Rachel Auburn Influences

Rachel Auburn, original Blitz kid and fashion designer, was raised to club stardom in the 90’s by crossover singles ‘Wham Bam’ and ‘Fe Fi Fum’ under the Candy Girls alias as well as producing definitive remixes of Felix’s ‘Don’t You Want Me’ and J-X’s, ‘Son of a Gun’. Rachel also compiled and mixed the Freska compilation albums on React Music and held legendary DJ residencies at Taboo, Trade and Tidy Trax. After a headline set at Trade’s 25th Birthday celebrations, Rachel mixed Reactivate 91 01 and return to the decks for the Trade 30th Warm Up this Saturday October 26th from 2pm alongside the legendary Tall Paul, Daz Saund, Blu Peter and Steven Sharp.

Here’s she shares the key tracks that influenced her musical journey.

I first went out kicking my heels up when I was around 14 when I was still at school,and living in Hove. I used to spend my weekends in clubs like The Orange Timepiece and The Birds Nest hoping that some vaguely attractive young boy would want to dance with me but I always found myself hovering around the DJ booth wanting to know what the music was being played. I found the most exciting place on the seafront in Brighton called The In Place but a few doors along was a more exciting club..The Queens Club and it was. OMG ,I died and went to heaven because Giorgio Moroder had produced Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ and they never stopped playing it!! I loved early 80's Electro/synth music especially early Human League and Kraftwerk. Art of Noise's ‘Closer To The Edit’

and ‘Moments In Time’ early House Tracks like Janet Jackson's ‘When I Think Of You’

and Sugarhill Gang’s ‘Rappers Delight’

were amazing but next for me would be Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five’s ’The Message’ 

along with Indeep’s ‘Last Night A DJ Saved My Life’.

Fast forward......I was running a Friday night club SuperStar Nightclub with Martin Confusion for Wayne Shires with Sue Tilley in the cloakroom and DJs were Jon Pleased, Sister Bliss, Martin and me. I was just about to discover Trade and was crystallising for a 'sound' that I wanted to develop as a DJ. This was as Acid House and 'Rave' were no longer being played in fields and aircraft hangers but being taken into clubs so tracks like Fargetta's ’The Music Is Moving’ had a big impact.

Walking into Trade changed my life…I felt I had come home…(again!)Tony De Vit ,Steve Thomas Alan Thompson, Malcom Duffy and all of the DJs were cutting edge musical Shamens but my next track would be Interactive’s ‘Koma/Amok’ which I first heard at Villa Stefano.

Of course there’s too many tracks to choose from but if I were on Desert Island Discs,I would find it difficult to choose between Paul Van Dyk’s ‘For An Angel’

but maybe Signum’s ‘What Ya Got For Me’...dunno ?!..I can’t choose :-) !