Drumcode Tour: Chicken wings and gadgets in Toronto

Drumcode Tour: Chicken wings and gadgets in Toronto

10 October, 2008 | 6.58PM

• Written by: Industry Boy
• Filed under: Music News: adam beyer, circa, drumcode tour, joel mull

“Are you a wings man?” asks Adam Beyer on the plane over from New York to Toronto. Today’s trip is only a 70 minute hop, which in the world of DJ travel, is a cool breeze.

“You know, chicken wings? Whenever I come to the States, I have to get chicken wings. Pizza too. Eating the specialties of a region is part of the fun of traveling,” he says, grinning. 

He pops some black chewing tobacco into his mouth and sticks it to his top gum.

Adam Beyer has been flying across the globe for the best part of 12 years to play his unique blend of driving techno in underground clubs and after all this time, he still seems excited about the jet-setting lifestyle.

“I’ve been traveling almost every weekend for the last seven years, and it has been really hectic,” admits Beyer.

So why does he do it?

“Because I can do it and that’s what I’m good at,” he replies.

“I’m probably not the best producer in the world, but DJing and traveling what I’m really good at.

“I like to be out in the field doing A&R for my three labels – Drumcode, Truesoul and Mad Eye - and I’m good at that.

“I guess I’m 50% artist, 50% businessman.

“Sometimes when I get really tired and have been on the road for a long time, I wish that I could stay at home. And I look forward to it, but then after a couple of weeks of being at home I start climbing the walls again.”

It sounds like he’s afraid of settling down, of getting stuck in one place. He agrees.

Perhaps there’s a viking in him, an innate urge to explore and to keep exploring.

After a smooth sailing through Canadian customs, we meet tonight’s promoter and our host Alex, who gives us a ride to the Holiday Inn in Toronto.

“The Holiday Inn?” asks Joel Mull, not in any way attempting to hide the disappointment in his voice.

“Yeah man, I thought that too when I was told about the hotel,” says Alex, not missing a thing. “But don’t worry, this is apparently a nice Holiday Inn.”

It turns out Alex is right – the Holiday Inn on King Street is the opposite to the budget accommodation we had all feared.

After checking in, Alex walks us over to tonight’s venue Circa, the relatively new Toronto club owned by the legendary New York nightlife mogul Peter Gatien.

From the outside, Circa looks huge and Alex reveals that it can hold 3000 people in total.

Alex shows us around inside, and Adam seems impressed.

There are escalators, and a huge main room, plus another opulent dark red room which the Drumcode duo are playing in tonight.

There are plenty of peculiarities inside the club too - Joel finds a dentist/operation chair particularly amusing.

The boys head into the DJ booth where they’ll be playing tonight and they chat with the club’s sound technician as to their ideal set up.

“I need three CDJs, plus room for a loop machine,” says Adam.

Joel continues, “I need two turntables for Traktor and space for my laptop and a FaderFox MIDI controller. We run it all through an Allen & Heath Xone:92.”

After set up, we head back out once again onto the bustling, golden streets of Toronto.

Adam says he wants to buy a new delay machine, so we go gadget shopping.

“I produce my tracks on a PC using Cubase and Ableton, but I’m starting to get a bit bored of just using the computer,” says Adam.

Unlike most producers today, Adam Beyer started making music when there was only analogue gear and Ataris around, in the early 1990s.

“I’m planning on building up my hardware and I want an outboard mixing desk again,” he says.

“It just think it’s more fun when you can get hands on and ultimately, my productions have always been about me having fun in the studio with machines.”

Alex takes us to a store called Moog Audio on Queen Street, which is run by a friend of his.

Before long all of us are fiddling with the new musical instruments and DJ equipment, particularly the Yamaha Tenori-On which Joel Mull salivates over like a kid who’s discovered his dad’s porn stash.

Adam finds a glass cabinet filled with pedals and analogue FX gear, and after a few minutes he decides to buy a metal green box called a Line6 DL4 delay.

“I’m going to try to use this in my DJ sets, but it might just end up in the studio if it’s too complicated,” he says.

The DL4 has a ton of bad ass delay settings and a tap tempo function, so Adam can get the FX in time to tracks whilst DJing.

With the boys having got their toys, it was time to complete the last remaining pre-club ritual on Adam’s mind.

Chicken wings.

And believe it or not, Adam and Alex have been chatting about a chicken wings face-off for almost a year – the last time Beyer played in Toronto, Alex promised to take him to the best wings spot in town, a pub called the Fox and Fiddle.

About 45 minutes and four pounds of wings later, there was nothing left except a big pile of bones.

Joel and Adam then went for a two-hour disco nap back at the hotel, and I wrote this post dear reader.

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