You know, holding an out door sound stage at the worlds leading dance weekender seems to be a bit like decorating a Christmas tree – you put the star right at the top! That’s why Contagious club wear have saved the very best till last by having the undisputed queen of Hard Dance Miss Lisa Pin-Up headlining on their stage at Global Gathering on Saturday the 28th July!

Taken by Peter Barr

Contagious have worked extensively with Lisa on her hugely successful “God Save the Queen tour”. Not only did they provide the very best dancers and stilt walkers for most of the events, but their top designer designed her infamous punk rock outfit for it and also created a unique brand of clothing known as “Pin-up-punk” to commemorate the tour.

Now who better to have playing right at the very end of the night than a DJ who is guaranteed to build up an amazing atmosphere and can turn a sluggish dance floor in to a frantic stomping army with her anthemic tracks and contagious energy spreading out amongst the crowd as soon as she comes on. To find out how she is going to make the night such a memorable one, we thought we’d catch up with her……

Lisa, you’ve had some pretty big gigs of late, but this time you are going to be the number one headliner on a stage at the biggest dance festival on the planet! How excited are you about that?

Yes lately I have djed at some very large events, Escape into the Park (for the Contagious stage), Gatecrasher sound system, Slammin Vinyl festival, colorfest as well as Creamfields later on in the year but I am jumping for joy to be djing @ Global on 28th. I played the contagious stage there last year and it was just amazing. These guys always bring in the most wonderful clubbers and with all the contagious crew it just feels like one big happy family, it literally does feel like we have our own party going on and last year I came away with the biggest smile on my face, I was just loving it!

You also topped the bill for Contagious at another huge event: Escape in the Park. Can you give us a rundown of how that went for you?

Again I had a fabulous time. I have got to know a lot of Welsh clubbers and escape is always a highlight in their diary so it was good to come down and party with them. The Contagious dancers had a fabulous routine and I even joined them on the stage for a little dance at the end and we got the whole crowd to sing along to my last track.

Taken by Peter Barr

Word has spread around the camp fire and has battered against my ear drum that once again you are going to be wearing an outfit that Contagious have especially designed for you, is that correct?

Well it would be rude not to! It’s an outfit that we designed together for my God Save the Queen tour and it just feels right wearing it to one of their events. Also all the dancers will be wearing it so make sure you check them out!

Now as Contagious really want to end things on a high, they’ve got a special stage production involving the whole team planned. So what are you going to add to that to really make it a special occasion?

I have got to know all the contagious crew really well over the last couple of months as used most of their dancers and stilt walkers on my tours so it is just going to be a huge knees up with everyone welcome to join in. It’s not going to just be a dj set, its’ going to be a finale to an amazing day with bundles of atmosphere and euphoric sounds so I hope you can all come down as it is going to be so much fun.

You have of course worked with Contagious a lot before. How much of a pleasure did you find them to work with?

I feel really sad that my tour dates are nearly coming to an end as all the girls and Tony - my photographer now feel like my family, we always have such a laugh and it is now going to feel strange not having them around, so it has been a wonderful experience but sure we will all work together again in the future.

At a lot of venues that you play in, you’ll normally have a certain type of crowd. But at Global, you are going to have all different varieties; people from abroad, some that don’t normally go to clubs, clubbers that aren’t usually in to Hard Dance etc. How are you going to cater for them all?

I think the people that will be coming along to the contagious stage know exactly what kind on music they want as they have tracked us down knowing that it is going to be full on party, so even though I will be dragging out all my special party tunes it is just going to be full on pumpin beats for my wonderful harddance lovers.

You are going to have several thousand people in front of you, which is going to make it a bit more difficult for you to read the crowd. So are you going to judge it as a whole mass, or look at all the various sub groups with in?

Well last year there was just one massive crowd in front of me jumping up and down together so it was not really a problem. As said on these events you bring out all your favourite party tunes and with the festival atmosphere it really is an easier crowd to work with.

When you first set out as a professional DJ, back in the mid nineties with your residency at Pushca, did you have aspirations then to make it right to the very top, or did you decide to take it one step at a time and see what happened?

I always wanted to play to the masses, not because I wanted to be a big dj, just because I thought I would have twice as much fun! I have always been more of a mainstream dj, never really underground so it does suit my music more.

A lot of DJ’s say that their musical style reflects their personalities. Now as your style can be described as hard, bouncy, naughty and twisted! would you say that’s the case with you?

Yes I am liking that, sounds just like me!

Before you started spinning in clubs, for years you were a regular clubber; so you spent an un-told amount of time watching other people dance. Do you think that a reason why you know exactly what to play and when is because you - at least subconsciously, picked up what would really get every body going on the dance floor back then?

As a paid dj you just have to go with your instincts and mine has always been if a tune makes me want to wiggle then play it! Of course another part of being a dj is you just can’t chuck a set together, it does have to flow and you have to know what tune is best to follow the one before. You can’t just have a bunch of tunes all on the same level even if they are all good you have to vary it a bit.

On your production ‘Slave to your love’ you sang the vocals your self, and on ‘Be my lover’ you got a vocalist in. Apparently if you give a vocalist Sprite (the soft drink) to drink before hand, it can make them perform better. Have you ever tried that one before?

Well never heard of this before! but I did sing the vocals on Slave to your love as well as "goes like this BANG!" and also "sometimes were dancing" sometimes it is easier to do it yourself if it is just a snip of vocal, but I leave the proper singing of verse and chorus to the professionals!

You make a point of answering every single fan letter; acknowledging everyone that greets you after your set; spend a lot of time chatting to your fans on message boards; so your relationship with your fans is very important to you then?

At the end of the day they are my friends and just like any other clubber I like to go out at the weekend and meet people. I am also addicted to a couple of web sites that I can contact fellow clubbers around the country, my husband is always shouting at me to get off the computer as I just spend so many hours on it chatting to everyone.

Nowadays a DJ is judged an awful lot on his/her technical ability. Do you feel though there should be much, more emphasis towards musical selection, or say studying dance floor dynamics as opposed to flawless beat matching?

I don't think there is anything wrong with being judged on your technical ability as being a professional dj you should be able to mix! I remember being a clubber and getting so excited when I heard a dj doing a clever mix but of course musical selection is what makes a dj, its no good being able to mix but clearing a dancefloor with your tunes. If a promoter had to choose between a bunch of djs that could all mix but one always had the crowd rocking with his tunes of course this one would get the job.

You seem to have been playing a lot of 2 hour sets recently. Have you enjoyed doing that as you can get much more variety in your sets and do you feel that 2 hour sets should be making more of a return?

One or two hours sets, they are both fun in their own kind of way. I have been doing loads of 2 hour sets recently to go with my tour, here I get to play some old Lisa Pin-up classics and a few of my favourites from over the past couple of years and because it is my own event it feels more special. On larger events it is always a one hour set which is fun as well but a lot more instant; here you cram in all your favourite current tunes but it is good to have a change, so I do like doing both kinds of sets.

You are going to be playing a part with the next Frantic CD compilation album soon but what else have you got planned for this year?

Yes working with Frantic and this is going to be a huge project to celebrate their 10th birthday but I am also involved in the new tidy girls E.P that tidy are putting together that I am really excited about which should be released by the end of the year.

So many DJ’s try desperately to get some where with in the scene but most never get off the small circuit. What is it do you think that a lot of them do wrong?

There is nothing wrong with playing the small circuit, you have to remember a lot of people would be happy just to be where they are today. But we all start on the small circuit and you just have to drag your way up. It’s not an easy thing to do so it can’t happen for everyone but as long as you work hard, try your best and keep on at it, this is all you can do then at least you know you have tried your best.

And finally, as you are going to be playing the last set at Global and keeping every bodies tired legs stomping right until the very bitter end, how do you reckon you are going to take things? Have it real bouncy with a party time vibe? Have it uplifting and euphoric? Or seriously ram it up and play the harder stuff?

Well sounds like you have just summed up my set there! A bit of everything really, I will just go with the flow and am sure everyone will have a fabulous time.

Remember to catch the nights climax the Queen of Hard Dance Lisa Pin-Up performing on the Contagious sound stage at Global Gathering on Saturday the 28th July!!

To check out Lisa's MySpace CLICK HERE!

To book Lisa contact S62 DJ’s:-
alec.mills@tidy.com

©Greg Lynn 2007
Feature by Greg Lynn