DJ HEIDI

By DAVE WEDGE

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Don't let DJ Heidi's model good looks and curly blond locks throw you off.

She's hardcore, and thinks nothing of touring the US stuffed in a van with a bunch of smelly dudes, such as she recently did with her Get Physical labelmates M.A.N.D.Y. and Audiofly.

"It was hardcore, but I made it out alive ... barely," she says via email from her home in Berlin. "I'm not much of a girly girl, so being a woman didn't really matter. Deep down inside, I'm just one of the guys."

Heidi, who brings her formidable house and techno spinning skills to Midweek Techno, grew up in Windsor, Ontario, but developed her love of music traveling across the river to Detroit to see punk and indie bands, and DJs. Eventually, she hooked up with fellow Windsorite—and Detroit techno pioneer—Richie Hawtin, and immersed herself in electronic music.

"My best memories are being around 18, getting in my car with my friends, putting on some great tunes, taking mushrooms and driving across the border to Detroit to St. Andrew's [Hall] to see a band or a DJ. Those memories will stay with me forever," she says. "I was hooked. The energy and the atmosphere just sucked me in completely. I feel the same way now as I did then, but on a bigger scale."

Splitting her time between Berlin, London and Ibiza, she tours regularly and is working on some original tracks. But her main focus is her new weekly show on BBC Radio 1's "In New DJs We Trust."

"I've been given such an amazing opportunity to showcase underground electronic music to a wider audience," she says.

"People need to hear it and realize that there is more out there than your mainstream dance tracks."

[DJ Heidi with Sergio Santos. Wed 7.1.09. Phoenix Landing, 512 Mass. Ave., Central Sq., Cambridge. 617.576.6260. 9pm/19+/$10. myspace.com/phoenixlanding]