ShivWe caught up with Lady Starlight, Colleen Martin, the live-wire force blending techno, punk, and performance art, ahead of her show at Pawnshop in Dublin this Saturday.
Lady Starlight, born Colleen Martin, has carved out a distinctive path in electronic music, where live performance and hardware serve as an extension of her lifelong romance with music and art. From progressive rock to punk, performance art, and modular techno, “eclectic” barely begins to describe her creative headspace; it feels more like a lifestyle. She breathes techno and punk as an attitude: for many, it’s a brief rebellious stop-off, but for Lady Starlight, it’s woven into the fabric of her DNA.
Despite confessing to rarely, if ever, listening to techno in her spare time, her CV is as decorated as they come when it comes to coveted techno imprints: Figure, Stroboscopic Artefacts, Ostgut Ton, and Tresor, to name a few. Perhaps keeping techno at arm’s length has helped inform her creative process, ruling out imitation or chasing trends. Starlight has always stayed in her own lane, a path that has seen her collaborating frequently with the likes of Surgeon and Steve Rachmad, and sharing stages with Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, andLady Gaga. An artist in the truest form of the word, an artist right until the end.
What inspired your move to Berlin, and was it a big life change at the time, especially professionally? I know the music community there is so strong, but what was that decision like for you?
Definitely. Nobody really wants to leave where they live. I was living in New York, my flat wasn’t cheap, so it came to a point where it didn’t make any sense to constantly be buying transatlantic flights and having a place to stay. So it was really a proper job relocation move type of thing. The community side of it, I kind of underestimated how important that was going to be. Meeting other artists, PR people, my first release would have never happened if I didn’t live here. So in that sense, it’s great, and I don’t want to leave for that reason because you have these collaborative opportunities, and they just can’t happen online over social media; it’s just not the same.
What is it about Berlin that makes it such a creative environment for you as an artist?
The cool thing about Berlin is that there’s still this sense of a left-wing, punk rock ethos that exists here on some level. That alone creates a great environment for creativity. Things that happen in a city kind of stay in the land, and there’s this unresolved trauma that people have gone through here, from the World Wars, and then the DDR, and I live in the former East, and there’s still something here about that that feels heavy.
How would you describe the music you make?
It’s interesting because my style has changed in the past six months. I’ve started making much more melodic and slower techno. I don’t really know what I’m doing because I don’t think about it; it just happens naturally. The thing about me that’s a little unusual is that I don’t really listen to techno; I love rock music, especially progressive rock. So I’m never coming at it from that angle, I sometimes don’t even really know what techno is. I’m just making what comes out of me, and I’m not a hundred per cent always sure what it is. I always have to ask my friends; I’m like, “Is this techno?” I don’t really know. A lot of people call it a lot of things, most of them I don’t like, but what am I gonna do?
Your workflow changed recently; I know you started using Ableton after ten years. What has that shift been like?
Better late than never! I was always using Elektron gear, and it takes a long time; sometimes you lose ideas, and it’s hard to change things around. It’s much easier to change things around in a MIDI clip in Ableton. So I finally figured out how to do that and then transfer it to my equipment. And I kind of underestimated how much changing your workflow changes the style of music that you’re making.
Where did you first get that love for performing?
I think it was from childhood. My brother and I were really close; we still are, and our parents were very encouraging of us being creative, whatever weird things we wanted to do, they were like, okay. So, from literally from childhood, my brother and I were doing weird performances, and it just never ended, just transformed, but we’re still the same. I only go to the studio to create stuff to perform with. Performing is my favourite part of it.
What’s the number one thing you’ve learned about performing live?
Nobody cares what equipment you’re using. Like, five people care. You need to keep it moving as if it were a DJ set. And whatever you project is how the crowd feels. So no matter what, I’m always a very good performer. So when everything is horrible, no one will ever know. I’m like having the time of my life on the outside, and I’m like crying on the inside. Also, a very important tip for people starting is that if you pretend everything is great, then people will believe you. I was a go-go dancer, so I have good performance ability. I have a retail background, so I can really sell things; you gotta sell it.
How do you approach playing live with other people?
It has so much to do with interpersonal skills, personality, the mix, and cohesion. Many people are great live performers and amazing producers who are just not good at improv at all because they don’t know how to hold back. Restraint is really important, which isn’t so easy for some people. With Surgeon and me, there’s no plan of who’s going to do what; there’s only who has the kick drum, and then everything else is just, “oh, we’ll see what happens”. You really just have to listen, and that’s actually not that easy. It’s not as easy as it sounds, surprisingly.
How did the Lady Gaga tours affect your relationship with playing on larger stages?
Oh, 100 per cent. On the huge stage, I was like, “This is normal, right?” No, it was not normal at all. But even as a go-go dancer, I just wanted to dance, and I didn’t want people to bother me. I didn’t want to dance with other people; I wanted to express myself and be alone. So the best way to do that is to be on a podium, and then nobody can bother you, you can just do your thing. I think that carries over from my personality; I’ve always wanted that space.
What’s your advice for someone trying to break into the scene right now?
You have to disengage. You have to not look around, just focus on what you want to do and your own sound. I know it’s really hard with social media to ignore what other people are doing. The more you look around, everyone is projecting their successful image, and this does nothing but destroy your creativity. If you want any type of longevity in your career, you have to do your own thing. And make up your own game that only you can win. Never say no to opportunities. People say be selective, get what you’re worth, ah, fuck that. You never know which opportunity is going to be the one that leads to something else. I met Lady Gaga through her boyfriend, who was one of my really good friends, and 99 per cent of people in the too-cool-for-school scene would have been like, “Ugh, I’m not going to do that.” And I was like, “Cool, yes, why not?” So never say no. And be delusional. Be like, no, this is totally going to work. And then it does.
