The weekend starts later today, so many of you will be gathering your DJ existence into pockets, bags, and flight cases, in a bid to establish your underground cred, keep pissheads happy in a wine bar, or get paid fat loot for an arena set. But despite the wide variances of our assorted scenes, one thing unites each and every one of us — we’re all DJs, just with different experiences of the so-called DJ culture.
I just read an interview on the BBC website with Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim aka a long list of aliases, and he laments the changes in DJ culture. He said this:
“I was thinking the other day about how DJ culture has changed – and one of the things is you don’t have the same sense of brotherhood. If you were sitting in the airport, you’d know another DJ because they had a record box. So you’d immediately try to work out from the stickers who they were – and then you’d get into a conversation with them.
We considered ourselves outlaws because no-one really respected us and we lived outside the normal working hours. Nowadays, everyone is a DJ.”
This is one very successful DJ’s view on such things. But being a superstar DJ and producer over the course of two decades, his perspective is reasonably unique in the whole DJ scheme of things.
YOUR SAY
I talk to much so I’m leaving this right here right now as a weekend discussion point. I’m interested in your own personal perspectives on how you see DJ culture, your routine, and your lifestyle have changed over the years. For the better or worse? Are you happier to not be lugging the contents of your spare bedroom out every weekend? Has the digital age freed you to do more in the DJ world? Are you happy sitting in an airport knowing that all your gear is safely stowed above your seat? Or like Fatboy Slim, do you miss the good old days when the record box marked you out as being special and you could connect with fellow DJs? Do you feel a sense of community with other DJs, or are you a lone wolf lost in music?
