New York City to The Motor City 🛞

In this episode of The Get Down Cream & Gary talk about:

• Cream's travel gigs to Detroit & how to adjust on the fly.
• Approaching sub-markets differently. Just because two cities are next to each other doesn't mean the sound will be similar.
• Are travel gigs getting less regional? Are we getting away with more top 40 & have less focus on locally specific artists?
• If we could choose 1 artists career path, who would it be and why?
• What do we do when we find ourselves stuck in a DJ set & we aren't sure where to go. 

Transcript

0:01

What's up guys, welcome to 143rd episode of the Get Down, brought to you by Digital Music Pool. My name's Cream. Gary W here. Welcome back, Gary. Welcome home. Back to Florida. Thank God it was so effing cold up there, man. It was like, it was properly cold. It was of, it reminded me of January's past in New Jersey. That's for sure. It was really cold here. And then I thought it was cold here. And then I went to Detroit on Saturday. Yeah, that's a whole different kind of cold up there. I've never been up there. And for good reason. I mean, I've traveled, I've cruised up into Canada and like, that was in July and it was like 50 and I was like, yeah, no, we're good. We're good on ever coming back up this way. But yeah, we'll get it. Let's we can get into Detroit. Talk maybe a little bit about New Jersey and my trip up and a lot of things happening for us as far as You know, everybody has their holiday parties in January, so we're never doing hours again in January. We're going to move ours to mid-year. Party is officially a summer barbecue moving forward. Yeah, it's just too much and I see too much too much of everybody It's it's a little more special when you get together and you're not together three times a week or whatever it is So we're gonna move ours. But uh, just for the fact with the like, it was good to actually hang out with our team, where no one was DJing, there wasn't music blasting. It wasn't like a nightlife situation. It was like, let's go eat some food and have some drinks and just like, get to talk to each other like humans, not like DJs. really completely a different vibe than what we're normally used to. Because we went to the holiday party that we performed, which was like blasting music, I couldn't hear anybody, I couldn't even think, I was like, get me out of here immediately. But that was a cool party anyways, it was a good venue. I mean, we're now in the midst of like dead season, right? It's cold in most cities, there's less gigs, you know, there's cancellations, all the private event DJs who are mainly really busy with private events are now kind of back in nightlife. So there's less gigs and more DJs. It makes it for a tough couple months to navigate this time period, you know? Yeah, it does. It's not, it's, this is the time of year where you saved up your money in September and October and November when you're slammed and now you have like a little reserves because you know you're not making what you had been making in the last four months. We have it in the golf industry too where the summertime down here slows up and what our GM says is you have to save your money from January till Easter. because you know what happens once like, between Easter and Memorial Day, it kinda slows down a lot. So save your money, because you know it's gonna be dead season during the summertime. So like you're either gonna pick up another job, or get a little part-time job on the side, or just like I said, have those reserves ready. And then we're in that time of year right now for DJing. And you're going to have these last minute cancellations. We talked about this a couple episodes ago on how to prepare for that. It was inevitable. It was always going to happen. Yeah, it happens every year. and like I said, like I traveled up there to DJ and still got canceled on a Friday night. Like that, like almost can't happen. And it did. And it's just like, you got to roll the punches, made the best of it, jumped around and saw kind of what the whole book in a market was like with what their Friday nights are like is I'm never over there on a Friday, never really DJing over their period. And I jumped around and I was like, Oh man, the places that The places that were good were like the more like high end cocktail places. They were good. Like people were like, you know, they dressed nice. They went out. They had an experience as we always talk about. They drank a nice cocktail. They looked good and they maybe jumped around, jumped to the nightclub where you could still be dressed up and go out kind of a thing, maybe, but you're down there on the water and it's 15 degrees and you know, you kind of just, you show up and that's where you're going for the night, you know, and those places were good. And then the, the other places like your regular run in the mill bar. They were slow, you know, and we've been preaching it forever. Like, you know, provide something else. Right. And, uh, I kind of, I got to see it firsthand. It was kind of wild. Yeah, I wasn't actually in our nightclub in Hoboken Birch. But you know, Birch has found a way to be successful in this slow time and it's hard to be a big room and have decent nights. And we've sort of found a way to do that. Now, is it like fall jam packed lines down the block? No, but there's just so many less people and so much less foot traffic right now. It's great to see that they're still having pretty decent nights. And we had Zack Martino on Saturday at Birch, which was our first artist booking. And that was a lot of work. And I think it was a success. Again, I wasn't there, but based on my conversations with our team and with some of the DJs that were in the building, it seemed like it went really well and people were excited to see Zack. Now we also set up sort of like a boiler room style DJ booth on the main floor. rather than up high in the VIP area where the DJ booth is normally situated. So it was something different, you know, it was bringing a name into the venue. It was moving the DJ booth. It was a lot of different things that I think helped create some excitement and something different in there. So we have our team call, uh, later today, actually. So I'm excited to hear kind of some feedback from the team that was on site and kind of running the show. I'm interested to see the content that came out of that, to see what it looked like. We've seen the DJs on the floor before, but it's been a long time, and especially in a nightclub setting. I don't think I've seen it there in a nightclub setting quite some time, so that'll be interesting. Big shout out to Zach. He's a great dude and great DJ and local guy for us. So a nice, easy booking, a nice, easy way to use our way into the artist side of things at Birch. And you know. work, man. There's a lot. There's a lot. I was saying, like, I think there was over a hundred emails back and forth with his team from the first time we discussed bringing him in until, you know, execution of the event. So, you know, it's a learning experience for me and it was good to go through, but, you know, it was a lot of work for sure. Speaking of a little, you know, bigger artists and artist bookings, I mean, you got to move about the cabin, if you will, and you were up in Detroit, and, you know, let us know about how that went, and you know, kind of what their markets like up there. I've never even been to Detroit, period, so it was kind of a different... Have you? Have you traveled up there at all? That was your first time. foot in the city. So. Yeah, just give us your full like rundown on, you know, what you thought about the city, what you thought about the nightlife vibe and kind of how your nights played out. So first off, I wanna shout Pigpen, because Casper linked me with Pigpen, and we've had a lot of really good conversations, and then went up there, and he showed all the hospitality, picked me up, like the whole nine. So huge shout to Pigpen. We had some really great conversations, and I actually text RM yesterday. I'm like, he's one of us. I had conversations with him the first time I ever met him. I had conversations with you. So that was really cool. It was cool to click with him kind of from Jump Street and just talk from DJ perspective, from a content perspective, from like running a venue and booking DJ perspective. So, you know, the trip was worth it just for that and making that relationship and connection and having those conversations. It was like, it was great to have those high level conversations first and foremost, but yeah, man, like, Detroit. Midwest city, right? I've been to Chicago, I've been to Cleveland. It gives me that same similar vibes. It was cold as you know what, it was freezing. I kept texting you, I can't get warm no matter where I go, I'm cold. The cold can get through the windows. It was like getting into my hotel room. I had my, it was freezing. Yeah, so the way Detroit is sort of set up, it's like. There's downtown Detroit and there's nightclub and nightlife down there. And then there's like Metro Detroit, which are the different areas surrounding the city, right? And I played in one of those surrounding areas at this place called Double O Club. Pigpen's been bringing in, you know, booza and conflict. They have icon from Houston coming up. So he's been trying to kind of expand and bring in some talent from all over the place. And... It was a cool room, man. It was a, you know, really set up well rectangle. You're the DJ, you're elevated and you see everything. Sound was good, you know, the lighting, everything. Like the whole nine, smaller room. It was pretty cool. The way that a lot of the Detroit venues are set up, it's like a multi-level building. And like most of the clubs, like there's a restaurant on the first floor, then nightlife, and then maybe like a rooftop or. there's a bar restaurant on the first floor and then a nightclub on the second floor. And that just seemed to be like how a lot of these venues were set up. So this place was an Italian restaurant on the first floor and then double O on the second floor. And then there's a patio rooftop on the third floor that's open in the summer. So realistically, you can have like three separate vibes in one night. It's actually reminds me of the place I played in DC with TRIZZO. Uh, it was exactly like that restaurant on the bottom and then, you know, like, yeah, kind of a smart move. I liked it. I liked the vibe of that. So yeah, I mean, we had the cold going against us a little bit. We also had the Lions playing at home on Sunday afternoon, the next day after my set. So I think we had a good night for sure. It wasn't a slammed out, jam packed, all the tables sold type of night, which obviously we all hope for when we go play a nightclub. But it was still a fun night. I think... It was interesting because, you know, I prep for all my gigs, this cream thing that I've been doing for the last year of like EDM house forward, you know, you go into these places prepping and planning for one thing, but then you have to be a DJ once you're there, you know? And in watching Pigpen play the room, it was like, they're not really messing with the dance music too much. Like hip hop is working. He was dipping in and out, like he was playing open format. Okay. Like, like we would do here, just going up and down type of thing. Is that a conversation that you're having like while he's playing like, Oh man, like the house stuff's not kind of popping off. I think this is the direction I'm going to go in when I go on and like have, you didn't really have a. we were kind of talking about like, they're not really messing with the house music. Like during our set, we said that I didn't say like, I'm gonna do this because of that. I was just in my head taking notes of what was gonna happen, you know? So instead of like big cream intro, custom intro, it was like, all right, let's pick up where Pigpen left off and let's move the room, right? Let's make it happen. So definitely played more of an open format set, but it was just what needed to happen in the room to make it happen and have a good night, you know? We kept people to the end. I eventually was able to get into some of the bigger EDM and like tech house stuff that I would normally want to play. But in that moment, I had to be a DJ and say, all right, they're not ready for this big intro. We still need to like keep them going and get them on a dance floor and keep them moving, warm them up a little more. And then we can dip into that bigger stuff. Right. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's why it's so important to, to be versatile, right? Because you, you don't want to walk into this travel set where there's a lot of expect, you know, a little more, maybe not a lot of expected of you, but a little more expected of you to like come in and execute a good set. And then, you know, you can plan through this whole thing prior to your set. And you walk in and you're presented with a completely different set of circumstances. And now you have to kind of You have to kind of change your path and be good at changing your bath. You know, I think it's a, it's a testament to our market too, because our market is so demanding in so many different styles of music that I feel like no matter where. We go, no matter where in New York city, New Jersey DJ goes, you can execute a really good hip hop and or how set, right? Yeah, it's a training ground here for sure to be able to play all the different mini markets and different styles and it sets you up for success when you do go travel but my bigger point as I was standing there and typing our email like sending emails to the get down about things we wanted to talk about on the podcast, my biggest takeaway was just because someone's paying you to go travel to another city. doesn't mean that you don't do what's best for the room, just like you do at home, or you should be doing at home, you know? The same principles that apply to your sets at home apply when you go somewhere else. And you know, Pig Pen's feedback for me was, dude, like, you kept the room, I appreciate you playing the way you did, kind of thing, you know? Because we did keep the room, we ended up having a good night, and I think people were happy, and hopefully the place made some money, and... You know, we did the best we could for what we had. And he even said to me like, this was one of the slower satirees I can remember, but I mean, I think the lions thing was a huge, huge factor because some of the DJs I talked to the next day were in the venues at like 9 a.m. Yeah, it was like one of those days. It was a party. It was one of those days. Like... listen, you know that like, especially a big game like that, you know, and you're advancing into the, the conference, the championship, the conference championship, like, you know, everybody's showing up, home game, et cetera. And like, even if they were playing away, not to say that would affect your crowds on Saturday night, but it would still be a spectacle the next morning anyway. People were still going to be going out to party and be in the bars. Right, so having it be a home game, it's like, you know, it's not that you have it stacked against you, but you know, people are definitely saving their energy for the next day, and they're gonna party all day long, you know, especially if they win, you know, and that's luckily kind of how it went down, right? Yeah, it was really cool to be in the city on Sunday. Like, Pigpen took me to get Coney Island dogs from Lafayette, they have like, that's like a big thing there, they do like the hot dog thing. There's literally two places right next to each other that like compete for the best. It's like white manna, sort of, if they were next to each other. It's like that. So we got dogs, he kind of showed me around the city, we said what's up to some DJs, you know, said what's up to... I don't know, just some of the heavy hitters for Detroit. I think it was cool to link with some of those guys and check out some of the big club rooms that are down there. So Sunday was awesome. It was just cool to be around all that energy and people were really hype, man. Like... What was your take on hearing DJs from Detroit and the style that they played? Were styles very similar? Did guys play differently? I feel like you kinda go out up by us and you can jump around and you hear a lot of the same music in a way and you hear it also mixed in a certain way as well. So like we said, a little bit of hip hop, a little bit of house, some Latin, a little bit of everything. What was the style up there? So I mean, like Pigpen opened the room how I would have opened the room. He opened it perfectly. It was like, a lot of times, you know when you open your computer and you're starting to prep your set to go on? A lot of times I'm prepping that like, all right, we're not ready for a peak hour intro, so I'm gonna hit some of my go-to tracks to get people hyped that are popular. And like, he hit all that stuff leading up to me going on. So I'm like, oh, this is perfect. Like, this is what I would have done. So hearing him and hearing that room, it was like very similar to what we would do at home in your top 40 club, right? You're gonna go up and down, you're gonna play some big room EDM, you're gonna play those, all the new hip hop, you're gonna play the classic hip hop, the no hands, the soldier ball, like all that stuff. What works here works there in that style of club. And I was thinking like, man, like, is it now just a case of there's less, like, regionality in music, especially in the top 40 EDM open format rooms? But then on Sunday, I was like, all right, maybe there is more regionality because I heard some hip hop DJs, you know, like 42 Dug is from Detroit. So there was some 42 Dug. There was like specific songs that get played at the Lions game that I had never heard of. So. I definitely heard some different stuff on Sunday and it made me think about like our hip hop scene here, right? And we had a conversation before this off air, like the locks back in the day kind of thing, or like even Ice Spice right now and some of the drill artists. Yeah, it's, I feel like those sporting events specifically do also bring out that regionality exponentially, right? You know, if the Rangers or the Yankees are playing, like you're gonna play stuff that's played in Yankee Stadium to like create that kind of excitement and that kind of vibe or like, you know, certain songs to, you know, certain batters that are coming up, you're gonna lean into those songs. You're gonna lean into you know, whatever the defensive stop song is, because I'm just thinking like the Giants defensive stop song offhand. And like I always play that right before the game at the bar that I'm playing at before a Giants game. So like, and then also you're going to I always lean into like a more of a Jay-Z in New York City hip hop scene when I'm when I'm playing those big sporting event prior to those big sporting events. So. I could see where those days really highlight the region and what the music is that comes out of that region, old or new. I think you're gonna see that more on those days more than you would in the nightclub. I think in the nightclub, yeah, it'll be featured and like, but not in such a large, like a long format way. Like you might hear like two regional tracks back to back and then maybe 30 minutes from them again and so on and so forth. I saw that in DC where like a lot of the regular stuff was hitting. And then people will come up and be like, well, you know what, this song really hits here well, so can you go into these one or two tracks? And you're kind of built on that kind of vibe. And I feel like you're right, it's not like you walk into a nightclub anymore and it's like, oh my God, it's all of this music I don't know from this part of the world or this part of the country, and I know what none of this stuff is. It's like, oh, I can get away with playing here with also doing a little bit of home. Yeah, I agree. I think the hip-hop is way more regional than the EDM or house stuff, you know? You know what? It just hasn't gotten to Not that it hasn't gotten to the point. Oh my god. I'm just thinking about this It used to be like that in house music And now it's not like that like if you were I mean Chicago house and Detroit how I texted you You know, it's Chicago house and Detroit house in New York City house were all completely different sounds back You know back when it was all considered regional music and the DJs that played in New York. Sure. You can go play in Chicago but it didn't translate as well. I feel like maybe the Detroit-Chicago exchange might have been a little easier, but the New York sound was just so onto itself. It's funny, like we were talking about Detroit as the birthplace of techno, and there's a lot of like house and techno and house specific venues there. It reminded me of like the Williamsburg slash Brooklyn house scene compared to like the Manhattan top 40 bottle service scene, where like Brooklyn looks down on Manhattan, like the Detroit techno scene looks down on the top 40 scene a little bit. It's like the same vibe. techno scene is Detroit techno scene is always looked down upon everybody. That was the only thing I didn't get to experience out there. You know, like they were talking like, do you wanna go to afters? And I'm like, nah, I really don't. Like I'm trying to, I'm tired. Like I've been traveling. Like it would have been cool. It would have been cool to check out one of those parties for sure. Maybe the next time I'm out there, we can plan for an extra day or stay a Sunday night or something to check out one of those parties. Yeah, it would be worth the time because there is so much history there in house music in America. It was just, it was such a scene before house music was popular here, you know? And like I said, those three cities were, were on top of the scene before it was anything in the United States. So yeah, kind of cool. I had a good time, you know, hoping to be back there. We're gonna have Pig Pen out here and kind of run the circuit and play some venues here. So we should definitely have him on the show at some point. Maybe like when he's in town, we can record a pod and kind of talk about some of these things more. But man, I don't remember what we had on our list here. Let's get into a conversation I was having with Pig Pen. We brought up something. Like if you could pick one artist to be and like travel their career path, who would it be and why? I have so many influences and people that I have followed for many years and saw their ups and downs and their different ventures. I mean, career path, I feel like, this is gonna be a wild one, I feel like Kanye West, for me, had this amazing career path. Mental health stuff aside, outlandish shit aside, career. have kind of tarnished that a bit. Sure, yes, but I'm thinking about like if you're just thinking about like career and not like stepping out of line and saying the wrong thing, you know what I mean? Like, if this is not I want to be Kanye West, this is I would take that career path as far as the opportunities that get presented right? Putting your working your ass off to get in front of, you know, Jay Z and Rockefeller back in the day and trying to get your chance and being brushed off as a hip hop artist and then being able to produce your own album and have it be a wild success and change even what fashion looked like within the hip hop community and then dabble into fashion and then become this you know Yeezys became this huge thing and he was involved with LVMH and he was involved with all of these different companies in a very positive way. Anytime that he stepped into these roles whether it was you know in production in being an actual rapper and then also being accepted into the fashion industry, he always elevated what those positions looked like, right? Like, he came in with a different sound on every album, right, he revolutionized what hip hop sounded like on every album. And if you remember correctly, on every album, everybody's like, this is whack. And then all of a sudden, a year later, everybody's producing. of all time. It's the best album of all time and everybody else is emulating what he was doing, right? Like changing the BPMs with 808 and Heartbreaks. Well yeah, you had the Chipmunk production which was kind of a big thing in the mix tape scene in the mid 90s with mashup DJs that would put together you know, R&B instrumentals with hip hop acapellas, right? And then he took that and he put that and made that mainstream. Right? And then used a lot of like those soul samples and really made it mainstream and kind of elevated what would puffed out he was doing back then. And then like 808s and heartbreaks, like got into the electronic kind of a scene. It was kind of what was happening in the, in the nightclubs at the time. That was like around the DJ AM time where like there you were having a revolutionary time in music there. So like, you know, bringing in more of like a dance presence into, into the hip hop scene. And then just getting involved in clothing and fashion, something that I love and I'm passionate about, and I think that would be like a really cool venture to go down. And really making an impact on the fashion scene across the board. As outlandish as it might have been, people still bought this ridiculously priced stuff because he was just an impact. Like I said, all of the political shit and the craziness aside, like I think the... just the impact in many different ways was very cool. So I really like his career path. Yeah, Kanye was definitely one of the artists we discussed for sure. Uh, and coming from, you know, my passion for hip hop is sort of what got me sparked in this, in this music industry. A lot of the people that I thought of were hip hop producers that then went on to do something else, you know? So Kanye was one, I think Pharrell is another one that you is in the conversation for sure, uh, he's been in bands, he's produced music for every artist. you can think of pop music, hip hop music, keys. icon-esque, right? Fashion Icon-esque who's now, what, creative director for Louis Vuitton? That's a pretty prestigious and unique role to take on towards the end of your music career for sure. Initially, like his whole like skate style was different and like different to the scene. I mean, that whole his whole style of producing music was different at the time. He brought a whole different perspective. I'm trying to think. And then like he got involved in doing like Disney stuff and despicable me with happy was huge and all of that stuff. And I was reading and he produced like five tracks with Hans Zimmer, who's just like incredible composer. Like he's done a lot of great things. outside of any realm that really anybody gets into. Yeah, I think his career path has been incredible and definitely one that any of us would be interested in having for sure. Some other ones, Justin Timberlake, what do you think about that one? Ha, ha, I mean, listen, take away like the child star thing or like, you know, that's a little weird, kind of mess up your childhood, but besides that, you know, mega pop star, mega, in a group, mega pop star as an individual. actor. What else has he done? I mean, he's, he's kind of at the top of the top. of golf courses. Thank you very much. Absolutely. He's a nasty golfer. I mean that guy whenever he posts like his foursomes on the weekends I'm like geez like Michael Jordan, Steph Curry, you know you name it he's they played at his golf courses. He owns some really prestigious country clubs and nice places nice courses. Speaking of him coming back. the other one that, not as big of a superstar, I don't think, as some of these other names, but probably, potentially my choice, I haven't, you know, I'm not gonna hang my gold star in any one of these, but The Alchemist. And the reason why I say The Alchemist is because, like, he's produced a hip hop in a style that just really resonates with me. and he's worked with some of my favorite artists like Mobb Deep, Dial-Aid Peoples, Action Bronson. The list goes on of all the artists that he's worked with in more of an underground sort of way, which was always what I was into, but then became really popular mainstream and is now on a food show. Fuck that's delicious with Action Bronson and on tour with Action Bronson. I love food and if I could somehow parlay my music career into like a food career, that would be pretty awesome to me. really loved his and love his personality on that show. Not like, you know, he seems like he'd be like kind of a dry kind of dude, but like really good personality on that show. And really within the last year, he's made such an impact on the music industry from a production standpoint in the fact that he's gone completely solo. He doesn't now mess with any labels and he's putting out his music independently, fully independently. And I think that it's impacting the way some producers are going about putting their music out and rightfully so like he you know what he produces his stuff and he wants to Reap the benefits of that right and he doesn't want all of these different Hands in his pocket Now is that easy to do from somebody on an upstart? No, but you know he has the credentials and the history and the success. So he's able to do that, which I think is super dope. What I also think is super dope that he's been doing lately is he'll create like a full album with one artist. So it'll be like, I'm trying to think of who he's, like the Larry June and Alchemist project was like one of the bigger hip hop projects from 2023. Like, I think that's super cool. He's sort of always done that where he's produced a full album for. for an artist and they put it out together. I just love that style and he can kind of provide a certain sound for all these different artists. Like Earl the sweatshirt and the alchemist, Rock Marciano and the alchemist, Mike Wickey and the alchemist. So like, I just think that's a pretty cool way to put out music and collaborate with other artists as a full album, it's pretty cool. It really showcases the diversity in the producer's skill, I think number one. I think that I was just going to ask, is that like a Bronson thing that he took? Because Bronson would always do that. Like he'd do a full album of Party Favourite, then he'd do a full album of Alchemist, then he'd do a full album with... I'm trying to think of the third one. Then I was thinking back and he has, right? Like he produced a full Mobb Deep album. full mob deep, full dilated peoples. I mean, there's been a lot. Trying to think of who else. I'm now trying to think back if that was like a normal thing or did everybody always kind of dip into different producers or if like producers with a rapper was always like a Premier used to do it, but I can't necessarily think of a whole ton of albums that were just one producer. Obviously, I mean Wu-Tang with RZA, but that's a little different. Right, it's a group mentality kind of a thing. You know who I thought, when you initially asked this question, I have like a, my first like gut instinct, and this is a little cringe-worthy thought, was like John Summit, because. Well, that's what I was gonna say. What about in the dance world, right? Like we mostly talk about dance music on this pod. So what dance world? And John Summit was one I thought of as well. my knee jerk reaction was John summit because I feel like he does. I've said this before he does such a good job and like documenting like what a day in the life of john summit looks like I'm like, I would love to do that. This looks like a like a lot of work. Like he's not he's not shy playing two or three shows in a couple different time zones in one day and like party throughout the friggin thing jump on his jump on a private jet and like, you know, just like make it a whole like day and like, like make it a day where I'm going to party I'm gonna have fun, like I'm gonna enjoy doing. This is why we do what we do. We do this for the fun of it, not that, oh I'm fucking tired and you know, I played 19 gigs this month and yada yada. Shut up, like you're doing this, it's a great time. Like enjoy it. And I think he really highlights the part of what we do and why people do originally get into this business. It's to make your life, and you can have days like that. It's so, you know, it's not. we can all do it, maybe not to a private jet standpoint, but like you can all, you can, you can, you know, make the best of, of all your gigs. And it looks like he does, you know, and I, and, and that's just D just DJing, like not business, nothing. That's just DJing. John Summit is the everyman. That's why I always call him the everyman because he's kind of lived the career path that like every bedroom, not every, but a lot of bedroom DJs wanna live, right? Like you have this shitty accounting job and you're making music in your bedroom and you make your first hit from like your one bedroom apartment and then you go off onto this journey of being an artist and becoming one of the biggest artists in the world and playing all over the world. So that's like the, I think when you think of these prototypical or stereotypical like the artist making it. He's sort of taking that journey, you know? Yeah. So he was my knee jerk reaction when you asked the question. And then, and then when you went into more into like business and like getting into different things, older me says, you know, like a, yeah, like a Justin Timberlake or a Pharrell, like we said, or like a Kanye. And then like the DJ in me says, John summit all day long. Like I want to do that every weekend. I thought of were like Fisher, Steve Aoki, they just seem to live these pretty interesting lives. Like Fisher as an ex-pro surfer living in Australia, like probably not a bad gig. Yeah, Steve Aoki, Trust Fund Baby turns, artist turns, you know. just like, created this crazy like playhouse in Vegas and just live in like the superstar life out here. growing up in LA, like is there really any other career path? Right, like that's the life you kind of are born into and it's nice that he's made a long and very successful career out of it. Like I thought when he first came out, him and AM were doing a lot of stuff together. I was like, oh, this guy's just gonna burn out. This is just gonna be a fad. And he's really done well with his brand and the trajectory of his career. Yeah, I mean, he's been in the game a long time, man. been a long time. So I know we're a little shorter than we normally would go. I actually want to go back to something. Okay, I actually had another thing to talk about too, because I had some stuff come up in my sets. It's kind of more of like a, it's like a self-help session actually with you, because just to talk this out, I hit like a part of my sets twice, I had two different Saturday sets that like, they start at like nine, nine thirty, and at like one fifteen I was hitting like a wall. Like not knowing what to play or just tired or. to go in, right? And probably a little tired and then also not knowing which direction to go in. Like this past weekend I was like, oh, I wanna like get into this one genre and I feel like I kind of forced it maybe a little bit. But then it's like, oh, well, I don't wanna hang in hip hop too long. This is the issue with having such an open format room. Like in the room that I was this past Saturday, like I can get away with. I can get away with class at that time, classic house, R and B, mainstream hip hop. You just name it big time. EDM. Like I was just like at a point where I'm like, I kind of don't know where to go here. Um, and it happened two weeks in a row. And I was wondering kind of throwing this out there and throwing this out there for all DJs, what do you guys do, you know, comment in the comments here? Uh, what do you guys do when you get stuck? Like, do you have a go-to folder? Is there like go to tracks that you go to that you that you go seek out in your Serato? Or am I just overthinking it? You know what I mean? And that could be it too. Well, I know the room that you're talking about, and I sort of run into the same issue when I'm there. That room and then also upstairs as well there. That, no, so upstairs and downstairs, both. I ran into the same issue, same time, both times. So I think part of the issue here is, when a venue doesn't necessarily have an identity, it makes it a lot harder, right? If the venue has a general identity of why people go there and what they expect, you can kind of just go dig into whatever that is, right? Like, whatever the old faithful in that particular room is. But when you're playing in a room that's very open format, where the ages can vary very greatly, you never know if there's 20 year olds or 40 year olds in the room. Um, I personally tend to go to like the classic party anthems in whatever genre. Usually it's hip hop. So like, again, I mentioned Soulja Boy earlier, but like Soulja Boy and like Be Faithful and like anything Drake that's super popular, I kind of just hit some classic, I don't know, classic stuff. And that sometimes sparks. a whole new run of music that I wouldn't have normally thought of. I think at that point, like right, I'm four hours in, I've already, I've played every genre of music that there is, you know. Everything that works in that room that's acceptable has been played. I also go very energetic, very early. Well, that's the other thing. You start your main room set way earlier than I normally would. I didn't know that's changed since COVID. I just do it, I don't know, I just like that feeling of having a lot of energy early, just to kind of create a vibe when it's maybe not as crowded. Like it's crowded, but it's not packed, per se. So this is another, this is something that I need, I think everyone needs to readjust all these venues because we used to open rooms and play rooms a certain way. And it was the opener was playing a certain style of music, nothing new, nothing super high energy. I find that after COVID, all of these places want you to play a higher energy earlier. And that's fine when you have a packed room early and you're staying busy. But now that we're sort of back to this pre-COVID, slower, whatever, I don't think you could do that. I think you need to build a room, slow down, not hit the big stuff as early, and it'll help carry you through the night and get you to close. I just, I don't know, maybe I'm just old school and have an older school way of thinking, but. I've never been a proponent of going hard early. I don't know. And I see it, I see it in the venues where I, like maybe I have an opener, they're going too hard and I have nowhere to go that's higher and our room clears out by 1.45, you know? Right, right, right. Yeah, and you can exhaust the crowd too, right? I need to review both of my sets and just sit down and see, okay, like this is where, maybe I could have pushed this to later, et cetera. I think you just need to focus on holding some of the newer stuff till later. I think that's really important. Like you can't hit the top 10 most popular stuff before midnight. If you're staying open till 3am. You just can't. Right. Well, I know, like in that room, I know particular at 2 a.m., I'm going to go to R&B, right? That's always what's going to happen. Because there was five or six must plays in there that you cannot touch during because they're too damn slow. You can't touch them from 11 to two, because it's just way too slow, you know, um, because they're just, is still like a lifetime of DJ time, you know? Like you could play so much music in that 12 to 2 hour range. I looked at 115. I'm like, Oh my God, I got 45 fucking minutes before I can get into like, you know, the classic sing along R and B tracks. Maybe that is what I needed to play then to maybe like, okay, I'm going to switch the ear up. Let's, let's hit these. Like, I know everybody's going to sing this one particular R and B song. It is nowhere near like the energy of what I'm playing maybe at the time, but maybe try to get down to that track, have everybody sing along and now you've kind of reengaged. Yeah, I my strategy in those rooms sometimes is classic reggae classic reggaeton. So it's kind of like grab them back Yeah, I don't know. I had gotten away from Latin pretty hard this trip up there. I don't know why, just nothing on purpose. But during my open format sets, I was kinda getting away from Latin. I think it's because I played two venues that you play no Latin in. And that... I have to book my... I book out in so many different venues. you know, a full Latin night, sometimes a country night, and then have to go play, you know, a LGBTQ bar, and then go play like a 21 year old college party spot. Like it's so different that like, it becomes really hard to, when you're trying to pull it all together, it becomes hard, because you don't have a night where you're doing that. except for one night, maybe a weekend or one night a month. Maybe that is for me. You know what I mean? And being able to do that on the fly without repeating that over and over again is a little tough. Yeah. So your point right here is sort of what I wanted to bring up and go back to, which was you had brought up our market is so diverse and like every room is a little bit different. It's like every mini little pocket in our major market of like Metro New York, right? It's New York City, you play a certain style. Downtown New York City, you play differently than Midtown Manhattan, right? Like... North Jersey, where we live, Hoboken, like you could be in one city of Hoboken, and it's played a certain way and the city right next door, Jersey City is played a completely different way. And we have to prep for all this stuff. And it makes it very hard. But like you said, when we go somewhere else, we're ready for war, right? Because we have to we have to be ready for war in our own market. And I think that was what you just said was part of the reason why I really wanted to go all in on more EDM, more house more tech, because I got tired of having to go to war every night. Like, I want to do what I want to do now. And I booked myself in the rooms where I get to do that, you know, I don't play the rooms where I have to go to war and play shit that I don't necessarily want to play. And that's opposite from what you're doing. I'm going to get away from having four completely different sets in a weekend, especially when I'm not, I don't play every weekend, right? I get three weekends off and then I come and play and it's like to do what I'm doing and have that much time off. It's hard. It makes it a lot harder, you know, because you can't test. I can't, I'm not testing records every week and be like, okay, now that works, it's a throwaway. It's like when I'm there, it's like. There's no testing records. Like I've got to play the stuff that's working, right? That's why I have to ask. I asked so many questions like, Hey, I love this song. Is this going to work? You know, and people are like, Oh no, that doesn't work. Or it's really good at this time or it's really good at that time. I mean, you could feel it too, but like, if it's a record I've never played before, it's, it's tough, you know? So What do you do if you're in a more dance house room? What do you go to try to grab people instantly? Is there any, do you have a strategy around that? Um, in more of a dance house room. I don't know. I don't really, I don't play a lot of like house rooms. I just don't like, I keep myself out of. I keep myself out of those rooms because I'm not as well versed in it. And I have everything so sub-genre it out in my Serato. It's something I was, I was thinking about the entire time I was there. I'm like, I think I have everything subgenre too much. And I've gone to go into just the top of my folder and playing out of the full folder, not the subgrades. And I like it better that way. I used to do it, I used to keep everything in BPM. Like, okay, I was, oh, I'm gonna play this record, I'm gonna put it in my 100 to 110 BPM folder. You know, and I feel like I was more versatile in how I played, like I'd play a. ACDC record and play Kanye record afterward. You know what I mean? And I felt like that was more fun. I feel like with house music specifically, I've gotten so like, okay, this is disco and new disco. I'm gonna keep that in a folder. I'm gonna play three or four of those in a row. This is techno. I'm gonna keep that separate. Like, I don't think that should always be the case. Especially right now, I feel like genres are sort of blending a bit where it's, we talk about it all the time, like, I don't even know what that technically is. But I know it's good. I know over the weekend at six to six, I played a bunch of disco and new disco and like high energy, like disco house. I'm getting back into that and it all really, really works in there, especially early, it keeps really great energy. And it, and that's kind of where I start when I'm in there. Cause I know everybody else starts with like R and B or like more vibey stuff. And I was just trying to be a little different. Um, I don't know. I've been starting that room with like, Tech House now, just because that's what I wanna play. And it sort of works as long as you pick the right tracks. Yeah. So it's been cool. I think to go back and answer my own question, which was like in an EDM or dance room, like what's your go-to or how do you bring people back? I tend to think of like, what are those songs that I play from 11 to 12 when I'm trying to take the room from open to peak? Like what some of those songs would be. So it's like Calabria, like a remix or an original of Calabria. Like Sean Paul, Temperature, the Revis remix, which I played probably more than any other song in the last five years. Yeah. Like Sean Kingston, Fireburn, and Angela the Kid edit. Like I have some go-tos that I just know the vocal hits and it's high energy that can kind of grab the room. Like Iconopop, I love it, will always get people excited no matter where you are. Yeah, that leans into my like 1145 right, but like at peak right before peak, you know. saying if you like hit a lull later in your set and you're in one of those rooms, like what can you go to grab them again? And I just think of that stuff. What do you play during that 1145 set? Like go to that folder, and that's how you kind of get them back because that's how you sort of get them going in the first place, you know? So maybe approach those open format rooms with, well, what would I play if it was 1130 in the room? Or 1145 and we're getting ready to go to peak and like maybe go play some of that stuff. Yeah. Like I said, I got to go and review it and see kind of where, where I got, where I went wrong. And I think it's important for a lot of DJs to do right. Like if you feel like you had a little lull in your set, we all know it. Like you get that feeling in your stomach. You're like, shit, I'm a little stuck. Go back and see where you felt like you got stuck. See what you played before it, see what you played after it. And there's always that one or two tracks that quote unquote get you in trouble. I guess you could say that we're flat and that fell flat, right? Yeah. And that's where, you're like, okay, well, you could omit that, and what can I put in that place in order to not have that flatness? We're not afforded songs anymore. I talked about this with a couple of our DJs on our calls. You're not afforded a flat song as a headliner. You're just not. You have to come, like every song needs to be something that hits. Somebody in the room needs to be singing to it, dancing to it, recognize it. You cannot, you can't flatten the energy out in a room. I think it's okay to maybe miss on one, but anything beyond one or maybe two songs in a row that don't hit, like you have to recognize that and get out of there ASAP. And sometimes that's just like spinning out and getting the fuck out of there, no matter where you are and just like slamming something. You kind of just have to do it every now and again. I think I'm a little tough on myself. I hate having a, I don't like to have a song that even remotely doesn't hit. Not even remotely. There needs to be a minor reaction somewhere in the room. Every song. It's just the way I go about my sets. And like. just tough on yourself too. I think a lot of this is like, you expect a certain level out of yourself and if you're not getting that, and you're so used to getting reactions from everything you play that when you don't, it's like, what the fuck's going on? I think it's working out of that mentality, maybe a little bit too. You know, it's definitely part of it because what happens then is like, shit, like I missed on that song and dwell on that for more than a song or two. Like you just can't, you gotta move on. It's like golf. It's like golf. It was a bad hole. I gotta move on. Be positive on the next one. So. Alright, I think this is a good point to wrap. I know you gotta jump off. So thank you guys for listening to this episode of the Get Down. Is there anything we need to promo here? Uh, Cheesy's Parties tonight? Anybody in New York City cheesy, a single release party at Dingaling Lower East Side disco vibes all night if anybody's down. Also, I haven't really teased this or put this anywhere. But I decided to put out a cream top 10 edits of 2023. I'm going to put that out on Thursday. So that will be available for download SoundCloud hype edit all that good stuff. It'll be a mix and then 10 tracks free drop free download. I'm gonna download it because I'm sure I don't have any of them. I put the mix together, I'm like, wow, I play all these. This is great. Like, this really is my top 10. I play all these songs. All right, guys, thanks for listening to this episode. We'll talk to you guys soon. Peace. All right, guys, please.