Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Lies.
Hi Sarah, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I’ve always been heavily into music, grew up in a music-obsessed family so it’s in my DNA. I’ve been deep in the EDM and rave scene for 11 years and it’s truly such a huge part of my life, but I never expected it to lead me into DJing and producing my own music!
2 years ago I asked another DJ/producer friend to teach me how to mix, originally just wanting to play for myself for fun or for some friends at house parties. Immediately after I started learning, people were asking me to throw a party and little did I know this would kind of be the theme for me moving into my DJ career. I decided to throw a launch party and maybe 30 friends and family showed up, but I took some good videos and hired a photographer and I’m glad I did because right after this, I got a real gig at our biggest club in SLC. And then another, and another. I had a DJ friend tell me at the first gig that “It’s just going to go up from here, you don’t even realize it yet” and he was so right.
Very quickly the gigs kept coming in and growing in size, audience and level, and I truly feel I can attribute this to my love for the music and the dance scene as well as my knowledge of marketing from working in agencies. I dove head first into the DJ scene and just kept going with it!
I started throwing some of my own parties, one of which I called All Girls All House. I was new in the scene and growing but I really saw a lack of female DJs on lineups and I knew they were out there. I wanted to give the women in SLC a platform to show their style in atmosphere’s where they would really shine. This led to more parties of my own, and being asked to bring All Girls All House to different venues. It really just kept growing and snowballing from there!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I can say for the most part it has been a smooth ride. Definitely a learning curve when it comes to getting into the music industry and taking it seriously, navigating the local scene, and some challenges that come with being a female in the industry, luckily I love a challenge.
When I first started DJing, I had never seen another female DJ from Salt Lake City play in our local club, seriously. I actually don’t recall seeing any female touring acts either. My goal was to bring that to our scene, which started with me. I wanted to prove my skill and ability so I spent many hours practicing and preparing, networking and asking for the gigs I wanted. Once gigs were rolling in, I started throwing my own parties and asked for opportunities to do so at the local club. Within my first six months of DJing, I landed one and All Girls All House was born on Sky’s rooftop. A little over 1 year later I was given a headline show at the same club.
I brought 4 women to the stage in this club who had never played there before, and the party went crazy. It wasn’t easy, and it took 2 years of proving my skill, marketing tactics and ability to bring a crowd. Since the beginning, the biggest struggle was being taken seriously by the local promoters, which is common for women DJs all over the world. I’ve found that speaking up, speaking for yourself and your colleagues, and sometimes saying no to a lowball offer helps get you there. Know your worth!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a DJ, a music producer, a creative. I love playing music that sparks something in me, in hopes it will spark something in you. There’s nothing that fuels me more than getting a whole room of people moving and grooving to my favorite sounds, that feeling is electric! Music is a universal language, or in some situations it’s almost a form of currency and a means of exchanging energy or a way to express something without saying it. DJing allows me to offer something to massive crowds of people that I couldn’t otherwise, and in most cases it’s expression, healing and FUN through dance. I haven’t healed more, cried more or laughed more anywhere than I have on dancefloors and I hope to offer that same space for other people.
In terms of what sets me apart, I feel that my specific taste and flavors of dance music are unique. I think I bring a really interesting blend of deep and melodic sounds and high energy drums and the right amount of well-known vocals to sing along to. I take pride in curating my sets from start to finish and taking my crowd on a journey through my favorite music. I’m lucky that there are many people who seem to resonate with my favorite stuff because it means I get to keep playing it!
The music has always come first for me but along with it, I know my creative design skills and knowledge of social media and content have really set the tone for me. Without these I wouldn’t be where I am. You could also say I’m known for my controversial take that without active social media presence, you’re not going anywhere. (and I stand by it!) I have so much fun making content and honestly really love posting on Instagram and curating my artist persona there. I’ve also met sooo many people in the industry via social media and I’m so grateful for those relationships! I know I’ve build a great brand with Sarah Lies and hope to keep building it with more music, more parties and events and who knows what else.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Firstly I have to say I am very inspired by so many friends and people around me. I learn so much from all of them, and especially here in Utah we have a very supportive creative scene.
I’ll be honest that I take in most of my inspiration and learning from my favorite people on social media (shocker!) but many of these people do have podcasts that I will also note! A lot of what I do is observe my favorite creators, business owners and artists content and recreate it in my own way. Here are a few people who I couldn’t live without online:
Peggy Gou – My ultimate style, music, life inspiration.
Kinzie Madsen – Content queen, boss, creative genius.
Olivia Mancuso – Elevated Frequencies Podcast
Karocrafts – Super creative content queen
Josh Baker – Big music inspo and Synthohub IG and YT channel for production
Archangel – Cool girl doing big things in the music industry
Florencegiven – Content queen, sharing liberating words for women through video and her books
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahliesmusic/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sarahliesmusic
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/sarahlies
