DJ Heidi - In Heidi We Trust
3D’s Cyclone speaks to DJ Heidi, a main-stayer of the Get Physical collective and a some-time co-host of the Radio 1 show, In New DJs We Trust. 3D’s Cyclone speaks with the Canadian DJ ahead of her set at Lost Baggage.
Techno was once a male subculture, but DJ Heidi has now joined Magda and Ellen Allien on the international circuit. Her influence is profound. The Canadian – based in Berlin after a decade in Britain – is among few techno types to have any presence on the UK’s Radio 1. Indeed, dance music powerbroker Pete Tong, who determines the roster for the In New DJs We Trust show, invited her to participate, despite rumours that he himself dislikes techno.
Early on Heidi, from Windsor, Ontario, partied across the border in depressed Detroit, like Richie Hawtin before her. “I caught the tail end of it,” she says of the Motor City’s techno movement. “There was still a scene going when I was just about to leave. I left in ’97 for a year [to live in England] and then I came back to Canada for a couple of years. But, in that time, I met a lot of cool people, went to a lot of cool parties in Detroit. Then I moved to England [permanently] – and that’s when it was kicking off over there, too. All the DJs from Detroit were playing more in Europe than they were in Detroit, ’cause the scene started changing. I got the best of both worlds.” To this day, Heidi draws on her love of US techno and house.
In 2007 Heidi finally DJed in Detroit at its electronic music festival. Many believe that, under Paxahau’s stewardship, the event founded by Carl Craig has sold-out its (black) roots, becoming just another international festival with acts such as Benny Benassi. Heidi’s perspective is different. “It was great!” she enthuses. “It had a few years where it wasn’t so great, but I played there two years ago and it was fantastic.” The festival is even taking over from the Miami Winter Music Conference. “People are going to the Detroit Electronic Music Festival over Miami ’cause the music’s better, the DJs are better, and it’s cheaper. It’s just not as commercial as Miami, I guess. I know a lotta people this year are giving Miami a miss and going to Detroit.”
In London Heidi helped start Phonica Records. Today she’s down with Berlin’s Get Physical camp. Heidi ventured into production three years ago with Vejer, co-produced by Riton. “It’s been great,” she says. “[Get Physical] opened up a lot of doors for me.
“I’m not much of a producer. I only make a record a year, basically. I’m more of a DJ than a producer. I don’t really have a lot of time to sit in the studio – and I have a hard time sitting still for 10 hours in a studio, so it’s hard to get me in there. But, once I do, I try to do something really good.
“I’m actually in the studio at the moment with Jesse Rose and we’re doing some music for his label, Made To Play, and then I’m talking to Ellen Allien about doing some stuff together for BPitch Control. I’m also hopefully gonna be working with the Dirtybird guys, Justin Martin and Claude VonStroke, ’cause they’ve asked me to do some music for that label. So I’m trying to branch out a little bit.”
WHO: Heidi
WHAT: Plays Lost Baggage at The Cross
WHEN: Saturday 14 February
MORE: Facebook :: Lost Baggage / physical-music.com