A few lines into her online diary and the strong and vibrant personality of Misstress Barbara hits you smack bang in the face, once you delve deeper and read on, you realise that this passion and enthusiasm seeps into every facet of her musical being; from her young days when she played the drums, to her first instances on the turntables, to present day where she is djing on a global scale and running her own record label. Misstress Barbara has just reached our shores and ITM’s Drexciyan catches up with her just before her second Australian tour.

Barbara stumbled across electronic music around the age of 18, snare drums and Led Zeppelin preceded this pre electronic appreciation era. After a night out on the town, the waver of electronic beats enticed this keen ear. “I got into electronic music by coincidence, when I was about 18, I was following my friends in clubs. I used to not like it and then got to hear a house track in a club for the first time, and ended up wanting more. So I went to look for more of it in underground clubs and raves. I firstly started listening to house and trance and then quickly got into techno.” So the drumsticks and kit were turned in and on came the headphones and in came the turntables.

From talking to many Australian local and international djs, there seems to be a strong trend that those who used to get into punk/metal/rock have progressed into taking a liking and passion to techno. Both sounds, although worlds apart seem to share raw and somewhat harsh qualities and the evolution is something that many local and international djs have in common. “I presume the hardness of both styles is probably why I enjoy techno so much, and why I enjoyed rock so much. I think the reason why I love techno so much is because techno is very percussive, and I was a drummer myself for seven years, before being into the electronic music scene. So this is what I love the most in techno.”

From Rock n Roll to techno and relaxing with some jazz, another musical flavour that Barbara is very passionate about. “Jazz, I love it so much. Any old jazz, vocal stuff or instrumental with sax and piano, I love artists such as Sarah Vaughan, Shirley Horn, Stan Getz and Diana Krall.”

Barbara’s determination and success as a dj naturally progressed into production and owning her own record label, which was aptly named Relentless. Relentless is currently undergoing a name change, to accommodate for Barbara’s move in location from Canada to the UK. “I had to change the word Relentless because I am moving the label to the UK; there is Ministry of Sound who already have a label called Relentless. They are big and to avoid running into problems with them, I changed.” The label will be now called ITURNEM, Barbara explains how they name came about. “I was looking for the word Relentless in the thesaurus and found this Latin word called Aeternum, which means eternal, so it was a far away link of the word relentless (non stop, etc etc). I had chosen Aeternum and then on a night out with my friend – Dj Rap, I told her about Aeternum and she heard ITURNEM, so I thought it sounded cool and I kept it that way.”

In the studio Barbara is churning out the releases and the remixes, producing her “drummy, funky, pumping” techno sound, along with quite a bit of house; which she produces under her Barbara Brown moniker. Misstress Barbara versus Barbara Brown is a fusion between house and techno – the product of this combination is a warm synthesis and balance between the two sounds. “Misstress Barbara vs Barbara Brown is a new project which I am enjoying very much, because indeed these days I am making more housey stuff and enjoying it a lot. I love house music very much and ITURNEM number 12 (which would’ve been Relentless 12) will be Volume 2, and then later on in the summer of 2003 there will be Volume 3, etcetera.” The launch of a house label was previously on the cards, but with the name change from Relentless to ITURNEM is has left Barbara for more scope to move within her sounds. “I am not going to start the house label for now, especially because I changed label name and there is no more pressure to only release “relentless” music, since the label is not called Relentless anymore. I can now release more house on ITURNEM…by the way House demos are welcome!”

Owning a record label leads to greater artistic scope, and it is for this very reason that producers find themselves to be full time djs, & label bosses, very busy individuals to say the least. Barbara is exactly that – a very busy lady in techno, but it does not deter her from getting up close and personal with her fans via her websites. Barbara has two online homes, one at www.relentlessmusic.com, which boasts an amazing guest books that overflows with love and adoration. “It touches me a lot. I read it regularly and I realise there is a lot of admiration going on there. Rarely do I get bad comments, and when I do get them I am also interested in seeing what people really think, like honesty. It is fantastic to see so much love and respect towards me.”

Her other online home at www.trustthedj.com, is where she writes a diary to her readers sharing with them of all the weird and wonderful experiences of her tours and where she is at with her music. Barbara stresses the importance of this interaction “I think this is important, whether you are a movie star, a producer or anything else. I think it is important to interact when you actually have something to say and share.” Diary entries that come straight from the heart and from the techno beat that drives her.

Deriving influences from the likes of Adam Beyer, Marco Carola, Luke Slater and Dave Angel, it is clear to see that Barbara likes a balanced mix of intensity, percussive tribalism and funked up sounds. The ferocity in personality shines through whilst djing, a very animated character who plays with a jackin’ wiggle and the occasional fist pump. This is no motionless dj, when Barbara takes to the decks, she works the crowd, builds the intensity and never lets up.

Wowing the audiences on her Australian debut in September 2001, Misstress Barbara returns, as Australian admirers have strong memories of her, she too has some fond memories. “Australia is a beautiful country, amazing nice people, good food, gorgeous weather and people love techno! I look forward to spending more time here, which is what I am doing already, at the moment.”

Misstress Barbara plays this Sunday 26th January @ Rotation in Melbourne, Friday 31st January @ Tech-ni-kal in Sydney. Check ITM whatson for more details.