dig dis!scover with Misstress Barbara

Sensuality. Power. Control.
A short conversation with Misstress Barbara on Millions of Women, longevity, and what really matters after 30 years in techno.

Your artist name “Misstress Barbara” stands out. What does it say about who you are?
You know that my name, Misstress, has one extra “s” because it’s a wordplay between “miss” and “stress.”
So that’s me always computing. I have a lot of energy, thankfully.

What has kept you going in music for more than 30 years?
I think it takes a lot of willpower, a lot of passion. You need to be in it for the right reasons, because otherwise it’s very easy to lose interest and lose passion. What’s different, though, is that the right reasons before are unfortunately not the right reasons today, for me. What kept me in for 30 years is the love of the music.I don’t know if this is the true recipe for whoever decides to be a DJ today, or for whoever is able to sustain a career that would even be six, seven, eight, nine years. I don’t know if people still get into it because of the love of the music. I hope so. But a lot of people also get into it for the wrong reasons. And when you get into anything for the wrong reasons, it cannot last 30 years. I don’t think it can. It’s impossible.

After three decades in the scene, do you feel freer today or less?
I don’t feel freer today, actually. And it’s crazy, because I’ve been around for 30 years. I should be doing whatever I want and I do. I’m a very authentic person. But I upset my team, I upset my agent, I know I upset my fans.
Why? Because I don’t play the game that the scene today requires you to play.
If I’ve been around the world multiple times before social networks, what was bringing me there? Clicks? Promoters seeing how many followers I have? Pictures? Obviously not.
The only thing that was bringing me to play all over the world was literally talent, mouth to ears, because people would talk about it.
I’m talking about before the internet. I was getting booked by fax. I was getting a fax, and then I had to confirm by fax or by phone.
I feel that I was freer before, because I wasn’t always obliged to post something, release something, or talk to your fans. You would just live.
Now you have to constantly engage with people: respond, put likes. I’m okay with it. I’m fine. But I do it at my pace, at my rhythm. For any agent or manager, it’s too little. It’s not enough.
And I’m like, “Look, if I made it organically without socials, there’s no way that after 30 years I have to start playing a game in order to stay in the thing.”
And what about my talent? My agent has literally told me, “Talent is not enough anymore. You need to come up with something else.”
And I’m like, “Okay. If I have to play that game, I’m out.”
So I feel less free. I’m still doing what I want, but I know it’s not what agents and managers would like to hear. It’s different now, and you have to have the energy to do that. I do not after 30 years.
I’m ready to pay the consequences. I understand what they are. I’m fine. I’ve built a good life for myself.

What’s the real advice you’d give a young DJ starting today?
I’m sure I’m not the best person to give tips to people who start today. But when I was interviewed in the beginning, people asked me, “What advice would you give a young musician, a young DJ?” My answer was always the same: stay true to yourself and do what you like.
If you like Drum and Bass, don’t become a Trance DJ because trance DJs are popular. You’re not going to be a good DJ. You’d better be an amazing Drum and Bass DJ, because that’s what gives you goosebumps, rather than trying to be what you’re not.
This advice I will always give: stay true to yourself, be authentic.
But if I start giving advice like, “Don’t be too preoccupied with socials and just focus on your music,” I would not be giving the right advice today. I would not be a good mentor, because I will never think that we should be focusing so much on those things.
Unfortunately, that’s what people do, including promoters. That’s all they look at. The game has changed, and it’s sad that it has.

What changed in the music business and what bugs you the most about it now?
A friend of mine, Christian Smith, the owner of Tronic Music told me, he literally wrote an email to Beatport asking them to open a new category between Techno Raw and Techno Peak Time.
Because what happens now is that there’s so much stuff that if it’s not Raw, it goes into Peak Time and gets lost.
He said to me literally, “Millions of Women is an interplanetary hit.” I entered it as Raw, but Beatport put it into Peak Time. It will get lost at the bottom of the pages, because Peak Time techno is almost EDM right now.”
So Millions of Women won’t get the attention it deserves, because it’s not found in a proper techno list.
The problem is too many releases, too many platforms, and too many people wanting to be DJs and producers for the wrong reasons. And it’s too easy to become a DJ or a producer.*There are DJs who don’t even know how to pitch or beatmatch, because computers do everything for them. They get boosted on Instagram, they release tracks they probably didn’t make themselves, they pay ghost producers, and they build huge careers without knowing how to DJ or produce.
Meanwhile, the real talented people are behind, spending hours in the studio, putting out amazing tracks that don’t do well. That’s why it’s not fun anymore, to be honest.
I don’t find it fun anymore. So when I do something, I just do it.
Of course, it would be fun to have more attention when I release a record. But I’m okay. I’m very capable of being happy and living a good life even without that, because I’ve been doing this for 30 years.
But I wonder how young artists do it. It’s hard. It’s extremely hard. It’s probably easier to get a job at McDonald’s and have a steady income. And then let’s not even get me started with AI.
So am I freer now? No. I’m not.

How do you block out all the noise and let the music do the talking?
I don’t find it fun anymore. So when I do something, I just do it.
Of course, it would be fun to have more attention when I release a record. But I’m okay. I’m very capable of being happy and living a good life even without that, because I’ve been doing this for 30 years.
But I wonder how young artists do it. It’s hard. It’s extremely hard. It’s probably easier to get a job at McDonald’s and have a steady income. And then let’s not even get started with AI.
So am I freer now? No. I’m not.

How do you deal with image, looks, and expectations as a woman in techno?
When someone tells me, “You’re my favourite female DJ,” I laugh. I don’t even think it’s a compliment. There are things that have no gender.
At the same time, I’m also the first not to support women who only play on their looks — because they make everyone look bad. And there are guys too. They play on their looks, take twelve minutes to mix a track, and people say, “Oh my God, he’s so amazing.”
I don’t like what socials are doing. In the beginning, it was hard because I had to fight against prejudice people thinking the only reason I had a career was because I was a woman.
I prefer selling less, being less popular, and being authentic, rather than doing what a lot of people do. I will always be able to say that I’ve been 100% authentic. That’s the most important thing.
You feel when people are not authentic.

Millions Of Women is a killer track. What's the story behind that?
If I explain the real story, I get into my private life — and I don’t mind it. I’m gay. The song came from a stupid comment a woman made to me and I thought, “Let me make a song with this stupid comment.”
Millions of Women. I’m going to make millions of women come. And this is what happened.
Of course it’s not people I recorded I would be sued (laughs). It’s all samples. It was just a very polite reading between the lines, turned into inspiration.
When I play it, I think, “You have to be courageous to play that.” Sometimes I smile. Sometimes I have to stay strong. It’s my track, so I have to stand by it. Some moments are intense. The break is long, the build-up is strong. I like it. I’m very happy.
Sometimes I’m still a bit shy playing it. It fits better in big rooms. In small, intimate clubs, people look at each other and get shy. Why people get shy with sex — I don’t know. That’s human nature.
And yes, if a man had done that, I’m not sure how it would have been received.
The other two tracks are also solid dancefloor weapons. I’m very happy with this release.

Do you still overthink your music, even after 30 years in the studio?
It’s hard not to overthink especially for someone like me. Like Misstress, I overthink everything.
It’s nice when you can let your art talk without your brain coming in right away and saying, “Maybe this, maybe that.” I call the brain “the snake.”
Even after 30 years, I still struggle to let my art speak without immediately criticising everything I’ve done. It’s hard to know if what I feel is really what I like, or just what my brain is telling me. I should meditate more (laughs).

Why did you relaunch your label and why dig dis!?
My label became dormant at some point. I was with a big digital distributor in the States, Universal, and I felt like a small number. So I decided to relaunch the label in 2022.*
I was playing a gig in Germany with Arnd Reichow from Drumcomplex, who’s an artist with dig dis!. I told him I was relaunching the label, and he asked, “Who’s your distributor?” I said, “Universal.” And he said, “You should get with dig dis!. They’re small, they’re boutique.”
I got in touch with Luca Schreiner, I started talking, and I moved my entire catalogue to dig dis!. I’m very happy with how things are. It’s easy to talk with them, and I feel taken care of.
I don’t release once a month. I release two or three EPs a year. For me, it’s always quality over quantity.
I’m very happy to be part of the family.

Do you like to add something that we didn’t cover yet? 
We spoke about everything. Maybe I wanna add: Every time I do an interview, when I hang up, I think, “Maybe I was too negative.” Because I’m very honest, and maybe I come across as a grumpy old DJ.
But I love DJing. If DJing is a pie, DJing itself is five percent of that pie. And I still enjoy this five percent very much.
What I’ve lost interest in is everything around it: social media, appearances, all the fakeness. I don’t like it. I don’t want to come across as negative. I’m just honest.
 

Thanks for the conversation! It was great to hear more about your journey, the development of your labels and your behind the scenes perspective on the scene. We wish you continued success and we’re looking forward to the next releases!