Not For Everyone: Princess P and Tia Cousins in conversation

Music’s Not For Everyone was his own fixture there from early on, the same anything-goes ethos he ran on NTS from 2014 until he died in 2020: EBM and pounding acid house 909s one week, kosmische, dub or a run of Indian classical the next, whatever he happened to be into, with no need to make it cohere for anyone but himself. He opened the castle’s sets with this same ethos, years before anyone else got a turn.

Since he died, it’s passed from hand to hand, year to year, to whoever seemed right. Lena Willikens has done both sets. So have Vladimir Ivkovic and David Holmes. This year it’s Tia Cousins, taking over both castle session sets – after last year’s all-conquering Bar A Vin closing set on the Sunday night – with just her wilfully beautifully obscure set of ears to go on, since she never once saw Andrew do it himself.

Muriel, aka Princess P, as those of you at the back should already know, is a Bern-based DJ who spent decades cutting her teeth behind the counter at Plattfon Records in Basel and holding down a residency at Zukunft in Zürich. She’s also one of the only people to have played every Watching Trees, thus far. This year she opens a notable all-female lineup at Bar A Vin for the closing sets on the Sunday, ahead of Tia and then Rosie Ama.

Different stage, different day, different order to the castle sets, but the same ghost hangs over the whole thing: Muriel actually crossed paths with Andrew when he was alive, once driving him from Bern to Zürich with nothing but a bag of chips for company, while Tia only has Lena and Vladimir’s versions of the session to go on.

So we thought it’d be nice if they interviewed each other, with me agitating along the way. What came back covers festival slots versus club nights, digging for records as a broke student versus digging as a shop assistant, clearing a floor on purpose, and the particular flavour of annoying that is being booked as a “female DJ.” We also cover gear obsession, Spacemen 3, and Tia’s refusal, on the record, to discuss cheese on noodles.

Wil: Convenanza, as a punter before either of you played it, what was it like?

Tia: I first went in 2023 with a group of friends; we’d heard good things about the festival. It’s not often you get to party in a castle, and I am a princess after all.

Muriel: Hearing about the festival taking place in a medieval castle in the south of France immediately piqued my curiosity. I went there straight away with a mate; that was in 2015.

Tia: Muriel, you’ve said your Hänsel & Gretel set, playing outdoors to a big crowd for the first time, was your most intense DJ experience. Does Convenanza’s open-air thing come close, and do you actually change how you play for it?

Muriel: Indeed, it was one of the most intense experiences, as it was a big rave outside the hills organised by a DIY collective. To get there, everyone had to hike the last part. I remember people helping me roll my record trolley, as the very last part was a crazy steep part through the woods. Convenanza is in a different setting: the castle walls. I’m playing at Le Bar A Vin on Sunday, in daylight. The only similar thing is the steep part to get there!

Muriel: Tia, is a festival slot a different thing entirely from being someone’s support act, or is it the same instinct wherever you’re plugged in?

Tia: It’s different, because at a club night there are fewer people, so you can take them somewhere specific. At a festival slot you’ve got more of a mixed crowd to serve – not that I really do that; I just make sense of it in my own way. You’re also thinking about how your set tails into whatever’s coming after.

Muriel: You never saw Andrew play Music’s Not For Everyone in its original setting, did you? What’s it like carrying a session that’s built by someone whose sound you mostly know through the radio, record and reputation rather than having stood in the crowd for it yourself?

Tia: It’s difficult, because I never saw it when Andrew did it. I’ve seen Lena and Vladimir do it, so I have a rough idea – they both approached it differently. I’m looking forward to putting my own stamp on it, much like I do with my radio shows.

Tia: Did you ever cross paths with Andrew?

Muriel: I did several times, as he played once a year in Zürich at club Zukunft. Once I drove him from Bern to Zürich. He sat in the back of the car with a big pack of chips. I could spot him in the centre mirror, happily eating his chips and chatting about this and that. Of course, we crossed paths during Convenanza as well. He always took time to chat with the Swiss crew.

Muriel: Does knowing the crowd was originally there for Andrew’s decade of Music’s Not For Everyone change the approach, or do you have to shut that out to actually play?

Tia: Of course you have to shut it out. I think dwelling on it would just make me worry. I wouldn’t want to replicate what someone else has done, as that wouldn’t be me. I’ve got my own version of Music’s Not For Everyone, so hopefully that comes through.

Muriel: You learned on a mate’s leftover decks in your uni bedroom. I learned behind the counter of a record store. Does where you started still shape how you dig now, or have you left that behind completely?

Tia: I started digging for music digitally because I didn’t have much money as a student, so it was much easier just to look online. I also only had one turntable, so I never learned to mix records – I do have records, but that’s more for bar gigs and random ambient sets. I’m also chronically online even now, so Bandcamp, or a potato rip from YouTube for something I can’t find to buy, still feels like the most logical way for me to dig in this day and age. Put it this way – I am certainly not a vinyl purist.

Tia: Two-plus decades in – has discovery got harder or easier? Are you still finding things the old way, through the shop, through people asking questions, or has the ground moved under you?

Muriel: It got easier, as you can find everything online. I still prefer a story with a record I bought or got from someone. The connection/recommendation makes it special when you play it.

Muriel: You’ve said you quite like clearing a floor sometimes – filtering down to whoever’s actually vibing. Is that still true, and how does that sit next to a festival crowd who didn’t necessarily come for you specifically?

Tia: I guess with Music’s Not For Everyone it’s the exact opposite – I’m looking forward to everyone just listening.

Tia: You’re still on the exact setup you started on. Discipline, budget, or just not caring? Does the gear obsession in the scene now look a bit overblown from where you’re sitting?

Muriel: Discipline, that mean thing! It is necessary with a full schedule of work and gigs. If I have time and energy, I still go for low-budget gigs, of course. Indeed, you can spend hours reading articles about gear. But you always have to be aware that a situation can completely mess up your gig. For example, if there are no slipmats or no absorbers. Then a mixer you do not like becomes a less important issue.

Wil: Neither of you stay in a lane – Tia through EBM, Italo, post-punk, house; Muriel through house into techno and IDM. Does genre mean anything to either of you as a sorting tool anymore, or is it purely vibe-first now?

Muriel: It’s vibe-first, mostly. It takes courage. I usually prepare my first three or four tracks, then it can go anywhere, depending on the crowd or the mood. A friend told me recently, after my set at a festival, that it’s still interesting how most people leave the dancefloor the second an edgy electro track comes on in a house set.

Muriel: Tia, is there a difference between what you’d play to build your name and what you’d play for yourself, alone, at home?

Tia: I don’t listen to dance music at home – so in that sense, yes. My Music’s Not For Everyone sets will be way more reflective of what I listen to at home than what I’d do in a club.

Wil: Muriel, you’ve talked about being one of very few women working a record shop counter in Switzerland, and about women often not “daring” to walk into one in the first place.

Tia: Has that actually shifted since, or does the same gatekeeping just look different now?

Muriel: That’s hard to answer, as I can’t speak for all female customers. But it keeps changing – for me, I go into any record store nowadays. I was more shy when I first started.

Muriel: Tia, oming up a generation later, in a different city, in a scene that talks a much bigger game about inclusion – do you recognise any of what I’m describing, or has it seemed different from where you sit?

Tia: I have the same thing, going into a record store with typically men behind the counter or buying. I think inclusiveness definitely got better at one point – when I first started, I used to go to panels and workshops for female and non-binary DJs and producers. I don’t think they’re as prominent anymore, sadly. Things like Red Bull used to run them, and it all feels like it’s dried up again now that the money’s run out.

Tia: Where does it actually still bite hardest for you – is it more a shop-floor / industry-access thing than an on-stage thing these days?

Muriel: Being visible in daylight, on a big stage, far from the crowd, is still not my favourite thing. Camera teams surrounding you make me anxious – after all, isn’t it about the music? On the other hand, it’s important to challenge yourself, get out of your comfort zone, and concentrate on the music rather than what’s going on onstage.

Muriel: Do you feel any pressure to be filed as a “female DJ,” a category unto itself? I’d guess it’s changed shape since my day, but I’m curious how you see it.

Tia: Gender is obviously so important for people to be represented equally. But it’s also obviously annoying when you’ve been booked in a tokenistic sense – you want to be judged on the merits of yourself, not your gender. Tokenism is even less cool than inequality.

Wil: Given the age gap – what would you tell Tia starting out now?

Muriel: Hahaha, that’s not fair. Tia doesn’t need much advice from me. The only advice, Tia: go forward, stay humble, but challenge yourself. You can do most of it, and if not, it doesn’t matter – stay curious, always. If promoters invite you, they want you, and nobody else. Never forget it 😉

Tia: You’ve got a synth, drum machine and mixer sitting at home you keep meaning to properly use. Is 2026 the year, or is it still “after I retire”?

Muriel: Yeah, there you got me. Probably not in 2026 either.

Wil: One track you’ll never not play, whatever the crowd?

Muriel: Spacemen 3 – Big City.

Tia: Idjut Boys – Schlagstock (Vacant Gaze Version)

Wil: Anything else either of you needs the other to know before we finish? Tia, any extra thoughts on cheese on noodles?

Tia: I’m not answering this – it’s a hate crime against my people.

Wil: What does Music’s Not For Everyone mean to you?

Muriel: Andrew’s shows were a must-listen for me. It was like going to school, somehow – I discovered so many tracks and songs, and I still remember that voice, that humorous style of talking he had. Seeing him live at the festival was a huge privilege – welcoming the crowd with two hours of music across different genres at sunset was, and still is, my favourite Convenanza experience. I can’t wait for Tia’s.

Tia: A chance to play records you wouldn’t normally play out – much like Muriel’s Sunday mornings at Watching Trees. It’s nice to have the freedom to do that, and hopefully no judgment.

www.convenanzafestival.com