Aw B on her 121 bi-monthly residency

Words by Hannah Powell. Images provided.

Yo Vocal had a chat with Tamaki-Makaurau based DJ Aw B. Following her latest back-to-back event at 121, Emma Hall Philips shared her hopes and dreams for her new bi-monthly residency.

Emma has been with 121 since the start. Playing at parties thrown in Wellington, the early days of Aw B follows the trajectory of many DJs now. Emma has been hitting the decks for the last six years, and she loves it.

Her next move? A bi-monthly residency called ‘Aw B B2B’ at Poneke’s infamous Club 121. “Being invited to a residency is a really big deal,” she tells me. “I feel like you don’t really see many people doing these kinds of residencies in New Zealand, day to day. So it’s a really big opportunity for me to do it.”

Already gone back to back with fellow DJ Hurricane Emily, Aw B’s residency will include a night with a guest DJ every two months. Both will play a whopping six-hour set together. “It’s also more of an opportunity for me to explore different genres of music and actually play the music that I wouldn’t want to play,” Emma says. “This is just kind of a really cool way to play a whole bunch of different genres and experiment.”

With the residency, Emma gets to do what she likes on her night. As the founder of Moments, Emma has spent years bringing together emerging local talent and international icons through parties, events, and workshops. Looking up to collectives like FILTH and Friendly Potential, she’s excited to build her own platform even more.

Playing ’90s and early 2000s-inspired music, Aw B plays a banging set with a lot of breaks, bass, and techno. Initially taught by DJ K2K, Emma says back then, there were only a few women being booked. Now there are many out there kicking ass, and Emma is keen to celebrate it.

“There are so many other women around me that I think are some of the best DJs in the country at the moment,” she says. The next Aw B B2B night at 121 will be in August. So what can you do until then? Wait patiently and treat yourselves to a two-hour taster on Soundcloud. Have a listen to Friendly Potential’s ‘Ep. 301 w/ Aw B b2b Hurricane Emily’. You can find it, and many other sets, on Emma’s Soundcloud aw b.