You know...I'm not totally convinced that its everyone else's fault that
the younger djs aren't stepping up. Contrary to everyone's belief,
being a dj and having it as a career is not as simple as it appears to
be. There is a process you go through like everything else. You can't
be a lawyer overnight, or a doctor or a construction worker or an
artist. You can say "I'm a be this, or I'm a be that" but actually
doing IT is something entirely different. I too know some individuals
who are good but, come to discover, they lack the right mentality to
succeed and you can't pass the blame for that. Its always some excuse
but its lack of confidence, fear they might fail, laziness,
procrastination, lack of discipline, no awareness etc, blah blah blah,
on the individual. This is a game and you have to be a 'real' player to
win.
Look, I came across the Red Bull Academy website and found an article
about Mr. James Barton of the Cream organisation in Liverpool and that
guy pretty much said it all for me.
Read it and weep.
>Quote --
>"...there's a difference between being talented and being well known.
Let me put my business hat on for two seconds: Being the best >technical
DJ, the best fantastic DJ is great. But if no one knows you, no one is
going to pay to come and see you.
>So there's two jobs that need to be done. Most people have already got
the DJ bit fixed. But in terms of exposure it's really difficult.
>There's a number of ways you can do it. You could make a record. A lot
of DJs have been discovered through making a great record. You >could
start your own night, which was the norm 10 years ago when I was
involved. When people wouldn't listen to me playing records, I >started
my own night. DJs need to be technically amazing, but they need
awareness as well. It's up to them, in the early part of their >careers,
to develop their own awareness."
Mind you, alot of these younger djs DON'T make their own productions.
That's one problem. Even if its to get other prominent djs to play
your music which is key, productions helps boost one's profile big time.
Its got to be good too, not some mish mash. That don't count.
>"Most importantly you need to be persistent. To play for an
organisation or in a club like Cream you need to be pretty well known.
You >need to already have spent two, three years on the circuit, playing
for 50, 100 or 200 people. That is part of the process of learning your
>trade. You can not expect to walk straight into Cream and play for
3,000 people on a million-pound sound system. There is a time and a
>point. For us it's a bit like watching a radar screen. Someone has to
hit our radar screen before we give them a go."
Ok, that's two, three years on the circuit, plus the time taken to
perfect your skills. So give it...oh, 7-8 years tops. So you see
that's why many 'old dudes' have long careers because the road to the
promise land is a long, difficult one.
>"You need to have that experience, you need to know how difficult it
can be. It's f*cking difficult out there. It's really difficult to
support >yourself, to get the gigs. But it makes you a better, stronger
person, a much stronger DJ. Whether you're a DJ or a businessman, you
>have to get round those things in order to succeed. When it's
difficult, that's when you find out who the real players are.
>I'm a big believer in talent and that talent will always come through.
Like a good record, it never goes away. It'll disappear for a while, but
it >will come back and it will keep coming back. The same applies to
talent. But not unless you've got the desire and the will to keep coming
>back and take in rejections. You just need that total determination to
keep going.
>Paul Oakenfold is a good example. He's got people who love him, he's
got people who hate him. I've worked with him on and off for a >long
time and there's one thing that has always struck me about Paul: He is
probably the hardest working person I've ever come across. >He will go
somewhere that nobody else will go. He will get on a plane and he will
tour Peru if we asked him to tour Peru. Four or five years >ago, when
everyone was making a lot of cash here in the UK, he went to the States,
dropped his fees and toured there. That's why he is >now probably the
wealthiest, highest-earning DJ ever.
>People like Oakenfold have been at the top of the game for 20 years
and there is a good reason for that. The guys who are still here, who
>have been doing it for a long time, that's because they've took care
of their careers. They might not be the most exciting DJs in the world
>but they're very professional, they conduct themselves in a certain
way and you can rely on them.
>It's all about respect. If you lose respect for the people that you
work with and you lose respect for the dancefloor, you're f*cked. The
>really cool guys[djs] are not interested in that. They'll still charge
you an arm and a leg because they believe they're worth that but they
>actually care."
>
>Unquote--
What I see happen alot and it kills me, is how these people be sleeping
on it and time go by, then they complain they're not where they want to
be and lay the blame on other factors. I can not tell you how much of
that I see going on and the real fact is that they're a bunch of lazy
wankers trying to perpetrate.
So think of all the djs you feel deserve a chance and figure out how
many are doing absolutely everything that needs to be done to hang with
the big boys, and most importantly developing the right mental attitude
or 'awareness' to obtain that chance. I doubt there are many.
I have to give TP alot of credit because here's a guy, with a career
lasting over 20 years, CHOOSING to retire. Being able to have that
freedom to choose is admirable. And the reason for his retirement is
not because of some young talent making him feel obsolete either. He's
just a man with nothing to lose, but with much to gain and I wish him
the best of luck in this new phase of his life.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
there are some old dudes who are still relevant. but there's a lot of them
who are still djing just because they don't know what else to do with
their lives. but they seem to have no interest in new music, new sounds,
or new ideas.
and that's why the new generation of kids (at least here in america)
aren't flocking to events like they used to.
now granted- its not all the djs fault. its the fault of promoters who
won't take a chance and book new talent. and its also the fault of the
public who only go check out a dj if its a tried and tested name.
its a viscious cycle that is eating away at our music. yes- there are some
exceptions. recloose is a new, young exciting name. the perlon guys are
experiencing some new found popularity. i guess its mostly tied to
production. if you can get you're records out there, you can get your name
out. it just frustated me that i know so many great djs who could smoke
the 'famous' dudes, but never get the chance.
On Sun, 15 Sep 2002, glyph1001 wrote:
Why should veteran jocks need to quit before they're ready to? If
there's great young talent out there, then they can step up regardless
of so-called "tired jocks". Its up to the young djs with talent to
knock the old guys out the box, not the old guys graciously stepping
out of the way for them just because they're the younger generation.
Just my 2 cents,
g.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
There's actually a lot of tired old jocks (not saying TP is one) who need
to retire so some newer, younger talent can step up.
On Fri, 13 Sep 2002, T.J.Johnson wrote:
Everybody retires at some point in their life! I bet
that all of y'all people who are bitchin' about TP
realizing his time are jealous that you can't retire
after 20 years of service!!!
I don't care if it is music or not. When something
becomes your job, it is just that--your job. You will
get sick of it. You will make enough money then quit
happily!!!
T!
www.acidsonicresearch.com <~~go here
www.mp313.com <~~and here
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