Five Wickerminutes with... Ginny Koppenhol

Skiddle's 'Resident DJ of the Year' Ginny Koppenhal returns to Wickerman Festival this month.

We caught up with her to talk Wickerman, cordless straighteners, and how things are one year on from winning the competition.

What was your best memory of Wickerman last year?
Playing last year in the final of the Skiddle "Resident DJ of the Year" comp, I had a blast! My best memory was winning the competition, but the chance to play at such a fantastic festival with a great group of people was just brilliant. The other DJs on the bill were superb and I only moved from the Skiddle tent to grab food, and some of 808 State's main stage set.

What can the crowd expect from your set this year?
Well I'll be warming up for Sonny Wharton and Riva Starr, so I'll be getting people bouncing in preparation for two absolutely amazing DJs who I am a huge fan of! I'll be bringing a mixture of tech and prog house, and as it's a festival, there will be various samples and remixes of tunes that people will know - my sets are designed to make you smile.

How does your set differ when you’re playing at a festival to when you play in clubs?
Festival tents have a constantly changing crowd, and so you don't get the same progression of sets (ie. warm-up, to middle, to headline big room sets). Also, people are up for a party the whole weekend, so you don't need to ease them in the way that you might in a club. So it's important to have fun with it, and bring in things that people know. You can also mix up the genres a bit more, and also mix the old with the new.

This is the Wickerman’s tenth anniversary. Can you remember what you were doing ten years ago?
Qualifying from uni and entering the scary world of responsibility. I seem to have gone backwards in that respect, and am partying more now than I was then!

Have you had chance to look at the rest of The Wickerman line-up? Anyone else you’re looking forward to seeing?
Pretty much all of the DJs on the Skiddle line-up, particularly Riva Starr as he makes his Skiddle debut. I want to see Feeder too, as one of the best gigs I went to whilst at uni was to see Feeder at Foundation with only a couple of hundred other people. I love Yasmin's tracks so want to see her performance. I want to try to see some of the other Bass Camp acts too, like Peo de Pitte and David Dunne.

What’s your top festival survival tip?
Portable hair straighteners - best invention EVER.

What summer tunes are really working well for you at the moment?
"Tim Cullen & The Persuaders - Zomba" always gets people going, as does "Three Sixty & Dirty Harris - Demoda". For a bit of old skool loveliness, Dean Newton's remix of "Hysteric Ego - Want Love" is going down a treat. I am playing some fantastic remixes of my track "Indian Winter" too - Soulfire, Deepfunk, Marcelo Vasami & The Visionaires have all done mixes and so there is a remix for every occasion

If you were DJing at the end of the world party and the moment was upon us, what would be the last track you’d ever play?
Wow - what a hard question... I think it would have to be "Sasha - Xpander" - a classic, that's gorgeous and uplifting. I wanna go out on a high with my hands in the air! Ha ha.

What have been your personal and professional highlights of the past few years?
There have been many, but winning the Skiddle comp has to be up there, as well as playing the Warehouse Project with the gang, playing in Ibiza, having my first remix and original tracks released (and gaining support from the likes of Sasha, Digweed and Pete Tong), developing my radio show "Ginny's Tonic", and meeting soo many fantastic people!

What are you hoping the next few years will bring?
Lots more opportunities to be musical, and lots of laughs.

What makes a great DJ?
Firstly, they have to be passionate about the music - that's the foundation of it all. Then they have to be able to strike that balance between educating the crowd, and entertaining them. I think that the DJs I admire and enjoy the most can programme a set so that they take people on a journey. I think that skills in programming are the thing that can make a good DJ, great.

Find out more about Ginny Koppenhol at her Skiddle artist page or her official website.

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