The Last Set At Purple Turtle

I should be enjoying a hangover right now - I would have been DJing last night.

Two months since it came to an end and it was a pretty fitting night.

I couldn't find anywhere to stay over so I decided to come home the next morning (via an after-party).

On warm-up duties, as usual, but with the hope and expectation of more people there than usual I had decided that I would try to get to a party style by the end of the set.

No time to practice, I had about 4 hours of tracks that I really, really wanted to play - I wanted to fit a couple of favourites from over the years in, I had some new tracks that I was really keen to play too.

But I also wanted to express my annoyance and upset at the night coming to an end - so I wanted some darkness in there too.  Not too much, but enough.

The darkness came from tracks like Geometry Engine from Monolake - something I recently bought on vinyl and have played a few times.  I did manage to fit in quite a few dark tracks, quite bassline-led kind of techno - but not techno.

I sneaked in some techno and trance - one of the curiosities of the night is that the only requests I had were for techno - the crowd was actually a pretty good crowd, enhanced by a good amount of friends being out.

It wasn't without difficulties - the mixer kept cutting out the bass when mixing...at the time I concluded (after a panic) that it was a problem with the monitor speakers so wasn't too fussed about it...only after did I realise that it was the mixer not recognising changes in the bass levels.

If you listen to the recording, then you'll notice a few times where the bass comes in at odd moments.

I only played around 30-40 minutes of minimal before going into house music - and even the minimal had a moment of recognition.  I do love my minimal - but the crowd at the Turtle were never that into it.

Apart from the bass levels issue, I was quite proud of my work...it wasn't perfect, one or two tracks I wouldn't have played with hindsight.


Will I DJ again?

I hope so.  I haven't got the urge to even have a mix right now, but it will come back.

My priority by a long way is making a success of my new career.  If I have spare time then I'd rather be practising coding than DJing.

We shall see.

Last Ever Purple Turtle Night

So we received news the other week that this coming Friday 20th October, was going to be our last night at the Purple Turtle.

I was gutted.  I am gutted.

I think we've done a great job of enhancing the reputation of the Purple Turtle as a house/techno destination in Reading, and more importantly providing underground house/techno of the sort that is very difficult to find in Reading.  I don't think there is anyone doing anything musically the same as what we do, on a regular basis in Reading (I stand to be corrected).

When we started, the night was generally quite quiet.  The third Friday of the month is a notoriously difficult night to fill a venue, as many people are beginning to wait for payday.

Now it is rammed every time we do it - even in months you wouldn't expect, like January and August.

The secret is nothing too special - we've simply put on good underground house and techno DJs, and provided something reliable for people to go to every month.  Reading isn't exactly blessed with underground house/techno, I've always been convinced of the demand, and sure enough almost every night there was great.

Alas, the Purple Turtle are changing music policy to drum'n'bass on a Friday, so I am told.  The irony of being killed by drum'n'bass.

I kind of understand it - drum'n'bass is very popular in Reading.  But so is our night.  Our night that I have helped to grow.

Whilst I may disagree with the Purple Turtle's decision, it has been a pleasure to work with them and DJ there.  It has suited our busy lifestyles, we don't have to do much in the way of promotion, we turn up and play good music.  The equipment and sound-system are decent enough, it's a good space and we get a few beers thrown in too.

Being able to DJ there once a month has really helped to improve me as a DJ, and form me as such.  I'm still not as good as I want to be - I probably never will be.

I will always be thankful to them for allowing the night, and even more so to Martin and JP for having me on board in the first place.  It's unlikely I would still call myself a DJ now, otherwise.

And of course to all of our headliner DJs for making the event what it is.  And to everyone that has come down for a dance, whether in support or just because they wanted a bloody good night out with some very fine music.

This could be the last time I DJ in Reading.  It is quite a mission to get there on a Friday night and organise somewhere to stay - it costs me money to DJ and I am not exactly struggling to spend my limited funds.  If an opportunity comes along, then I would be interested, though it would have to be worthwhile.

Ideally I'd rather do something in London if I am going to do something.

But I don't have time to promote a proper night, and I am not good at arse-licking other promoters.  An arrangement like we had at the Purple Turtle would be ideal.  Maybe I could even resurrect Free House Project if I found a suitable London pub with decks and a decent enough soundsystem.

Though given my lack of time, and other priorities in life such as my new career, this could easily be my last ever DJ set.  Ever.

Hopefully not.  But it is a realistic possibility.

If you are free on Friday 20th October, it would be very nice to see you.

"Thank God For That"

Ahhh the trials and tribulations of DJing.

It being August, I was expecting a quiet night, and my expectations did not change upon arrival.  Students are away, it is holiday and festival season - August should be a quiet month.

I plugged my headphones in, which I had just received back from the beautiful person that I had lent them to, and they only worked in one ear.  Sigh.

Then some guy started having a go at me about playing a 'warm-down' set.  He was pretty much the only person on the dancefloor, yet he was expecting me to bash it out for him - the usual "you don't know what you are doing" kind of shit.

At one point he was like "come on then", intimating me to mix the next track, to which I said "there's another 5 minutes left of this track", in a jokey way.  He didn't appreciate my sense of humour and for a short while I thought I'd be calling for security.

Thankfully, my good friend, Jack, from Mixmag, was on hand to help explain that it was a warm-up set and drag him into the garden.

I was a little unsettled, but I was trying to concentrate on playing a good set.  I had not practiced (no headphones), nor did I have any new tracks, or any idea of what I was going to play.  I had simply put in a random minimal CD and taken it from there.

I did, of course, end up playing some tracks that I'd played before - one of which got a couple of compliments - quite a sparse, spaced-out bass-filled track - one Italian guy was trying to tell me how much he liked it.

His English was more minimal than my music, but I think he asked me what the track was called.  I didn't have the name, so I told him to Shazam it. He opened Linked In and I gave him my details.

It started to fill up quite nicely, so I progressed into house music, and it this track certainly got the crowd moving.

I was very happy by the end of the night, people were enjoying my music, I was getting a fair few compliments (and requests for all kinds of shite - Sean Paul anyone?) and most importantly, people were dancing.  It was busier than normal downstairs and people were sticking.

And then when I finished DJing, I thought I heard someone say "thank god for that".  Not only someone, but someone we had booked to DJ before.  I'm not going to say who, in case I am wrong.  Most of you won't know him anyway.  But I wasn't amused.

It was an awesome night overall.  Super-rammed for a while and continued busy until I left around 2am to go to Perfect Fried Chicken for the first time in a decade.  Yeah it's shite.

I'm pretty gutted that I'm not DJing next month - I asked for the month off.  Doh.  But I'll be back in October, and it will be one that the old Mango crew will be very keen on.

And all being well, I'll have a copy of the set to put up.  I don't think I fucked up much?!

London To Reading On A Friday Night

You could say that I wasn't looking forward to DJing on Friday night.

After a long week at work and especially after a shitty night last time, the last thing I wanted to do was go play a warm-up set to nobody and be unhealthy, when there was a beautiful sunny weekend to be enjoyed - and a bed that I really wanted to sleep in (my own).

I was even questioning why I did it.  It doesn't make a lot of sense to get a tube, train and a bus on a Friday night, all of which are rushed and only the bus I am guaranteed a seat.  It costs me £30 before I even get there.  And then I normally do the warm-up, so I'm playing to myself for an hour before anyone turns up.

For the first time ever, I had neither prepared nor bothered downloading any new music.  There was no consideration of giving up DJing - as if it were not for the Turtle night then that would probably be the end of my DJ career.  But certainly a yearning to either be DJing on a Saturday, or in London.

The Turtle was worryingly quiet on arrival.  Even the garden was ever so quiet - despite it being a warm night - one would have expected a fair gathering outside.

Unsurprisingly I was DJing to myself, until Martin turned up.  And then I had a genius idea - why not just play Ricardo Villalobos tracks?  If I'm playing to myself, let's play what I most want to hear.

Suddenly someone turned up and asked if I'd bang it out if he brought his 25 mates in.  Obviously I am not going to but he brought a few in and I moved to playing more stripped-back bass-laden house music, and nudged the BPM up.  He wanted dnb - he got Enzo Siragusa.

And as soon as a few people start dancing, others join in, and the night is begun.

I wasn't impressed with my set.  It lacked, well everything.  Of course, I am my own harshest critic but it had no flow or structure, I played too many tracks that I wanted to hear and that I thought the crowd would appreciate, rather than forming some kind of plan.  My mixing was occasionally shoddy too - again not much thought put into it, and occasionally drowning from too much effort.

It just didn't seem to come to me.  Yet it had worked, and the dancefloor was moving.  Which is what really matters instead of my delusions that I'll provide perfection.

The next DJ, ion:as, played some glorious hypnotic minimal to start - and it worked.  Quite the energetic DJ - the opposite to my more languid style.  Over time it got tougher, ready for Martin to tear a new hole in the dancefloor.  I was going to leave at 2am - but I had to stay as I was enjoying it so much.  I remembered why I love our little night so much.

Whilst this was happening, I got talking to someone connected to one of the cooler small clubs in London, who was really quite appreciative of what we were doing.  DJ sets/promoting were discussed - and though the chances of anything coming out of it are fairly remote, it reminded me that there can be opportunities out of nowhere in this crazy world of DJing.

I left the Turtle more enthused for DJing than for a long time, ready to get back on the decks and try to take my abilities up a level.  Will I still have this enthusiasm come Saturday when I next have time to practice?  Hmmm.  You never know.

See you on 21st July?

Twatt At The Booth

I was really looking forward to playing my 3 hour set.  Not only the challenge of playing for a whole 3 hours and progressing it from music for nobody, to music for a full dancefloor, but also to get that magical midnight to 1am bit - where it is a true joy to play.

Things didn't quite work out as expected.

When I arrived just before 10pm, the Turtle was very quiet - not just in the basement.  The heavens had opened not long after 9pm, which cannot have helped matters at all.

I started playing minimal - I had intended on maybe just 2-3 minimal tracks to warm things up, but nobody came.  I arrived to 6 people - it might have reached 10 people at times.

I carried on playing minimal - I was pretty much playing to myself, and really got into it.  I was having a great time.  But a DJ needs dancers.  Some people were popping in then popping straight out seeing how quiet it was - and most importantly nobody on the dancefloor.  I only even had one weird request - reggae.

Finally around 11:30pm, a few people took position on the dancefloor.  I had already started to transition to housier sounds, so I upped the tempo, hoping to drag the stragglers at the back onto the dancefloor.

They left.  Back to 6 people again.

Finally around midnight it started to pick up a bit, but it felt like it was an hour behind usual in terms of business - and this never changed all night.

Then some twat started harassing me.  Firstly just a request to put the volume up. I thought the volume was fine so I didn't change it.  5 minutes later, another request to put the volume up.  I went into the crowd, had a listen, talked to a couple of friends, and agreed it could be nudged up slightly.

Then he asked for the volume to go up again, in a rather combative manner - I told him I had already done so.  A few minutes later he was back, telling me my night was shit, I played shit music, I didn't know what I was doing - yadda yadda.

I turned it up against my better judgement.  People left.  One assumes because it was too loud.

So I turned it back down.  He came back at least two more times to have a go at me, because it was too quiet, because the night wasn't busy enough, because I didn't know anything about house music (one of those I've been raving 300 years types), because my music was shit.

In the end, I was unusually riled.  I had a go back and offered him my headphones and told him to have a go if he thought he knew what to do.  He replied, "I just want you to do your fucking job".

But it isn't my job. It is something I do for fun and a tiny little bit of cash which never covers transport, food and beer.  I was left wondering why I had paid £30+ on transport, including the stress of rushing across London to get to Reading in time, only to play to myself for the best part of two hours and have some twat constantly give me shit for DJing.

Towards the end of my set, I was mentally off-balance, the last two mixes were shocking.

Thankfully, the night was building by time I handed over at 1am - it was far quieter than normal in the garden and upstairs (I even got served at the upstairs bar in less than 10 minutes).  I guess we are getting to student exam season, along with festival/holiday season - the available pool of party animals always reduces for the whole of Reading.

Reformed Society played after, and played truly excellent music.  Starting with more Chicago kind of sounds - some really classy vinyl being played.

What a great booking he was, I shall compliment myself for it - and the crowd really enjoyed it too.  It never was as busy as normal, but the dancefloor was enjoying his music.

I left with questions about why I do this, and whether it was still worth it.

And I was so thankful that I had moved away from Reading, if that was the kind of welcome I received on my return.

But you have to take the tough with the smooth.  If it were like this every month, then there really would be questions to ask.  Thankfully it is normally fun - normally a hell of a lot of fun.

I'll be back next month.  It better be good.

3 Sets of 2017

So far I've had 3 sets - all warm-up sets, and I've tried to do something different with all of them.  Although I don't think there is anyone that is there during every one of my sets, I still want each of them to be unique, for my own sanity, if nothing else.

For January I tried planning my set.  Literally from the first track to the last, I planned it at home, made sure all the tracks sounded like they should be mixed into each other, and made sure all the tracks I desperately wanted to play were in there.

It sounded good.  It worked.  But I didn't enjoy it as much.  It kind felt that I had taken my creative freedom away and turned my DJ set into a factory line assembly job - do part 1, then do part 2, etc, etc.

February was my sober DJing month.  Normally the most difficult set, but with being unemployed and hence not having done a full week of work beforehand, there was no need for alcohol to help me power through.  In fact, I stayed an hour longer after my set than I did in January.

We had quite a cosmopolitan, European crowd that night and I was stood at the front after, feeling very proud of what has been created.  It was a busy night, and the crowd were loving the music - even my minimal techno.

March started disastrously by leaving my suitcase with music and headphones on the train when I arrived into Reading.  Thankfully First Great Western managed to return my suitcase and it was game on.  Except by this point I was pretty damn drunk, and slightly internally raging - never a bad thing to have emotion going on when you are doing some form of musical expression.

Myself and Martin were going to attempt a back-to-back, but we decided against it after just two tracks each as our styles were way too far apart for a warm-up.  I think it might have worked were we doing the last set - or if we had practiced and found a common groove.

So instead, I did an hour or so, Martin did an hour or so, then I came on and did 20-30 minutes before our headliner - though it could have been longer as I didn't really have too much concept of time by then.  Apart from one mix, somehow I held it together despite my insobriety.

I also eschewed my normal minimal and played a more underground house sound instead, a bit like this track by Unknown Artist:

I miss playing house music.  I suspect that next time I do the warm-up, it might be more house-orientated than minimal.  Not that I have any intention of planning it!

Unfortunately we have booked two headliners next month so I will not be DJing (or maybe that is fortunate depending on your view) - you'll have to wait until 19th May to catch me next.

New Mix: Brexit

You would have thought that with being unemployed that I would be behind my decks every day and night.

Nope.

I've been practicing less.  And it isn't exactly as if I am the perfect DJ, and don't need any practice.  It isn't exactly as if I don't have the inspiration - there are too many mixes that I want to do.  It isn't exactly as if I don't have the time - though I don't actually have the time - or I don't make the time.

But then I just had to get this mix out of me.  A beastly, dark techno mix that represents my feelings on a subject close to my heart - Brexit.

Lots of anger, lots of darkness - some pretty tough techno inside - not one for a jolly, sunshine-filled Sunday morning.

There are a few, hmmm, different tracks in there, something uplifting, something unusual and a couple of older tracks to finish.  Though there is also a rather gnarly track halfway through which I think is quite a challenge to listen to.

Some of the mixing could be better, but hey, I don't practice enough so what do you expect?  Though I definitely hit the sweet spot in the second half for a while and I bloody well enjoyed that part.

Hopefully, despite the intentional darkness, it will provide more satisfaction than Brexit itself.

I've also created a new look for my 'brand' (sigh) - at least for the DJ mix covers anyway - combining obscure street art with a more caring, artistic font.  Maybe I'll replicate it onto my website too one day.

Feedback always welcomed, even if you think it is shit.