Shannon Ashby, AKA DJ ASHBY, is a young, fresh and fashionable new female DJ talent, emerging bang in the middle of the ‘Great Pandemic of 2020’. Straight out of the prestigious POINTBLANK music university based in London, Ibiza and Los Angeles, I grabbed five minutes with this new millennial superstar in the making, who is literally going to be on all our radars in the years to come.
As a DJ – who have you grown up listening to, as inspiration?
Growing up I was always surrounded by music, my mum and dad would actually leave me by the speaker in my pram to fall asleep. I grew up listening to all of the old school house tunes, ones I still listen to to this day: Hard Drive – Deep Inside, Robin S. – Show Me Love, and a favourite that was actually my mum and dad’s first dance at their wedding, CeCe Peniston – “Finally”. My love for dance music definitely started from a young age.
What is your personal musical genre?
This is such a hard question – I really enjoy so many different genres and love to bring them all in to my sets when I can. Old school house (80s, 90s), Garage, Techno, Tech House, Deep House (basically all things house), Disco, Minimal, the list could go on.
How important are festivals, Ibiza and the club-circuit to you?
Very important. From the second I turned 18 I started promoting for nightclubs, festivals and events. In 2014, I did a season in Aiya Napa. Realising that the music scene there wasn’t for me, in 2015 I went and worked in Ibiza for the Summer 2 years running. I worked for the very well-known Sankey’s, ticket selling and promoting. It was on my return that I decided to take up DJ’ing. I’m proud to say that over the last 3-4 years I’ve played on line-ups next to DJs like Sidney Charles, Josh Butler, Artwork and Franky Rizardo.
Will you use fashion as a major part of your image and what are your plans for the future?
Alongside music, fashion and beauty is a big thing for me, also for my group of friends. We always like to stand out from the crowd and express ourselves through bright colours and unique styles of clothing. I always love having bright coloured hair and I’m blessed to know some incredible makeup artists who always make me look UNREAL when playing sets.
Are you venturing into Radio and where would you like to take this?
Since these very unusual times; livestreams and Radio have taken over by a storm. I have been very grateful to have been asked to hold my very own Show called ‘Go Get It’ every Friday afternoon at 13:00 (BST) / 14:00(CEST) on Ibiza Lockdown Radio, currently streaming on all social platforms and undergoing licensing to eventually go live on the airwaves.
I have also been asked to play for Sun of a Beach who I previously DJ’d for which will be streaming through radionovalujon.com.
My current plans for the future are to focus on my production and get as many mixes out on to music platforms as possible. I will do everything that is thrown my way and gradually work my way up to the top. My time is coming, I know it.
