{"id":1947553,"date":"2026-05-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1947553"},"modified":"2026-05-21T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T21:00:00","slug":"wonderland-195","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1947553","title":{"rendered":"Wonderland"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tWonderland<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n\t\t<\/a>
\n\t<\/h1>\n
\n

\n\t\t\tGIRLS DON\u2019T SYNC ARE LOCAL\u00a0<\/span>
\n\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n
\n
\n

Emerging as one of Britain\u2019s most important DJ collectives of the moment, Girls Don\u2019t Sync have the music to match their messaging. Heading up Relentless\u2019 Local\u2019 initiative, aimed at spotlighting grassroots communities, the quartet talks inception, connection, and reclaiming the dance floor.<\/h3>\n
\n
\"Girls<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

As the music industry burrows deeper into the muddy unknowns of fast-evolving technology and fickle social media, the roots of what came before \u2013 community, collectivity, activism \u2013 are in danger of being lost beneath the unkempt shrubbery; the fame chasing, the clickbait, the commercialism. Clubs are closing, culture is waning. It\u2019s about time we woke up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some have long been conscious, finding their small but significant pockets amid the madness to put forward their mantra for growth and evolution. In step: Girls Don\u2019t Sync<\/a>. Four women in a scene dominated by men since its genesis. Boundary pushers in musical style \u2013 influenced by UK club culture and the Black diaspora, underground rave embellishments and South Asian intricacies alike. Resistant in their vision, and creative in their conviction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Formed in Liverpool in 2019, the powerhouse dance collective consisting of DJs Gaia Ahuja, Matty Chiabi, Hannah Lynch and Sophia Violet are local, lively, and living it large. Last year\u2019s debut EP, \u201cCode Orange\u201d<\/a>, introduced them to the wider electronic music climate, but they\u2019d long been filling dance floors and spreading joy in their immediate cultural ecosystem. Now, with shows ticked off from Australia to Ibiza to Glastonbury<\/a>, and the attitude and messaging to match, GDS have the standing to exact real change in British dance music. To get young people off their sofas, away from their perpetual scrolling, and onto the dancefloor.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Girls<\/figure>\n
\"Girls<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n
\n
\"Girls<\/figure>\n
\"Girls<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

Proud champions of their founding homebase, Liverpool, and emblems of what club culture can achieve, it\u2019s only right that Gaia, Matty, Hannah and Sophia are the faces of Relentless\u2019 latest initiative. Suitably coined \u2018Local\u2019, the launch is aimed at supporting grassroots music through a 20K fund and event series. Rather than looking for new talent, the focus of the endeavour is very much on spotlighting already established collectives in their communities, who haven\u2019t been afforded the same opportunities that contemporaries from London may have.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Applications are open for wannabe winners via the Relentless Freeform website, with Girls Don\u2019t Sync set to hand-select four winning collectives, all of whom will receive their share of the \u00a320,000, and be given the tools \u2013 such as a soundsystem rental and promotion aid \u2013\u00a0 to throw their own event in their local area. To kick things off, Girls Don\u2019t Sync threw their own event last week, a special homecoming party at the venue where they played their first ever show, District, in Liverpool\u2019s Baltic Triangle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wonderland<\/em> caught up with the girls in the days before they played to a sold-out crowd, discussing their journey so far, reflecting on why this initiative makes so much sense, and pinpointing how we get the next generation to discover the magic of the rave.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Girls<\/figure>\n
\"Girls<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

Read the exclusive interview\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

How did you guys form as a collective, and what works so well about Girls Don\u2019t Sync?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gaia: <\/strong>We met five years ago this year, officially as a group. Me and Matty grew up together. We went to school together in South London, which was very transformative and a big factor as to why we are who we are and why we like what we like. Matty also went to university in Manchester, so she had that connection with the North as well. I was going to university in Liverpool. After I graduated, I was working in a club and as a youth worker at the same time. I met Sophia because she used to come to the club. She was part of a student garage night called \u2018Pinnacles of Garage\u2019. And we just became mates, because she was probably one of the very few female DJs that was coming in at the time. I\u2019d actually asked to shadow Hannah because she was one of only a few female DJs in Liverpool, and everybody knew about Hannah Lynch, that\u2019s for sure. I asked her to do some workshops at the youth club, and we ended up doing them together and forming a friendship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Off the back of that, the club I was working in was obviously struggling post-COVID. The idea came up, quite naturally, of us putting on a DJ night that celebrated the students that we were teaching and upcoming female DJs in the Northwest. Matty was coming to Liverpool often as well, and I knew Sophia from the club. They were kind of the three closest female DJ mates I had at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We started off as promoters, and the whole concept was about shining a light on upcoming talent, particularly women and underrepresented communities. Then, we started playing out and getting booked as a four, and then we did a stream for Mixmag that launched us online, about three and a half, four years ago. I\u2019d say that was the catalyst moment that shifted our career.<\/p>\n

The magic that makes us who we are is our friendship because our careers wouldn\u2019t have happened without it. The bond that we have with each other and the experiences that we\u2019ve had \u2013 the good, the bad, the ugly. We\u2019ve done it all together, and we\u2019ve always used Girls Don\u2019t Sync as a vessel to stay true to that original ethos about celebrating people, talent and connecting people together.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s such a difficult industry to make your name and maintain yourself in, especially as a female DJ. How do you support each other through it?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hannah:<\/strong> There\u2019s a sisterhood around it. Having each other is like a safety net. Even when it comes to things like having more confidence, we all inspire each other in so many different ways, so we\u2019re able to bring out the best in each other.<\/p>\n

Matty:<\/strong> There\u2019s strength in numbers. There are a lot of things that, as a solo DJ, you might have to do for the first time, whether it\u2019s writing an invoice, walking into a green room, or going home from a gig alone for the first time. These are things that we don\u2019t necessarily need to think about extensively because we\u2019ve got a supportive team around us and we\u2019re a four. I\u2019ve heard stories from a lot of female DJs about how getting home from the club was horrible, or having to ask men on the lineup to walk them to their hotel. We don\u2019t really have that worry because we\u2019re always together. Even when there has been an issue or one of us has felt like they\u2019ve been spoken to in a certain way, or one of us has felt like we maybe can\u2019t necessarily stick up for ourselves, there is always another member to do the talking and to \u2013 you know what I\u2019m talking about. It\u2019s one of our biggest superpowers that I think we forget that we have because we\u2019re so used to being together, but it\u2019s actually such a big bonus.<\/p>\n

What are some of the struggles that you continue to face?<\/strong>
<\/strong>Sophia:<\/strong> We\u2019re well-versed in dealing with situations, and we have a really good team around us. But online, it never stops. There are always those comments, and they still are going to affect you. Even though you\u2019ve seen so many good comments, even if the crowd is jumping up and down loving it, the sexist comments online never get easier to deal with. They\u2019re always going to stay in your head when that\u2019s there. But again, because we have each other, we can talk these things out and feel the support of each other.<\/p>\n

Gaia:<\/strong> A lot of female DJs face that, and they have to go through those emotions alone. The first time we were all launched online was when we did the Mixmag stream, and that definitely welcomed a whole variety of comments \u2013 it\u2019s not even just about our DJing, but also personal stuff about what we look like, who we are, what we represent. I feel like that could have really shaken us, but instead, we incorporated it into our brand. Even our name is something that\u2019s used as a stigma against female DJs, but we were able to create an armour through it. It doesn\u2019t necessarily get easier, but I\u2019ve seen so many more female collectives, the likes of Not Bad For A Girl, Sexy Lady Massive, just really taking back that control and that autonomy and using these vessels of hatred as part of their defiance, in their performances and in their ethos. And I think that\u2019s really empowering.<\/p>\n

With all of this in mind, you feel like the perfect act to head up the Relentless partnership. How did you first get involved?<\/strong>
<\/strong>Matty:<\/strong> I feel like it was quite collaborative. It was a no-brainer, an opportunity to put regional collectives on the map and to provide them with an opportunity to do something concrete \u2013 putting on an event, bringing in other people from their network and putting local lineups together. That\u2019s something that is obviously so important to us, and it\u2019s like how we started ourselves. We\u2019re really, really happy and proud to be involved in something like this that is so tangible.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Girls<\/figure>\n
\"Girls<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

Do you think that there\u2019s been a shift in the narrative about being from London? Do you think, as an industry, it\u2019s gotten easier to build a career and an artistic community around local scenes?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sophia:<\/strong> Social media has made it easier to blur the boundaries of where you\u2019re from and geography doesn\u2019t come into it as much. But this Relentless project is so important because a lot of people are still finding themselves feeling stuck or unable to access things that people in London can. When there\u2019s less access and funding in these areas, it is just generally harder. As much as it\u2019s easier to put yourself on and give yourself a platform now, because of social media, some things can\u2019t be solved by the internet. This project is giving people an actual physical boost and a tangible platform.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hannah: <\/strong>It\u2019s also an opportunity for the people on the lineup to play in front of a full crowd. We\u2019ve sold out the show, so for them to play out in front of a crowd and get paid and celebrated for what they\u2019re doing in their local area is really important.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Matty:<\/strong> This opportunity is reminding people that there is a lot of power in being from a regional city as well. We all know that London is so saturated and can be very overwhelming. This is a real opportunity to show that there is a big sense of community that you don\u2019t get in London. It can be really hard to find your feet, even though there\u2019s so much going on. We\u2019ve witnessed it firsthand from the very start of Girls Don\u2019t Sync \u2013 how important community is and how far community can take you. Hopefully, the collectives that win will see that from their night. They\u2019ll hopefully have sold out shows, and it will be amazing to give them that boost to carry on doing what they\u2019re doing. If they feel like they need to make it to London, hopefully that will be another stepping stone to doing that. But I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the be all and end all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gaia:<\/strong> Even if they don\u2019t end up getting the grant, it\u2019s still a great representation. Some initiatives and brands actually care and are willing to put their money where their mouth is, in terms of representing and flying the flag for regional talent. So even if people apply but don\u2019t get the funding, it might inspire the next wave of promoters from that same city to keep going, so it\u2019s a win across the board \u2013 for promoters and DJs to see themselves recognised, especially by a major brand.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re handpicking the winners \u2013 what are you looking for in the hopeful collectives?<\/strong>
<\/strong>Sophia:<\/strong> It\u2019s good that this is for people who have already been putting in a shift. So many people now want to be DJs and have a platform just to have a platform, in quite a performative way. What we\u2019re looking for are people who really have a passion for music and have a genuine meaning behind what they\u2019re doing, and it\u2019s showcased through what they\u2019ve already done. It\u2019s easy to tell straight away when someone is genuinely passionate compared to when someone is doing something for a platform or for something temporary. The work that people have been putting in is reflective of how much work they\u2019re willing to put in in the future.<\/p>\n

Gaia:<\/strong> And for promoters as well; to be a promoter is not easy. We did it. We know when you have to put so much of your own time, effort, and money into it \u2013 whether it\u2019s something as simple as throwing \u00a340 on Instagram ads or paying a designer to make your artwork, or ensuring that somebody is shooting the night and you\u2019ve got a videographer. There\u2019s so much that goes into it, in terms of funding, especially if you\u2019re a younger promoter. Whether you\u2019re a student or you\u2019re part of that next generation, that\u2019s ultimately attempting to sustain nightlife. This is a grant and an opportunity for promoters that are part of the fabric and the ecosystem that goes into sustaining this culture that we\u2019ve been part of, and we\u2019ll continue to be part of. In recent years especially, we\u2019ve seen the decline of clubs. We\u2019ve seen so many venues and spaces that we first came up to close their doors. Opportunities like this hopefully mean nightlife is going to be in safe hands because there\u2019s a new wave of promoters that care and are dedicated to being part of this community that all feeds into itself, saving nightlife and sustaining club culture in the UK.<\/p>\n

Hannah:<\/strong> With these collectives that are applying, we\u2019ll be looking at how they\u2019re actually connecting with their community, especially in their local areas, and how they represent where they\u2019re from.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Girls<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

As people flying the flag for nightlife and being really important in the framework of it, how do we get the next, younger generation out to clubs and nights out? How do we build it back up to where it once was?<\/strong>
<\/strong>Sophia:<\/strong> By getting them to go to something that they really love once. It\u2019s about the gentle encouragement to just try things out. There\u2019s a big wellness culture that, by all means, is great, but is also killing real human connection and human experience. If we can encourage people to have one great experience, a night where they have that human connection and feel a sense of community through music, then they\u2019ll be encouraged to do it again and again.<\/p>\n

Gaia:<\/strong> We\u2019re living in an age where a lot of things exist in a digital space, so encouraging people to actually go out and interact with people, not through the prism of their phone, is also really important. It\u2019s also to do with access in terms of funding and tickets. We\u2019ve had quite a few people message us at times, and they\u2019ve been like, \u2018Love you guys, I\u2019d love to come, but I\u2019m a university student, and I can\u2019t quite afford it this month.\u2019 Especially when we\u2019re on bigger lineups, things are getting a lot more expensive. We always try to make a habit of allowing our community to come to our shows that we have control over. We would never want finances to be a barrier for them to come to our shows. So we\u2019ve put a lot of people on that have just sent us really genuine messages who are clearly fans. The fact that the tickets [for the Liverpool headline show] are five quid and it\u2019s in the venue we first did our first event in, as promoters, is a full circle moment. But it\u2019s obviously difficult at times to keep ticket prices low. Where we can, we should encourage it, and encourage people to also invest in this stuff. When me and Matty were really young, and we had no money, we got ourselves to all these festivals because we worked jobs or we\u2019d saved up. There\u2019s a big shift in the younger generation; seeing what is trending at the moment, and maybe going to get a matcha or going to a pilates class is a little bit more attractive to them than going to a warehouse rave. But music, club culture, nightlife \u2013 this is something that\u2019s cross-generational. There\u2019ll always be communities and subcultures that flourish from that.<\/p>\n

Matty:<\/strong> Clubbing these days feels like a luxury, almost, because it\u2019s so expensive. But when I was younger \u2013 when me and Gaia were in our proper rave days \u2013 we were outside, Friday, Saturday, every single weekend of the month. It was way more affordable back then, but also the DJs that we wanted to see were a lot more accessible as well. This is why we\u2019re so proud to be doing what we\u2019re doing and doing this Relentless collab at District as well, because the bigger you get as a DJ, the more exclusive it becomes. You\u2019re seeing your favourite DJ at a massive warehouse or a huge venue or when they\u2019re on tour, rather than seeing them at a small local club. It just doesn\u2019t happen as often, which is why doing this at District is such a treat because people haven\u2019t seen us back in a local club for so long.<\/p>\n

And those shows are always better, let\u2019s be real.<\/strong>
<\/strong>Gaia:<\/strong> Exactly. There\u2019s a level of intimacy there. We love playing on the big stages, and it has such a great impact for us \u2013 we\u2019re such a visual act when it comes to the way we perform. But there is something really sacred about that level of intimacy in those smaller-cap venues. It gives us an undeniable boost of energy. That\u2019s where we\u2019ve come from \u2013 we\u2019ve not fast-tracked and started playing on big stages to thousands of people. We started off by playing to about 50 people, if that.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the rest of the year look like for Girls Don\u2019t Sync?
Hannah:<\/strong> Well, we\u2019ll be in the studio a lot. We\u2019ve got lots of ideas for new music. We are doing quite a few festivals this year that we\u2019ve not done before. We\u2019re doing a lot of shows across Europe. So yeah, lots of exciting new things.<\/p>\n

Apply to Local <\/em>here<\/em><\/a> for the chance to win up to \u00a35k in grants to put on your own night. Applications close Friday 29th May, 23.59.<\/em><\/p>\n

Words \u2013 Ben Tibbits<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\t\t<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\t\t21 May 2026\t\t\t<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Feature Interview<\/a><\/div>\n
Music<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t<\/span>
\n\t\t<\/section>\n

\n\t\t\t\tWhen Marrakech Met Soho<\/span> <\/span><\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wonderland GIRLS DON\u2019T SYNC ARE LOCAL\u00a0 Emerging as one of Britain\u2019s most important DJ collectives of the moment, Girls Don\u2019t Sync have the music to match their messaging. Heading up Relentless\u2019 Local\u2019 initiative, aimed at spotlighting grassroots communities, the quartet talks inception, connection, and reclaiming the dance floor. As the music industry burrows deeper into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,257],"class_list":["post-1947553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-wonderlandmagazine-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1947553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1947553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1947553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1947553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}