Ones To Watch: Euphonique

DJ/Producer and Sub-Woofah founder Euphonique has been an asset to Manchester's dance music community for over 10 years. As a nominee for Best Female Jungle DJ in 2017's We Love Jungle Awards, Euphonique represents oldskool, Jungle, Dubwise and rolling DnB. Beetz Magazine caught up with the all round girl boss to chat D'nB, Manchester's scene and dance music's rising gender equality.

How did you initially get involved with Manchester's dance music scene?

I’ve always been in to music. I used to play piano and write songs at home when I was growing up, it got me through to be honest. I grew up in a small town and a lot of the older crew put free parties on in the forests and quarrys – we all used to go and I always wanted to DJ.

I took up some workshops over summer one year and it really inspired me so I went to study music in Manchester alongside a few of the Levelz crew and musicians still about on the scene today. I got in with some free party soundsystems in Manchester including GASHcollective, Daylite Robbery Sounsystem and Madhatters and I played my first club gig for Hit & Run in 2009 at the Gold Old Corner in Fallowfield. We set up student night Subwoofah at the same club whilst at University. The brand continued to grow and we moved to bigger clubs allowing me to meet loads of people on the scene. It was then that I got involved with Unity Radio presenting a weekly show and met S Man. Together we launched Subwoofah Records in 2011 to release all the dubs we were getting sent as Drum and Bass radio DJs - the first one being artist Epicentre, who we couldn’t believe hadn’t been signed yet!

Who/What are your biggest inspos? Work rate, right now, DJ Hyrbid cannot be matched his label output is ridiculous! Production and DJ wise, Aries and Visionary have always been inspirations and privileged now to call these two my friends – Aries still keeps me on my toes – it’s all banter but he has always reminded to work hard for what I want, and that inspires me (but don’t tell him that)! The whole Born On Road and Chopstick family are pretty inspirational to be honest. Female wise - Misrepresent works hard on the promo front, battles daily with the difficulties of being a women in the scene and now even manages to have a lovely family. Dazee is rocking it with the Ruffneck Ting crew and I have so much respect for everything she has done, and you know what I’m also really inspired by all the upcoming DJs and producers about right now – there is so much talent these days – and so much talent that isn’t nurtured which was the inspiration for launching the studio and the workshops.

What's been the best thing about being Manchester based? Meeting so many talented and driven people – not just in music but creatives in general! Playing some amazing events - I’ve had an amazing 10 years here; watching the rise of people like Levelz, Chimpo, Broke ‘n’ English and Propz & Rowney, working with Manny legends and family – Sappo and Mark XTC, working with the Bloc2Bloc fam and seeing all the amazing talent they’ve brought through, and of course watching all the original Subwoofah family – the likes of Diligent Fingers, Kovert Sound, Sl8r, Motiv, Warhead etc - grow and develop and go on to huge things – so excited to see what the future holds for these lot.

Do you agree with the opinion that Manchester's drum and bass scene is on the rise more than ever? I think it’s always been booming – Drum and Bass as a whole comes round every few years and right now its there again – matched by the talent in Manchester which people like Bloc2Bloc’s Banner, Relapse and Hit & Run are also pushing, it’s nice to see a brand new wave of Drum & Bass and Jungle artists doing their thing, and doing it proper! No messing around – people like Motiv, Sl8r, Warhead, Bou and Dutta are standing out on the production front as the new generation of producers and there is no ignoring that – Manny on the map!

Manchester's DnB scene is no stranger to female participants. Do you feel like gender equality in dance music across the UK is something that is becoming more achievable? Definitely - women are working hard and receiving a lot more support than ever before and its beautiful to see! I think as long as that continues, and women are reminded they can do it and get the support - rather than being judged as women instead of simply fellow talented musicians – then the number of successful females in music will continue to grow, it’s not even a music thing its just a social thing, and the perception of women in many roles has changed so much over the last few years so it’s positive – lets keep pushing for that equality

What have been your career highlights so far? Being nominated as Best Female DJ in the We Love Jungle awards two years running, my South East Asia tour in 2017 playing Jungle in the Jungle, having Subwoofah take us to some other really cool places locally and internationally – Barcelona, France, Finland, Serbia – and meeting all the amazing people there. Joining Origin UK early last year – one of the D&B radio stations I rate the most! As well as working with some of my idols and favourite labels on releases and seeing how far my tunes are reaching - walking into a club and hearing Kenny Ken drop two of my newest tracks and getting the nod of approval from Potential Badboy - pure love for that moment.

What can we expect to see from you in the future? Over the next 12 months I have releases incoming on Audio Addict, Deep In The Jungle, Run Tingz Recordings, Born On Road and Juicy fruit including some collaborations with Gold, Aries and Hybrid, alongside some other people I can’t mention just yet – also a lot in the works on Subwoofah for both my own stuff, other artists and events! Next year I’ve got a lot of festivals booked in, and looking to expand Subwoofah Studio and we’ll be delivering regular workshops promoting production, DJing, sound tech and music business with young people and adults #BeeCreative! It’s going to be a busy one

You can follow Eurphonique on Facebook and Twitter and catch her at the following events:

28th September – Deep In The Jungle Takeover @ Cocoon Sheffield 5th October – Warehouse Project @ Store Street, Manchester 6th October – Euphonique Bday Bash @ Shelter Club London 12th October – Below the Belt @ Underdog, Manchester 19th October – Jungle Splash @ Fire & Lightbox, London

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