CP NEWS: Misstress Barbara

[ddm-news]

-By DJ Wolfie

Come With Me.... Three simple words. It can be used in so many different ways. It’s your friend, inviting you on a trip. It’s a Russian cop, arresting you. It's your lover, whispering in your ear.

It happens to be the name of Misstress Barbara’s new album, and it’s a genuine invitation on a musical journey. She is evolving a new sound, and she wants you to come with her.

Misstress Barbara has traveled the globe for over a decade, banging out raves, festivals, and clubs. She’s seen the rave culture at its best and at its worst, all the while being known as the queen of techno.

“Up until a year ago, I’ve always played techno. But I played wide. I managed to be harder than the hardest DJs. “

Her sound started to gravitate towards electro and minimal techno. She has felt an internal pull to create a new sound.

“I’ve had this transition period for two years. I was playing gigs, and if I played an hour a half sets, it was all techno. When I played 4 hour sets, I pulled out deeper stuff. I started feeling the electro more. I can’t keep playing hard if I don’t feel it.“

Some DJs will keep on faking a genre they hate for years just to keep the money rolling. Misstress Barbara plays from the heart. If she’s not feeling it, she’s not playing it.

“If I hadn’t found something to replace techno, I would have had to quit DJing. I'm glad I found electro and minimal. I can't fake that I’m having fun, like many DJs do. They always have to play their hits, play the same songs. If I have to play the same set, I can’t do it. not even twice. I have no idea how Celine Dion plays 5 shows a day in Vegas. She can’t possibly feel each song each time. I know to some it’s a business, but really to me it’s my art. If I don’t feel it, I have to stop.“

Fortunately for us, she’s still very much in the game.

“I wouldn’t have done ‘Come With Me...’ if I didn’t have courage. It takes ten years to build a trademark. And now I've changed. What can I do, at least I enjoy what I do. I hope my fans follow along. “

The album is a solid offering from her new style of music. ‘Come With Me...’ captures the love of her new genre. The mixing is superb. There isn’t a hint of techno. It’s a complete change from that sound. The track selection fits her new electro style like a glove. She has two of her un-released, original tracks on the album.

“My song ‘I love you’ I think its going to be something big. It's really huge. I get the most reaction from the crowd when I play it. It's still not out yet. It's great. It's powerful, a dance floor track. It doesn’t have a style that I could call something. It's a cool track because you can't call it a style, it's not minimal, its not house, its not electro. It's not techno. It’s old school groovy beats with a little electro. It's a cross over. I think those tracks stay around for a while. In music that’s great. If its different, its big and it lasts. You remember it all the time.

She shares the story behind the track. The tale starts with another song- a song she wrote in anger.

“I was very upset with someone, I did a mean track about them, the track had mean words, it was ridiculous. 'You’re just a...’ was the name of the track. I never released it. Then, I decided to do the opposite, to have an opposite energy. So that's what came out of it. I wrote and sang ‘I love you’, just to have an opposite energy. “

The other original track on the album was written by her several years ago. It fits so perfectly in this electro mix, it shows that somewhere lurking in her was the heart of an electro DJ.

“’Eleven o seven’ is a great track. I did it July 11th, 2000. You think about the date, its something special. I did this track five and half years ago. It was too minimal back then. People weren’t expecting that from me. Lately I listened to it, it sounds new. With me, I do stuff so much in advance, I have this feeling that if I waited a few years, it would have worked. This track is really cool--it really fits with what’s happening in the music now. “

Her new songs are quality tracks, emotionally evocative. There is more depth to the melody and the music. Her electro tunes are touching in ways that hard techno songs couldn’t express.

“I have this new track call K-10, I made a guy cry in san Paulo. I made someone cry with my song. He was dancing and crying. San Paulo is great. I love Brazil."

Misstress Barbara has a strong bond with her fans. She says in her French Canadian accent, "My fans love me, they are very proud of me. Once, on my birthday, I played at a club, and they lit 2000 candles--you know, not normal candles but the ones that blow like this with sparks--you call them sparklers? Yes, they lit 2000 sparklers, and all 2000 of them sang happy birthday to me. I have Goosebumps just thinking about it.”

The fans have kept the bookings coming. Switching music genres can hurt a career. Fans can come expecting one genre, and become disappointed or angry when they hear something different. Fortunately for Misstress Barbara, it's her energy and love of music that holds the dancers attention, not the genre.

“Whether I play hard or not, I have a lot of energy behind the decks. My sets have a lot of energy. I interact with the crowd, they like that I am so with them, I make them dance, I know what they need. When I switched styles, I thought it would affect my booking. I was scared. but it hasn’t. I’m super busy, I have a big pull in the states. I have a busy Europe tour coming up in April.”

Having the courage to play music she loves has brought unexpected rewards.

“I hadn’t thought about it, but my new style is opening many doors. I get bookings in clubs that I normally wouldn’t get booked. They are great venues, warm clubs that never book hard trance. I am feeling these shows very much. “

‘Come With Me…” is currently out in the states. It hits the shelves in Europe on April 6th.

Click here for more info and tour dates.

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