Without a doubt my love of DJing stems from my love of music, but what drives me to be the best DJ I can be is my love of dancing.
And isn't that a funny one... the longer you DJ the less you seem to be able to dance with truly stretched out limbs and eyes shut abandon. That feeling that you are part of the music. Every introduction of a new sound or rhythmic change... your body knows it's happening before your mind has caught up.
AAAAH.
So when you DJ you want to channel that natural rhythm to allow the dancers to feel the way you (I) love to. You don't want to jar them or make anything sound... well, unpleasant. You can only hope that you are playing records as musicians would play an instrument... intuitively. Naturally.
Of course there is a lot of practice and knowing your records inside out that makes this possible. But no one wants/needs to know that, right?
Obviously lots of people DJ and many can do it well but how often does it all come together? How often does a great DJ get to play to a receptive crowd, on an amazing sound system tuned by someone into the music about to be played, and, finally - how often does that DJ with all those factors in place get to play exactly what he/she wants to?
Not often enough.
Or maybe that not often enough highlights those moments of serendipity.
And maybe, that not often enough is what drives us to search out those perfect parties?
There is one party that Sydneysiders travel to in a $30 taxi once a month - Mad Racket
Run by a couple of very old friends... One that verbally walked me through all I needed to know about getting two records in time when I was 19 yrs old and another that is one of the most consistently musically brilliant, genre non-specific DJs in Australia. Ken Could and Simon Caldwell. Also the man that loves fish more than me, Jimmi James and Zootie - who unfortunately I've never really spoken to.
For over 11 years these four have stayed committed to bringing all of the above perfect scenarios together for themselves and some of the best DJs in the world to play under their copper ceiling. (I'm pretty certain they have all played exactly what they wanted too.) From literally crying when Chris Duckenfield ended his set with Kings of Tomorrow Finally sometime in the early 00s, to Jamie Lidell's by-the-hair-of-your-chinny-chinny-chin live shows, DJ Spun starting his set with Love Hangover, Brennan Green giving me the confidence to play house slooooowly and hearing Darshan Jesrani play at the height of Metro Area rule.
So many memories. And so many dances.
And miraculously a party where I can still go dance with total abandon. After a while...
Even when I'm worried about my posters not going up, artist fees falling short, not having enough money to buy new records - not mp3s - and the fact that I'm going to feel like crap on Tuesday.
Mad Racket is a party that makes me wanna do what I do better. Dancing, playing records and now... putting on a party where the people can have the time of their life.
Never jarring...
Always Racket.