MARY ANNE HOBBS

When it comes to rock star DJs, few can match the pedigree of British journalist/DJ Mary Anne Hobbs.

She’s a battle-tested road warrior who has made a series about biker culture, wrote one of the first cover stories on Nirvana, hosted a top mix show on BBC Radio 1 and even taught at a prestigious British university. The last time she was in Boston, she was here not as a DJ, but as a rock journo.

“I came to interview Aerosmith,” Hobbs recalls to the Dig. “Guitarist Joe Perry was absolutely enchanting. We ate clam chowder.”

Years later, she’s back with her finest musical arsenal as she spins the Paradise in one of the most anticipated events of the Together Festival, setting up shop in venues across the city this week.

“I’m delighted to be invited to play at Together,” she says.

“To be really honest, I have no pre-conceptions when I play at any event for the first time. It’s best to just rock up with an open heart and a fierce set.”

She’s always followed her heart—which is why she was the one responsible for putting a then-unknown band led by Kurt Cobain on the cover of UK rock bible New Music Express, where she was a music reporter.

“I put Nirvana on the front cover of NME, after begging the editor to let me do it for months,” she remembers. “He agreed only after two other cover stories with The Cure and Sonic Youth fell through.”

“A week later the band released ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ as a single, and the rest is history.”

Her unmatched ear for the dark and infectious helped land her a gig as a musical consultant on the Oscar-nominated Black Swan, choosing the dark, dirty electronica that pulsed during Natalie Portman’s nightclub trysts.

Hobbs also recently cut her ties with BBC, ending her impressive 14-year run as host of Radio 1’s Experimental Show. She’ll launch a new Saturday night mix show on XFM July 9th.

“I’ll always be thankful to the BBC for the 14 years of freedom that they gave me. It was simply time to move on,” she says. “XFM made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. It’s such a victory to win a primetime Saturday night slot for all the artists that I believe in and the listeners who care so deeply.”

She says the show will have a “future sound,” and will feature free-form guest mixes.

“Dubstep, UK funky, minimal techno, deep house, hip-hop, electronica, neo-folk and art house rock … no holds barred. I look forward to creating some truly mind-blowing redefining radio with XFM,” she says.

Not surprising, since she’s an unabashed metal and punk fan who has written about all types of music for decades, all while holding down one of the BBC’s top mix shows.

“Genre is immaterial,” she says. “Every individual connects differently with the primary sprit and energy of the music they love, and everybody’s emotional experience is different.”

MARY ANNE HOBBS
WITH LORN, TAKE, MIKE SLOTT
SUNDAY 4.24.11
THE PARADISE ROCK CLUB
967 COMM. AVE.
BOSTON
7PM/18+/$15
TOGETHERBOSTON.COM
MARYANNEHOBBS.COM