They’re a “bigot’s worst nightmare” (their words, not ours), whose DJ sets have been tearing up male-dominated dance floors since 2021.
Photography by Amy Peskett
Styling by Eve Kelly
Words by Aswan Magumbe
Taken from Issue 04 of The Basement. Get your copy here.
I’m met on our Whatsapp call with a screen full of sparkling tooth gems, puffs of vape smoke and flawless eyelash extensions. In the midst of technical difficulties (typical) four women chatter away, bonding over their fatigue and giggling at the angle at which their phones are positioned. I’m speaking with Hannah Lynch, Matty Chiabi, Gaia Ahuja (who performs under the stage name G33) and Sophia Violet, who together make up Girls Don’t Sync, the all-female DJ’ing collective that is fast becoming one of the most exciting exports in the UK dance scene. And despite their stage name – coined by the group’s self-professed marketeer, Matty – these girls are most definitely in sync.
A brief scroll on their Instagram page, a snippet of them on your TikTok fyp, and you’re bound to feel a bubbling mix of FOMO and excitement. One after the other (but with the support of the rest right behind them), they perform their mixes to hyped up crowds. In just 12 months they’ve already played sets at Glastonbury and Koko Camden, yet they’re still only just warming up. “I love how we can bring a vibe to a wide range of spaces, and an even wider range of people can feel a part of it,” says Sophia, whose mixes are most notably characterised by Garage sounds – a nod to her upbringing. “No ego, no pretentiousness, centred around friendship and music – so much of our livelihood depends on this,” adds Gaia.
The ladies met just shy of the pandemic. Matty and Gaia grew up with each other in Brixton and attended school together. Later, Gaia met Sophia in Liverpool where they studied, and soon they met native Scouser Hannah. With Matty frequenting Liverpool from her university home in Manchester to visit her bestie, Gaia, it was only a matter of time before something beautiful would form. Now, they all honour Liverpool as the birthplace of GDS – especially as it was also the first place they played together.
“I was having fun with it when I first started learning honestly,” says Matty on first picking up DJing. But of course, reality starts to settle in, and one realises that not all that glitters is truly gold. “When I started DJing a little bit more and the opportunities kept on coming in, I realised I have to market myself for the type of lineup that I want to sit on because they’re not looking at anyone that looks like me,” she continues. “In this genre, there aren’t many black women who are dominating the space and that’s when I realised, ‘Whoa, this is a scary place to be in’.”
“I had that feeling as well,” says Hannah with a thick scouse accent and a shining grin. “In Liverpool at the time, there were no female DJs that played the music I played, so there was no one else I could lean on or go to for advice.”
Having recognised an incessant need and desire to see themselves reflected in the field they’d adored for most of their lives and then self-actualising it, they’ve shattered societal misconceptions – both for themselves, and most importantly, for others. And by following this calling they rightfully earned the acclaimed Best of British Breakthrough DJ for DJ Mag in 2022. “We need some more girls in here,” wrote one delighted fan under their Instagram post announcing the news. “This world needs more chick DJs,” commented another.
The girls’ ascension to the top of their game, dominating the decks, happened so naturally it felt almost predestined, and in some ways it was. All are heiresses to electronic music in some capacity. “Like, are we Nepo babies?” Gaia jokingly chimes. Hannah, Gaia and Sophia credit their parents with helping to nurture the beginnings of their careers as DJs. “My dad basically taught me everything I needed to know going into the DJ world,” says Hannah, while Gaia excitedly shares that her mum loved dance music. “It’s one of the main reasons she moved to the UK, and she was a radio presenter as well. She’s still quite an avid raver.” And with Sophia, DJing was also her surround system. “My dad used to own a club and my mum would DJ when she was pregnant with me,” she laughs to the smiles of the other ladies. As for Matty, it was her brother’s influence as a DJ that hit the ground running for her. “My brother is an R&B and hip-hop specialist DJ so that’s the genre that I learned on,” says Matty. All in all, it has always been a family affair. Fitting, because that’s what’s come of the community they’ve fostered worldwide.
Still, it’s not been without its difficulties. They observe the way that they’ve been treated as they’ve come up in the industry, one not absent of prejudice and dismissal. “We are a bigots worst nightmare,” says Gaia. “We’re four women, we’re all from different places, one of us is gay. But I think we’ve embraced that as our superpower as well.”
“At the start, I wasn’t even really aware of it. I was surrounded by good people – it was just so fun and exciting. I didn’t feel any sense of trepidation,” agrees Sophia. “It’s only later on, the bigger we’ve gotten, the more exposure there is to the world. You’re not just around your friends anymore and the people that love and support you. It’s us against the world a little bit.” To the finger snaps of her friends, Matty expresses: “I wasn’t scared to jump, but I was scared to swim.”
In a recorded set on YouTube, smiles blazing across their faces as Gaia wears a ‘Designed by an Immigrant’ tee, you get a snapshot of their purpose. Yes, they have a knack for all things music, but they also recognise the bigger scene that they’re a part of and can nurture. “When we did our first ever GDS headline show in London there was a group of men that were in their 40s, a group of boys in the back that were obviously straight Black boys and a group of Gay boys, [who were] visibly queer. Something about our music is cross-cultural,” says Gaia. “We advocate for things because we care as people, and it’s as simple as that,” adds Matty. For the ladies, their sets are an opportunity to root electronic music “back in fun and freedom” and foster a space where anyone can let go and enjoy themselves.
To ensure that the representation of women in the field keeps growing, they invest their time and professional capital in supporting the next generation of young female electronic musicians and DJs. “It’s amazing that we are all able to share knowledge between us from working as individual DJs as well as being part of a group,” says Hannah, who also runs workshops and classes for young girls in her native Liverpool, and, pre-GDS, allowed Gaia to shadow her. “We all come from different backgrounds which contributes towards making our DJ sets so powerful, whether it’s taking musical influences from within our families or from the cultural environments in which we have grown up.”
From Bristol to Berlin, Cheshire to Croatia – aka the stops on their 2024 tour – these DJ starlets have transcended the norm and set their sights high for homegrown talents. As for what’s next they’ve got plans to collaborate more with producers all over the world. “Collectively producing music and creating our own sounds has definitely been one of the main goals for Girls Don’t Sync coming into 2024,” says Hannah. “It’s been such an achievement to work with producers we respect and share our own produced tracks with our crowds who reciprocate that same level of excitement back.”
There is something about Girls Don’t Sync that feels wholly serendipitous; their harmony on the decks, how they’ve mastered a seamless blend between genres, all whilst their personalities effortlessly shine through. Through their infectious love of music, community, and having a real good time, they’ve reinvented the wheel, penning a brand new chapter for electronic music in the UK and beyond. Long may that wheel roll.
Hair by Ashley Jordan
Make up by Tilly Marsh
