The Secret DJ on walking the fine line between cool and commercial

When I’m being paid the big bucks to headline that main room (and I did, not long after), baby you will get all the far-out cosmic wonders I have to offer. I will play my way. But sometimes I have to do what I am paid to do in a specific situation. And so will you. You will fail if you don’t flex into what is asked of you. Don’t be the kind of DJ with their head down on the warm-up tonking out 135bpm to handful of oppressed early arrivals as soon as the place opens. Or indeed, that big star who parachutes in at peak-time and sprays their frosty-cool down-tempo on a hot room gagging to dance. It is never about either/or. It is always what the unique situation demands.

There were at least a thousand people in the venue that night who didn’t want to hear obscurities in every room. A smart promoter wants to keep all the people that come happy all night. So they stay. And play. And pay. And the key to that is good programming.

A pro is ready for anything; and on the surface, at least, is happy to do whatever is needed. Doing the job well means avoiding polarities and attempting a compromise. and it is always, always, about the crowd. One day in about 10 years’ time you may find that everyone is paying you to do whatever the hell you like; but frankly you will be truly lucky, and until then you have a job to do. Because ultimately this is a business that rewards professionalism – and all too often, ‘cool’ is just another marketing construct.

Not long afterwards I asked the boss of that Ibiza club if he’d ever considered putting on DJs who played dynamically, rather than a continuous minimal drone. He explained to me that they could never have anything that peaked or troughed musically, or people would get excited, then consequently and inevitably tired. So they would leave, which would mean less money at the bar. Now that, Pilgrim, is what we call ‘ice cold’.

This feature is taken from the February issue of Mixmag

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