Marc Reck

Last night was the 40th birthday party of Newman College, and to celebrate they held a lavish party in the beautiful grounds of the botanical gardens, with flower power as the theme, and enlisting the fine John Mostyn to co-ordinate (and perform) the musical entertainment.

The main stage setup was nice and smooth and looking suitably sixties, thanks to some fine work from Paul the sound engineer. I was able to setup in no time in a great little spot, which was most welcome from my side, as it was to be the 2nd outing of the new Traktor Scratch setup, which feels like a whole lot of technology (and therefore a whole lot of risk!) It was also my 3rd outing playing to such a diverse crowd of age ranges and the first time ever i’ve played sixties music, hence the lot of digging this week.

It was also the first time i’d seen Brent Ford and the Nylon’s who were John Mostyn’s band of talented musicians, joined on the night by Laura, and preceded by a local band called the Danglers.

The guests all looked suitably hippiefied with their pre drink cocktails in outside, and as they entered the main room, Vo from the nylons played some sublime guitar “noodlings”. Pet Sounds, Beatles, Byrds, and some Smile tracks provided the ambience for dinner, before a great set from local band the danglers, which got people bobbing in their seats, and who were fronted by a great frontman.

After a brief interlude from more sixties classics. Brent Ford and the Nylon’s took to the stage, and immediately people felt moved to get up and shake it. Having never heard them before, i have to say every tune was a killer, and the musicianship, and warm rapport they generated was inspiring. In less than 2 numbers the whole floor was full, and awash with hippy dressed dancers, and sixties esque moves.

Laura joined midset and delivered her amazing vocals, before the final numbers from the core members, and an encore again joined by Laura.

Then it was my turn, and i got to play all the records i’d been sourcing for the week. Committed to keep the dancefloor full, and happy, i opted for the more soul filled sixties, with a lot of classics from the bands fronting the flower power movement. The well known numbers worked the best, and i was reminded to not listen to requests, as no matter how much you want to cater for everyone, 95% of the time that one style thats reqeusted is going to spoil the flow, and not please the populous!

I always try and cater to requests, but the more i do, the more i learn that that one track no matter how good it is, is only going to please the person who requested it, and normally always stifles what you are doing as a dj. There were pop requests for the things like The Macarenna, Kylie, and Robbie Williams, which never really get a look in, (for obvious reasons), there were requests for changing the music into soul or out of soul, (which where honoured, but ultimatly thinned the floor), and i think the only requests that worked was one for the beatles, and a request for a funk track, which were a safe bet, and backed up the notion that wide age ranges, who are on the dancefloor, bascially want (good) tunes they know, that they can dance too. And that is normally the classic bands, the big records, and a healthy slice of mowtown, funk and upbeat soul.

As a dj, i feel it’s really important to me to please everyone as much as is possible, but ultimatly most important to see that dancefloor full, smiling, and jumpin all night long, (ideally with lots of arm movements, and vocal outbursts!) In a club environment, or an age range who regularly go out and like listening to a range of music, i feel a real confidence to do this, (as i’ve had years of experience). Now, (thanks largely to two opportunities from John Mostyn), i also feel just as confident to rock the more wedding type crowds as well!

Next challenge is taking the roots of that custom made gig, mixing it up with the last 2 project x gigs, adding a sprinkling of the peace not war and Que Club Drop Beats sets, and incorporating my whole music collection into it, hopefully culminating in a 4 deck traktor scratch mashup of live music, scratching, loops, efx, performers, vjs and eventually live jamming…

……or at least somewhere in that direction anyway