WHO Swedish dyke DJ duo DJ Combustion are on a mission to promote female artists and play the best possible blend of alternative electro. Comprised of Katja Gustafsson and Helena Hiltunen, Combustion is also the tag name for their queer club night — the biggest of its kind in Scandinavia’s “non-existent scene.” The DJ and promoter team got their start in a dyke underground club in Stockholm, Sweden in 2002. “The venue was really cool and trashy with a rustic feel,” says Gustafsson, who runs the queer-oriented Virgo Artist Agency, booking artists in Europe and Scandinavia. When they wanted to expand the night to present live bands and art, the name Combustion was born and quickly became renowned throughout Scandinavia. Gustafsson also reaches out to female artists through DJ workshops, while Hiltunen has just finished film school and is working on music videos. Their Toronto debut this weekend will be the first of three Pride celebrations this summer for DJ Combustion. After a quick Canadian tour, they’re off to the Copenhagen Queer festival and Europride in Stockholm. Come September, Gustafsson will head to Berlin to manage electro-pop duo Rhythm King and Her Friends, while she and Hiltunen prepare to kick off the fall season of Club Combustion at the Rainbow Festival in Malmö, Sweden.
WHAT Electro, new wave, riot grrrl, ‘80s, nu rave and synth grime. “We think there is good music in every style, you just have to find it,” says Gustafsson. “We are uptempo DJs and we want our audience to dance with us during the whole DJ set so… we play music for all kinds of music lovers.”
WHERE June 27 at Cherry Bomb’s Live Wire with Giselle Numba One, MC Nolan Natasha, EYE WEEKLY Clubs columnist Denise Benson and DJ Cozmic Cat at Lee’s Palace (529 Bloor W). $15 in advance. More at door.
FAVOURITE SONG OF ALL TIME Leila K, “Electric.”
FAVOURITE SONG RIGHT NOW Boy 8-bit, “Disco Sirens (vocal remix).”
FAVOURITE WEBSITE RIGHT NOW “I like myspace.com. It feels like its old school today,” says Gustafsson. “I always find what I’m looking for.”
WHAT IS YOUR WEIRDEST DJING EXPERIENCE? “People having sex in front of you on the dancefloor.”
DIGITAL OR ANALOG? “Digital because you can get the music from your source ASAP, and it’s easy to carry around with you when you travel so much,” says Gustafsson. “If I was a resident DJ somewhere, I would play vinyl since the sound is so much smoother and you can play around with the sound picture in a totally different way.”
WHAT IS VITAL TO YOUR DAILY ROUTINE? “Internet and getting out of bed.”
WHAT GLOBAL ISSUE CONCERNS YOU MOST RIGHT NOW? “Global warming, humanism, socialism, feminism, gay rights and animal rights.”
WHAT IS THE LAST GREAT FILM YOU SAW? Sweeney Todd.
WHAT ACTOR WOULD PLAY YOU IN A BIOPIC? Brad Pitt.
WHAT ARE YOU READING RIGHT NOW? “I don’t have the time to read right now.”