Last year, at a spectacular awards night at Sydney’s Ivy nightclub, Sydney-born House DJ Minx (aka Rachel Phillips) was officially crowned the winner of EMI’s inaugural She Can DJ competition.

So what’s happened since for Minx? The In Sound caught up with her to get the latest:

The In Sound: Congratulations on winning She Can DJ! How has your life changed since you won?
Minx: It’s a lot more hectic! I guess as far as gig schedules, tour schedules, production schedules and obviously having EMI on board now, my whole life has changed, but it’s all for the best, and all for building my brand. It’s really exciting working on original tracks and gigging overseas, and with the CD about to drop and my 3 month tour happening off the back of that, it’s all really exciting!

IS: No rest for the wicked! Can you tell us a bit about the album?
M: It’s a mix compilation CD, so it’s She Can DJ presents Minx. There are 17 tracks on there of songs that I’ve loved over the past year and songs that are coming out at the moment which I’m also loving.

IS: And are there any remixes on there?
M: Well there’s Swedish House Mafia remixed by Tommy Trash and Calvin Harris mixed by Benni Benassi, so they’re all kind of big dance tracks remixed by other people. I’ve also got my first two original tracks on there as well!

IS: Are you playing any festivals?
M: I do festival season every year. So I just did Stereosonic  and played with Avicii during his side show as well.

IS: Where will you be playing for your upcoming tour?
M: It’s both Australia and New Zealand, so the CD is released March 2^nd, which means I’ve got two pre-release shows from the 25^th February and then I go on my big tour, which is over 20 dates!

IS: Are you heading back to Ibiza this year?
M: Yes! I think that’s on the cards. I think I’m just trying to get my head around what’s happening the next couple of months! (laughs) But the plan is to go back over this year;

IS: So what’s your dream?
M: Well, I have been playing overseas for a few years now, so the main thing is production and that’s what I’ve been doing at the moment. I’ve just finished my first two tracks which will be on this CD and I’m working on my third, which is almost finished. Obviously, with winning She Can DJ, I get to produce an album, so it’s a collaboration basically with hopefully some of my favourite artists from around the world, who are mainly European and UK based, so I’d head over there and get a chance to jump into the studio with some of those guys and learn from them and make some songs together and put it on the album!

IS: And who are your favourite artists?
M: Haha, how long do you have?

IS: Top ten?
M: Well the guys like Swedish House Mafia are a sound that I play and love. If you see me play at festivals and clubs, that’s what I do; I play progressive house, a lot of main room sounds and those kinds of guys do that really well. For example, Dirty South, being someone that I’ve known for many many years, who’s been a great mentor, and someone that I’ve played with many times, his productions are ridiculous, so he’s a big one for me! Local guys Hook and Sling, Tv Rock; those guys are great. But Avicii who was out here recently;  I’m a big fan of his. Eric Prydz is my favourite producer, so if I ever got a chance to go and see him, that would be cool!

IS: Being one of our top female DJs, and obviously after winning a big competition like this, do you think the industry needed a competition like She Can DJ?
M: Nothing like this has been done before, I mean there are lots of DJ competitions around, but nothing with prizes like this one had to offer, or showcasing the talent of female DJs in this country.  I think when you meet people and you tell them what you do as a female DJ, they’ll say “Oh! There’s not really many of you out there are there?” But there was hundreds and hundreds of entries for this competition alone, let alone what it’s going to be like when it goes global. It just makes people realize there is a huge female base within the industry that they don’t know about, so I think that’s the main thing. There was definitely a market for it, and to get us out there and a bit more known, as it’s not just a men’s club!

IS: Yeah, I think I saw in a magazine recently, they ran their top 50 DJs, and there was about two females in there?
M: Yeah, well, In The Mix run a DJ competition every year and I was the only female that got in the 50. That was a public vote; so obviously the public don’t really acknowledge how many female DJs are out there. So I was stoked that I got in there!

IS: That’s crazy!
M: Yeah it will be interesting to see, if this competition runs again, whether there will be a shift at all.

She Can DJ Presents Minx –  a massive 78 minute big-room house music mix compilation featuring  Swedish House Mafia, Avicii, Calvin Harris, deadmau5 and Madeon will be released on March 2nd.