Breaking My Back

Back to vinyl, A.K.A back to breaking my back..Why am I doing this again??
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Flashback to the last dj gig I had before I took my 3 1/2  year break...

I was playing with Connie at a club(we'll leave the name of the venue out of this!) for my friend's birthday party. This kid that was opening for me had clearly only been a dj for a very short time, and was playing off of his laptop, unapologetically pumping the absolute WORST EDM garbage my poor ears had ever been abused with.. I was thus thrust into a reasonably bad mood before even ingesting my obligatory pre-set beer.. On top of this, this was to be my first ever dj gig using a damn USB stick. Like many other dj's I had quit playing vinyl(very reluctantly and depressingly) in 2008, and had moved on to CD's, now it was time for me to face the USB music stick revolution head on.

​The story goes a little something like this...

I didn't want to play after this kid. In fact, I wanted nothing more than to run away and hide whilst sticking needles in my eyes. This was the absolute worst situation(musically) I had ever been thrown into. Anyway, when it was my turn to get in the booth, I put my little USB stick in the black hole and reluctantly, began to play......

And........... ladies and gentlemen, in  THAT very  moment a piece of my soul DIED.

I can't fully explain it. But suffice to say, in that moment I had come to terms with the fact that the entire art of deejaying was officially dead. It was a wrap - Done. Dusted. My poor little dj soul crumbled that night, and did not return for 3 1/2 years. I vowed to take a step away from the dj game, focus on singing and performing, and reevaluate if I could even be a part of this new and oh so thrifty USB revolution.

I mean, a fucking monkey could learn how to play a damn usb stick in a Pioneer CDJ. I could literally eat an entire 4 course meal, watch a movie, make out with someone, and paint my finger nails - all simulataneously while mixing, and STILL not wreck a mix on those things. As if CD's weren't easy enough to play! Seriously though..

But anyway, this is not to say that I didn't on some level love how easy it had become for us dj's. For years I'd yell and scream at the turntables, cut my cuticles on record sleeves, spend every red cent I had on import vinyl, curse at the needles when they'd skip(just as I'm about to bring in the most epic mix EVER!!!). And basically complain, in some manner, just like I am now.. bwahahaha.

But I digress.. point being, playing vinyl is not easy. It's a skill that you learn and hone over many years, a true creative art form and skill set that was at one point taken very seriously. 

But alas, the days of the Balance Promo record pool are over. And it's been a very long time since a crate of ridiculously nasty underground promo records showed up to my house. That is, until today(and no they're not mine unfortunately, lol).

Ohhhh sweet baby Jesus...the vinyl promo galore, the funky demos and yummy acetates, the one time vocal releases and insanely well produced white-labels, oh yeah baby, yep, it's still happening, and it's beginning to happen even more now...... 

And, I'm very excited to start collecting these new gems and begin rebuilding my sonic arsenal, as it were. You know, those records that have the capacity to change someone's life on the dance floor.. not the filler tracks, not the "I look cool because I play this" tracks - we're talking next-gen, next-level, over the top SICK shit here. They're out there, I know it and I intend to find them. I smelled some of them today and it made my blood boil once again(in a  good way, lol). I want to be that dj again, and I will be. But, it's going to take a lot of time, perseverance, and know-how to get these golden records inside my crate once again. Luckily, I'll always have my classics, I'll always have Abagale's original arsenal of sonic love-fare and space age bombs...

​But it's Amunet's world now.... and I have some pretty big shoes to fill..