Recording and Performing with Dr. Maren Hancock, a.k.a. Betti Forde
In this profile series, Revry is highlighting authentic contributors to the queer media and entertainment community. We ask questions to find out who they are and where they are going in the future. The questions remain the same but the answers tell their unique story. It’s time to explore and celebrate true representation beyond the limits of Hollywood.
Dr. Maren Hancock, a.k.a. Betti Forde, has deejayed for25 years, sharing stages with everyone from Frankie Knuckles to Cyndi Lauper. She records and performs with legendary electro-funk-rap group Stink Mitt and recently delved into production, releasing an official remix of Peaches' "Dick in the Air" with her side project #entertainment. Since 2013, she’s co-owned Dialed-In DJs, a mobile DJ company specializing in non-traditional music. Maren has a Ph.D. in Gender Studies and is currently a Lecturer in Popular Music at the University of Wolverhampton. She’s published academic and popular articles on DJ culture, and her book Lady Lazarus: Confronting Lydia Lunch is in the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame Museum and Library. Currently, she is co-editing the first collection on Canadian DJ culture, We Can Dance If We Want To: Canadian DJ Culture Turns Up, and completing Stereotypes: Canadian Women DJs Sound Off, a scholarly monograph centering the voices of women and gender minority Canadian DJs.
Watch Betti Forde in the premiere episode of OutRave available February 5th only on Revry
What are you best known for?
DJing and throwing parties for over 25 years; rapping and singing in Stink Mitt for almost as long; I’m the first (and to date, only) academic biographer of Lydia Lunch; my academic work on gender and DJ culture, and most recently achieving my Ph.D. and position as a Lecturer in Popular Music at the University of Wolverhampton.
When was the first time you DJ’d?
My first real DJ gig for a big audience/dance floor occurred due to sheer necessity when I was 22 and an undergraduate at the University of Victoria. In 1997 I co-produced a fundraiser called The Groovefest and I couldn’t find a DJ to play funk, disco, electronic, post-punk, rock, and underground hip hop, a mix of genres that I felt was crucial to a successful dance party. In the late 1990s DJs tended to segregate themselves by playing just one genre–such as drum n’ bass or techno–as opposed to “open format” which is far more common nowadays. I wanted a DJ to spin James Brown, Dee-lite and A Tribe Called Quest and make it work. So I decided to DJ the event myself thus awarding myself my first DJ gig. I was terrible technically (in terms of smooth transitions between songs), but great at knowing what tracks to play and when to play them to keep the dance floor full. People boogied and smiled until the lights came on and the bouncers kicked them out. I made people dance all night long to music that I loved, thereby facilitating the circumstances wherein they too felt the joy that specific songs gave me, and it made me feel amazing in turn. I was hooked (and I still am).
What are you working on that no one knows about yet?
Book of Interviews with Historically Important Women DJs: I’m working with legendary UK DJ and dance music historian Greg Wilson on a book of interviews with important but not-yet-celebrated women and non-binary DJs for his media imprint Super Weird Substance, for publication in late 2023.
