B-complex is a transgender & bigender Slovak (Slovakian) drum & bass producer, DJ, and lgbtq+ activist.
B-Complex began producing music in 1996 at the age of 12, being mainly interested in hardcore, trance, and psytrance, moving on to downtempo and hip hop. Following this period, she shifted to drum and bass, to create a unique personal style.
In the words of B-complex “I have always found that drum & bass and jungle has been one of the most open and welcoming cultures for myself as trans and bi-gender. Long before I came out, I felt I could be myself. People didn’t give a sh*t about how you moved or what you did, you could do whatever you wanted to. That’s what rave culture is for me. Yes, some of the parts of drum & bass became toxically masculine and I don’t think it progressed very much with the same art and visuals always being used. It was just bro culture. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s all good to be a bro, but it’s not okay to be harmful to others. It’s about creating a new space without harming the old spaces so I’m really happy there’s a lot of change and progress happening.”
Two years ago when asked about coming out B-complex said “Slovakia is super conservative. After communism, which was here for 40 years, I would say that even the most liberal people here would be considered soft conservatives. I think my generation had it much harder than the current generation. LGBT is celebrated here now but during communism even if you were a straight male with long hair then secret police would take you out on the street, beat you up and force you to cut your hair. So even after we became democracy a lot of people from my generation were brought up with a lot of that culture still in place. The old regime was still in power for the first four years of my life. I can remember bits of it. When I was 15/16 if you tried to do a LGBT event then skinheads would come and beat you up. It only changed when we did the first Pride in Bratislava which wasn’t that long ago. We had diplomats from other countries and it was very nice until someone threw a rock which hit a diplomat. The following year it was cordoned off and protected by police. You had to show ID to be part of it. We definitely still struggle here. We don’t have civilian partnership. If you want to legally identify as a trans person you have to castrate yourself, so we still have a long way to go. That’s why I’m an activist – so the next generation can have easier lives.”
