5 Minutes with Ellen Allien

By Kevin Yeoh  •  in Features
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The female French DJ was in town recently for an Ohrwurm night at Mist. We caught up with the Bpitch Control leading lady before she hit the decks.

How would you describe yourself as a person?
Active, social, creative.

How did you get into DJing?
Before I became a DJ I was playing in bands, making music and having jam sessions. It was purely entertainment for me and my friends. I started DJing when I had a record player and a mixer at home, so I just made fun DJ tapes. I worked behind the bar at a techno club and one night, I put my tape on. The club owner heard it and asked me to play there as a DJ. Then I started my radio show in 1992, produced my 1st record in 1994 and released my label Bpitch Control in 1999.

How do you think your DJ style has changed?
I buy other people’s music, so it moves with the hype and impact of other artists. 3 years ago I played more dark stuff, but now with the crisis going on, I don’t want to go dark because everything around is so dark with all the politics. I want to play fun music to let the people, and especially me, feel good.

What does your album mean to you?
I feel like a very big, strong tree with roots. I think it’s my age. On this album, I write about life and talk about pain, love and fun. I talk about how I met my boyfriend in the club 3 years ago and how we’re still together. I sing about being optimistic and how I come out like the rain, the sun… It’s really stories between the daytime and nighttime of my life.

So how’s your fashion label doing?
The fashion label is small and it’s not easy to build a big network at the moment. We sell it only in Germany, Italy and Berlin. I’m just doing it because it’s fun.

What are you most afraid of in life?
I’m afraid of aggressive people. I’m afraid of people who don’t find peace because they bring a lot of problems to the world.

What else can we expect from you in years to come? Do you have plans?
My plan is to stay in Berlin; I don’t want to run away from Berlin. And I want to play live in the next 2 years again…

More Ellen Allien at www.ellenallien.de.