Dance Dance Revolution with DJs BeBZ and Sulk Hogan

Bleeding Edge talks to the two DJs providing the music at our Valentine's Month party.

Bleeding Edge is truly excited to present True Romance: An Audio/Visual Soiree on February 3rd at Dundas Video. A little treat for our loyal audience, we hope this party will provide you a with a feast for the eyes, ears and dagnabbit, heart, in our romantic diversion from the winter blues.

We had the chance to sit down and chat with the event’s two musical figureheads, Katerina Zoumboulakis (DJ name: Bebz) and Zoe Smith (DJ name: Sulk Hogan), to get a sense of their artistic journeys, love of Toronto’s communities and frankly what kind of tunes they like to play. 

Bleeding Edge: Can you each tell me your sort of origin story of sorts in terms of how you came to the arts and DJing?

Katerina Zoumboulakis: I guess in terms of getting into the arts, originally I was always interested in photography and movies from a young age and also music. I think like all of us, the people we were raised around, whether it's our parents or siblings or whoever, show us music and movies and it influences us a lot. But yeah, my parents definitely put their music style on me. But when I went to music class, I wasn't so good at instruments, so I was just like, I don't really have a future in music and I really like movies and photography. So I started by asking for a camera for Christmas one year. I think my aunt just gave me her old one and I started shooting and then I never stopped. And then eventually went into film school because at first I was making stop motion movies at home and really wanted to get into animation. But when I talked to my grade seven teacher, I was like, well, I really like making art and films and stuff, but you can't do that as a job. And she's like, you're totally allowed to do that as a career, people do that. You're allowed to be an artist. So I was like, oh, that's so nice [laughs]. 

So from there I started going to film school, I went out from grade seven. I went to high school between that and was just a loser going around the school, taking photos of everybody, making short films when I could. Just lugging camera gear around. And I still do that to this day. After film school, I started doing freelance. I started out A.C.’ing. Now I'm lucky to be able to do cinematography for my friends' projects and whatever comes. And now for DJing, I guess I was always interested in it and was always kind of appointed at house parties and stuff to make playlists and kind of pseudo DJ that way, but without mixing, without technology or turntables or anything. But when Ethan asked me to DJ, I immediately said yes and then realized, oh, I've never done it in front of people before. My partner has been teaching me for I guess the past year and I've done a couple workshops, but I never thought about actually going to do it. So Ethan, when you asked me, I was like, holy shit, yes, of course. But yeah, now we're here and I've been practicing, so I hope to not disappoint you all, especially Zoe and you Ethan.

BE: What about you Zoe?

Zoe Smith: I went to a sports Catholic high school in Hamilton and I hated it. So I would do everything I could to not be there, including joining a band of people who were way older than me when I was 16 or 17. So being in a band, I was the synth player and also a vocalist and a writer for the songs. And that kind of just took me to a lot of places where a young person should not go like sneaking into places underage in Toronto or we would do little tours and we'd go to  end-of-lease demolition parties in Montreal and stuff. So I kind of got a taste of like, oh, this is what it's like to be an adult at a very young age. And after that part of my life was over and I was like, okay, it's time to do post-secondary school, I was like, I'm coming to Toronto and I'm going to make it work even though I didn't really know what I wanted to do. So coming from a music background, I just knew that I had to stick with what I know, which ended up being advertising and design and event stuff, which I was also doing a lot of too. I was hosting my own parties and events in Toronto before I even moved here. So I really fit seamlessly into a social and work circle here really quickly. And as I was going through doing all that stuff, freelancing in school and then graduating in the pandemic with no job, I was like, what am I supposed to do with my life? And also everyone was really depressed. So I was like, fuck it - “what happens if I DJ over Zoom?” And I used a mouse and Virtual DJ to mix tracks for two years. And as things were kind of opening up, I got an offer to do my first gig from a collective called PonyHaus. This is my first real gig after literally DJing on Zoom with no controller. And they're like, okay, we'll pay you this amount of money and it was enough to buy a controller and I still use it for all of my gigs. And then I guess because everyone was just so desperate for music or events or something, I was hired all the time. As soon as things started opening up at my first gig, I played with a mask on and everyone else had to wear masks. And now people are just asking me to do a lot of stuff now. And it's been since 2020 that that's all been happening.

BE: I mean with both of you two, what music do you both gravitate towards playing? 

KZ: I like to play honestly just  what I like and I guess what the vibe is in the room, but it tends to be a lot of electronic music, a lot of rap, kind of going back and forth, some trance. I try to throw in some Greek songs once in a while to appease the ancestors in my soul. Yeah, lots of dance-y stuff. But I do enjoy kind of a bit of everything, not so much country, but I'm growing to appreciate country and I won’t be such a hater. 

BE: So we'll get one country song on the 3rd.

KZ: Yeah [laughs].

BE: What about you Zoe? 

ZS: Yeah, in terms of what I play, when people ask me that, I usually just say I play whatever I want and they trust me from word of mouth or having seen my events before that it's going to be a good time. And I've also had people say that coming to my events is a feeling, like Sulk Hogan is a feeling, that they don't know what to expect. But if I were to name it down by genre, I play a lot of house, Euro dance, high energy. Sometimes I'll play Happy Hardcore from the 90s and 2000s. I love playing things that make you feel bad for liking them. I played “Hamster Dance” once at Farside, and a guy put a finger gun in his mouth. And I'm like, “that's what I get paid for”. You keep buying drinks and I keep getting paid, so I'm happy. But it's just anything that's fun and that makes people want to dance or put finger guns in their mouth.

BE: And I'm curious how important to both of you is sort of the sense of community in Toronto? Like in how different kinds of arts worlds intersect and support each other? 

KZ: I think it's completely important. I think without community, I just wouldn't be in Toronto. I think that's why I came. I moved down here specifically to be around more queer people. I grew up in Markham, so it's not that far away, but it was not the gayest place on earth or even there's some arts programming, but not enough and not what I was looking for. But down here there's so many different communities and they all kind of intersect. I have lots of friends and future friends to meet who are kind of a part of many different communities that crossover, like the film community, especially the queer community, music and dance. Oh, and drag especially is I think why I came down to Toronto to perform more. And it's just so nice to find community and hang out with and enjoy art, with chosen family and friends, and sometimes even your real family is integral to the human experience. Even if you're lonely, you can walk down the street to a venue and something’s going on, you can find likely souls.

ZS: Yeah, totally. I totally agree. My answer was very similar. Yeah, I feel like community is what brought me here. I already felt accepted and I did not have to live here. And now I just am so grateful every day that I'm somewhere where for the most part, people are very non-judgmental and their interests are expansive and they overlap over so many things. So it's like you're not dealing with just film people or just music people or just smart people or just insert-hobby-here people. I feel like the best thing about community is the curiosity and genuineness about it that I don't think I've been able to experience anywhere else. I know it does happen in other places, but it is everything to me here, and it's everything I want to create with what I do. 

BE: Maybe this will be my last question, but both of you, what are your hopes for the party on the 3rd and what do you think people can expect who attend?

KZ: Above all else? To have fun, but I guess it is a Valentine's themed party, so to spread love through community and music, dance and just everyone's company, I'm sure there's going to be lots of smiling faces. I'm just excited to see everybody and have a good time and blow kisses to people and candy grams. I'm excited to see those. And also the projections will be so cool and trippy. 

ZS: My answer is also very similar. I want people to have fun and be yourself and maybe find a wife. That'd be pretty crazy. Let's see who finds a wife? It could happen. Yeah, it'd be nice.

BE: Or a husband!

KZ: Yeah, find a partner if that's it. Maybe the next year there'll be a wedding at the party. 

BE: I'd love to. It'd be like when I heard Cold Tea hosted their first wedding in 2018 or whatever, I was like, wow, everything has changed. 

ZS: [laughs] Yeah it’s not the same anymore. 

We’ll see you Saturday, February 3rd at Dundas Video!