Hey guys,
It's been a long time since I posted something nice in here. So expect lot of engrish (sic) errors.
A lot of thing hapenning in my life:
- Getting married next year;
- Lots of work trips;
- Thoughts of moving to Canada (if you can give me some tips about this, please, PM me (: )
- Some health problems;
And a few psychologic and financial factors influenced me negatively. I was about to quit DJ'ing.
Why? There is a lot of DJ's around here that are assholes and get a lot of gigs. Some new friends that are starting are getting booked. And I'm stalled.
I couldn't see why. Maybe you can see the problem? I was at a pedestal, untouchable, seeing myself as THE PERFECT DJ. And now I see that I was just being an idiot.
It happens, and I'm not even that old to be grumpy (25 yr old). But I was far from humble.
Well, it changed.
About a month ago a friend of a promoter (that helped me get a few gigs) contacted me about a semi-private party. It was a party for designers, marketing people and so on... I never played for that public before. She says that I only have to play what a alternative club here plays...
I've never been there.
"Well, no problem, I can do this."
I accepted it. I've been on some underground clubs (Techno and Deep, FYI) but not alternative clubs, frequented by LGBT people. A lot of friends of mine went to the club but I never want to step inside. Why? A lot of my ex's go there...
I knew what played there: trash music - axé, brazilian funk, brand jingles and so on, rock and alternative rock bands.
When I was started to research the music that I was supposed to play I got really nervous. I couldn't mix anything. Nothing good came out on the first day.
"I'll try tomorrow."
Next day I tried and dumped my playlist. I decided that I was going to play only the songs that I like. In the genres, but only the songs that I liked. And the mix started to raise.
I ordered the X1 Mk2 to help me (the iPad is getting on my nerves...) and its ease of use is amazing. I was rocking on the day prior to the party.
So, friday came. I pack my stuff, arrive at the party early. Saw the 1st DJ. He's playing nu disco stuff. Pretty solid. A few hiccups here and there but it was ok, solid mix. Then a soul band started playing.
Wow, I wasn't expecting it. At this point I already had a few shots of vodka. Really enjoying the band and so on. When the singer says that they were going to play the last songs. I rushed to the backstage, finished a edit on ableton, start up traktor, switch traktor to mono, put up my HDJ-2000 and entered the stage.
The DJ rack couldn't get closer to the center of the stage, but no problem. Placed my Z1, X1 and my Spectra up, plugged everything in and started playing.
I played mainly R&B, Hip-Hop and Funk. Everyone was dancing. I was amazed. I never felt so good playing. I could do what I wanted with the crowd. I could make them twerk, stop, sing, jump... Anything.
Lil Jon came. They danced.
Katy Perry came. They danced.
Foo Fighters came. They danced.
RATM came. They danced.
Vengaboys came. They danced.
I was amazed for such ease of play. I forgot about complex switches from song to song, I was just throwing beat after beat. It started with about 300 people, it ended with 20 people. I was the last DJ, but I didn't care. I had the best gig ever.
Then I learnt a big lesson last friday: Play your shit for the people, and not for yourself. Do not play their songs for yourself, it doesn't work this way.
My goal of playing only a niche thing went over the window that night. I'll play only what I enjoy, I'll play only beats that my body responds.
Fuck genres, fuck arrogant self-entitled people that only dance to this song and that DJ.
tl;dr - DJ who hated playing anything else but NuDisco played anything but NuDisco for a different crowd and had the time of his life. Fuck genres,blablabla
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