and decided I wanted to put on a show featuring them. Barbara Loden and I have known each other for ages; she was pretty much a must-have, and I really wanted her to be there. I met Sbandee later on and I really love what she plays. Perhaps Loden and I are the ones who click a bit more musically, but Sbandee’s tracks fit in too, and everything changes when we’re a trio. In the early 2000s, there were more women playing vinyl.
Sbandee
I like working with them because I feel we’re keeping alive a genre we enjoy, not just following trends. The various genres we play are more niche, and it’s great to maintain this identity in a scene dominated by electronic and house music, which is becoming increasingly widespread.
That’s interesting what you were saying earlier, about feeling more at ease with them.
Sbandee
As a woman, you always feel… I don’t know… As a woman making a name for yourself in this scene, you always feel a bit… I don’t know how to explain it. It’s having to prove yourself. Especially compared to the other male DJs, you feel a bit… I can’t put it into words.
MorganCree
Underestimated; you feel you’re underestimated.
Sbandee
Yes, exactly. That you’re doing something without really knowing what you’re doing. Sometimes I’d be playing music and their mates—who might be sound engineers or something—would come and fiddle with my mixer without me even knowing them. But… not with the men? It’s a bit of a sexist thing, you know?
MorganCree
It’s as if you’re not capable of handling that mixer, isn’t it?
Sbandee
It feels a bit like a paternalistic situation. And then being booked in certain contexts, it sometimes feels more like a marketing ploy or pinkwashing. I mean, I want a female DJ just because she’s a woman, not because she has good taste or I like her set. It really feels like… ‘I’ll put her on because she’ll draw a crowd’. So yes, I’ve felt that way at times too.
Barbara Loden
Given that I am absolutely convinced we live in a male-dominated society and that patriarchy rules, and therefore I am firmly convinced there is no parity or equality.
Having said that – and this is fundamental for me – I have to admit that, fortunately, at least the collective I started out with, and indeed the people I was surrounded by – male DJs – were clearly and firmly supportive and shared my views… and then the venues where I played music were always places like squats, community centres, and self-organised parties. I have to be honest: I started playing music with a lad and we were a regular duo for years; he was my absolute partner in crime.
My relationship with sound engineers, on the other hand, has always been terrible. I’m absolutely delighted when I see, quite recently, girls hanging around behind a mixing desk; in fact, if I could go back, I’d want to be a sound engineer.
So many times, in situations where I’ve needed a sound engineer, it’s been absolutely mad. They see a woman, and that’s it—she doesn’t exist. That business of coming over to fiddle with the mixer—in reality, it’s something they probably wouldn’t dare do with a bloke. This happens, I mean, absolutely. It’s rare, it’s rare, that’s true, but it’s still something you just don’t do. At the very least, you could give me some advice, couldn’t you?
At a certain point, I became really interested in it, even going to places like Tetris and Etnoblog, trying to figure things out on my own, practising, understanding, and being able to build my own console. I’ve also always played music in settings where nobody else was doing it for me. But for me, it’s always been a priority to be able to fend for myself and know what I’m doing, because you really have to earn respect.
MorganCree
Right from the start, though, where I began, it was actually quite an equal environment, so nobody ever… Or rather, no? There was perhaps even a bit more fairness at times. At gigs, for example, the ones I go to, if you’re a woman you’re almost handed everything on a silver platter
Barbara Loden
On the spinning platter!
MorganCree
There have been moments when one thing goes wrong, another kicks in, and so on; there’s always been mutual collaboration. I haven’t noticed, at least not in my own experience, this—let’s call it, in inverted commas, ‘difference’—but probably because I was the one organising and consequently…
As for the technical side, with the other lad, we now have a mixer that’s completely different from the standard one. So every now and then we’re like… How does it work? It’s happened to me too, at recent gigs, to see three hands on the mixer at the same time – belonging to three lads who were playing with me for an event. And at one point I said: “Oh guys, how many hands?”. Are you doing this because you’re giving me a hand? Because I’m deaf in one ear, I can’t hear the bass, I don’t pick up the external sound. I’ve seen when it’s a friendly intrusion, where I’m helping you because I know this thing, or when it’s…
I’ve seen situations – not so much here in Trieste, but elsewhere – where female DJs always had someone else there with them, not like we do amongst ourselves, where when one plays music the other stands nearby, talks to her, and there’s a supportive interaction between us, but there’s almost a… sense of control. As if they didn’t know, right? It seems a bit of a paradox, because I’m the one asking you to do this.
Do you notice a difference in the audience when you play together?
Barbara Loden
Actually, I think when girls see a woman playing records, they’re happier because it’s a bit different, and the lads end up being happy too.
MorganCree
There’s a sort of amazement from some people. Sure, well, a little bit – maybe they’re a bit reluctant…
Barbara Loden
But that’s because the figure of the DJ is somewhat mythologised, so in reality the DJ always attracts…
MorganCree
I’ve seen more amazement in certain situations, not so much because there’s a woman, given that fundamentally it’s something people enjoy… It’s the vinyl itself that draws people in so much. There’s a sense of wonder about vinyl among both the little ones and the older crowd. Vinyl really stops people of all ages in their tracks.
Sbandee
Maybe lots of people buy them but then don’t share them; I like the idea of sharing things I enjoy. Maybe not many of the tracks I play get people dancing, but I’d like other people to hear them, to listen more during the evening, whilst many others might just sit down, have a drink but not listen to anything.
MorganCree
It obviously depends on where you’re doing the DJ set! There have been times when someone comes up to you and recognises the track! So then you think, OK, this person is listening to the DJ set, they’re enjoying it, they’re really into it.
Sbandee
The audience sometimes takes it badly, especially the more experienced ones – musicians or DJs – who know how to mix, because we don’t actually mix; we just play one track after another, fade in, fade out. Sometimes the crowd asks, ‘Why aren’t you mixing?’ I’ve been criticised for this more than once, but these aren’t genres where you can mix because the songs have completely different BPMs from one another, so you can’t mix them. However, loads of people don’t get it and expect a DJ set like those in electronic or house music.
MorganCree
As Sbandee says, there are still beats, things that aren’t always mixable. If I loop five ska tracks, I could mix them if I wanted to, because they’re all in duple metre. But if I start playing a Northern soul track and then a ska track, there’s that sort of break because we’re switching to different time signatures. In my opinion, though, that’s precisely the beauty of vinyl: when you listen to vinyl, you already have that pause. It’s not that we leave pauses between one song and the next—in fact, they’re all very tightly packed, they do overlap—but there isn’t that interplay of…
Sbandee
Yes, it’s not all continuous. But that’s part of its charm; it’s a very authentic thing
What do you think will be the biggest challenge you’ll face as a DJ in ten years’ time?
Barbara Loden
Staying on my feet!
MorganCree
Sbandee will come and get us, and we’ll tell her what to play! Ten years might seem like a long time, but it isn’t. When it comes to organising events, I’d love to keep working with the people I’ve worked with before, but also with new people; if new situations come my way, I’m all for it. But also the fact that there are three of us women and keeping it going, and doing something more with it.
Sbandee
The challenge is also to keep going with these genres and find venues that still host these nights. We’re in a city where venues close down all the time; there are fewer and fewer spaces where we can get involved with our own ideas because, quite simply, the ones who get the spotlight are the electronic DJs who bring in huge crowds—that’s what’s trendy—and, unfortunately, it’s a capitalist world.
Could you put together a sort of playlist for us, naming three women or bands who’ve inspired you?
Barbara Loden
Nina Simone, because she led a wild life and did some incredible things.
Amy Winehouse, who I had a teenage crush on – even though I was anything but a teenager when I discovered her – she was just incredible to me.
Kim Gordon because in the 90s I was mad about Sonic Youth and when she fell out with her husband and broke up the band, she made three albums, each one better than the last. She remains a legend to me!
And then I’ll add her last, otherwise I’ll end up looking like a mainstream Madonna fan. Because, in reality, Madonna remains an incredible figure and, however pop she’s always been, she’s the very example of a woman who probably went through a lot of shit in 1980s New York and yet, in the end, she did what she did
MorganCree
I was on the anti-Madonna side; I was Team Cindy Lauper
Sbandee
Well then, let’s throw Raffaella Carrà in there too! She was certainly outspoken on issues of homophobia as well. She’s always been a vocal advocate on social issues.
One band I often listen to is Le Tigre; their lyrics are definitely social and systemic critiques. As for the American scene, I listen to the Lambrini Girls loads, and I think their latest album is one of my favourites; they’re proper badass feminists and always fly the Palestinian flag at their gigs. I also listen to Dry Cleaning a lot, with their singer who has a beautiful voice.
MorganCree
I’m learning loads from her!
Sbandee
The Sprints, who have this amazing female vocalist – they’re all up-and-coming bands with female vocalists, and it’s great in a scene that’s mainly made up of male band members.
MorganCree
I follow a certain scene and have always been into a particular musical genre, so I can name a well-known one, like Blondie. There are examples across different genres; if we look at oi or punk, for instance, where loads of women were singing about social issues, not just something more superficial.