Frankie Elyse Interview

Next on our interview series is Glasgow DJ Frankie Elyse. DJ’ing from 2017 and promoting her own nights ‘Polka Dot Disco Club’ in Dundee she now hosts her own show on Groove City Radio called ‘To Be Frank’ . Her style ranges from house to disco and everything in between!

Hey Frankie, So for those that don’t know of you can you give us a quick intro to yourself? How did you get into DJing?

Hello! My interest for DJing was piqued when I started doing student radio in my final year at Edinburgh University. There were decks in the studio, and whilst it wasn’t necessary to use them in our shows, I just really fancied learning! I was studying Law and Spanish at the time, which was super intense – so I decided that in order to properly learn to DJ, I would have to focus on this after my studies were finished. So just before graduation, I flew over to Ibiza to do a two week DJ/production course with Point Blank. It was honestly life-changing. The confidence and skills it provided me with were invaluable and as soon as I was back to Scotland I was booked for my first gig at Paradise Palms playing for local club night, Creme Fresh. Since then, I’ve never looked back.

What’s been your favourite gig you have promoted or DJ’ed at so far?

This is super tricky as I have been lucky enough to play at some cracking venues in some amazing countries. But I have to say that my favourite gig that I have played at has to be when I played as our DJ/violin duo KINTRA at the festival Beats For Love in Ostrava. We played to a massive crowd and were on just before Nora En Pure, which was honestly mind-blowing. And the response we had after the gig was unreal – people were even recognising us in the crowd and asking to take pictures with us! A real ‘pinch-me’ moment.

2020 has been brutal for the electronic music scene, Once we can start throwing gigs again are there any clubs that you would love to play at? Why these?

I have always wanted to play the main room at Cabaret Voltaire in Edinburgh, so hopefully I can make this happen! It’s a venue that I have visited since first year of university and it’s what properly got me into the electronic music scene. I also would love to play at SWG3 in Glasgow as the sound system is insane! However one venue that I regret not getting the chance to play at is The Reading Rooms. Growing up in Dundee, this venue was legendary, so it makes me sad that it’s no longer open. Perhaps one day I will get to play at the new venue, Kings, instead!

You are also part of a DJ violin duo with your sister called KINTRA! How did this come about? What made you think a violin player and DJ could go together? Have you’s got any gigs lined up for the future?

I honestly can’t remember how it exactly happened! I had been DJing for a wee while and was getting a fair amount of gigs at the time. My sister saw how much joy it brought me and I guess she wanted to get involved in the fun! We both play violin – but she has always been far better than me. So I guess it just made sense to incorporate both of our skills and create our wee duo! We have been so fortunate to play at some amazing gigs and we have already been booked to play a few gigs and a festival next summer. It’s a festival that I have wanted to play at for a long time, so I am buzzing!

You are currently hosting your own show on Groove City Radio ‘To Be Frank’ How is the show going? We see you have had some great guests on and always try to help push local Scottish talent! You must be glad you can do this to have a music output with all the restrictions on events just now?

I absolutely love radio, so being able to do my show To Be Frank makes me so happy. Since we are turning into an FM station soon, I have decided to go for a bit of a revamp with my show and focus on music chat and interviews rather than just mixing and guest mixes. I have some great artists coming onto the show within the next few months so I am super excited! However It is a shame that I can’t get the guests actually into the studio at the moment, but unfortunately this is just another consequence of Covid!

If you could have any DJ right now to be a guest on your show who would it be and why?

If I could, I would get Sally C as a guest on my show. I have been listening to so many of her mixes recently and I reckon she’d be absolutely great patter. 

So you’re at the afters… you get handed the aux cord everyone is looking at you to play a banger…what tune do you play and why would you choose it??

This is such a difficult one! I guess it really depends on where the afters is, but I’d probably go for Faire et Refaire by Ascendant Vierge. It’s a tune that me and my Glasgow pals absolutely love to stomp to at gaffs so I think it would have to be that one.