DJ T. tour blog: The End

DJ T. tour blog: The End

8 January, 2010 | 8.51AM

• Written by: Beatportal
• Filed under: Music News: dj t, dj t blog, get physical

Six months ago, we launched our most ambitious DJ tour diary to date with DJ T. from Germany. Each week, the Get Physical man delivered lengthy and insightful thoughts from the tour road, which can often be a surreal place.

He battled missed flights, sleep deprivation, dodgy custom checks, and canceled gigs, whilst playing at every type of dance venue imaginable. From fields in Germany, to rammed rave arenas in America, tiny holes-in-the-wall in South America, to superclubs in Asia - he played them all, and never once failed to capture the spirit of the times and the musical journey of his DJ sets in his tour blog.

It was a grueling journey for both him, and our readers. We knew it would drag on a bit (you can find all 25 of his tour blog posts here), but the hope was that his tales would develop along the way, and inspire at least one or two of you. Did we succeed? Let us know in the comments.

And without further ado, please welcome Thomas Koch with his final ever tour blog post…

Dear Beatportalists

First of all – a happy, healthy and successful New Year to all of you! I had a blast and I hope it has been smooth sailing for you, too!

Although I have a few more gigs coming up in Germany, Turkey and Dubai, I have decided to put an official end to the tour – and tour diary – with my last overseas gig in Tokyo on Boxing Day. Right now, typing these very lines, I’m hunched over the tray table on a flight from Japan (via Copenhagen) back to Berlin. So, this is the last time you’ll hear from me here at Beatportal.

Now, all that remains is to announce the overall winner of our Get Physical Producer Challenge, a contest I started four months ago, and this should happen sometime next week as a footnote to my tour diary. Thanks again to all of you who participated (with tracks and comments)!

My final tour showdown in Istanbul (on the third weekend of January) heralds two well-deserved gig-free months. A rare luxury, I’m not entirely sure what to do with this unscheduled time. Should I, finally, take a proper holiday or enjoy some downtime in Berlin? I guess I’ll make up my mind on the spot once I’ve had a few days to acclimatize.

Taking stock of past travels and travails, I’m looking back on six months of touring the world – the first half in Europe, the second in South America, North America, Australia and Asia – and half a year of diary keeping. It’s been one formative experience…

Don’t get me wrong – of course I knew it’d be a pretty unique challenge and a special honour, but I had never expected it to be such a strong, defining experience, something that would inspire me in so many ways (incl. musically). I am fully convinced that this was the best and most important thing I have ever done in my entire life.

Something that really helped was the way I travelled around. Wherever possible, I tried to steer clear of hotels and stay with promoters, friends (or even friends of friends) instead. Sure, it had started out as a pragmatic way to save some money, but over the weeks it became a welcome ritual that forced me to delve deeper into local customs, cultures and collective mindsets.

Over the course of three months, I stayed in a different city every week. Now that I’m back, it seems almost unreal to me! 

So, one of the biggest insights from this tour de force, a worthy souvenir of sorts, is knowing that – when it comes down to it – I could carve my own niche anywhere in the world … what a new perspective! Up until now, I had always felt deeply rooted in Germany and could never have seen myself settling down anywhere else (especially not outside of Europe). All of a sudden, I feel suffused by a certain “global spirit” – and it feels damn great and really liberating.

While I’m at it, I would love to thank Beatport(al) and especially its editor, Terry Church, who whips this platform into shape and keeps it brimming with new content. Every week, we discussed the niggly details of my next posting – no mean feat across all those miles, continents and international datelines!

I’m sure he’s cursed me every once in a while, but I think we’ve created something pretty special and unique with this six-month DJ diary and it was definitely worth the effort and assorted teething troubles. Further thanks go to my translator, Sonja Commentz, who performed some small miracles faced with several harsh deadlines.

Yep, the cat’s out of the bag – English is not my native tongue, so these wonderful phrases aren’t my own (well, that would have been too good to be true, right?), but the work of a fulltime writer. (Translator’s note: Huge hint for any of you who speak a smattering of German - hit Thomas up for the original diary entries: he definitely has a way with words!)

And last, but not least, big props to all of you who’ve been following this diary over the weeks, accompanying me on my journey and spicing it up with your feedback. I never thought I’d reach this many people over the course of my six-month tour – the numbers went far beyond my wildest dreams and the almost 50,000 visitors who clicked on the “continue reading” button of my Beatportal blog.

Over time, the entries took on a life of their own and got reposted through countless channels and other sites.

But let’s get back to the final countdown and the last five – well, more like four – stops on my tour … but more on that later. Chronologically speaking, the trip continued on December 19th with the Australian part of my tour and another medium-sized hop from Sydney to the capital Canberra – another white spot on the map for me.

Here, I was introduced to towering promoter Hugh and his venue, Lot 33. Considering how cosy and small the Canberra scene is, the gig was a very pleasant surprise: the place was buzzing and I was free to play pretty much whatever I wanted.
sa
On that note: some of the country’s promoters and bookers could definitely do with some of Hugh’s attitude. Every time I play Down Under, I notice a very peculiar, strong and determined competition between the local promoters and bookers – somehow, it’s very different to the rest of the world.

More often than not, it goes far beyond the ubiquitous badmouthing: in some cases, people even resort to deliberate sabotage of a fellow promoter or booker’s business. Personally, I find that pretty shocking and a huge shame. Nothing good has ever come from envy, resentment and sabotage.

If everyone spent a little more time on shaping their own business profile with some TLC and real passion instead of looking over their shoulders, the scene would be thriving even more. Anyway – Hugh seems to be someone who has taken this principle to heart.

My next gig took me back to Melbourne for a second stint in this beautiful city. This time around, I was scheduled to play Ladida, a complex on Little Bourke Street that encompassed a bar, restaurant, club and other venues and facilities.

Jack-of-all-trades and DJ talent Mike Callander (my Australian friend and peer from the previous diary entry) counts among Ladida’s residents and so we got a second chance to pit our skills against each other. Our floor was just the right side of small and intimate and came equipped with a decent soundsystem, making Ladida another new gem on my personal Australian party map.

After all, the Melbourne club scene is miles ahead of the rest of Australia at the moment, leaving cities like – the much larger – Sydney with a lot of catching up to do. After my set at Ladida, Mike took me to the nearby Sorry Grandma (what a name for a club!), the latest brainchild of Michael Delany, one of Australia’s most iconic club promoters.

Among locals – and even more so the overseas DJ crowd – his seminal Honky Tonks club (closed on New Year’s 2006/2007) is still the stuff of legends and remains one of the most popular and original spots on the Australian club landscape of the last decade.

I’ve lost track of all the stories and rumours surrounding this refreshingly surreal and tongue-in-cheek club. And Sorry Grandma promises to resurrect this spirit and become another landmark and monument to Michael’s genius.

After a quick round of spontaneous back-to-back with Mike, I succumbed to the delicious pull of my comfy bed – saving my stamina for an impromptu secret set the following afternoon at the bizarrely named Killing Time. Resident Brock Ferrar had invited me to flex my DJ muscles … and what can I say: it’s impossible not to fall in love with the place.

This was probably the closest I ever came to that certain Sunday afternoon vibe of a few, special Berlin venues – on the other side of the globe, in this tiny garden bar on Melbourne’s Chappel Street. Some places simply don’t need fantastic sound, sophisticated visuals or innovative design (Killing Time had none of those fancy contraptions), but captivate you with something intangible, with an all-pervasive atmosphere emanating from the free spirits who run them.

Once you see post punk Cam Smith tending his bar, you realise why this place is so laid-back. Check out the embedded video to see (or better: hear) what happened when I played Green Velvet’s ‘La La Land’ – I don’t think I’ll ever forget that moment.

So, after one very intense week in Melbourne with equally unforgettable encounters I took my leave of summery Australia and turned towards colder climes.

The following two days entailed some of the strangest moments of my entire DJ career. For the first time ever, I was forced to fly to a city knowing full well I wouldn’t be able to play the scheduled gig. How come? My date in South Korea, at Seoul’s Heaven Club, had been cancelled by the venue’s promoters at such short notice (and for reasons that still elude me) that I couldn’t arrange an alternative gig or rebook my flight to Tokyo.

Up to the last minute, the bookers involved had tried to change the promoters’ minds, but they preferred to fly me over and spring for accommodation rather than let me play once I was in town. Upping the surreal factor by another notch, they had put me up in a hotel that was part of the club complex, so when I went to sleep, I could still hear the faint beats of the dancefloor I had been meant to play – that’s roughly like dangling a juicy steak a few inches in front of a hungry mutt’s snout.

I never actually met the promoters: after a dinner with the driver, on the night of my arrival, they left me to my own devices and never provided a personal explanation. So, I’ll leave it up to you to decide: does this warrant a spot among the curious high- and lowlights of DJ culture?

Well, I used the spare time for a day-long exploration of the 16-million metropolis on Christmas Day – seven full hours of walking without spotting another non-Asian face. I guess that also counts as a new experience: being an alien in Seoul.

Next and last stop: Tokyo. Here, I was welcomed by an old friend, Naoki Serizawa aka Chris Bastard. My favourite Japanese ambassador had booked me for the third time in a row – and for the second time at the city’s hip Warehouse 702.

This time around, the club wasn’t quite as full as the first time I had played it – not least of all due to the strong competition governing Tokyo’s thriving club scene – but the atmosphere itself was absolutely fantastic: a nonstop assault of hands-in-the-air and handshakes across the DJ desk.

After the gig, I nipped over to see my colleague Konrad Black’s set at the seminal Womp Club. A few hours earlier, we’d been messaging and realised that we were actually playing the same city. Luckily, he was playing later, so I managed to catch the tail end of his set and the frenzied finale on the jam-packed main floor, including complete madness in front of and behind the DJ desk. Well, the Japanese do have a knack for enthusiasm …

And so, my Beatportal stint comes to an end. That’s all, folks! Over and out.

P. S. Don’t forget – our deadline for the fourth and final round of the Get Physical DJ Challenge is Tuesday, the January 12th. So keep those last-minute submissions coming.

E-mail download links to your tracks (links only please, no MP3s) to competition@physical-music.com (and add ‘Get Physical Competition‘ to the subject box to be on the safe side).

• (6) Comments
• (3633) Views
• Get DJ T.'s 'World Tour' DJ chart