Change your spots.
So after a nice weekend away at Harties where i was sheltered from the all consuming threat of load shedding, its gave me some time to reflect on things. Which is surprising because you would think that not having electricity would give you plenty time to think. But be that as it may…
Around 2002 i made a decision to change my music style from trance and move towards house, because i just wasn’t feeling the music that was coming out at the time. Not much has changed i still enjoy the older trance and could probably still whistle all my favorite hooks to you from memory. I started to play house because it represented a far broader spectrum of music that i could apply my already short attention span. Hell i could even play a trance track or two in a house set. God forbid if you played a house track in a trance set back then! Sacrilege! I felt a lot more free in houseland and its has always allowed a wider variety of expression than i could get out the Dutch, Belgium and German trance i was so fond of.
The reason i’m talking about this is that quite a few people have asked me why i haven’t started playing EDM or Electro house as Beatport bastardizes it. The answer is simple. I don’t like or feel the music. Its has never “spoken” to me, and i don’t feel any connection with its purposely out of tune hooks and over-compressed basslines and loops. I’m not knocking it at all, i started my electronic journey with some Thunderdome cassettes, as well as Carl Cox and Leftfield. So who am i to judge?
I’ve always felt that DJing is an expression and that you have to be genuine about what you choose to perform. If its doesn’t make you smile or jump around like a nutter then its probably isn’t going to do anything to the dancefloor. And if you don’t play music that makes you happy then what the hell are you playing for? Part of that sacred communion with the dancefloor is about trust. People who come to see me play will always be assured that i am 100% there to entertain them and that i play what i feel. Even if you might recognize the track or consider it cheesy or overplayed (there’s a whole blog about this one) i play it because I like it. And i think you might enjoy it too.
Its the same reason i don’t play “commercial” sets or do mobile or corporate DJ work. I don’t feel deeply enough about the music to express myself with it. I have a huge respect for wedding and corporate DJ’s and the work they do. It is an extremely difficult thing to entertain 3 sometimes 4 generations of a family and i’ve seem a couple guys do it with aplomb. Kudos to them,but thats not what i am.
DJing for me has never been about following trends, its about sticking to what you do and what you like and developing a style and edge of your own. “Individuality is marketable” was one of the best pieces of advice about DJing i’ve ever read. Nobody wants another David Guetta (some might argue that one is too much), i’d rather be the next Dave Skinz and be successful for what i believe in and express. And i’ll stick to my guns in what i play because one way or another the cycle of music will come back around and i’ll be right in the sweet spot all over again. I believe in myself and what i do and, i believe that people who are open to that expression will experience that on the dancefloor and that is what keeps bringing those people back time after time. That and all the hot beats 🙂
With all that in mind i’ve got a three hour set planned for ESP this Sat from 2-5am. Busy prepping my iPad for some sampling and live drums and synths, before we have Switzerland’s Liquid Soul down for Slippery and Wet on Monday night (Tuesday is a public holiday!) Should be a blast i’m on from 2-4am Tuesday morning.
Thanks for your time and support
Peace, Love, Unity, Respect!
Skinz
