i had a creepy neighbor his freshman year of college who told me about the school's radio station. i liked the idea of exposing people to good music as there is always a distinct lack of it available for people to hear. so i showed up for the next information/signup meeting the following semester. i spotted a few freaky people likewise wearing black leather jackets and sat next to them.
for returning djs, this meeting was to sign up and hopefully get the same timeslot or a better one. for wanna-be djs, there was a remote chance of getting a show, but an almost guaranteed chance of being an intern for a vetern host. the idea of being stuck on a show playing country, rap, hip hop, or something equally horrible was frightening. i turned to one of the people sitting next to me and eagerly asked if any of them wanted an intern.
one guy, dj waxy, said he would love to have me as his intern, thus shielding both of us from having to work with someone who didn't share our musical tastes. at the time, my exposure to gothic/industrial/experimental music was rather limited though i had been listening to skinny puppy, front 242, nitzer ebb, front line assembly, the cure and others for several years. for my first show, i remember dj waxy playing coil, current 93, death in june, and the swans. i was so blown away i ran out to newbury comics and tower records the next day looking for their releases only to be disheartened that each cd was an import that cost no less than $23.
we had a really good time djing together as we liked a lot of the same music. it was a very educational experience for me as i was exposed to so much new music in exactly the genres i was looking for. the was plenty of fun to be had as well. the name of his show was called "general unpleasantness". we weren't exactly out there to please the masses. we'd get prank calls during the show and calls telling us how much we suck. who could ask for more?
the following school year i was elevated to co-host of the show with dj waxy as my internship was over. it wasn't until the end of that semester that i signed up for my own 4 hour block during the winter break that i djed by myself. it was a bit nerve-racking and i certainly messed up a few times. i recorded it and those tapes may still be in my cassette box... i had my own show called "light in a universally dead society" after the break and applied to become the music manager for the following year. i didn't get the position, but was given my second choice - program manager.
i spent the 3 years as program manager of the station, constantly dealing with whiny students who didn't want to do a 6-8am show or give up 2 hours of the weekend. i guess i couldn't really blame them, but seeing as i got to decide who had a show and who didn't, i always gave myself the last shift, midnight-2am, on a non-club weeknight.
during my time at the radio station, i started djing at clubs too. for a long time, there were only goth/industrial nights at man ray. i went to it at least 2 times a week and started hanging out in the dj booth getting tips from resident dj chris ewen. he usual substitute wasn't really connecting with the crowd so he asked me if i'd fill in for him on a saturday night while he was out of town. i think "YES" flew out of my mouth before my brain filtered the question into a form i could understand.
that first night nearly killed me. when the club remodelled a few month prior, the dj booth was moved upstairs preventing patrons from making requests. a phone booth was installed the night before my debut whereby picking up the phone would cause the one in the dj booth to ring. i was already so nervous my hands shook every time i took out a cd. add the phone ringing incessantly the entire night, ejecting a cd while it was playing (before the days of cd consoles and thankfully during the first half hour), and hitting pause twice in the middle of songs with packed a dancefloor and i had a few meltdowns in the booth. i thank my friends who came into the booth to offer me kind words and hugs to get me through the night.
i vowed to myself that i would never dj in a club again. yet the next time i was asked to dj at manray i accepted. i wasn't as nervous so it wasn't too bad. another 3-4 times behind the board started to make me more comfortable.
since that time, i was a founding member of the club nights ceremony boston (1996-2009 still going without me) and hexx (1997-1998). i've djed several festivals including convergence ii, providence noisefest, and many others. i've had guest spots outside of boston from san francisco, ca to chicago, il to montreal, qc and as far away as vienna, austria.
as of october 01, 2009, i have launched
xiled radio as my main output. broadcasting dj sets online allows me to reach a widen, international audience every day. go check it out!
as a dj, i believe i am both an entertainer and educator. there should be a balance between the 2, especially because most of the crowds i'm in front of want to hear the same songs ad nauseam. it's often a challenge to play a lot of new music. new music is what i thrive on and passing it on to the audience is important.
i also seek technical mastery in mixing and beatmatching. i think it's important to be able to do these things and not keep a dancefloor waiting or let people on the floor know that they're suddenly dancing to something else.
all of my djing is done 100% from cds and records. i do not use an ipod or a laptop. i am totally against laptop djing except in a few cases. i would consider using a laptop if i was traveling far and had a lot to carry. i dragged my stuff from germany to morocco to austria. although it was an amazing time, it was a huge hassle.
