Hey, Mr. DJ! Mixers & Spinners Speak Out – The Multiview

Q: Best and worst gigs ever?

“Worst gig: 2004 Metro Times Blowout Pre-Party. We were supposed to DJ the Garden Bowl which included sets by the Alphabet, the Singles and the Avatars. The Avatars included my lovely lady, Mariah, on vocals and our lighting set builder, Chris “Box” Taylor on guitar. We planned, being a mix-tape DJ, we planned on just DJing between the bands but what we didn’t know is that the owner of the Magic Stick wanted us to DJ the entire night at the Garden Bowl during the bands. It threw a big cog into our plans of what the night should be and it turned out to be a complete mess. It was a poorly planned, poorly thought-out night on everyone’s part and we drove home with our tails between our legs. Certainly, one of the factors that made us not go to Detroit for a long time after that.

Best gig: Last year, New Year’s 2008, we decided to not do bands on a New Year’s Eve for The Bang! which we had done every year previous and are going to do this year as well. We decided to throw a game show. We decided to make a Plinko board; we decided to make a pizza wheel; we decided to make the great big wheel like on The Price is Right and up until the day before we were making things, up until the minute before we got on stage in front of the lights, in front of everyone, we did not know how it was going to go. We did not know what the prizes exactly were going to be, we had no idea exactly what was going to happen. The next thing we knew, we were in front of the lights and the show started and 45 minutes later, we ended and everyone had a blast. We had a blast. It was hard to even comprehend where the time went. It was such a fantastic feeling and it was right before midnight. It was a beautiful, beautiful thing because we made this crazy-ass game show happen. We had no idea how we were going to do it. Even when we were doing it, we had no idea and that’s my favorite gig. I’m very thankful for everyone involved cuz, god damn, how did we pull that off? I still don’t know. [laughs] It really was [the best gig ever]. It proved that no matter how much or little time we have to do some kind of gig, we can pull it off. No doubt.” – Jeremy Wheeler

“Best gig ever has to just go out to, like, my favorite thing is an eclectic crowd that appreciates all genres. I put all genres of music together. It’s very important if I play AC/DC and Tupac that they’ll appreciate both of those songs, so to me the best gig is a crowd that likes to dance and will dance to George Clinton to some funky shit to some real ghetto shit.

Now, worst gig? That was a little bit more obscure. I really don’t have a best gig. I just like people who appreciate the music. I have had a worst gig and it’s bad. Well, there’s two of them. One of them was a house party and it was so ghetto. It was a 14 year old birthday party and the parents were upstairs and I guarantee you, it is so ghetto. It was in their basement, in their house, the parents were upstairs drinking Hennessy and it was like, “Oh yeah…” Everybody’s downstairs doing whatever the fuck they want and there was a fight at the end of the night and it was just like– it was rough. This past Thanksgiving, though, takes the cake. I get up to this gig on the east side of Detroit, I’m thirsty as hell. I’ve been loading shit up all day and I ask for some water and all they have is some brown-ass water cuz it’s the east side of Detroit. I was the only white guy there. Everybody there was black and looking at me. I was comfortable; I grew up there. There’s no problem with me. But they were looking at me like, “Oh my god. What the fuck did the dude hiring do?” You know? So, I proved myself, I had a great time, they enjoyed themselves. However, it was like, they were asking for every gangsta song that I didn’t have. They were a lot bigger than me. They were, like, pushing me around. To me, a true mark of a DJ is, ok, you play techno and all that shit, they’ll be happy with whatever… Play a hip hop! Play [somewhere] where a lot bigger motherfuckers are pushing you around asking you for that song that you don’t have, then you come up to me and tell me that you’re a fucking DJ. That shit is hard. I mean, granted, it’s a little extreme, but… I learned something that night; not to get paid in cash. He paid me in damn near all ones and told me that he had to sell a few things before the gig; so literally, I had a plastic bag with rubber bands and a wad of fucking money. He cut me an hour early and I ran out of that place. You’ve never seen a DJ pack up so fast. There I am on the east side of Detroit with a stack of fuckin’ cash. It was ridiculous. I mean, it was a fun gig. It paid well, but it was definitely nerve-wracking for sure.” – Brian Alvarez

“Worst gig was playing a party at Above Ground Hair Studio in Ann Arbor. I played my set and went out to have a cigarette and some dude walked up and just punched me square in the face. No “hello”, no “I’m gonna punch you”, no “Your set sucked” (I would have at least respected that). Dude just wound up and blaw, in the face. It wasn’t all bad though. I didn’t spill my drink.

Best gig… hummm… I would have to say anytime that you finish your set and feel good about yourself is a great gig. In particular, I had a great time spinning at Babs’ Underground Lounge last New Years Eve [2007/2008]. That place was packed and I’ve never seen people dance like that in that bar.” – Brad Hicks

“In my opinion, every gig is the best gig ever! I always have fun; if there’s 20 people or 200, me and whomever I’m playing with have fun. There have been nights that I’ve had too much fun and stumbled home early (which turned out to be a blessing…cops and fights and junk), of course the occasional power outage, but that ends up being part of the fun. I don’t feel I can say there is a truly bad gig.” – Ayron Michael Nelson

Q: Advice for those just starting out who might want to be DJs?

“See what’s going on around you. See if there are any holes in the scene. See if there any events that people aren’t throwing that you could apply yourself to. If there is something that you can add to the scene, that you can do that’s different, then fill that void and be a master of it from Day 1. If you do that, then you’d be surprised how fast people might jump onto it. I mean, if you do something that everyone else is doing, it’s gonna be hard to differentiate yourself, but there’s plenty of room for wild shit to happen when you decide that you are going to fill this void, that you are going to be this thing. Shoot for the stars and see what happens. Don’t be like everyone else. You can’t. If eight other clubs are doing an 80s night, don’t do an 80s night! Do a glam-rock night. Do a psychedelic 60s night, you know? Who knows! Do a college alternative 1988 night. I mean, do anything other than another 80s night. Or do a really awesome electro night because that’s what everyone loves right now and more power to them. It’s cool music and we need more nights like that.” – Jeremy Wheeler

“Have an opinion. Do not follow the radio. Have an opinion in music. Have something that moves you. Essentially, you’re a salesman. This is a business, if you want to get into that aspect. If you want to DJ in your basement, that’s fine. Do your thing. If you want to be out here getting money, stay true to yourself. Have a backbone. Every salesman: it’s not necessarily what they sell, but how they sell it and you have to have an opinion and you have to be passionate about your music. And you have to be extensive in it. You have to do your homework. Do your homework. Find out where everything came from. Have a respect for all different types of music as best you can. That’s what I would say. Treat it as a business. Take yourself seriously or else no one else is.” – Brian Alvarez

“Don’t be pretentious dicks. Decks and a mixer don’t mean that you can walk around owning shit. Respect your fellow DJs and they will respect you. Play your heart out, and know your tracks. Remember, you are entertainers. Oh, and have fun when you are out there on the decks.” – Brad Hicks

“I guess I’d say give it a try. I say just play what you like to hear, not what you think people will think a cool DJ would play. That’s the worst! Play stuff that rocks! Have a Mega Blast and hopefully the crowd will follow…and soon you’ll be steering the party with the best of them.” – Ayron Michael Nelson

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