Interview With OK Williams
For the next Fèmmme Fraîche On 12th March we’re incredibly gassed to have the powerhouse OK Williams in the basement, working her magic. I’ve been lucky enough to share a couple of line-ups with Kanyin AKA OK Williams recently, but our set times always seem to clash, yet everyone I talk to hugely hypes her up, often exclaiming she was the ‘best of the night’ or ‘highlight of the festival’ or even bigger statements like ‘best set of the year’, so when I finally had the chance to experience one of her sets for myself on New Years Day, I revelled… and I can tell you she did NOT disappoint. I can vouch, the hype is real, she’s a magician at work - weaving seamlessly through genres, with mostly upbeat, booty-shaking, hi-energy bangers, peppered with perfectly-timed, calmer cool jams, with this equally effortlessly cool, calm and collected demeanour, totally taking it in her stride. What’s most wonderful about OK Williams, is she’s always as excited, honoured and humbled to be in the club and on the dancefloor as the punters she’s making dance, the sign of a true legend.
I managed to catch up with OK Williams for a quick Q&A ahead of her set with us at Dalston Superstore, to get the lowdown on her inspirations, aspirations, her life in lockdown and future plans.
INTERVIEW WITH OK WILLIAMS
Thanks so much for having a chat with us. I guess let’s start at the beginning, I’m always interested to know what kind of music DJ’s and musicians listened to and were drawn to when they were in their early pre-teens years, and if that has any influence on their sound as an artist, so tell us about your early music listening’s and how that’s shaped your sound today? Thanks so much for the write up! Probably some of the nicest things anyone has said about me and my DJing.
Well I think the earliest music that had an influence on me was what was playing in my house growing up. My dad had/has a big CD and record collection and used to play a lot of rnb, street soul, afrobeats, highlife etc so a lot of that was the music I first loved. When I was really young a lot of pop/rnb like destiny child and Justin Timberlake lol. Then when I got a bit older at first it was like indie stuff, a loooot of hip hop, drum and bass. I started listening to dance music when I was in 6th form and that opened up a whole new world. I’ve always been very influenced by different sounds which I think is quite obvious in my DJing.
Nothing wrong with a bit of JT!! We can totally hear the eclecticsm in your sets. So I hear DJ-ing was something you hadn’t planned; it was just something you kind of fell into. How did it all first come about for you? And at what stage did you start to believe this was a legit career path for you? I was just a bit aimless in my early 20s and needed some kind of hobby/ creative output. I’d always been in the club and selecting tunes so DJing just felt like a bit of a no brainer. I had a friend that had some cdjs and turntables, started practicing there. His housemate worked at boiler room so I would go to the office and practice every now and then, and then it just kind of snowballed from there. I was 23 when I first started learning how to dj. It was a bit mad going from being a fan my whole adult life to actually being involved in the scene. Not always so sure about it being a legit career path though but I definitely started to take it pretty seriously late last year. It’s a hectic lifestyle, and I’m not convinced its the most sustainable. I do plan to be doing it for as long as I can though.
‘‘The thing I find most challenging if I’m honest is not comparing myself to others. The music industry can feel like a bit of a rat race and it can sometimes be hard to just focus on you and not pay too much attention to what other people are doing’’
Well you’re certainly smashing it at the moment. What would you say, has been the most instrumental thing in helping you launch yourself to where you are as a DJ today and what has been the thing you’ve found most challenging? Most instrumental thing I would have to say was being at NTS Radio. Having a show and just working there were the best things that could have happened to me. I didn’t know anyone in music before I started, it was the best place for me to just watch the best djs in action, learn about so many genres and just generally feel a sense of community. Wouldn’t be anywhere without that place and I’ll be grateful forever! The thing I find most challenging if I’m honest is not comparing myself to others. The music industry can feel like a bit of a rat race and it can sometimes be hard to just focus on you and not pay too much attention to what other people are doing. Keeping my mind right feels like the most challenging thing sometimes lol.
If you could go back to the beginnings of your career and give yourself some advice, or for any newby DJ’s out there, what’s the advice you would give? The only advice I would give is hold on to the joy. Remember why you started doing what you are doing and never forget!
So onto something a little less joyous, it’s still a dirty-word and not-to-distant memory and for some countries outside UK still happening, but let’s chat lockdown life. C-19 kinda hit, just as you were making waves DJ-wise, it massively hit the nightlife industry all its workers and ground it to a halt, but how did it effect you personally, both emotionally and otherwise and what did you do to cope during that time? To be honest it was a complete head fuck. I was very depressed when the pandemic first hit and thought that would be it for me and DJing. I didn’t do much to cope. Spent a lot of time with friends, kept listening to music I loved, took mushrooms in the park and smoked a lot for most of 2020. Then I was lucky enough to start doing a weekly radio show on NTS which definitely pulled me through. Unfortunately I tied a lot of my self worth in with the things that I was doing, and when those things disappear it can be hard to see your worth, but I had to switch up my ways of thinking big time.
It was tough times for sure. Have you found the scene has changed at all since post-lockdown? what have been your observations both positively and negatively on the club scene and parties since c-19 and in hindsight do you think this a good or bad thing for your career? I don’t feel like I had enough of a grasp on the scene before the pandemic to have totally accurate answer. I had only been DJing for just over a year when it hit. When I look back to that time I was very much a DJ baby with my rose tinted glasses firmly in place. I was very lucky to come out of the pandemic with a bigger profile than when It started. Something I’m very grateful for.
While DJ-ing, Clubbing and music can on the surface seem as something very hedonistic and sometimes altruistic, it’s history has always been steeped in politics, starting from it’s humble beginnings where the nightclubs were a sanctuary and safe-haven for Gay, Black folk to be free to express themselves and find community. Where would you align yourself and what would you say is your mission as an artist?I love playing queer parties so much because I feel its the closest we can get to dance music and club culture’s truest form/origins and I think these spaces need to be protected. To me club culture has been so bastardised but when done right, clubbing can be life changing. Queer, trans, non binary people are the life blood of dance music. If you don’t know this by now then you should probably leave.
To be honest my only thing is to feel good about myself as an artist and as a person. And to help others like me to feel good about themselves. And by others like me I mean black women. If I can in anyway help other black women feel good about themselves and feel like they can do anything then that is mission accomplished.
AMEN to this! What are your goals for the future with your career and do you have anything you’re particularly excited about coming up soon? Once again my goals are to feel good about myself. And work on music so I can finally express myself in the ways I have always truly wanted.
YESSS, we’re totally ready and waiting for some OK Williams dancefloor Bangers! Thanks for the chats and see you on the dancefloor tonight!