Miss Wendy: “Playing with shaking legs”

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Someone once told me that Miss Wendy sort of is the 'inventor' of hardclub. In 2014 she told me about her first gig. "The DJ booth was placed on a hay wagon."

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Someone once told me that Miss Wendy sort of is considered to be the 'inventor' of hardclub. That's quite an image to live up to! For sure, I got to know Dutch DJ/producer and house pioneer Wendy van de Paverd a.k.a. Miss Wendy as a strong woman with a powerful sound. In 2014 she told me about her first gig. "The DJ booth was placed on a hay wagon."

“My first gig was on a farm that belonged to one of my friends. It was close to Uithoorn and took place on July 7th 1994, so almost exactly twenty years ago. The event was held on a huge farm.”

Hay wagon

“The whole property was decorated and the DJ booth was placed on a hay wagon. I was the closing DJ and admittedly, I was pretty nervous.” (laughs)

miss wendy toen - Miss Wendy: "Playing with shaking legs"

Shaky legs

“As a result, I played my set on shaky legs. And yes, of course, this added to the pressure of playing,”

Friends and acquaintances

“Most of the people in the crowd were friends and acquaintances. I think we were somewhere in between fifty and a hundred, all together.”

miss wendy press photo 2016 - Miss Wendy: "Playing with shaking legs"

Followed my feeling

“I had prepared my set in general at home, but when I started playing, I totally followed my feeling. It helped that a lot of people who were present supported me.”

A lot to learn

“Looking back on it, the set went pretty well. I’m sure that you can imagine that the first time playing for an audience at a ‘real’ party, there’s a lot to learn. For example, about building up or off. And most definitely about how to interact with the audience and with that, to consider the time I had to play.”

miss wendy 2010 by Gerard Henninger - Miss Wendy: "Playing with shaking legs"

No blueprint

“So yeah, you can learn a lot from your first gig. In those days, there was no blueprint of how to be a DJ or to become one. Nor was defined what skills you needed.”

Only one style

“In the end, there was only one style: house. That was it. Being a pioneer, you just had to figure out everything by yourself. That’s how I created my own style and genre: hardclub.’

miss wendy 2021 - Miss Wendy: "Playing with shaking legs"

New technical moves

“As far as mixing was concerned, I believe it all went pretty well from the start. But sure, through the years my skills have become smoother and on top of that I learnt a lot of new technical moves! It would be weird if I hadn’t!” (laughs)

This article is originally published on DJMag.nl on July 15th 2014.

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