DJ leslie
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DJ leslie was an activist punk when she was introduced to industrial music at a Skinny Puppy show at the age of 14. Interested in the raw element of the music as well as the politics that seemed to flow over from punk to industrial, she soon became a fan of the music and a regular club attendee. Louis Ducharme, Ottawa's prime industrial DJ of the time, taught her to DJ, and she later joined him for guest sets throughout Ottawa and Hull at Zinc, Le Bistro, Café Deluxe, GiGi's and other underground hotspots.
She began promoting with Zykotik K9, at the time Ottawa's only industrial act. Her first show took place in 1995, and was a showcase of underground acts from Montreal. Since then, she has worked to build Ottawa's industrial community.
Her approach to DJing underground music includes a commitment to playing new and challenging music, while taking steps to avoid pigeon-holing that is common within electronic music. This has been well-received, and allowed DJ leslie to crossover into the techno, experimental, and noise scenes.
At the time of this writing, her weekly Industrial night at Zaphod Beeblebrox has reached the 10-year mark, having brought acts to the city such as Juno Reactor, Alex Patterson, Download, Imminent, Scorn, Gridlock, and many others. The year-long series of Dark Carnival festivals was also successful in bringing underground art and underground music together, and highlighting much of the talent within Ottawa's own art community.
Ottawa's industrial scene has followed suit, and can now proudly say that it has many talented industrial and underground electronic acts on international record labels. Iszoloscope on both Ant-Zen and Spectre Records, Antigen Shift on Frozen Empire Media, Liar's Rosebush on Flesh Made Word, and lesser-known acts like 45 CEP, Subsektor, Five Ways, Lou Cypher Project all have releases out, and are starting to attract attention.
Known locally and internationally, DJ leslie has played at events all over North America. She also played both the pre-party and closing of annual 3 day Industrial/Power Electronics festival Maschinenfest, held in a bunker in Aachen, Germany. Her name can be seen in the credits and dedications of dozens of releases, and she has worked with a number of alternative festivals, including Ozzfest and Lollapalooza.