playing smaller venues

zhao

there are no accidents
Judgning by your determination to play the stuff you've cited...I wish you the best of luck!

haha do you mean i will need it :D

now i'm onto the early Sun Records rock/blues/country stuff... Carl Perkins, Barbara Pittman, Johnny Cash... what's not to love?

do wish i had better understanding of Motown and early R'n'B though...
 
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zhao

there are no accidents
is it widely known that the Stones' Cherry Oh Baby ifrom the 1972 Black and Blue is a direct lift from a Lee Perry tune from the 60s? might have to play the 2 back to back but the stones might sound lifeless and limp in comparisson
 

hint

party record with a siren
Judgning by your determination to play the stuff you've cited...I wish you the best of luck!

Hehe... yep.

Bar gigs are pretty hard to plan for. Unless that planning involves going from Bel Biv Devoe's "Poison" into Bowie's "Let's Dance".
 

wonk_vitesse

radio eros
interesting thread, i'm doin a similar gig tomorrow night, i subconsciously filter things out, but the 'not too many non vocal things' is actually quite a good idea, if it's not a club this is probably wise advice, long dance music voyages aren't for pubs/bars coz people aren't in a space to enjoy them.
,

It all depends if people are really going to dance i suppose. If it's unlikely then i'd be inclined to just follow whatever you're into, make it eclectic so long as things work together. You're just there to soundtrack their evening and trying desperately to play all the 'make people dance' records can be tedious. These days too little music is heard too often.
 
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baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
interesting thread, i'm doin a similar gig tomorrow night, i subconsciously filter things out, but the 'not too many non vocal things' is actually quite a good idea, if it's not a club this is probably wise advice, long dance music voyages aren't for pubs/bars coz people aren't in a space to enjoy them.

i think it's supremely good advice. 3 minute pop songs have a lot of latitude in them still...
 

moolac

Well-known member
i once got asked for agadoo by someone with a totally straight face and whom also didnt see the humour in me bursting out laughing. take loadsa shit because you will be asked for something you left at home.

some 13 minute long george clinton jams are recommended for piss/cigarette breaks
 

shaolinsoul

Well-known member
I love small venues,

recently played at a small bar in downtown LA saturday.

Was mostly an african american r&b hip hop crowd. I was a bit nervous as I was mistakenly booked for an r&b hiphop dj but I really play techno. Talked to the promoter and he didnt really care what I played as long as the women stayed.(weird)

So I drew for my old slammin downwards/R&S/ dance mania techno stuff.


Surprisingly all the guys left and the floor was still packed with lots of women just going mental until 2AM . The place really kicked off when I opened with fix-dope computer! Nice

I think a lot of girls are really closet techno lovers..
 

slim jenkins

El Hombre Invisible
is it widely known that the Stones' Cherry Oh Baby ifrom the 1972 Black and Blue is a direct lift from a Lee Perry tune from the 60s? might have to play the 2 back to back but the stones might sound lifeless and limp in comparisson

What's widely-known amongst amongst the musically sussed is not widely-known by Mr & Mrs People. ;) But none of us know everything so I say play 'em. How many knew that Blondie's 'The Tide Is High' was not their tune?

The old idea of playing 'known' classics mixed with the more obscure in the same groove is still a good one. If they're up for dancing, they'll go with the flow. A lot depends on the average age of the crowd, of course.

I was booked in to play a birthday party by the owners of a bar where I had a regular night. The girls wanted me to play a Wham track and happened to have a Best Of' Wham comp on them. I obliged, with an increasing feeling of doom churning in my guts. Once back with Funk and Detroit, they asked for Wham again. I put on the comp, secured the boxes and walked, leaving them to it. There are limits.
 

zhao

there are no accidents
Bar gigs are pretty hard to plan for. Unless that planning involves going from Bel Biv Devoe's "Poison" into Bowie's "Let's Dance".

haha that is pretty funny... but is nonsense.

1. whether its difficult or not you kinda have to plan for it don't you? i mean unless you are going to take 10 hard drives or 100 crates of records.

2. i believe it is possible to build a diverse but tight set that will do everything i mentioned: please ANY crowd, as well as myself.

a small bar in downtown LA saturday

mostly an african american r&b hip hop crowd

drew for my old slammin downwards/R&S/ dance mania techno

floor was still packed with lots of women just going mental until 2AM

really kicked off when I opened with fix-dope computer

that is a great story! (though partly wonder if it was pay day or their softball team won that night or something :D) i would not have the audacity of hoping to pull that off..
 

shaolinsoul

Well-known member
haha that is pretty funny... but is nonsense.

1. whether its difficult or not you kinda have to plan for it don't you? i mean unless you are going to take 10 hard drives or 100 crates of records.

2. i believe it is possible to build a diverse but tight set that will do everything i mentioned: please ANY crowd, as well as myself.



that is a great story! (though partly wonder if it was pay day or their softball team won that night or something :D) i would not have the audacity of hoping to pull that off..


haha,

funny how all the guys booed me, and when the charlies angels squad showed up they all just rush the dance floor.

the night was crazy, I felt like I was playing at an Americas Next Top model audition afterparty, girls were HOT.


I got mobbed after the show with drunk sorority girls asking me who I was , and what the hell was that funky "trance music".

I felt awesome.
 

shaolinsoul

Well-known member
I got the set somewhere, but tracklist for the night.


Fix - Dope Computer
Omar S - U - fxhe
Psyance - the answer - plus 8
Newworldaquarium - kokoleeandwho - delsin
Glenn Underground - shout it sing it - Dance Mania
Ontoni - Badd Minded (Still At The Box Mix) - KMS
Fuse - substance abuse - Plus 8
Regis - speak to me - downwards
Armando - 100% dissin u -
Steve Poindexter - Work that mutherfucker
DJ Rush - club kids - Trax
Surgeon - Electric Chicken - downwards
Robert Hood - greatest Dancer - m plant
Infiniti - game one (orlando voorn remix)
Robert Hood - needles - hood music
Shake - the fake left go right plan - frictional
Ron trent & Chez Damier - Dont try
E-Dancer - warp - KMS
 
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Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
I got mobbed after the show with drunk sorority girls asking me who I was , and what the hell was that funky "trance music".

I felt awesome.

I read this and for a few seconds I was you, there, at that moment, cross eyed from drinking going "Well, you know, I wouldn't really consider it a career, I just do it because I love it, yaknow?" and indeed it felt awesome.
 

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
I always find that people of all stripes will get down to If I Gave You A Party, by Sexual Harrassment. I've even seen Billie Piper dancing to this one.

Famous people dancing, that's a good one. Tracy Emin fell over while dancing when I put on 'Helter Skelter' at a party once.
 

zhao

there are no accidents
which bar was it Shaolin? yeah those are the moments we put up with all the bullshit for eh? those and the bjs in the booth.

Tracy Emin falling over? no... i can not believe it! ;)
 

Alfons

Way of the future
2. i believe it is possible to build a diverse but tight set that will do everything i mentioned: please ANY crowd, as well as myself.

I don't think this is true, in fact I stopped doing these sort of things because I got so fed up with these sort of crowds.

Used to get all manner of requests for these sort of gigs, friends birthday parties, cousins graduation parties etc. And they would always be a disappointment, even if you stock up on pop music you actually like (whether its Stevie Wonder, Michael Jacksson, The Beatles or the Cure) people end up asking for the really horrible stuff (U2, Bon Jovi, Britney Spears or Metallica).

Anyways you might have better crowds, the things I played at were generally populated by horrible people who got horribly drunk. But I stopped playing these sort of parties unless the person asking me to do so is someone special and/or I think that the crowd and myself might have the smallest sense of shared taste (rarely happens).
 

Tentative Andy

I'm in the Meal Deal
Well I can only approach this from the point of view of a punter rather than a DJ, but speaking as a (relatively experienced :eek:) punter, I would say that people don't always want just to hear their favourite hits, mashed together any old way and order; they often warm to a DJ who, whilst playing popular tracks that they like, also clearly has their own style and tastes and plays with some kind of coherence.
As far as requests go, remember that you don't have to play them, and also that just because someone requests a certain song, doesn't mean that they always want to hear nothing but that artist or similar for the whole night. People often make requests because that's just what you do, a sort of night-out ritual (I've got mildly annoyed with my friends for doing this in the past). If you don't have the track, or just really hate, you can always fob them off with lines like "I'll see what I can do", "Maybe in a while", "I'll have a look" etc. More often that you'd think, they won't care if they don't end up hearing it, as long as the music overall is good.
Anyway, after listening to one of my Bruk dowloads earlier, I reckon you should stick on Bucketheads - The Bomb (Sounds Fall Into My Mind) at some point. Can't go wrong with that really.
 

BareBones

wheezy
i've found township funk is always a big success at little bars/parties/parties in little bars - everyone seems to love that tune. also big classic dancehall tunes like here i come always go down well.... some classic-period destiny's child and similar... some sweet 80s jams like lisa lisa and cult jam... inevitable that someone will come up and ask for kings of leon at some point though
 
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