All Girl Electronic | “Starts off as a music class & ends up as a family”

Who are you and what kind of music do you make?
My name is Angel, and I am Sydney born and raised. I am a trans-girl and when I started All Girl Electronic, I was only 2 months into transition. I’ve been arranging, singing and song writing as a side thing for almost 8 years now (I started in 2011 when I was in year 11). I make all sorts of music, but mostly hiphop/rnb, rock, pop and the occasional instrumental remix of songs. For a while a few years ago, I collaborated with a few underground producers and rappers in Sydney and Chicago, and that resulted in some tracks which ended up being posted on SoundCloud. Nothing fancy! In recent years, I started to become passionate about issues close to my heart – my own experiences and the experiences of those similar to me along the journey of discovering our gender identities. As a result, my core focus is now on making songs which have very strong queer and transgender discourse.

In the very concise words of someone I kind of eavesdropped on (sorry not sorry), it starts off as a music class and ends up as a family (uh oh, where’s the tissue box?). In summary, the environment is very accepting if you’re trans, you feel very valid and everyone is really nice to you. In terms of the actual workshop, it’s very relaxed and everyone learns at their own pace, and there’s plenty of room for everyone to share and connect with each other through music and there’s no pressure. It’s absolutely great!

My friend Liana tagged me in a post on Facebook along with a string of other girls, saying we should all do the workshop. At the time, I did not even know that she knew I was trans! In fact, we hadn’t even spoken in years. But we got in touch and met up, and she ended up convincing me to sign up after much persuasion. Initially, I was really nervous at the thought of not being accepted as a “girl” since I was so early on in my transition, but she re-assured me that it would be ok.

The AGE facilitators and the mentors were really helpful and patient, even when I asked stupid questions. They shared their own experiences with live performance and how they personally approach the art of making music which was really valuable – hearing these things from someone who is more involved and developed in the field of work. Also, before All Girl Electronic, I never really had any sort of real conversation with people who did music production using DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations). I really really enjoyed talking to everyone there, because I could finally share my passion for music with other people and they would understand me when I used all sorts of music production lingo!

Why should people apply for the next round of All Girl Electronic?
You should apply if you have a passion for making music or performing, really. You should apply if you want to make friends with people who also love to make music. You should definitely apply if you’re trans or non-binary, because the workshop is catered to people like us. I think that no matter where you are in your musical journey, there’s a place for you here.