So the recording of this podcast is happening on eight twenty four, Kobe Day, and they just announced officially that finally the Kobe statue is going to be in front of I'm gonna say it, the Staple Center. I still like saying the Staple Center. You don't like Crypto dot com arena cryptos, I don't know, I don't. I mean it is, yeah, I mean it's hard for me to accept the whole Crypto dot Com Marina. I mean I say it just because you know, I don't want to be that guy
that's stuck in the past. But Staple Center just sounds so good. And that's that's the How's that Kobe Buildings. And I'm super happy that the statue is gonna go up. I want to know, what do you guys think the statue is gonna be because right now, all the statues of the Laker players are of a basketball move iconic moments. Yeah, like the shock dunk, Magic Johnson, no, look past, you know that's his statue. I'm hearing that GG is gonna be part of it. Oh word, that'll
be cool. Okay, So I agree that would be cool, but I don't know, I kind of want Kobe to have his own thing. Yeah yeah, yeah, maybe they could do something else or maybe have something connected to it, but you kind of want Kobe in like basketball form, right Yeah. The one that I'm seeing on social right now is the one where they're walking together side by side. I could see that. But see that's fine, man, like love that moment, that picture that somebody made.
But again, I don't know. I wanted to be more of like a dunk. I think I think it would be. I mean, obviously no one can see us, but when he does the fist pump, I think that's pretty iconic. Yeah, yeah, yes, it's not a basketball move, but I mean everybody knows like the Kobe fist pump. How about the one where he takes the jersey and he's, oh, that's a good one. Yeah, that's a good one too, and then they make like I
don't know, there's so many options so that. But if they are gonna do Gigi, it's probably gonna be them just like walking, which doesn't feel like as like sports iconic, But you know, I do think Gigi will be a part of it. Somehow. We got some special guests Dom solo here. We're gonna like, introduce you officially in a second, But do you have any like Kobe? I thought them on this whole of his statue coming because I know you ball. Yeah yeah yeah. I don't watch a
lot of basketball, but I do know Kobe a little bit. So for sure. The fadeaway, I feel like, pretty that's pretty iconic. Does any fade away? It's fadeaway is very iconic. That's his move. I feel like I want. I wonder if they're gonna like preview it first. No, I think they'll just unvail it. Wow. By the way, February eighth of twenty twenty four, so there's still kind of time. The eight twenty four together, the two yeah two twenty two eight twenty four two
number oh yeah yeah you right? So even perfect? Yeah, I love it. I love they made it official today. Vanessa came out with a video. Anyone I have Kobe stories by any chance? I got the game I got to see Kobe in was the Kobe Kobe versus Shack when Shack went to the Miami Heat. I was at that game and the Heat beat us. I mean, I remember when Kobe put out a song, you know
what I mean? It was always like random to me because I remember being in school and oddly enough I don't even know, but a radio station I came to the school that I was at at the time and they were passing out demos of Kobe's song that he had. What was the song? I remember, Yeah, I remember he did come. Yeah. And then also, growing up, my sports number was always number eight before I even knew Kobe, and then I thought that that was always tight because Kobe was eight.
I always wore eight, and I always wore eight chain and everyone I always assumed that I had had it for Kobe and I was like, no, I mean, Kobe's dope. But I actually had this number before Kobe. But it was always dope to share that number with them. Domini Kobe stories, No really, I was a Kings fan. You guys hate that, but you guys served us. So just just seeing the Kings loosey you guys the only memory I have so slight flex I actually got to DJ a
Kobe party in Hollywood. So now we know the real reason why you asked your story there. Trust me, there's no big story on it. All I all I remember is him sitting down with Vanessa and him just sitting there and almost thinking is this guy even enjoying himself? He was just sitting there. Not the other basketball players were partying and he was just sitting there as though because he actually played in Fresno. Was it at Save Mart Selling,
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, but I do remember him coming out here for the preseason. Yeah, I think wasn't it his rookie year? Maybe that might have been. Yeah, when he came to Fresno. I do remember the night that I DJ that party. I do remember sucking that night like any other night, which kind of brings us to today's topic because that was a horrible set of mind and we wanted to talk about DJ gig nightmares,
like just horrible stories that's happened. If you're a DJ out there, hopefully you guys can relate, because we're about to tell you out some some stories today. So are you ready? Let's do it. This could give me fire podcasts. That is John Magic and we are back special guests. I'm glad we got a special guest for this one. And he's a DJ as well too, so I'm sure just like we're not alone when we say
DJ gig nightmares. But he's a guy that's a that I've seen for these past few years now DJ around town and just as of late, bro, I see you working. Yeah, and we got to shout him out. He's in the building. Dom Solo is Yes, Hey, thanks for finally joining the podcast. Pleasure, thanks for having me. I mean, before we get to the DJ gig nightmares, let's just get to know you real
quick, just some quick things. Are you originally from him to five five nine, Yes, Californiada, Oh No, I lived in Madera for like two two three years Western shout out. How did the DJ career start for you? Like, how did that path start? So? I started pretty early. My dad is actually a DJ, so I started doing like DJ gigs with him, just like weddings, city evans, stuff like that. And I didn't really get into it into it until after high school. So
I went to Portavo College and then I kind of experienced. Me and my friend made my buddy DJ my brother's twenty first birthday and we got requests to start DJing and we were like, oh, yeah, sure, why not, you know, and then just kind of built off of that. When you started, was it already the cerato era or were you or yes, but I was on DJ app on the MacBook and we were it was called it was d j a y Was that like an Apple It was? Yeah, correct, it was an Apple app? And uh yeah, I mean
it was. Is it like serato or like it's that it's very basic. It's like more basic than like virtual DJ. It's just like very like the star Yeah, very starter kit. And yeah, I just started eating mixer or what were you using? How was it real? So at first me and my buddy were literally just djaying off the lap yeah, yeah, and
so we would mix off the laptop. But my dad had this small it's a hercules like little tiny controller basically that had two little decks that were little circles, and uh yeah, we just started DJing off that and the DJ app. I first started seeing Dom hanging with the t Z radio guys with bro Tea and Burns our homies, and I would just see you around before we even knew each other. And I just saw you at events and stuff.
I don't know what it was, just like just seeing him at events, I could tell that he had like some factor even just with his work ethic. He was you know, he was a good DJ, like music. Your music selection was always on point every event I saw you at. But there was just something about your energy that I like being around, because you know what we always talk about, we just like being around the same
energy. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, So how I kind of introduced and started talking to Dom was I was this is when I was leaving Fresno. I was moving away, going back home, and someone had to take over my weekly my resident yeah at that time, right, yeah, And like I kind of randomly hit you up like yeah, and I was shocked. I was like, oh my god. I was about to ask you, like what was going through your mind when like I hit you up, like
yo, I need someone to take over for me. Yeah. Well, I was just shocked, you know, because you know, I have been putting in a lot of work, so like just things someone that is very a big staple in Fresno, like the DJ scene, is like and for you know, you to hit me up. I was just very shocked. I didn't know what to do or say, but I was excited for the opportunity for sure. I always get shocked when people like see us in that way because I'm like, I'm just like this losing Well, what's funny it
is how you set up the question. So when I hit you up, how did you feel about it? You know, I kind of want I wanted to see his side of it because the reason why I asked him that, it's because it was random. Yeah, we didn't we didn't even know each other. So I think that's why I'm asking because I've never I've just said what supt him was probably the most I've yeah to you. Yeah, just yeah. So that's why I was wondering, like a random like I'm
about to offer you something without even knowing who you are. No, yeah, exactly, yeah, exactly, And that's what it was. The shocking part about it was was that, you know, but it was I was basing it off energy. Yeah. So luckily the energy was right because you're working, bro, So tell us real quick about the run you're doing right now, like what you're doing as a DJ, because I know you're a resident, you're kind of like in charge of booking the DJs in town.
Can yeah, speak on that real quick? Yeah. So I got involved with Standard and then I got involved with also Vixon, Lewis Evericks, and they gave me an opportunity to start booking and djaying at Vixon and Sunset, So I kind of took that role over and this ran with it. Is there a name for that role, like it's like entertainment director. Yeah. Yeah, So I've been doing that for about it's going to be a year now, but I've been djaying for like them for like two years now since
like since twenty twenty one. So well man continued success because I see you working and I love that you're because I always tell Justiz so this that I'm at that stage where I'm already feeling too old to be dejaying these kids parties, which we're gonna get some stories of even that being more prevalent. But you're doing your thing, even going to events, and I just remember those things can just even inspire you to, you know, to better your crafts.
No, definitely, yeah, yeah, yeah, go ahead go. That's why I do go to these shows is to have get inspiration, bring it back and kind of serve it out to the community here because it's it's just energy that you can tap into at these big shows that you don't really get at like the club scene here, get at you know, just parties here, you know. So I wanted to the good A good place to start is one of the clubs that Don books me at, which is one
of my favorite spots. It's Sunset and Fresno, and this recently just happened. And I don't even think you know about this story though, And can I just preface this by saying that this is one of my favorite spots, So this is not about the club. I'm not just in the club. This is the situation that happened, and that's all this is because I'm looking
forward to djaying there again. I love sunset dope energy there. So this past summer, as you know, Dom, they set up to what is it, what are they called cool not because you know, it's summertime in Fresno over one hundred degrees so it does get hot in there. They put that thing up a few months ago. So I was djaying there this past week and it was a good night when I got there. Right when I got there, the bartenders, the bottle girls, they're all, hey,
John Magic, it's gonna be one of those nights. Ye sold out tonight. It's gonna be crazy, And why didn't you know it? Ten pm line around the block as DJs were excited, so it gets packed, and now I'm as DJs, as you know, we want to take the crowd on a journey, and midnight is kind of like the prime time where you want to get your good stuff going, all the hits. I already had
my set planned out because it was packed, the energy was right. So eleven forty five, I start putting my music together for midnight, like I know exactly where I'm gonna take this crowd. And around eleven fifty five, I see people making weird faces on the dance floor and I'm kind of making that weird face too, because I smell something. But I was thinking, you know, sometimes when you smell a weird smell, it eventually goes away,
It just disappears. But I did notice that the smell wasn't going away, but I just ignored it. But it just kept getting worse. And imagine five hundred people on the dance floor slowly, just every everyone just starts panicking slowly and heading out the door where the dance floor empties, like like there was a panic. People were just screaming, oh my god, what is that? And everyone's running to the door leaving, And so I couldn't ignore this. I had to kind of stop the music and get on the
mic, and I go, what what the fuck is that? And people are just yelling at me. Someone took a ship, someone threw up. I was like, no, wait, because it does. It smelled like throw up to me, and everyone just left the dance floor. I've never experienced this before, from a pack club wall to wall to an empty dance floor at eleven fifty five, right before midnight, and I could not The energy just went downhill from there. I just could not recover. And I've
never experience into that before. And we later found out that someone turned on those swamp coolers. Uh so that had Yeah, that those those are a little issue. Yes, they have a little smell to them. Yeah I wish I wish they were never even up there for that night at least, but that the security guard was like, that's what it was. Someone turned it on. It wasn't even supposed to be on. I was someone put some tape on it. Yeah, But I mean, what's what's wrong with
the swamp coolers though? Aren't that isn't that they're four though? They were telling me that they haven't replaced maybe like the water in there, So there's mold and stuff in the right, so just go ahead and get those out. Yea, yeah, yeah, that's something that's an issue for sure. That so I'm sure they I mean, I'm sure they must have done something
now because yeah, everyone was in panic mode. I've never that's probably that might be number one on my list of like djig nightmares, because I've never expected, honestly thought when you were telling a story that it was going to be like someone shitted, like kind of scared, like oh no, when someone yelled at I was looking at the dance well, like I please, don't let me see just a pile? Yeah, like why that would have been Yeah, yeah, I got more, but do let's get let's get
to one of your stories. Okay, I'll just I'll do I'll do my most recent one. Okay, let's just get into it. Uh. So I'm at Vixen. Their DJ booth isn't that big, so it usually it just fits like me. I had a couple of friends on there. Uh. One of them decides to take a TikTok or something and props her phone up on a drink. Oh no, somehow, I turn around for one second, I look back, and that drink is all on the left side of my deck, covering my turntable, and yeah, I had to get
a rag and wipe it. Luckily, it was probably about one probably about one thirty it started glitching, which is when we usually close, so luckily it worked out. But yeah, that that totally fried. And I had to get a new controller the next day because I had a gig the next day. So wow, Yeah, that was probably the biggest nightmare that I had, just because that's never happened to me in the ten years I've been
doing this, Like an actual full drink fall on your deck. And I know about the controller you were using because it's the same controller that I had. Yeah, and that's a nice controller. Yeah. Yeah. The first thing that's popping in my head right now, did this person give you any money to pay for a new controller? She is the homie, so yes she did. If she wasn't, though probably not exactly exactly, somebody got anybody else would have ran away. Knowing the price of what these run,
they would have ran straight out the door. But she's the homie. Shout out her. I'm not gonna say any day, but she's the homie, and she hooked it up and actually found the controller on like marketplace and we've got it, got it for a good price with the nice case. So yeah, get worked out. It worked out. While you're telling that story, I feel this energy from Jizo. I'm hoping he doesn't remember you spilled it on Rock. I knew I was gonna say it, but I knew
it. I know. Listens to the podcast too, Hey bro, I got your back. I remember that. I remember being like, yo, you, oh wren a laptop you always I accidentally ended up being cool right like that happened. I think he had the cover, the little plastic over the keys and stuff. Yeah, some beer. I spilled beer all over. Weren't even drinking? You drinking? Yeah, I would even see you drop. I couldn't one of them. It's always the homies. I think
I would have done the same. If something would have happened this laptop, I would have shelled out. You would have been good for it. Yeah, yeah, I would have. But thank yeah. They to this and that happened years ago to this day. They never that was wasn't that at a one of the Sunday's parties. Yeah, I don't even know how that happened, but it was an accident. And then I was just telling you
that story almost similar to yours. I was at sunset and this girl wanted to do like a TikTok thing and she put her she used my laptop as her stand. Yeah, and I swiped that thing off so fast. Yeah. Yeah, Like, I don't know what they're thinking of just going up there. I know they're a little drunk, yeah, but just on top of our equipment. Yeah, I don't think they understand how much it's this
stuff actually really costs. You know what I mean, If that phone would have just went on one wrong button, I mean, the party's over. Yeah, So how about this, because like everything you guys are talking about, how about just some of the annoyances did you guys have to deal with being a DJ at a club or an an event? Like some of the things like of course people always want to like the girls always want to work on the laptop, right, they want to get on stage they're holding the
laptop, and then they want to twork in front of the crowd. Like that's always annoying it people just assume. Or what about like when people come, oh can I can I do a scratch? That always annoying that can I can I do this? And they do the scratching motion like what the man like this? How you up here to play with? That's happened to me many times here too. Yeah, yeah, that stuff also, I don't I kind of don't let it annoy me. Well at least I don't
show it, but internally it does kind of annoy me. Annoy me when people ask for obnoxious requests because usually DJs, we kind of know where to take the club. Yeah, And I would say eighty percent of the time the song that we're the requesting we were gonna play anyways. And it's always funny when they come in dumb ass early, right ten o'clock at night, Yo, can you play? And it'd be like the hottest song? Like you really think I'm not gonna play that? Like you obviously I'm gonna play
that. Let's some more people get in here. It's only like fabby Uni already. You want me to play the hottest record out right now? But I mean you could always just play it twice. I mean, yeah, So I don't know how you do request before we get back to the nightmare stories. But if I've gotten paid one hundred bucks to play a song, and you pay me one hundred bucks, your song is coming up next? What about you? Don what's the biggest tip you ever got? I got
three hundred one song for one one song? Ye for one song? What party were you at? I know? Okay, So depending on how much you get, is it a situation where it's like, all right, I'm playing it's next song. I'm stopping the record right now and I'm dropping it right now. Yeah yeah, dau like twenty bucks? Is it still the next song? I've turned down twenty like no, fIF I think fifty bucks will be my minimum, but it won't be coming up next. I'll get
it on now. Is it annoying when somebody will write it on their phone and then flash you like this and be like, hey, played the song, and you're just like like, y'all, I can't even see what the hell you're doing. I'm just gonna bring that up because that's more of a newer thing in twenty twenty three, the meme of they're holding up their phone, and as of late, I that's what I see at every club now again. I don't let it show. Hopefully my face is not shown it.
I do get kind of annoyed with that, how about you? Oh yeah, it's yeah. That's one of my pet peeves, especially when they're like in your face, like I don't see it, Like, yes, I see that you're holding the phone up and it says play bad bunny, you know, Like I understand that, but I wonder what it is on their end because it's becoming a meme. But yet they still do it because
yeah, yes, Like do you get annoyed with requests in general? Like I said, in general, no, because there's also a positive to it too, because sometimes when people request songs that I don't know about, it actually helps me for the next time I DJ there because I'll look into that song and then go, oh shit, that song is pretty good, so
I better have this in my arsenal. I feel like as like being a host A lot of times, I was kind of at buffer for you guys as a DJ, Like they can come up to me and I'd like lean over, like what do you want here? And then I'll usually be like, yeah, you're not gonna want to play this. Sometimes I won't even tell you because I would already know yeah, they're asking for some stupid shit,
or they're going to ask for something that you're already playing. I do the I listen to them, and then like if I'm in the if I'm the middleman, and then I'll go to the DJ. No, there's there's even been times where I'd be like just shake your head, yes, use not your head yeah, and then and then I give them the dumb got
it? Yeah, like little tricks we do. Oh well. So another this also happened just recently, but this has happened to be happened to me a few times where people are asking for a request and I don't have it and they get upset and start yelling at me. Oh what about the people when they say I got it on my phone? Like can we just connect? You guys get that all the time, like some local rappers. Yeah,
all the time, all the time. Another one that happened is when sometimes I don't know if you do this, but when it's towards the end of the night, I start testing songs, testing news songs, and this was around like one ten already, and it was that switch and I tested the song and a group of girls just start booing me boo, like a group. I'm like geez, So that I hate when that happens, because so how do you handle that? You just kind of ignore it? Yeah,
well, I don't know. I don't ignore it. I like acknowledge them, Like Okay, hold on, relax. Have you ever gone booed before? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, And it's usually it's not because your skills is they're they're booing the song you decided to play. But once again, like I'm not your you know, I'm not your personal playlist. This
is gonna someone's gonna like this. Yeah, but some people you always have that group just like because I don't like it, like boo you suck what I'm saying, they're startain crowds to certain nights just it just doesn't hit sometimes, you know. Yeah, and then you can literally play that same song at a different club or a different night and people are gonna rockwood exactly. A story I have on that years ago. When Crazy and Love by Beyonce
came out. I was djaying at the seller Clovis and that song was new still and I was like, I can't this is a banger. I can't wait to play this at the club. And it was a pact night dropped Crazy in Love by Yeah and the crowd just stood there and walked away and I ruined the dance floor. That's too new for them. Fast forward to
a month later, is the biggest song in the club? Yeah, not to mention it's like a classic now, Yeah, for sure, But that just shows you maybe that song that I played that I got booed for, like they weren't ready for it. You're not ready for a moment. Yeah, sometimes it just takes time. It's it's always weird because you know, as people that love music or DJ's or you know, just on this side of the industry, like we can tell when the record's gonna be big.
It's just new, and sometimes you want to test it or just see what their reaction is and you might get booed and it might not like it, And in your head you're thinking, like, man, you guys are dumb, because you're gonna be liking this in like a couple of weeks. Like just you know what I'm saying. Just because you don't you're not familiar with it, doesn't mean you have to like boo it. I think that's what I do. I think that's where my mind's it is. It's I just
take it with a grain of salt and go. You know, we're in the music industry, so we we know, but it's just a little rude. I guess that's what it is. Yeah, real quick, back to the phone thing where people the phone with a request. I witnessed this with my own eyes. I went to go hang out with Dom at a club and someone was holding up are you single? And then I was like,
bro, that's what you get like, I've never gotten that before. Yeah, I gotten that a couple of times, do I say, like, yeah, let's get back to another one of my stories, another DJ nightmare. I had a gig in Orlando. This is when Serato was still sort of new. I mean it was already maybe a year into Serato had a gig in Orlando, flew in super excited, went to the hotel and what did DJs do? We organize our music and get ready for the night.
My computer showed the wheel of death. You guys know what the wheel of death is on the Mac where it just has that pin wheel. Yeah, and it just that's all you say on the screen. It's the pinwheel and that we call it that wheel of death because if that doesn't disappear, your laptop is a rap. So my laptop did not work before my gig. Well it was hours before my gig because it was like still daytime, but my gig was at night. I had to go to the Apple had someone
drive me to the mall Apple store. I had to buy a new computer. And this was before record pools on the where you could download music. So I had to call friends and say, just email me these certain songs I like wrote down what I wanted. So that night all I had was maybe forty songs on my laptop. That's a total of forty songs because my gig was in a few hours and I just had my friends email me a
set basically. But as you know, you when you just have your set, you can't take him on a journey, like I can't do anything. No, So that hard drive just everything that ever was. I didn't have a hard drive at the time. Yeah. Well, but even even if I did, my laptop was just commissioned. Had to buy a new one right before my gig. So that was another DJ nightmare. I think that
I think after that is when I bought a hard drive. Yeah, because now I have I have an external external all right, one another one of your stories back in the house party days, uh made. My buddy used to DJ with like a surround sound system like you would plug up to a TV or something. No, we would take like it was like a little it was a sub affair and like four little tiny speakers and we would that was basically our mobile speakers. I was like our to go speakers, and
we would just set it in the house. So instead of like DJ speakers, it was just from like took it out of the TV. Yeah, it was literally like a surround sound a little setup and it worked. It worked for what we did. But so we were DJing this house party. I went to Portaville College, so we d did a lot of like Portaville parties. It's the Baseball Boys house and we're like mid set and the owner walks in and I guess he had no idea that they're throwing this huge rader
And the owner comes in and just yelling at everyone to get out. He's gonna call the cops. To me and my buddy had to just swoop up our system and just run out. We didn't we didn't unplug any cords. We just kind of just gather whatever we could just ran out while he's just yelling at everybody. Ended up. We were fine, but yeah, that was pretty That was a pretty big nightmare, just because we didn't know what
was gonna happen. I wanted to get back on music selection because I have my last nightmare story of this is when I started preparing sets, because before I would just go in to clubs thinking I was the ship. But this is during the time I was a touring DJ and I was booked in Houston, and I don't know what year it was when Chopped and Screwed was big. What was that like twenty I don't know exactly what year, but Chopptin
Screwed was super big in Houston and that's where I was booked. But in my head, I'm gonna do what I do in California and the high fee movement was big for us here and I was so ready just to show them that side California again, packed night and I get on as the headliner and everyone, when I tell you, everyone stopped dancing and just stared at me with the phase of like, what the fuck is this music? They were not getting high fee at all. They just kept requesting Chopped and Screwed,
which I wasn't familiar with, and that was just a nightmare. And it was so bad that after maybe it was supposed to be a one hour set, I DJed for maybe twenty five maybe thirty minutes, and I asked the resident, like get back on. I just didn't take it. I couldn't take the crowd was just giving me that aisle. They just wanted all the regional shit. Yeah, And I was like, yo, I felt bad getting paid, especially screw. That's a whole different genre than Man to like
certain different records and everything. Yeah, but I mean that's what kind of made you start and getting your set together. And also, yeah, researching whatever city you go to, research that city, yeah, because there's been some times where some out of town djaz come to Fresno and I'm just like, yo, what the fuck are you doing? Like they don't know this shit out here, you know what I'm saying. The biggest names being out here, and like Vegas DJ's out here and it's just like a man,
Fresnos. It's a different, different type of city. You gotta know what we like out here. It is I do remember, man, I'm not gonna say they're DJ names, but there were some big names and we were at the club or like struggling. They were struggling, yea, and yeah, so I mean, yeah, I think that's a good thing, is to research the night man, talk to talk to the local DJs to see
what's popping out there. And and we have like you know, a way to download music quick now, right, all right, you got one more story in you, one more nightmare story, one more from UH. I was probably like twenty one. We used to DJ the frats a lot, and at this time I was running UH to like fifteens with the amps, so we had to bring the amplifier. Wasn't the built in amp like on the speaker, like a built in amplifier on the speaker or whatever. So
I'm mid set and me and my buddy are like, what's smoking? Like why do we smell smoke? And how we set our amp up? It was underneath the table, but we had like the sheet over and we we lift up the sheet and just food, just smoke just comes shooting out. Our amp is completely on fire, like flames, actual flames. We didn't have to get a fire extinguishers, thank god, it like went out by itself, but actual flames, smoke, shooting out. Yeah, and a
party obviously didn't keep going, so that was a nightmare. Man. Those remind me of when there's a there's a thing where it it's called it clips, where if it goes over the power that is supposed to it's it does this thing called where it clips, where the thing shuts down and needs to cool down before it restarts again. Many of many of parties, like you said, college parties. Usually they don't happen at clubs because clubs are supposed
to have like good sound system. But yeah, when it clips, that's the worst. Yeah, especially when you got the club going. It's man, that's another yeah, another yeah. And then in those days, I didn't really think about the clipping part, and we would just clip. It would just be red. It would be red lighting the whole time when you turn up your Yeah, I'm OCD about that. I don't like going on
red. Yeah. I've been a lot better with that because they've been telling me, like, yo, you need to chill out a little bit, because I just like it loud. I feel like I can't like I It's either like I want to feel it. I want to fill the base, I want to hear it. Like I want it blaring in my in my face, which is like bad and good, you know, but that's a
DJ thing where we need it loud. Yeah, sometimes when clubs don't have monitors, yeah, they hear it loud, but we don't, so we try to turn it up so we could hear it too because the speakers are not facing us. But it does sound like shit. I'll admit that when I Sometimes i'll turn it on. I'm like, okay, they was really destroyed, like I need I need to tear it down a lot, you know. Do you ever do you have a say in, for example, sunsets set up with the monitors right there in your ears, so I enjoy
that. Do you have do you ever have say on how the clubs are set up as far as set up, not really like with Sunset, it was already they it was like set up that way, it was meant prior and uh yeah, basically it was set up that way there and they didn't really change the sound. It doesn't really need much changing. It sounds pretty good for the most part. I like the monitors kind of like in my ear like that too, so it's pretty nice. How are how are you
you know? What I was talking about music selection. That's something that I'm I'm curious to how other DJs are picking their music when you go to different clubs. How are you how are you preparing? How do you know what songs to go into? That's okay, So that's what I do. I use TikTok to kind of all right, I should download this new song. But one of the songs that I got booed on was a TikTok I got from TikTok. We read they weren't ready for it. But how are you
preparing for sets? Usually it's like record record pools now, So I'll go on my record pool and see certain songs or all go on like the hip hop playlist on Spotify and just go through that and download songs that I think would sound good in the club. Do you ever look at it like charts or anything, or like what's trending? Do you ever go that deep? I used to used to when, of course working in radio, we had
that. Yeah, so yeah, sometimes I would look into that. The thing that's happening to me lately is when I DJ eighteen and overs, it's been a struggle for me because it's a different beast the songs that are requesting, I just have no idea what it is, and sometimes I feel like I'm disappointing them. But have you dealt with that where they request songs and you just have no idea what it is. Oh yeah, like I did
switch maybe two or three weeks ago. And yeah, there's just names of artists I've never heard of, which is crazy because I feel like i'm kind of in like I'm you know, I'm a little younger but not eighteen years old, but I mean I feel like I'm with the stuff. But yeah, sometimes there's just same names that I've never heard. I've never some deep cuts. The other side to that is the thing I was talking about earlier, how it could be a good thing. And again, hey, I'm
aging myself. I did not know about this song. So when I say this title, you guys are gonna be like, where the fuck have you been? Magic? But they kept requesting this song called asshole by was it? Mike sh sh never heard of it, And I'm like, I just give him the the nod, like yeah, yeah, yeah, you tell him you're gonna play it, but I don't have it, So I just left that alone. But they kept requesting it every time I DJ there, but I've never heard of it. Yeah, you ever like want to risk
like trying to download it? Well, you mean at the moment some clubs don't have that up. Yeah, if I don't have Wi Fi, I won't be able to. But it's actually it's when you played it. I hung out again with Dom. He was playing the night and he played that song and the reaction the crowd gave and then I'm like, oh shit, n I gotta download it. So yeah, I think I even had one of the homies like, yo, please send me the song because I don't
have it. But so that's where from that situation. You know, what I start doing now is when they ask for request, I tell them I don't have it, but I the way I make them feel better, I go, hey, let me write that down so I have it ready for next time. And I do really write it down, and then I'll listen to it if I have to go on YouTube and to see if I like it or not. But it's been fifty fifty part of the times it's a song I won't even like anyways, but I do use that as a tool
now. I do got to start listening to these kids, because if I'm gonna keep dj these eighteen and over parties, I do want to be prepared. Yeah. Likewise, do you still feel like there's an art to DJE a night from like what you're supposed to play as an opener, which you're supposed to play as like a headliner, or do you feel that it's come to the time where it's just kind of a free for all and the whole like undercutting or you know, burning somebody is kind of old now, or
I mean where do you feel like that? Because I remember like first getting into this industry like DJs where like, Nope, you can't play the East if you're the opener, you gotta leave him for the headliner and you better not burn me. And it just always felt like there was almost, you know, not putting anybody on blast. It's almost like some insecurities with some DJs like okay, if they do play a hot song, what like you can't play other shit? Or I don't know where do you feel like that's
going? Yeah? I mean you want you want to take that first? I mean I have, yeah, yeah, because there's still like an art to it, or is it just kind of like, man, just do you and just however, go as it goes. Yeah, I tried to
be I tried to do the art of it. I don't like burning all the bangers in the first hour, you know, because it's just then then what you know, because I do a couple back to backs and sometimes they'll play a banger and I'm like, oh, like we could have waited till, like you know, little a certain time, but it's like, you know, then do you improvise after that? And you figure it out throughout the night. But there are sometimes like, oh damn, it might be
a little too soon for that. But it's not. Yeah, I don't think it's it's I think that that mindset of you can't play like these bangers or this DJ, I think that's kind of gone. But it's in the back of my head a little bit sometimes just because I agree. I agree. So back in my days it used to be frowned upon just what I'm saying. I remember people get so mad, like, oh, man, like yo, you can't DJ. Still there's literally an unlimited amount of songs
out there to rock a party. And if you can't rock a party without bangers, then maybe you shouldn't be a DJ. I'm just saying yeah. Yeah. So back then, like I said, it was, we were DJs were more frustrated when that would happen. It was called burning. You would burn the headliner. But yeah, now these days, I don't let it bother me. Like Dom said, it's more that's an older mentality.
Plus you could just play it again, like yeah, yeah, like later in the night, different people show up, Like it's gonna be different energy. How you bring it in, where you play it could be different. You just said it right there. It's almost like, oh yeah, watch when I play it again. I said it because that matters. The journey matters. I mean, the setup matters. And if you're gonna complain because someone played like a banger before you did, then I don't know what to
tell you. Yeah, any pet peeves at the nightclubs right now for you? Like you know, we talked about the request. What about people being like on stage with you? Is that bother you do you like to be up there? Body doesn't controller? I don't mind it, but now I'm a little more worry about it. But yeah, usually I don't mind it.
It's actually gives more energy because then like people like, oh yeah, people are back up there, you know, dancing, like I want to dance down here, you know, yeah if the staging, if the staging is right, yeah I don't mind it because you know, not shaking the turntables. Yeah, you know there are some clubs where the staging is not right. I mean, yeah, we like again, this is not a
distant the club, it's just the way it's set up. Like even Switch this the stage is kind of wobbly, and people will always ask to jump up there and dance. But then your whole set up is just that one that's close to that thing breaking down. I feel like it's it's so sketchy. But I so, for example, for Switch, I try not to let anyone up there unless I know them personally. You brought up Vixon where it's a smaller booth, so I don't even know how you fit that many
people in there. I honestly didn't know how. It was only two people. But still even just me up there is like, you know, I'm coming most of the but just so you know, when we were at when Imperial was open at the time, that was a huge stay. The whole last dance floor you wanted people surrounding because it's all about energy. I mean, before we wrap this up, last pet peeves. Anybody want to bring up pet peeves at the club. We brought up request, We brought up
people DJ's burning you equipment. Yeah yeah man. So if we missed out any if you guys have your stories, all you DJ's listening, we would love to hear about them. You got can leave me with the comments or you guys, you guys know our DMS. You guys can hit us up and we'll share your stories. But don we appreciate you just sharing some of these DJ nightmares stories and continued success on all the nightclubs and thank you for booking me at Is that why he's on the podcast