Turner Beat Around

While she's currently tearing around the country performing as a DJ, the young Gina Forgacs aka DJ Gina Turner certainly never saw in this role something her future self would be indulging in. In fact, her earliest aspirations in the business were modest and some might say, sensible even.

“I studied radio at school,” she recalls. “I always wanted to be a radio DJ, I never even considered being a club DJ at all – that was never the goal. I was on two radio stations in Boston where I was being broadcast to all of New England but I never got to see my audience you know? I was playing house music and electronic music on the air for thousands and thousands of people but I never realised how many people were listening. It was just me dancing around my studio the same way I dance around in my bedroom.”

After a 'promotion' into the realm of Top 40 radio in LA, she knew she had to pursue something else. Once she started doing a little DJing in clubs, she realised she couldn't do both. “I made the switch from radio to DJing more in clubs and producing my own tracks,” she says. “My parents were like, 'What are you doing?! You're throwing away your radio career!” she laughs.

Interestingly, as no one could have predicted, her old friend radio has become a big part of her life, with technology and her own adaptability making it possible for her to pursue this on her own terms. “Well it has kind of come full circle. Once I built a name for myself, I got offered the radio shows again. Now I have four radio shows throughout the world: one in France, two satellite radio shows – so it's really cool! I can do it from the road. I travel with a microphone and a hard drive; I can do it from Asia or wherever I am.”

Splitting her time between Amsterdam and New York, Gina has the best of both worlds as she tries to chase summer around the globe with her touring schedule while she's not producing music under her own name or as part of the duo Nouveau Yorican with her husband Laidback Luke. It's not something she wants to focus on too heavily, but Gina says there are definitely some gender imbalances still present in the world of EDM – similar to pretty much any genre of music that you want to point a finger at. 

“There are a lot of female producers and DJs, but this has always been a male dominated field no matter what. I don't really consider myself a girl DJ, I'm a DJ that just happens to be a girl. In that sense I don't like to use that as a card. I'd like the girls to band together more, because there's a few girl DJs in the industry that aren't team spirited. I think we should all stick together and have each other's backs.”

“If you see me DJ I'm like wearing comfortable clothes and Doc Martins. I'm not using sex appeal to sell things, I hope! (laughs). I don't mind if you're a hot girl, but you shouldn't use that to promote yourself if you want to be taken seriously in the industry. Guy DJs don't wear provocative clothes; they're all jeans and t-shirts. It would save my back from all the luggage I have to carry around if I could get away with that.”

Gina Turner will be playing the following dates:

Friday 14 December - Eatons Hill Hotel, Brisbane QLD
Saturday 15 December - Karova Lounge, Ballarat VIC