How to tell a Guest DJ that they SUCK (in a nice way)
Ok let me first start off by sharing what happend last week at the Little Cave where I play on sundays.
I split the night with one of my friends, and he “forgot” to tell me that some dj walked up to him last week and asked him if he could do a set. He was pissed drunk and said yeah, how does 30 min sound? The guy said it was cool.
So he comes this sunday ready to play and start talk sh!t about the gear the the place has and he wanted to bring his cdj’s. I laughed and told him if he couldn’t play on the gear we had (Numark CDMIX1) he couldnt play at all. He tired to get all tough with me say why was I able to play on my rig and he wasnt able to play on his. I said in a nice way, Im a resident here and your a guest dj.
The other dj told him that he was going to play from 11:30 to 12, and he said he had to get some cd’s from his car, and didn’t come back until 11:45. I told him…man, you got 15 mins. So he began to play and every single mix was a trainwreck, volumes were all off and people started to walk out. Which it started to really piss me off. I walked to have a smoke being that I couldn’t take it anymore and I really didn’t want to start a fight on my night with some whack dj. After his set was over, his group of friend were given him props on the mix, and I wanted to say something but I wanted to keep it cool.
Later he asked me if I want to goto Vertios to check him out and play and kept on going on about all the big clubs he plays at in L.A. and Hollywood. I couldnt hold it in and I laughed and walked away.
So in a nut shell, how do you tell them they suck and get off the decks cuz your driving my customers away?
I think this is a really hard thing to reconcile. You technically have an agreement and can’t just throw him off. But, the best way to tell someone they suck is make it clear they are never coming back, either by not agreeing to future negotiations or telling them flat out.
A good start is to always approach during the set and say “Hey man, you’re levels are all off, can you fix em?” If he doesn’t then I’d go to the patrons, apologize, say he’s gonna be off in a little while, will never be back and that’s it.
Hell, you could even take it the extra mile, buy them all a drink on you to hold them over, get a bunch of requests and just play for them for a little while to get the spirits back up. Really, dealing with the DJ is easy. He’s never coming back. The hard part is keeping the crowd there.
Yeah, I veered off topic. I’m playing the “stomach flu” card
Yeah I hear about buying drinks for guest and taking request, Ill keep that in mind for next time.
What really rubbed me the wrong way was last week he was there with a camera crew and was taking pix for a MTV show that he is coming out on. Plus they were passing out flyers inside the place for 2 other clubs that he plays at. I dont even pass out flyers @ the Little Cave.
“hey, your dancefloor is disappearing. Focus a bit more, mate.” I say “your” to give them a sense of possession, and to make them feel in charge.
If they continue to screw it up, I’ll just walk up to them, make the “slit throat” gesture. and say “You’re done, sorry mate. Stick around, I wanna chat”
or something like that. I’ll get up, fix the floor, pass it off to the other DJ and go and talk to him.
You’re the promoter/DJ. You have FULL right to kick him off, especially at a timeslot like midnight. If I screw up at a dayjob, they can send me home and dock me a days pay. And that’s a dayjob, not a contract job where I’m gusting for an evening.
You just have to take control, this is YOUR house. YOU are in control. If it was your house party and a terrible DJ was on and people were getting pissed, would you shrug your shoulders and wait? H*LL no, you’d take charge.
Yeah I wanted to step in as the promoter and say buddy your not cutting it and im losing customers, my regulars were leaving! At the same time I didnt want to step over the other dj that got him. I told my dj buddy, man if you get a guest dj please run it by me. I would do the same if I brought in a guest dj.
Honestly, it’s always better to ask forgiveness than permission, especially when the party depends on it.
I’d rather kick him off. Have a chat with the bad DJ discuss with him the reason why you cut him off, etc. Be objective, constructive, etc. Then once he leaves all pissed (he’ll be pissed even if you told him he was a god, since you cut him off) go talk to your buddy and say “hey, sorry man, the floor was flipping out. next time if we book a guest lets have him open the night or something.”
How about “Piss off dorkwad, you SUCK!”… Nah, I am just kidding. I think good advice has already been given.
I think that you reacted exactly like you should have. It was only 30 minutes, you got him off there, and he was still “kind of” nice to you. You also did not step on your dj buddies toes infront of the “super star”, which shows that you and your buddy are a strong team. Communication is what failed, but thats not hard to rectify!
Offtopic:
I like the type that plays in the next room -hired to play chill out- and then plays Uptempo music, and most of all, the same tracks that are in the Mainroom, and also plays tracks from the upcoming album that the Booked LIVE ACT is about to play!! Those are the ones that I really can not respect!
lol sounds like a case of the primadonna drama… don’t sweat it bro it was just one night. Everybody deserves a chance (just one), he used his up- don’t have him back!
I prefer to do things that way rather than start a bunch of beef at the event itself. He’ll get the message without it stirring up emotions at the gig night of- especially if the guy was only playing for 15 minutes. Not a huge loss.
