Gunn Lundemo is an award-winning event producer and DJ in her home of Stockholm, Sweden, but she’s become an international star with her more recent bookings in the United States and at festivals like Germany’s women’s weekend, L-Beach. Having been in the industry since she turned 18, Gunn’s passion for creating parties for her community (including donating her time to events that benefit “people in need”—such as feminist, AIDS and cancer support organizations) has given her opportunities to collaborate with other well-known DJs like Ruby Rose and Daniela Sea.
GO caught up with Gunn shortly after she successfully produced the mainstage at Stockholm Pride, dishing about her evolving DJ career and the new love in her life; her girlfriend, Dia.
GO Magazine: How did you get into DJing?
Gunn: I started doing parties for youths—alcohol-free parties for 15 to 20-year-olds—to keep everyone from being out drinking all the time but still let them have a proper club to hang out in. We rented this gymnastics hall and filled it with 3,000 people, and that was amazing. It was at that point I first understood that I loved to organize events.
Then, when I was 16, I kissed a girl for the first time. And before that, I couldn’t understand love because I was with guys, and I tried to understand the love in the movies and felt like, “This is bullshit!” But when I kissed a girl I was like, “Ohhhh, OK; now it makes sense.” I started going out to gay clubs, borrowing my sister’s ID when I was 16, and I noticed there were not a lot of lesbian places. So I was talking to my friends about that for the two years before I turned 18. [In Stockholm], you have to be 18 to go to clubs. I kept saying, “I’m gonna do the best girls parties! I’m gonna do the fucking best girls parties myself!” and my friends were like, “Yeah, yeah; whatever, girl, whatever.” And I was like, “No, really—I’m gonna kill it.”
As soon as I turned 18, I actually skipped school. I went to high school longer than a normal person does because I was changing my focus from economy to radio speaking, but I skipped it because I wanted to focus full-time on producing lesbian clubs. So I did my first party, and it was about 200 people. The next month, I did my second one, and it was 300 people. And the third time, I rented the whole venue—Debaser Medis, where I just had my HER party—and I filled it with 800 dykes. I thought, “OK, this is good, this is good.” Then I just kept doing it, basically every month, and it got so appreciated that in 2012, I was nominated by the Gay Gala of Sweden against two other clubs that had existed for eight years—gay guy clubs—and I won “Best Party Planner of the Year.” And that’s how it all started.
GO: So you’ve been renting out Debaser Medis since you were 18?
Gunn: Yeah, not just that particular venue—I’ve been organizing at different clubs. I booked a mixed Wednesday gay club every week; I had a lesbian bar every Saturday, plus monthly and all different types of parties. But now I plan huge things less often. I make more money with bookings and everything [else].
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