DJ T. tour blog: Week 19 & 20

DJ T. tour blog: Week 19 & 20

26 November, 2009 | 8.41AM

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

DJ T.’s blog from the road continues with raring reports from five North American cities - Newport Beach, Calgary, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Boston.

Click through for his amusing and insightful thoughts from the road, and for information on round three of the Get Physical Producer Challenge - he’s urging all budding producers to submit their best track to him for possible release on the famous Berlin-based record label.

Hey,

20 weeks and three continents down, eight weekends and two tectonic plates to go! Big thanks to Beatportal for letting me document my tour over such a long stretch of time. And – this goes without saying – thanks to all of you for continuing to follow my antics in such great numbers … after all, ‘homo legus’ (the reading person) seems to be a dying species and I’m sure there are more exciting things out there than reading about my weekly adventures.

For some strange reason, I get far more feedback from Latin and Northern America than from Europe, but maybe that’s simply a case of information overload. Here, in America, I am constantly approached by people who want to discuss some of the blog subjects and this is great motivation for those precious (and rare) moments when the muse drops by in between party madness and travel stress (believe me – more often than not, the muse has better plans).

Last weekend, I only had one gig and the week before I was a bit lazy, so here’s my compact account of the five latest stops wrapped up in one post. For the overseas part of my tour, I decided to go all out. For the first time in 23-years of DJing, I played 15 weeks without a break or a single weekend off – and also accepted some financial compromises. Touring outside of Europe tends to go hand in hand with 50-60 per cent lower fees; in North America it’s mostly the mid-week gigs in smaller towns and venues that put a noticeable dent in the average.

Despite these cuts, I was raring to go because this is what it’s all about: I wanted to take a trip off the beaten track, away from the large venues and big cities I tend to play on my usual brief tours, and instead cover the entire continent for a more varied and comprehensive peek at the state of club culture in the US and beyond.

After my gig at Avalon in L.A., I trailed the coast towards San Diego – to Newport Beach – just an hour’s drive away. Here, Josh Billings – host and regular at Tapas with his Focus nights (still going strong after six years) – impressed me with his attitude. There aren’t many promoters like him, fervent people whose top priorities are fun, passion and surprising their city and crowd with something special.

Making money, on the other hand, is almost at the end of their long list of reasons for running a club. Like a lot of other places in the U.S., Newport Beach takes its closing time very seriously and the house lights came on at 2am sharp. A quick glance at the assembled faces revealed that my two brief hours behind the decks had made a handful of people very happy. And, yet again, I ran into some unexpectedly well-informed house mavens and far-travelled Get Physical fans (hi Chelsea and Rachel!) in this midsized town (approx. 100.000 inhabitants). 

The next stop on my list was Calgary/Canada. A famous bastion of icy sports, I remembered the 1988 Winter Olympics (this was before I started to boycott television). My local contact, Cary Chang, has been running record shops, promoting clubs and DJing for more than a decade, which made him a local “don of electronics”, or something similar.

I had another fun night in this smallish city (see above) and Cary’s venue, Habitat, was a snug little place with a 100-capacity – intimate and instantly familial. My unfortunate, personal low of the night: a protracted, exhausting battle with the venue’s CD players. One of them suffered from a ridiculous pitching instability, a first for me ... I don’t think I’ve ever encountered warped or wonky CD players, it’s something I only know from record players. The result: mixing impossible, but that didn’t seem to bother anyone but myself. So, don’t worry, Cary – I’m up for a rematch!

The next day marked my first trip to a city that friends had been recommending for ages. Going on their stories, I already suspected that this might become one of my few, real “feelgood” favourites in North America: San Francisco. A generous 24 hours are definitely not enough to get a real feel of a city, but I don’t think it was just my imagination – there’s a different breeze wafting through the streets of San Francisco (anyone remember the fantastic TV series with gnarly Karl Malden and a (those were the days) fresh-faced Michael Douglas?), an almost tangible laid-back and liberal spirit.

The legacy of beatniks, hippies and Haight Ashbury seems omnipresent. Well, at least I felt a strong connection to this place from the first moment, something that hasn’t really happened in any other US city, and the sensation grew stronger with every hour.

The Mighty club’s booker, Derek Hanah, is a huge music fan and proved an even greater host. The following afternoon, he tried to show me as much of his city as possible in my few remaining hours. The preceding party had been fantastic – it probably would have been even more packed if I hadn’t faced stiff competition from Claude / Stroke who was celebrating the start of his tour with a sure-fire home win in another hip club across town.

We had actually been in touch and bemoaned the fact that we’d be “playing against each other” – we couldn’t even nip over to see the other’s set as we’d been booked to perform at the same time. What a shame! On the other hand, I was lucky enough to get a taste of the city’s after hour culture.

At Mighty, Sammy D – host of the popular Kontrol parties – had murmured something about sharing an after hour slot, so once I had finished my own set, I made my way to a house party in the Castro.

Here, in what is probably the world’s largest gay district, two floors boasted a bizarre (especially visually) and refreshingly heterogeneous audience that rivalled anything I had seen before, including the most eclectic Berlin crowds.

Fuzzy-bearded lanky geeks in corduroy jackets (the long-lost remnants of a Big Brother and the Holding Company gig?) mingled with huge, vixenish transvestites, androgynous goths, assorted hipsters and average Joes as if it was the most natural thing in the world – some of the individual rooms reminded me of seperate theme parks. I finally trekked back to the hotel after the police had rudely interrupted my living room set. San Francisco, this was just the beginning ...

The next day took me back to maple leaf country and another city premiere. I had never been to Vancouver before and found myself pleasantly surprised when I realised that I’d ‘misplaced’ the city. For some reason, I’d always placed it a lot higher on the map, both geographically and in terms of climate, closer to Alaska and the Arctic Circle.

In reality, it is just a few miles beyond the US/Canadian border and, due to the local microclimate, around 3-8 degrees warmer than the neighbouring heartland – all the way throughout the year. The surrounding landscape and nature is truly stunning and just a short hop away.

Throw in a relaxed, multi-cultural city with plenty of likeable locals, and Vancouver jumps straight to the top three of my North American city charts (besides Montreal and San Francisco). For Steve G and his partners, the night of the 14th was the biggest show they had ever staged. A club like the Lotus Sound Lounge with two headliners (Matthew Dear and myself) in one night? Almost unheard of in Vancouver.

Accordingly, there was a great buzz around the night and all the anticipation was well-founded. When I arrived at the venue just after 1am, for the last tracks of Matthew’s live gig, I stepped into a heaving, packed club – I couldn’t have asked for a better prep! Later on, I finished my set with a bootleg version of INXS’ “Need You Tonight” – which still sounds as crisp as ever: check the short clip for further evidence.

But this was only the beginning: for once, I had agreed in advance to play an official after hour at a club that refuses to slot into the usual North American club categories. In a way, it reminded me of the – by now almost extinct – species of excessive (and possibly illegal) watering holes ubiquitous in Germany during the 1990s.

Anyway, this place truly deserved its after hour status as it exuded just the right dose of charming fucked-upness that helps a 6am (or beyond) crowd to get completely lost in sound. I really didn’t want to stop and switched to a completely new set for another four hours. Anything too leftfield for the previous weeks’ run of prime time slots came out of the bag; the place seemed to be begging for it!

So, I’ll always remember my Vancouver week, restaging “The Odd Couple” in Steve’s apartment … thanks a million, Steve, for being such a gracious host! I really hope I can make it over next year to catch a bit of Vancouver’s summer …

As if my flight schedule wasn’t eccentric enough, I embarked on another continent-crossing trip to the northeast of the U.S.. I had been booked to play a Tuesday in Boston, but unfortunately, there wasn’t much evidence of the Massachusetts’ capital’s formerly thriving club scene.

Sometime around the turn of the millennium, the city’s mayor had started a personal vendetta against these suspicious nighttime amusements, possibly to protect the ostensibly well-behaved students at Harvard, MIT, BU etc. from the dangers of Dionysian debauchery. This campaign culminated in a plethora of measures destined to make it harder for the students at the city’s countless universities to go out and have fun.

Well, it looks like her crusade was successful. Today, the local electronic music scene is marginal at best and if it wasn’t for Tom Beaulieu – the city’s indefatigable champion and defender of the last bastion of beat-driven fun – Boston would have long lost its last, weekly congregation.

Battling the system with unusual approaches, plenty of wit, tenacity and the aid of (legal) loopholes, they managed to preserve this place and enclave of freedom. All the people involved with this club conveyed a great sense of appreciation for the energy that went into it, the special love and passion that kept this delicate plant alive. As a European and Berlin resident, I once again realised just how blessed and privileged we are with our nightlife situation.

Get Physical Producer Challenge!

Don’t forget about round three of the Get Physical Producer Challenge - you’ve got until Tuesday December 1st (next week!) to hand your unreleased tracks in for possible inclusion on a Get Physical release at the end of the year!

Myself, and my label partners M.A.N.D.Y. and Booka Shade will evaluate all submissions and pick a winner at the end of this month who’ll get a cool gift pack with all new Get Physical releases and a $50 Beatport download voucher. After the final round at the end of the year, we will pit these five contenders against each other and choose our favourite.

This winning track will make it onto our upcoming ‘Full Body Workout’ compilation on Get Physical.

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).

Get to work!

Your DJ T.

DJ T. - The Inner Jukebox Worldtour 2009

November
25.11.09 - Electric Pickle, Miami (USA)
27.11.09 - Gallery, Washington (USA)
28.11.09 - Asylum Afterhours, Honululu (USA)

December/January
04.12.09 - Zouk, Singapore (SG)
05.12.09 - Stereosonic@F4, Melbourne (AU)
06.12.09 - Stereosonic@Eagle Farm Racecourse, Brisbane (AU)
10.12.09 - Lala Land, Byron Bay (AU)
11.12.09 - Ink Nightclub, Auckland (NZ)
12.12.09 - Chinese Laundry, Sydney (AU)
18.12.09 - Lot 33, Canberra (AU)
19.12.09 - Poison Apple, Ladida, Melbourne (AU)
25.12.09 - Club Heaven, Seoul (SK)
26.12.09 - Warehouse, Tokyo (JP)
31.12.09 - Underground Club, Hannover (DE)

January
01.01.10 - Tribehouse, Neuss (DE)
07.01.10 - Dubai tbc
08.01.10 - Haus der Kunst, München (DE)
09.01.10 - Airport, Würzburg (DE)
15.01.10 - Istanbul (TR)

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