Friday night was the third time I've seen Team Canada DJs in action. They really lit it up at The Ballroom Friday night.

Grandtheft and D.R.one can rock any party. Each time I've seen them has been for completely different crowds but the result is always the same: people dance and have fun! They had The Ballroom packed all night long, as they dropped random samples of all genres over classic hip hop.

Team Canada have been all over the world this year and they also opened their own club in Montreal called The Blue Dog Motel. After their set, I spoke with Grandtheft about some of their samples, their recent globetrotting, and their new club.

blogTO: I've seen you do full-on club at the Guv, crazy pop mash-ups at a private party and then hip hop last night. What's your favourite set to spin?

Grandtheft: I enjoy playing different music for different parties. I love doing club stuff lately because i am producing a lot of club music specifically to play in my DJ sets. My favourite scenario is to have a party where the dancefloor is open-minded enough to let me take them through many genres of music.

I heard Oasis, The Violent Femmes and the Chili Peppers in your set. What makes a good rock sample for you guys?

High-energy musical riffs are great to sample and loop live.

What's your favourite rock song?

That's hard, but for a classic fave, I might say Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin. As for new bands, I really like Priestess and some of what MGMT are doing.

Was that a sample "Tom's Diner" I heard? Where did you get that from?

We used that on our first Classic Material CD. We made that CD out of almost 100% vinyl. We actually found the a capella to "Tom's Diner" on a bootleg 12" at a record store called Rock And Soul in New York.

How are things at the Blue Dog Motel? How are you guys liking being club owners?

Blue Dog Motel is going amazing. We are having awesome dance parties of there almost every night of the week. You gotta come through when you visit Montreal! As far as being club owners, it is a lot of work and we are trying to balance the responsibilities of running a small business with our always-insane tour schedule. We also manage our crew of four talented DJs: The Eh! Team, which is doing great, and I am starting a record label called Tremendous - which you will be hearing more about in the next month. So, extremely busy times these days!

Did you mention you were going to Japan? What are you up to over there?

I have a gig in Tokyo but I am spending 10 days there to meet people and further check out the city. I am really trying to build it up over there. My mother is Japanese. And my girlfriend is working over there right now for a while.

What's the craziest city you've played this year?

Helsinki was my favourite I think. The crowd was so rowdy and yet so knowledgeable about all the music! It was a classic party. As for bizarro-world, we have definitely played some weird cities in the middle of China on our last couple tours this year.

Photo: Team Canada's Myspace page.