Heidi Lawden doesn’t do the polished version of this story. Ask her about the club nights that built her — Blue Note, the Gardening Club, the night she eventually founded, Rulin’, at Ministry of Sound — and she’ll skip the mythology and hand you the truth instead. There was no roadmap, no blueprint, just a teenager with a pair of Technics bought from her first paychecks and a pre-internet scene where lessons were passed person to person or not at all.
Three decades on, that DIY education still runs through everything she does, from her label Extra Sensory (a Bandcamp-only, pay-what-you-want outlet born out of one too many rejected demos) to the ten-hour-plus solo sets she’s become known for on both sides of the Atlantic.
Now based in LA but still fluent in London’s wonky basslines and UK grime, Heidi tells us about outgrowing the “cool” version of DJing, what she actually misses about the old scene, her b2b chemistry with Andrew Lovefingers ahead of their Ibiza date at Akasha, and why she’d rather have one loyal residency than a brand deal.
You began your career in London’s club scene as a teenager, working your way through spots like Blue Note and the Gardening Club before founding Ministry of Sound’s Rulin’ Night. What do you remember most vividly about those early years behind the scenes, and how much of that DIY, hands-on education shaped the DJ you became?
I’ve been involved in music somewhat professionally since I was 16 yrs old, I like to call it a life not a living. I never had a plan. I DJ’d, promoted, worked on large scale events, camp outs and even a mini festival. MOS I was employed at the other clubs I promoted nights at or helped to secure nights for them. The one constant through it all even if sometimes on and off has been DJing, technics turntables were the first thing I saved up for from my first paychecks. You nail it with DIY. There was no roadmap, very few blue prints, it’s pre-internet so stories were person to person, so we just threw the kind of things we wanted to go to ourselves, learned from our mistakes and kept forging forward. Being a clubber, a dedicated pirate radio supporter and listener, DJing alongside & working with so many other DJ’s is what’s shaped my sound and approach. I have so many years of dancefloor inspiration to pull from.
You came up in London during a formative period for its club culture, at venues that no longer exist in the same form. What do you miss most about that era of the city’s scene, and how do you think today’s London scene differs from those days?
When I moved to London it was after pouring over magazine articles about the clubs I wanted to go to and the world I wanted to immerse myself in, my family told me ‘Oh you think the streets of London are paved with gold, I did, and it felt like they were for me, I don’t wanna gloss over the struggle, but I see this world thriving, we were a minority of outsiders back then, working in clubs and DJing was seen as less than, but it was the world for me. The thing I miss is the sense of danger and adventure, everything is branded to within an inch of its life, I’m told I need to work on my brand more by some people, but I’m not Pepsi ffs.
Having relocated your base to L.A., how do you think your London instincts translate to American dance floors? What are the key differences between the two cities?
There will be big sounds and tracks in London that take a hot minute to come to the US if they come at all, London isn’t as obsessed with being on the phone in clubs as the U.S is, and I don’t mind people capturing their moment but it says a lot about me that some of my favorite places to play are phone free, everyone does indeed get lost in it. I love a wonky baseline, and my unpopular take in the L.A is I love UK rappers, I love Grime, there’s some incredible femme UK rappers right now, I’m also told that wonky baselines are a London thing, but LA for sure has ears for that. In the last when I dropped a UK track like that I might get the looks but now LA is into it. I’m not afraid to play anything tbh and I think that comes from the London anything goes attitude that raised me as a DJ.
Your sound moves fluidly between house, techno, wonky basslines, left-field synth cuts and disco oddities — you don’t stay in one lane. Where do you search for music for your DJ sets these days? Do you always decide what you play on the spot, or do you pre-prepare some of your sets?
That’s a reason I like long sets, to dig into all the sounds. I’m not a big planner in so much as I don’t have a cute little two hour set put together that I repeat night after night with a few changes, I don’t use record box I’m super in the moment and feeling off the crowd, I like to get there early feel out what’s working which usually dictates my first one or two tracks but then off I go. Combining through, listening to and digging for music in between gigs is a constant, music is endless. I love to discover new and old, but new to me stuff, some nights I might pull a day’s worth of music on to my usb for one set. In an ideal world I’d love to visit every dancefloor I play on before I play it, repeat plays at clubs are my favorite because you really get to know the room, its sound, and its people and you start to play with them and that.
You run your own label, Extra Sensory. What was the moment you realised you needed your own platform rather than continuing to release solely through other people’s labels
I sent music to a label once a while back, they didn’t like it, so I never sent any again, I don’t advise doing that, but that knocked my confidence. So then I just made music for me and for my sets, and I’d often get track ID requests for the bits I’d made or edited. The first thing I released was dance floor dreams post pandemic, it was on a compilation of CA producers as an outlet in the pandemic, it was really well received then once the compilation was withdrawn it didn’t have a home and I’d get asked where can I buy it, particularly in the UK cos it was a Sean Jonson power play, so as a play on the ESP Institute name (Lovefingers longstanding label) I formed Extra Sensory for that release primarily but now there’s others on there with more to follow. I love to muck around in the studio with my production partner Hein, we’ve got a lot of stuff on the go. I heard Prince or MJ say that ideas are given to you and if u don’t make it, it’s out in the ether and given to someone else (some cosmic shit like that) and I believe it, there’s two tracks I made with Hein that come to mind that we didn’t release, and I swear a couple years later almost those exact same tracks were released by someone else, one time Hein even thought I’d been moonlighting without him the track was so similar. Extra Sensory is an outlet for me to put those things out on without having to worry about a label wanting it, it’s a bandcamp only pay what you want type thing and my dublab radio show has been renamed Extra Sensory too.
A track you co-wrote and sang on under Locussolus ended up in the film Greatest Hits, and you’ve also sound designed for brands like LVMH and a Heineken campaign that won at Cannes. What are you up to these days when you go to the studio? Anything exciting you are currently working on?
So many things I need to lock in and get some more stuff out into the world, I’ve struggled with confidence around it but F it, I literally have non stop ideas in my head and the point is making it, not someone releasing it or it being well received. I’ve got a release that just came out on Tom Peters Dessert label out of Berlin with Flabbergast ‘ Children of the Revolution’ and another coming out beginning October ‘Nocturnal Animals’ for a compilation on Mia Moretti’s Chefs Kiss Radio. I still pinch myself that people want to release stuff of mine, that’s new and exciting to me, and yeh it’s given me a boost in confidence to keep going.
You’ve previously said you’re something of a reclusive homebody between tours, spending your days in the studio working on material and edits largely made for your own sets. You are also known for marathon sets — you’ve clocked ten-plus hour solo performances. How do you switch between that solitary, internal studio headspace and the extroverted, reactive energy of playing a room live?
I love to be home with my dogs in my garden, I have a slice of paradise in LA with space and views. When I’m out, I’m all out, people ask where my energy comes from but I have massive periods of downtime barely talking to a soul. It’s the yin yang, clubbing being the other half, I love to dance, I studied ballet and tap as a kid, music and clubbing has kept me sane, I’d always say it and now research is proving it to be true. I’m just your typical neurodivergent person who is healed by repetitive beats and communicates best via music. I love long sets, I have so much to communicate, release and share when I play, cramming that into an hour is tough. I just really like open to close in a small dark room to and lock in have that conversation with the crowd where we feed off one another, oh u like this, u want more of this, to let me calm it down a little and play nothing but grooves while we lock in and trip out together, then punish with something harder, reward with something lighter. I love the night as a journey, I still love the idea of resident DJ’s and not in some kinda diminished local opener thing cos wtf is that. I’d love a residency somewhere even once a month or for a set period of time annually, somewhere that I can build that relationship between me and an audience that grows and grows.
You’ll be playing b2b with Andrew Lovefingers in Akasha, Ibiza on 9th October. Is it your first b2b together and what kind of set can we expect from you
We play b2b a bit, we just played our annual open to close at Bears in Space in LA, we also played the Ministry of Sound a few weeks ago, it was my first time back there to DJ, I’ve curated nights there but this was a return to the booth in there and frankly made me want more, I’ve got so many great memories wrapped up in that club. Lovefingers and I don’t really talk about what we’re going to play at a gig beforehand but in daily life we’ll be all holy shit have you heard this, that goes for stuff for the dance floor and beyond, we’re constantly communicating our likes and dislikes so it makes for a great time for the club. We listened to everything from dub techno and folk at home, he’s currently amidst writing a club and perfecting a home studio which I’m very happy about. Our DJ sets are a mini conversation via music between us as well as the audience, his picks will give me life, he might lead me down a path I might not have taken and vice versa, our sets are a total joy and I hope we do more B2B’s next year
You’ve played across the island’s ecosystem over the years, from underground parties to bigger institutional rooms. How have you watched Ibiza itself change and what’s better now compared to how it used to be?
I adore Ibiza, but I feel like I’ve always had a parallel experience there than most, from Ibiza 90 to taking the Ministry there for its first ever out of venue clubbing experience, we collaborated with Pacha, Space and Cafe Del Mar, legendary people like Jose Padilla and Pepe from Space. I like the off the beaten track spots most, Akasha, Freddie’s, 528. I have no issue with the big clubs either. Amnesia is beautiful, Hii and Pacha are a trip. I have the Pacha book at home, it was a dream club, it’s changed of course but everything changes, people out there are having the best time of their lives, I just wish it were more affordable for everyone and that’s my only gripe with it, that goes for all music experiences though, concerts etc, like how tf can ya’ll be affording to go see Beyoncé a couple times, that shit is beyond my pocket. One artist charging that much, I’d rather cash out on a festival with a bunch of people I wanna see n hear, I guess in a way Ibiza is that, different DJ’s every night of the week, giving their beast, pushing the boundaries of whatever scene they’re on, it might not be your thing but find the thing that is. Personally I can find something great in most clubbing experiences in Ibiza, I hope to make it to UNVRS before this season ends, I’m excited to be back for closings, people hate but Ibiza has resident DJ’s, Carl Cox who’s been in the game for years for eg is at his residency weekly, DJ Harvey has his Pikes residency of course there’s a change in audience cos it’s a holiday destination but I’m sure people are going back time and time again, and so while some like to hate, look at the good, there’s resident DJ’s all over the island, showing there’s value in that.
You’ve built a reputation for being generous with your time behind the scenes, quietly supporting emerging talent. What’s one piece of advice you give newer DJs and producers who would like to break into the industry now?
You can do it and don’t give up, put your f-ing blinkers on, be kind to everyone you meet and go for it. I was deterred and derailed a couple times. I’m the daughter of a single mom on welfare, going after a dream isn’t something the UK system encouraged for gals like me, it was always Oh but what you gonna actually do Heidi. I’ve already exceeded my family’s expectations, and many of my own wildest dreams. On helping, I’m a mama bear and always have been, if I can connect two people that can help one another I will. If I can open a door and pull people through with me then that’s what it’s all about, and maybe cos I didn’t feel fully supported or encouraged I don’t want anyone to feel that. Have people used me for that, yeh I guess so, I’m seeing through some people and their proximity politics, I’ve definitely believed I’ve been in partnerships that I come to realize I was the partner, the other person was self serving but it all comes back around, I always give myself, advice, time etc cos I want us all to grow and thrive, I’m constantly learning from others, and figuring it out as I go along what’s the point of holding knowledge for yourself, what a selfish, miserable existence.
DJing wasn’t cool, I didn’t get into this world to be cool, it wasn’t a choice based on anything like that, Oh now I’m gonna be a DJ, I’ve just always been the person sharing music, since pause button mixes as a kid hahah. Isn’t that the essence of being a DJ or the word everyone loves to throw around, community, communities look out for one another? The scene has grown bigger and bigger with every year I’ve been involved, it’s thriving, as much as I’m a part of it, I’m still kind of an outsider, I don’t have ‘an active team working on my behalf’ just people curious enough to book me, then repeat book me, if you see me play anywhere just know that the promoter has sought me out, or I was recommended to them by another DJ, promoters are out here looking for people like you, so do your thing, nobody is you and that is your superpower. Some people probably think I’m a twat or whatever cos I have a tough time engaging till I know you, but I’m not I’m just a total nerd on the spectrum that comes alive to music dance and lights, and I’ve always thought oh this track makes me feel some type of way let me play it you and see if you feel the same, remember that you’re not bigger than the music being made and played or the experience as a whole, and you are nothing without the people that pay and come to see you play, at the end of the day, that’s who I’m out to meet and have a good time with.
Buy your tickets here to see Heidi Lawden B2B Lovefingers live on 9th October at Akasha Ibiza.