On October 30th, 2024, Lady Faith sat down with our Podcast Engineer, Cole Serrano, for an exclusive interview following her exhilarating performance at Escape Halloween 2024! Promoting her latest track “By My Side” featuring Lexy Panterra, both artists bring their bold, American energy to this sassy and fiery track, brimming with divine feminine power. Lady Faith’s masterful production combined with Lexy Panterra’s signature sass make this tune an instant dancefloor sensation! Find more of DJ Lady Faith on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you find your music!

Yeah, I’m excited to see you. I was so excited to go and interview you in person. The traffic was terrible. I was also coming from LA at the same time, so I’m quite familiar with how it was. 

Yes, it was ridiculous actually. Yeah, I didn’t think I was gonna make my set! Wow! I was trying to get there earlier, you know, and stay at a hotel to get ready and all of that and it’s just, wow, I don’t want to go through that again!

Did you have time to get ready? Did you have time to prepare?

I was planning on two hours to get ready, but that turned into 20 minutes. So, yeah, everything, makeup, outfit, everything had to go on in 20 minutes and there was no ifs, ands, or buts about it. 

I would say you’re a veteran to the EDM scene. You’ve been doing this for quite a long time. Has there been any other instances like this where you’ve had to get up and go or just jump right into it?

Absolutely. There’s been many, many occasions and a lot of them have to do with me flying. So, it’s like from the airport, you have to either get ready inside a bathroom in the airport and run to the event or on the plane. Once I had to have them, just block off one bathroom for me so I could go in there and, you know, put my face on and change my clothes, and right when I came out of the plane, I had to run to the car service that was waiting for me! Many, many times it’s happened and it really is not fun. I tell you, it’s not fun. Oh, my goodness!

But was the set fun? How was your time at Escape?

Amazing. Absolutely amazing because, you know, I’m used to it as I just said, I’ve been through this a lot. So, you know, I got ready, and ended up on stage as soon as I got to the venue. They basically had a car ready for me to take me straight to the stage and I had about 15 minutes before I had to go on and the set was absolutely out of this world. I loved every single second of it. It was very good!

I’m glad to hear that. I saw your costume. I loved it. It was awesome. Lara Croft! I’m a big fan. 

Thank you. 

Did you attend the second day? 

I didn’t, I was so exhausted from, you know, ADE [Amsterdam Dance Event]  and prepping for Escape and all of that, that I just needed to go home and sleep. I needed that, I’m still jet-lagged from Europe!

I bet. What is it like as an artist after you come off of a set? Because I know as a fan, I’m staying there the whole day and I have the luxury of driving back and just going to my hotel or going to my home. But what is the process like for you? 

If I have the opportunity to stay at the venue and see the fans or maybe my colleagues and all of that, I do take that opportunity to stay and, you know, kind of decompress, relax, and enjoy the event. Sometimes it doesn’t happen that way and you have to rush off and go to the next location or go get some sleep so you can fly out the next day. 

At Escape, because, you know, I live in LA, it was very easy for me to stay after. Although I had a very big meet-and-greet, which was very, very pleasant. I always love seeing my faithful. They’re just so amazing and sweet. So it was nice doing that, and then I had a bunch of other interviews after my set. Then after all of that was done, I think around midnight, I got to sit down and at 1 AM, I went to check out my friend, Anger Fist’s set, which was very good. 

Oh, that’s so good. I was going to ask about the PLUGPLAY meet and greet with RNBW, correct? So how was that, how was this one?

Oh, it was really good. You know, it’s nice to see people with their costumes and stuff and seeing them so festive, coming towards you with those big smiles on their face. So it’s nice. I got to chat with some of them. I got to give some people the pre roll that I had done with RNBW, named after one of my tracks called Lights Out. So that was pretty exciting. It was nice. I liked it. I really enjoyed my time there.

For your set, you played Wasteland, your new single that came out.

I know there’s another one on the way, but for those that may not be familiar with your music or may not be familiar with who you are entirely, how would you describe your music? How would you describe yourself as an artist? 

I love having fun and playing super energetic music. This is why I’ve always gravitated towards the harder styles of EDM music because they’re faster and the energy levels are just so high that, I love playing it and when I play the music, I can’t help but to dance with it. Then I dance, they dance, the fans dance and it’s just, it just becomes this incredible energy that we all express. So that’s pretty cool. And I did get to play my new single which is Wasteland, originally done by the amazing, you know, “inventor of hard style” called The Prophet who is a friend of mine. I have an enormous amount of respect for him also. That was his collaboration with another artist called KELTEK. We are all in the SCANTRAXX label. So, they allowed me to remix this amazing track with the most glorious melody I’ve ever heard. I got to play it for the fans, for a larger group of people for the first time. And it was just, mwah! Chef’s Kiss! So good, so good! I loved honestly every minute of it. 

I enjoyed it too. I had a good time. I also loved how you played that Ariana Grande remix as well. I was like, oh my goodness, I was having a blast! 

Good. I’m glad, I love that track. I don’t just listen to one style of music. I listen to all sorts of different genres and sometimes I just grab those tracks and say, you know, a hard style version of this or a hard dance version of this would be pretty cool. So that was one of the tracks and I can’t stop playing it. It’s just, I love it so much. 

What was one of your first introductions into hard style? 

At the time when I first started, I was playing hard-house and hard-trance, a UK style to be specific. I was at an event, kind of like an underground festival type of thing, a long time ago, and I came across an artist, he was from Italy, called Vortex. He played hard-style and I was just kind of very much taken back by the music because it had the amazing melody of hard trance, but the kicks were so much better. The kicks were just so powerful. It just like pounded you in the face and just, oh my God! I was like, “Lord!” What is this? Where has this been all my life? And that’s how I kind of got into it and started playing, you know, half hard-style, half hard-trance, hard-house. Then it just eventually became all hard style because I just fell in love, so head over heels. 

Yeah, yeah! Well, you’re known as the “queen of hard-style” as many might put it. I would! Is there a difference between US and UK hard style? How would you describe the differences? 

Well, hard-style comes from the Netherlands, that’s the motherland. That’s our Mecca basically. The sound is pretty much similar, you know, American style to the Dutch style. The UK, I feel like, is more into the happy hardcore type of sounds, the things that you would hear from like Darren Styles, for example, which is very much hard style, but in a UK style of hard-dance. You could say, even like Ben Nicky, when he does his extreme, “Ben Nicky”, you know, that’s also a UK sound which is mostly hard-dance with a lot of hard-style influences. America, our music is very similar to the Dutch sound so I can’t really say that they’re too far apart from each other. Maybe we experiment a little bit more, when it comes to productions and maybe, try to squish some other kind of genre within hard style and make it blend and work. We all kind of follow the same trends for the most part. 

You said you would pick influences from different genres and experiment a little bit more. What influences do you have in your music? Like when you create? 

Well, my first ever track that I created had a lot of Persian influences in there because I was born in Iran. So I kind of wanted to put that in there. I even recorded vocals myself. You know, speaking farsi in it. Another track that I did had opera in it because I love opera music. I get a lot of inspiration from hip hop. The new track that’s coming out on November 1st has a bit of dubstep in there. I like to remix a lot of pop music and so I basically have all sorts of influences in my music and I get inspiration from almost any genre.

Coming from Iran, how has that journey been? That seems like a very distinct separation between their cultural values and coming into such a western EDM sound?

I was brought here when I was seven and I did go back and forth a lot during my school years, so I got to experience both sides. I like this side because I’m free to be whoever I want to be and I was very limited over there. It was not easy by any means at all, but I’ve learned a lot and I have this very deep amount of appreciation for where I am and where I grew up. The values that I have because of the journey that I’ve taken, you know, by coming here at such a young age and going back and forth and getting to experience this crazy extreme and then normal life.

How does your cultural heritage influence the kind of music you make? Does it at all?

Yes and no. I mean, I think maybe I like hard-style so much because the rhythm that it has, it’s very familiar to me, having the Persian background. We’re all very much musical people. I always like to say, we knew how to dance and clap in the womb. You know, everyone knows in any kind of situation if there’s a bunch of Persians and someone starts clapping, they all start dancing and stuff. So, it’s had a lot of impact on who I am and my musical journey, but I still have more Western influence than anything. 

Coming up not only as an Iranian person, but an Iranian woman, how has that influenced your career or how has it determined some things within the industry? Is that something kind of hard to navigate?

It’s not honestly, but I could say I’m a little bit more on the conservative side when it comes to just me being a female in this industry, in the music world. I don’t take a lot of risks. I think maybe my name, Lady Faith kind of comes from that, I stick to a certain act and the way I carry myself. I think that has a lot to do with my upbringing and my culture and all of that. I’m actually very proud of it. 

Speaking of faithful, you call your fans “Faithfuls.” How did you come up with this name?

I honestly had to really search inside myself and have faith that I was able to do this and live my dream. That’s kind of where the name came from, of me constantly reminding myself to have faith in myself and the belief that I was capable of doing something like this. Until I saw a female artist DJ in front of me, I never thought that this was a possibility. I’ve always wanted to be in music someway somehow. I played instruments but never really had the guts to really do anything about them. Until I saw her and once she kind of shined that light with her performance, and kind of said to me that this was a possibility. Then I really kind of threw myself into it trying to figure out if this was something I can do. Once I did all the practicing in the world and, all the studying of the music, and everything, I really had to search and find that faith within myself, to have the confidence to put myself out there like that. So that’s where the name Faith comes from. 

Very beautiful. 

Thank you. 

Do you remember the first female artist that you saw? Do you remember what that experience was?

Absolutely. I love her to death. I follow her and I’m so happy to see that she’s still performing. Her name is Lisa Lashes and she’s from the UK. She played the Hard House, Hard Trance. I love her. She’s amazing! 

In your long career what are some other standout moments that you would say either inspired you or led you in different directions or just reinforced that “I belong in this space I’m here” mantra?

There’s so many things. There’s been a lot of ups and downs in this industry. It’s never been easy by any means. So it’s just, everything that has happened. I can’t really put my finger on one particular thing. Everything that has happened has shown me how strong and how resilient I am. I appreciate that about the job that I have and the responsibilities that come with it. So it’s been wild but it’s very much rewarding. 

So, for your upcoming shows, can you tell us a little bit? What is coming next for either this year or next year? Anything big? 

Yes, but I can’t talk about it. Hahahah! I’m sorry!

No! No!

There are a few shows coming up before the year finishes. A couple that are going to be announced soon and one of them that was just recently announced in Denver. So happy to be going back to Temple in Denver. I love that club.  

Do you have a favorite venue? At least here within LA or the LA county area? 

I love Exchange. I’ve been playing Exchange for so many years and the last few years that I’ve been, having my own headlining shows over there, they’ve all sold out. Every time I go there, it’s such an amazing experience. The staff is so kind and so professional and the last show that I had was my annual birthday show. This time we did a 360 stage! So, that was pretty cool. I love that venue. I feel like I’m home every time I go there. I’m so comfortable there. 

That’s the home base. That’s the headquarters. Yeah, I love that. I love that. For your own personal music, do you have a favorite song? 

I love heavy metal and my favorite band of all time is Metallica and I just can’t stop listening to them. It’s been years, just years and they never get old. I just truly, absolutely adore them and I hope I can meet them again one day.

You met them before?

Yes. I was in Portland, Oregon because that’s where I grew up. My father had a restaurant and they were playing for a few days at the Rose bowl, and on their last day I was sitting down having dinner with my father. I was bitching at him saying this and that and I’m a little kid, mind you.

“You didn’t let me go see them!” “I can’t believe this!” “I hate you!” “What kind of a dad are you?”

I’m just going on and on and on and all of a sudden the phone rings and they said that they were from the Metallica camp at the Rose bowl. They had run out of food for the band. They heard that my father had a Mexican restaurant actually, and that this was the best Mexican restaurant in Portland. They were wondering if we could quickly cater for them. I was like, this is a sign, this is a sign! Oh my God, I have to go! So we put the food together for them really quickly and I was taken to the Rose bowl and I was able to stand backstage and witness it and meet them. It was one of the greatest days of my entire life. I will never forget it as long as I live. Oh my God! 

I don’t know how you don’t see that as a sign of God! Calling the restaurant right then there, in the middle of you pouring your heart out.

Oh my God. I was truly mad at my dad. You don’t understand the connection I have with these people, going from Iran to America and back and forth really did a number on me. Every time I felt really sad and unsure of everything, what I would do was, I would continuously play the black album in my headphones just over and over and over and it calmed me down. That’s why I just love those guys so much. When he didn’t take me to their concert, it was kind of devastating for me. So, it all worked out and it was… it was a sign and I put it out in the universe and it came back! 

It came back! I love when that happens! What! Oh my God! What an incredible story, that makes me giddy just hearing it!

Yeah, it just makes me so happy every time I think about it. It’s amazing. I hope I can meet them again. I did go to their concert last year in LA, so that was just… wow! 

So how was that experience? 

That was amazing. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go both days because I was performing. I forget where, but on Friday I was performing. I told my friends that I was going with, and I said, “I’m not going to sleep after this show. What I’m going to do is that, from the show I’m going to go to the hotel, pack my stuff, get on the first flight back to LA, come home, sleep for a few hours, get up, get ready, and go to the Saturday show!” I had to be there! I was the happiest girl in the world, I tell you, I just wish I could have made it both days. But, you know, work comes first!

Yeah, yeah, work comes first! Work comes first! Are there any other influences or bands like that where you see just for personal interest? Like Metallica, or any other rock bands, anything like that? 

I love Evanescence. I went and saw Evanescence. I really wanted to go see Britney Spears when she was in Vegas. But unfortunately, I didn’t, I’m a humongous Britney Spears fan. I’ve just been so incredibly busy that no one has really jumped out at me saying, “Oh, they’re having a concert. Let’s go see!” Maybe Taylor Swift next time, I just remixed one of her songs. 

That’d be big! Yeah, definitely!

Going back to you because I’m really just interested in your story! We might be going to the end of this soon. You have new music on the way. Can you tell me a little bit more about that? 

Yes. My latest track that’s going to be released on November 1st is a track that I did with the vocalist called Lexi Pantera. She’s actually also Persian, and we were connected earlier this year. We just got together and put this record together and I’m really proud of it. She is known as the twerk queen! Yeah, she’s very good at it, I hope she teaches me because I don’t know anything at all. The way I designed this track is for her to be able to be herself and dance to it. Then I thought, you know, why not have a surprise moment in the middle of it and throw some dubstep in there. So I threw some dubstep in there and I just played Lost Lands and they loved it. They absolutely loved it! So I think I did something right! The track is called By My Side featuring Lexy Pantera and it’s going to be released on my label SCANTRAXX on November 1st and I’m very excited. 

I’m very excited to hear it. Oh my goodness! It’s a dance anthem. I can’t wait.

Yeah. It’s very energetic. It’s really funny. Lexy was at Escape with me and she came on stage and she did her little dance with it. It was really fun. 

Do you get the chance to work with Persian artists often, or people of similar cultures? 

No, actually, not really because within the hard style genre there aren’t any Persians that I know at all. There are a few Persians that I do know of but they’re in other genres like house and dubstep. Maybe we can get together sometime in the near future and create a record together. Up until now, no, but I would love to, I’m absolutely open to it. 

And how was the experience of making this new track? Just a blast. It sounds like it was!

Yeah, it was, it was so much fun! I actually had so much fun doing this with Lexi that I think we’re going to do another one. Hopefully next year, I’m working on a lot of different projects at the same time right now. As soon as I have a moment to breathe and think, we’re gonna get together, I’m going to do something else because I really love working with her. She sounds like an angel. We understand each other really well and so I think it would be a very good idea to do it again. 

I sit and wait in anticipation. I am so excited! Do you have any other dream collaborations? 

Yeah, there’s a lot of people I would like to collaborate with. Within my genre, of course, there’s a bunch of people I would love to collaborate with like Brendan Hart. I think he’s amazing. He’s such a talented artist. I would love to collaborate with him. I would also really like to collaborate with someone like Timmy Trumpet. I think he’s just so fun and out there that our styles would really complement each other. Then there’s like the wild card, maybe Diplo one of these days. He’s like very mellow but, I don’t know, he may want to get like freaky and do some hard style stuff with me!

Put it out there, put it out there! Manifestation. I hear a phone ringing soon!

Hey, you never know someone out there is listening to me. 

Exactly. Exactly. I’m so glad I had this time with you! Could you give a final introduction to yourself or an outro or anything? Just to let the people know who you are. Let the people know what’s coming up, anything like that. 

I am Lady Faith. I play hard-style, hard-dance music and I have a new track coming out on November 1st with Lexy Pantera. And I hope you guys like it. Please go stream it and support female artists!