The DJ has a gun.
They were sitting down and drinking
They were hanging out and talking
But they would'nt move to the dj's groove
An it got the DJ raging!
"Have you got any old school hip hop?
Have you got any thrash rock be pop?
Have you got anything a bit more uptempo?
Handbag? Techno? Disco? Electro?"
AAAAAAAARGH!
You better run
Cos the DJ s got a gun
Gonna end your fun
Cos the Dj s got a gun
-- Robots in Disguise - The DJ's got a Gun
We're only halfway through the high holy days of Halloween here in San Francisco, and things are going quite well so far. Let me share with you some of my experiences of DJing on Friday at DNA's Halloween party, which both served to aggravate and amuse me.
When planning my set for the evening, I actually had three sets to plan. One, the set at Twitter for our Friday costume contest (about two and a half hours of music), the second, my first set of the evening at 9:00 PM at DNA, and the third (probably best set of the night) right after the costume contest at 12:20 AM.
I'd decided that I'd do a more mainstream set for the co-workers, an old-school industrial set at 9:00 (in case anyone showed up early) and then I'd go balls out with a 130-140 BPM set consisting mostly of electro, a house track or two, newer hard electro/industrial, and whatever else I could think of.
Of course, the 12:20 set was met with the usual griping by the "goth" kids. Being that this was a Death Guild/MEAT event, there should have been at least a mild expectation that there was going to be a massive disparity between the DJs that haven't bought a new album by a band from this century, versus the music coming from me.
Two songs into my set, a girl comes over and writes "PLEAS PLESAE PLEAS PLAY CLAN OF XYMOX" on the Death Guild request sheet. I read her request and said, "I'm not going to play that." Her response was, "Why, why not?" "Well, because that song didn't come out in this century, and I'm only playing songs from this century right now." She replied, "Well, I really like what you're playing but I don't know it, so could you just play something that I know?"
This got me thinking about the more general problem; It wasn't that she was asking for something she knew; It was that she was asking for something well inside of her comfort zone and that she didn't want to be musically challenged on such an auspicious occasion as Halloween.
Hammering this point home, in comes a drunk guy from Berlin, falling on top of me asking for Nitzer Ebb. He was so persistent that I played Join in the Chant just to make him go away.
Let's analyze this for a moment; Ten years ago there was a strong and steady influx of everything from new synth-pop to great (new) industrial bands, above and beyond the regency era of Skinny Puppy, Front 242, and Nine Inch Nails. Progressive house, Kylie Minogue, Noise, Drum and Bass, and Dubstep made their way into the Death Guild playlist over the years, without many of the goth kids even taking notice.
New music was brought into the clubs by Unspun records, COP, and other small labels that would go through the trouble of setting up CD sales booths. This created an ecosystem of DJs playing new songs, and salesmen selling you the song you just heard in the club, mere moments ago. Like then, as it is now, there are legions of bands writing new music in the very genre that you love, and you're probably not buying it.
Where is this ecosystem now? When I attempt to play new music that's outside of the "oldies" being shoved down the throats of the new kids at the club, it's met with complaints. My set consisted entirely of new music, with the exception of the aforementioned Nitzer Ebb track.
Knowing what song is playing and repetition are typically key to people really remembering a track; It's also not like it's hard to find out what song I'm currently playing. You can ask (oh no! human interaction!), use Shazzam to pluck it out of the air, and click twice to load that song right to your phone over DNA's WiFI network. You have no excuse for not finding and listening to new music. Even with declining CD sales, it seems that the laziness of the consumer is at an all time high here in our little music world.
Is it because the under-21 kids are hearing music from 30 years ago, and that's all that they've come to know? Or is it the fault of the DJs for not playing any new music? Maybe it's because of iTunes! People are too used to hearing what they want to hear, when they want now, and we, the DJs are not robotic playlist players.
I believe that there was a serious state change a few years back. No longer are our people seeking the nightclub experience of new music, dancing, and discovery. The club experience has become one of comfort food, and I seriously don't want to support that. I want to challenge listeners, introduce them to new music, and tell them that music is still this wonderful, living, breathing entity that doesn't have to stagnate in the way that it has here.
Do you want to go to a "real club" , where you're challenged by the people, the dress, and the music, or a "nostalgia club", where you can passively make it through your evening with little effort? I'll repeat my nightclub philosophy here again, that the set and setting, music and fashion should transport you to another place. Not your comfy home, and not your boring job. Stay at either of those places if what you desire is complacency.
The next time you ask me to play something from 30 years ago, think about this: Would you have requested that I play Elvis at an industrial club in 1995? Because that's exactly what you're asking me to do when you request Clan of fucking Xymox, AGAIN.
I'm sure you also think it's ok to dance to Lady Gaga at Death Guild, but you'll scream at me the next time I play Yelle.