‘I’ve been told I'm like a human acid trip’ - Lady Starlight Interview

Who really is Lady Starlight? Perhaps you’ve seen her alongside Surgeon, producing blistering sounds accompanied by a monstrous set up of chunky hardware, tangled wires and blinking lights of endless machinery. Maybe you saw her sing and set hair spray cans ablaze with Lady Gaga during their infamous ‘New York Street Revival and Trash Dance’ parties back in 2007? Or maybe you knew her for creating most of Gaga’s ballsy, burlesque, glam rock costumes in the early days before the latter was christened the ‘New Queen of Pop’?

With a past as colourful as her hand-made apparel, Colleen Martin is everything but an artist pigeon holed by a certain image or sound.

Fondly known to Surgeon as his ‘techno sister that I was separated from at birth’, Lady Starlight has recently relocated to the underground mecca of Berlin, the new home to her live sets and string of shows between touring. Taking in what she has achieved so far in her widely spun career, we chatted to Starlight to figure out how she evolved to where she is today from punk to gut wrenching techno, teen alienation and gender bias…

Hi Lady Starlight, thanks for chatting with MOTZ. We’re curious about your relationship with Lady Gaga and Surgeon, two strong collaborators from your past and present. How did you find yourself working with such prolific artists who, from the outside, may appear worlds apart?

Hi, great to chat with MOTZ! I’ve been told I'm like a human acid trip, so I guess working with me means both Lady GaGa and Surgeon like to experiment with hallucinogens.

Tell us about your roots with punk and how your eclectic music taste as a DJ eventually led to the creation of murky, pounding techno?

I’ve always been a total outsider and I'm not talking about your standard teenage alienation but going back to the age of 4, recording experimental music with my brother - multi-media artist Jason Martin. So I've always identified with rebellious music that challenges the status quo. Techno is rebel music. You can get away with any sonic experimentation as long as there’s a kick drum, that’s what makes techno so amazing.

Your history with punk music, spinning rock records and your strong relationship with Lady Gaga might not be considered the typical trope of a techno artist. How would you describe yourself to a group of chin stroking techno heads?

In the early 90’s in the US, pretty much every teenager/young adult got into techno from either punk, hardcore, industrial or goth. So I've never seen techno as something entirely different from other subcultural music.

Yourself and Surgeon supported a show on Gaga’s ArtRave tour. How did that go down for the predominately pop fans present?

Lady GaGa’s dedicated fans are great and super open minded. They were just taking it all in but the casual pop music fans were not impressed…

How did collaborating with Surgeon change the style of your production?

We had met up and rehearsed before our first performance at the ArtRave in Birmingham but when I heard his modular set up in that arena, I felt as though I had never actually heard techno until that moment. So that radically altered my gear set up. You really can’t appreciate modular synths until you put traditional hardware next to it. It literally decimates everything around it!

Your fans love you for challenging norms and breaking down preconceptions. Do you find it requires a lot of confidence that needs to be sustained or does it come naturally?

Both. I was a natural born contrarian, so the instinct to challenge an audience is certainly effortless…but challenging your audience means you’re signing up for a healthy dose of rejection every time you perform. So to endure it you have to really believe in what you are doing. Because you have to be able to separate your ego from the work. And as a human being, this is not always easy…to say the least.

Have you ever come across barriers in both the underground and pop realms as a woman producing, performing and spinning techno throughout your career?

Cultural stereotypes are a very difficult thing to change. They are ingrained in us from all directions from the time we are born. So whether you are a person of colour, a woman, or LGBT, you will have to deal with bias in any profession. But how you deal with that bias is up to the individual. I think gender bias is totally bullshit and I wish it wasn't there but while it is, I focus on the positive aspects of it. If simply knowing how to turn on a drum machine is impressive, I take that as a definite advantage…

Do you think there is more of a balance emerging between female and male artists on certain techno events and line-ups?

With all that being said above, there’s certainly major leaps and bounds in past few years regarding gender equality in techno. Kudos to The Black Madonna for really pushing this issue into public conversation.

Out of your extensive vinyl collection, what records have influenced you the most throughout your journey in pop, punk, metal and techno?

Van Der Graaf Generator - Godbluff

Crass - Stations of the Crass

Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden

Jeff Mills - Waveform Transmission Vol. 1

In five words, how would describe a Lady Starlight live techno set?

Rapid.

Rolling.

Resolute.

Recalcitrant.

Relentless.

You can catch Lady Starlight in full force at Amsterdam Open Air alongside Surgeon coming up on June 3rd.