DJ REPORT

DJ:TK – Dancing Is Often Compared To Sex
By: Miss Raquel

While I drank a warm beer at a downtown Toronto club on a cold dreary, winter night I thought to myself how I should have been at home in a hot bath listening to this very DJ, who was the only one keeping things warm. The last time I saw DJ:TK was for the launch of an Internet radio station and she made my tongue drop and salivate to the point I started licking the candies off the candy covered pink radios that decorated the venue. They tasted so good I stole the radio!

You name it, she can drop it. You know it, she knows more. And if you wanna rock the Casbah, she’ll rock the shingles off with musical genres so flawlessly intertwined, they’ll form a web of audio pleasure that’ll make you scream for more ‘til the last record hits the slipmat.

Based in Toronto, DJ:TK has spun in some of the city’s hottest venues. One of her current gigs, which she got from answering an ad in the back of a magazine, is a straight girl’s dream.  You see, she plays a 4-hour set every Saturday night at Spa Excess, a Toronto bathhouse where she soothes the wet, sexually-charged bodies of some of Toronto’s hottest and most gorgeous gay men. Yes, you straight ones, I said gay men, so no, you can’t go. Even if you try to tell them at the desk that you are truly there to see and hear TK spin, it won’t work! Trust me on this one!

After establishing herself as a DJ in one of Toronto’s oldest and most infamous gay bars, The Barn, TK has moved on to become the only female DJ spinning at an all male bathhouse in North America. “The men are pretty much all in towels. Occasionally they stop to shimmy in front of the booth. There haven’t been too many towel-dropping incidents. They’re all really cheerful and relaxed…and that’s just swell,” describes TK of Excess and its clientele.

At first glance, the concept of Excess’ fun and sexy “spa” atmosphere would seem to compete with the energetic, hip-shaking tracks being laid down, but Excess is distinct, in that, it features a licensed lounge area that’s remarkably accommodating. “It’s a really social atmosphere, a lot chattier than I thought it would be, frankly. I think having a DJ in a lounge atmosphere is quite natural,” says TK.

“On another note, dancing is often compared to sex--and DJs often speak about how music, mixing and sexuality are all jumbled together so bringing that idea over into the tubs isn’t really such a stretch. I just make sure that I keep the energy up, keep it fresh and interesting to a wide range of fellas.” Ah yes, keep the energy up!

At 14, TK started out in radio broadcasting at a community radio station.  By 1992, TK had her first DJing gig at Toronto’s Club Time where she dropped a lot of Techno and Industrial. “Terry Kelly and Chris Sheppard also had nights in that venue. It was a great experience. Shortly after that, I picked up another regular night at a club called Deco’s which was located on Church Street. The staff would shut off all the lights and light up a ton of candelabras. I turned up the smoke machine and played Dead Can Dance and Bauhaus and whatnot. I’ve been going pretty strong ever since.” In 1995 she played in New York. ”I gigged at this warehouse party called the Kit Klub (not to be confused with the Clit Club). It was a pretty crazy party thrown by leather dykes.”

The key turning point in her career was taking on the Saturday late-night residency at the Pad. “Previous to playing there, I had only been spinning in smaller bars and only occasionally at larger events. The Pad was an after-hours located on St. Joseph Street. There was always a line up. It was always rammed in there with everyone from drag queens to straight ravers to circuit queens, all getting along, having a wicked time. People still come up to me and reminisce about that club,” explains TK.

During her 14 year career, TK has had the great opportunity of spinning with Barry Harris, David Knapp, and Sylvain Gérard, as well as sharing the stage with performers Sloan, Simone Denny and Jay Rodriguez. “I’m always tickled to play a gig with Simone Denny; she’s just so darned sweet…and that voice!” Of course, it doesn’t stop there with TK. Aside from DJing, TK’s many other pursuits include generating label interest in her original music, adding more compilation mix CDs to her CV (in addition to the Candytrax 1 disc that she did for ManCandy Radio) and furthering her production projects. In fact, TK has worked as a music producer for films and documentaries.  Some of her work can be heard in Team Shoulderpads, Suhail’s Jihad, Journalism Under Fire and the upcoming 3-D animated feature Myself, My Message to which DJs Mark Anthony and Deko-ze are also contributing.

In addition to these projects, TK and her partner, Shanna, run NOOM.ca. This promotion and distribution company provides email updates on nightlife, access to nightclub guest lists, booking services for a few DJs in Toronto and employs a distribution street team.

When it comes to DJing and being a professional, TK emphasizes, “Don’t Touch! When in a situation where there are other DJs on the bill with you, don’t touch things without asking. Do not go through the other DJs’ crate while you wait for your set to start. Don’t mess with the board while the other DJ is spinning, or worse, mixing. Plus all the usual stuff: show up on time for your gigs--when your set time is up, it’s up--stepping on someone else’s time isn’t cool.
Aside from the dos and don’ts of DJ etiquette we all know we do have a great scene here in Canada and TK readily acknowledges this, “Canada functions as a happy medium between the USA and UK in terms of our EDM culture. I mean the dance scene is huge overseas, as we all know, and Canada tends to favour more European styles, but the States has an incredible influence on us here in Toronto, especially being so close to Detroit and New York. I think we have a great environment here for people to be a little more artistic.”

As with all the DJs I interview, I wanted to know the drop on TK’s post-production tactics. To which she responded, “I’ve familiarized myself with Final Scratch, Ableton Live and a few other digital mixing and performance software. So far my experimentation has been just that, however, experimentation. I can maybe see myself trying this out on a radio show or something before I bring it to the clubs. I’ll continue to check out all of the tools that are at my disposal. The technology is just too awesome not to.”

 “As for production software, I favour Sony Acid Pro for doing most arrangements [and] Reason for other arrangements and some loop creation. I use a variety of soft-synths: mostly the ReFX line, Soundforge and Adobe Audition as audio editors [and] ReBirth to create drum loops. Mostly, I leave the final mix down in the hands of my mastering guru, Glen (which is where it belongs).”

The sky’s the limit as far as TK is concerned when it comes to technology in this industry. She feels, “there will be significant innovation in the formats that we use to access and store music and how we, as consumers, access new music. Just think about how little time has passed between vinyl and cassette tape being the dominant forms of music distribution. Now the dominant media types are CD, DVD and digital distribution formats. Just imagine how much that’s going to change in the next ten years.”

TK’s opinion on the future of the turntable is that it isn’t going anywhere soon. She says, “There’s just something about digging through a crate to find that special track, pulling it out of the sleeve, touching the grooves and then dropping the needle. It’s just not the same with a CD book, but there will be further refinements and features added to turntables. For example, the reverse drives, wider pitch adjustment you might find on turntables now, but were completely unheard of not long ago…I am very comfortable on both CD as well as vinyl. I love new technology, but that doesn’t mean I have to cast aside my love of traditional gear.”

The Internet is definitely a must for DJs and TK is a huge supporter of it. For instance, TK’s site, www.djtk.net, has allowed her to connect with people for such things as bookings, production collaborations and for posting mixes. She says, “There’s also the net radio station I do regular mixes for -- ManCandy.ca. And I’ve been fortunate enough to be included on 1groove.com with a guest mix on Jelo’s show. It’s pretty neat to get a letter from someone in Russia or the UK praising your latest mix.”     

“I love the DIY (do it yourself), grassroots spirit of the online broadcasting community. The whole concept of Podcasting and Internet radio has allowed a whole generation of DJs to put their styles out there and be heard by a whole new audience. I mean, really, why put up with the dismal crap that you find on most commercial stations these days when you have a million choices at your fingertips? Or even better, just start doing your own thing and make it available to others as an alternative,” suggests TK.

Speaking of alternative choices TK adds, “I really ought to kick nicotine. That one is going to be a toughie.”

www.djtk.net