Frankie Caught Up With Just Her and This Is What She Had to Say

Frankie Caught Up With Just Her and This Is What She Had to Say From deep house to techno, but always with feeling.  Just Her’s trademark melodies and vocals have secured her releases with world class labels such as Get Physical, Anjunadeep & Global Underground, achieving a wealth of Beatport chart positions, an Essential New Tune on Radio 1 and gigs all over the world. BBM HQ has been playing her latest release ‘Lay Your Weapons Down’ on repeat, we caught up with Claire to find out her inspirations and home comforts whilst on the road….

Frankie Caught Up With Just Her and This Is What She Had to Say Where are you originally from Claire and do you feel that this impacted your musical tastes growing up?

I am originally from Leicester, in the middle of the UK, which a few years ago had quite a good clubbing scene, in the city itself and the surrounding areas. I experienced some amazing nights as a clubber in the early 2000s, and made friends with a lot of DJs and promoters, before gaining a residency at a night called Junk in Loughborough. It was always super busy and was an amazing way to hone my skills as both an opening and closing DJ. Over the years the scene died off in Leicester and I eventually made the move down to the south coast of the UK to Brighton, which is literally a creative hub, with music and art everywhere. It is an inspirational place to live, make music, and run my label & art brand ‘Constant Circles’, plus I get to live by the sea and spend days at the beach in summer (when it’s not raining, haha).

What home comfort do you never leave home without when you go off on tour?

I’m giving my secrets away here, but I have had a cuddly E.T toy since I was a baby that I literally took everywhere with me for years – it’s only recently since I really started touring regularly that I’ve managed to travel without him, haha! These days I always make sure I’ve got my Constant Circles hoodie with me – it’s super comfy, doubles up as a pillow on the plane, and it’s a cool way of advertising my brand on the move 😉 (blatant plug – you can buy them on our store – http://bit.ly/cc_store)

Have to add this in there as I was and still am such a massive fan of GONE TOO LONG, are you & Leon still doing any collaborations? I still often drop that banger when I play!

Haha, thank you.. it seems to be the tune that never dies! 😉 It’s great that I managed to write a track that has become pretty timeless, in a world where music is so disposable. Unfortunately Leon had to take a step back from the industry for personal reasons, which is why I’ve continued solo as Just Her, so there are no collaborations planned for the near future, but hopefully I can keep developing my songwriting side and come up with something equally as catchy under my Just Her alias 🙂

How did you first get into the music industry?

I was always obsessed with music as a kid but just didn’t get the right opportunity to pursue it throughout my education, so for a long time DJing was just a hobby. But it gradually became more and more a part of my life, to the point where I was DJing almost every weekend all over the UK and I realised I needed to try and make it my full time career. When I first started DJing in bars and clubs I played vinyl, and it was just a case of record selection, playing other people’s tracks. But as time went on and I could see that it was becoming more about producing music, and I knew that if I didn’t start making and releasing tunes then I would most likely get left behind. So I went back to University to study Creative Music Production and moved into the industry full time, first as a lecturer in Music Technology (while DJing at weekends) and then eventually as a full time producer, DJ and label owner. It was a huge risk at the time and took a lot of hard work and sacrifices, but obviously it’s something I’m really glad I did.

We were so excited to hear your latest release ‘Raw District & Fabrice Lig feat. Just Her’ – Lay Your Weapons Down – tell me the inspiration & story behind this track/your vocals please?

Thanks! Well I first started working with Raw District last year, when the guys at Selador Records asked everyone on their roster to team up with another artist and produce a track together to celebrate the label’s 5th Birthday. Myself and Raw District chose to work with each other as we loved each other’s sound, and we made a track together as a 50/50 production collab. The process worked really well and we were super happy with the result, so we decided to work on another track, this time with me on vocals. So they sent me over some short loops to write over, which is how I prefer to write vocals – I find it difficult to create something over a predetermined structure, I would rather just flow and see where it goes. The loops were originally quite organic and bare sounding and it inspired me to write some lyrics about vulnerability and laying yourself bare. The vocal came together pretty quickly and I recorded a few takes and sent them back to the guys. They then teamed up with Fabrice Lig to make it into a whole new track, which luckily found it’s home on Crosstown Rebels.

What is your favourite part of the night? the getting ready buzz, the rave or the afters?

I really love arriving at the rave, when the room is getting busy and you can feel the energy building on the dance floor. That’s my favourite part of the night as both a clubber and a DJ.

Is there anywhere in the world you want to play but haven’t had the opportunity yet?

South America has been on my radar for a while now and I’ve been close to playing there but it just hasn’t happened yet, even though I get a lot of messages from fans there and also my Constant Circles radio show broadcasts on a couple of stations in Argentina. I’m hoping we will be able to put together a little tour out there soon.

Tell me about your most inspirational female music producers?

Over the years I’ve been really inspired by pioneering artists like Bjork and Imogen Heap who have consistently pushed boundaries. When I first moved into the electronic music industry I could really feel how male dominated it was, and there were only a few female artists to look up to, but I was inspired by artists like Anja Schneider, Maya Jane Coles, Cassy, Heidi and Miss Kittin. Lately I’m really getting into more leftfield sounds like Or:la, Ciel, Terr, Shanti Celeste. There are so many great female producers coming through now – there is still long way to go, but the tide is definitely shifting.

In three words, describe you // your sound…

Eclectic, emotional, groovy.

What is next for Just Her?

At the end of last year I decided to completely refurb and upgrade my studio so that I could really start to expand and explore my sound and take it in new directions. So right now I’m actually in the studio every day, working on a whole bank of new music. There is a definite freshness to the sound and I’m super excited for everyone to hear what Im making. I’m also working on performing this as a live set with vocals, which I will take on tour later this year. I have a busy string of gigs coming up with festivals in Albania and the UK, a new residency in Berlin, the Brighton Music Conference, a second trip to the USA, plus tours in India and Australia in the pipeline.

I am also working really hard to develop my brand Constant Circles, with our first Vinyl release coming soon including music from myself, Jozef K and Onur Özman, as well as welcoming some amazing new artists Algorythm, An On Bast, Joris Biesmans to the label, and also pushing the visual art side of the brand with art exhibitions in Brighton and London.