Dontstayin Spotter Review (apologies if it seems a bit drawn-out!)

As a DJ in a Bar in Chesterfield Town Centre who`d long since given up going to the Nightclubs locally, due to them either not playing much Dance Music or simply the attitude problems (Pint and a fight, a great Town Night) of many of the customers in them, I noticed with interest a lot of promotion for the new BluSky event around Town. Glossy flyers and posters, articles in the newspapers, and then I found the DontStayIn website a couple of weeks ago.

I know what the problems are in Chesterfield, and that is that anything not bang in the Town Centre has had trouble attracting support as a good chunk of `revellers` just will not try anything new musically or Venue wise, aimlessly following the hordes in search of Commercial or Cheesey Music and the cheapest drinks. DJing in the town myself, I know exactly how many people think. They go to the same places to hear the same music and drink the same drinks and see the same people standing in the same spot every night!

So, could BluSky work? I`d be a total hypocrite if, after hoping for so long that something independent playing good Dance Music would come along I didn`t go along to support it, especially when the people involved have spent so many hours and so much money promoting it!

I got our Assistant Manager to come along too, got to Erotica at 1.15 for the first time ever in this Venue. Easy parking over the road, and a friendly welcome later from the Doorman, in we went, to be greeted by a cracking Laser show, DiscoDown on the decks seamlessly knocking out a full range of House from Dennis Christopher to David Morales and (for those interested) Bar prices on drinks, not Nightclub prices. The first thing you could see was that people were there for the music. No attitudes, no shoving in at the bar, just a full range of people from all walks of life there for a good time without interfering with anyone else. Huge grins on the Dancefloor, applaudings for the DJs, excellent.

Jay (BluSky) then walked round with a pack of Mixed CDs for everybody there, making every single customer feel valued and welcome, which you just don`t feel often, if ever, in many Clubs, where you feel more that you are treated like Sheep! He then took the decks, playing a deeper groove to DiscoDown, and the contrast in styles between DJs kept everyone dancing, nodding heads (me), whatever! Both Jay and DD (the two DJs that were on whilst I was in, as we didn`t get in until late) played storming sets, with Breakdowns and Bass Drops in just the right places

I got some cracking photos of the event which are now up and online on site as well.

Later on quite a lot of people came in, and the turnout was very good indeed. The music was absolutely spot-on, the DJs animatedly whipping up the crowd (in total contrast to my own Paul Glazby-esque stone faced mixing!) the crowd all friendly and responsive to every tune, the bar service quick and efficient....I could go on but you get the idea!

Summing up, this was a real quality night. The music, the DJs, the crowd, the atmosphere were fantastic. For people in Chesterfield who want a Dance alternative to the mainstream, get along to the BluSky events. And even for those who may just be bored of the clubs, open your eyes and ears to something new. Dare to be different. Even for lovers of Trance and Hard Dance like myself, this was not lightweight Dance in any way at all, this was quality Music with quality DJs. Above all, everyone who went in was instantly made to feel a part of it all!

Count me in for the next one!

We are also considering refusing far more requests, as I`m personally sick of changing the set around to find that the person making the request cannot wait ten minutes and is then trotting off elsewhere just as I`ve cued it in, and I`m sick to the nines of explaining why Cascada is not Trance...and why we won`t play Micky Modelle!

You mean cascada isn't trance, i love that record and thought that it was soooo cool!!!!
Next you're gonna tell me that you won't play Elysium - i go crazy!!

Hi Kirsten! Elysium does feature in the Commercial Hour pre 9.45..but Cascada to Trance is like saying Uniting Nations to Deep House!!!!! Heh!

However, I did play the Scouse mix of it right at the start of the Commercial slot for quite a while (which I didn`t like doing but you know how it goes - i`m paid to get people in to spend money) but this week I banned it totally, it has become one where people have heard it so much they just leave. I know it was popular and I have always had the belief that people who listen to the more commercial trance/euro trance CAN then move on and be educated, which is why we would play these (although Micky Modelle there is no hope for) in the comercial slot. I`m paid to get people into the Bar, the previous DJ played half R&B, half Commercial Dance on a Saturday (LMC v U2 five times a night) for people who still come in now but who now ask for BBE and Liquid Child due to being educated in listening to new music in the last 20 months. So every cloud has a silver lining!


The problem really arising recently is people expecting a request to be played there and then,.. Often I`ve got it ready (and sometimes it isn`t in real keeping with what is on at the time, but if it`s a regular customer you like to please them...)only to cue it up and see them walking off for a helping of Chesney Hawkes somewhere.

One incident a couple of weeks ago when I had lined up Marco V `False Light` for a request, it`s a `love it or hate it` one due to the long Breakdown, and sometimes really can slow the night down,...and the lad who`d asked for it was trotting off over the road, too late to swap the tune, and it bombed!
I was not impressed..

We` ve all had the `Play it Next!` people (who then don`t get it played at all by me) or those who ask for a request for the sake of asking for a song they know ( I had one girl who asked for `Poison` at the start of a night every night for a YEAR!!!!), another two who asked for Layo & Bushwhacka and then used to walk straight out after it had been played,to ask for it again in another Bar (seriously) the problem is that most of the Bar had got depressed at the tune and left too!!

On Saturday night I had turned it up to Voodoo Serano, Mauro Picotto etc and this chav lad kept sayin `Bounce it up, play Sean Paul` over and over again. After finally explaining for the tenth time we do NOT play R&B he said `Play Shaggy then`....

What are all your policies on requests? It will always be different in BluSky or an event for a certain type of music as you don`t get the `play Cheating telling me lies/ play Clubland 6 Cd1 track 2` people, but interested what everyone thinks or does when requested for a tune? I will explain why if I`m not going to play one (and some people seem to think their world has collapsed, unreal) but I think it`s not fair to lie and say `I`ll play it in a bit` if you have no intention of doing so.




Here`s something from our Website, now anyone who has DJed in the Town Centre will understand this!



"If you ask a DJ for a Request and he won`t or cant play it....do you

1. Say `OK mate` and realise there is a lot of people in the venue and it may not be suited or have been played already or be out of place with the music type of that moment?

2. Curl your lip or do a Jerry Springer `Talk to the Hand`, storm off, vowing never to return (see you next week)?

3. Pretend to cry? (although some of the girls are very good at it and makes me chuckle!)

4. Tell the DJ to `F*** Off` and storm off?

5. Go berserk, spit at the DJ and end up being ejected into the rain?

6. Come back with a `Happy 21st` sash round you you`ve borrowed and say `It`s me birthday please play Kevin Lyttle`?

7. Get all your mates to go and ask for it again?

8. Say to the DJ...`I`ve only just come in, so I`ve not heard Poison, these people won`t mind it being on again, there`s no-one in`

(Actually there`s 150)

9. Storm off to the Door Staff or Bar Staff, demanding they get the DJ to play your tune

10. Storm into the DJ booth demanding a refund on your drink as he won`t play `Meat Loaf`, and have to be ejected? (And recently, attempt to stick a cigarette into the DJs face for refusing to play `Guns & Roses`!!!)

11. Ask the DJ in every venue for the same song, leaving for another bar to request it again when it`s been played or, a year later are you still asking for the same songs as you did in January 2005?"


All these events above happened last year!

Nothing worse, a couple of times when ive been playing small little quiet bars. ive had the 3 magic questions!!

1. q. Have you got any Niche tunes!
a.No i havent got any speed garage, i am playing deep house, your in a bar which is rather chilled out.... FUCK OFF!

2. q. Aup maaaateeee, Have you got Fiddiii cents last tune, its da bomb, me n missussss wants to bumb and grind
a. Sorry young man, but we'll have no dirty gun music in here please, please dont shoot me!

3. q. you got that tune thats really big on galaxy, it goes bump bump bump and its got a girl singing on it
a. Yes but ive left it at home!

Quality!

I get the `Got any Niche mate` a lot. I just say `What`s that?` or `Name a track`. Normally the answer is `Broomstick is sic man` or `Cheatin tellin me lies` or just `I dunno, Niche`!

Recently I`ve had quite a few `av u got owt with singing in it`?

Amazingly, in the last hour or two where we play Trance and Hard Dance, I`ve been asked for in the last few months

Eye of the Tiger
Country Roads
Guns & Roses
Meatloaf
Paris to Berlin
Sunblock
Sean Paul

and more. Normally the refusal is accompanied by abuse (see above post). I just am incredibly rude back, but do it with a straight face, (except the Country Roads guy who I asked if he `was ****ing real`) so the sheep can`t work it out and it sails over their heads!

It goes to show how hard it is to break the mould in Chesterfield, so many people can`t accept that there are Bars and Venues and Events who do not play the tunes for the Flock! More than this, they EXPECT everywhere to be playing Chico or Grease Lightning, and new ideas and music SCARES them! When I started at the TP, and we reduced and then ridded the R&B, As soon as the R&B ended on a Saturday two girls used to run out nearly in tears. Unbelievable!

What are all your policies on requests?

if someone asks for a record in keeping with the night and i've got it i'll tell them i'll play it within the next few records but if i don't come an d ask again in case i've forgotten.

if they ask for something not in keeping with the night i'll apologise and say its a corker but i don't play that sort of stuff.

if they ask for niche records i'll tell them i don't know what they're talking about and ignore them while they try to explain.

if they ask for anything good/we can dance to/with a beat/funky or similar then i'll abuse them

if they ask have you got anything we know i'll ask them to go away and write a list of all the records they know and bring it back to me

basically if they're nice and i've got it i'll play it

if they ask for anything good/we can dance to/with a beat/funky or similar then i'll abuse them

So it`s not just me that gets that!!!


I`ll never forget this guy that ambled down to the DJ Booth

`Not being funny, but have you got owt Decent?`

(which really increases the chance of him getting something played!)

`Such as?`

`Ghetto Gospel`


Oh dear.

These are some other corkers:

`Have you got any Club Land?`
`Have you got any Club Music?`
`What have you got that I will like?`
`Have you got owt for my mum like Build Me Up Buttercup`
`What time do you play R&B?`
`This is shit, play summat good`
`This is shit, play `Chico Time` or `Dont Cha``
`Have you got Wigan Pier 52 Track 5`


The best one is `Have you got Cruzin`. It`s on the Alex K album, and I explain albums are no use to me, I only buy singles. So I played `Beachball`....`what the fuck`s this` (tantrum ensued).


We used to have Text the DJ for shoutouts,say for people who wanted a Birthday shout but didn`t want to fight through the flailing arms on the dance floor, but after reading `Play Poison` fifty times a night or the abuse texts (one of whom I rang up the next day, it was a poxy student who then made out his phone had been nicked and used that night, then amazingly returned to him..and when I phoned him I think he shat himself...he asked how I got his number!!!!), we abandoned it. Nature of the Beast I guess!

We used to have this arrogant twat that used to think he was a real `boy`.

`I See Girls`
`So do I`
`I See Girls`
`Yep, nice aren`t they`
`I See Girls`
`Ok, do you want me to set you up with one?Which do you like?`
`Have you got I See Girls`
` Yes`
`Are you going to play it`
`Might do`
`Please`
`That`s better`

and this happened every night for months.

I won`t lie to someone if I`m not going to play a song, and I`ll explain why (been on/we don`t play that style/Wrong time of night` but some seem to react as though they had just stood in a pile of something nasty! We have a poster up `Request Policy` and at the bottom I put

`If we can`t play a request, let`s have no `Talk to the Hands`, curling lips or Sulking please` and if I get this I point to the poster and tell them to read it!!!

i've been asked:-

"play summat funky"
"got any trance?"
"got any ian van dahl?"
"got any dj quiksilver?"
"got anything good?"

and loads of others too depressing to recall.

on the plus side is there anything better than being able to play a corking record for someone who really loves it and just making their night?!

When you get that it`s worth as much as being paid. I`ve had it a lot recently, whether a Trance Classic like `Cafe del Mar` awakening memories to someone who Clubbed in the 90s but then settled down, to Nadine from here and her band of stompers suddenly getting `Hostile`, when you`ve made good people`s night it is the best buzz of all.

It`s so true that a bad or indifferent crowd makes all the difference to everything about the night, or when you know that you`ve dropped a tune that has bombed and people are leaving (happens all the time in Chesterfield centre)...and yet when you get people with the widest grins in their own world and loving what you are doing that`s the difference!

when you know that you`ve dropped a tune that has bombed and people are leaving

i've deliberately done that before. dropped a tune that i know nobody but clubbers will like to clear the dancefloor and start again.

nothing better than dropping a tune nobody is expecting a right old classic that just goes off

Fantastic idea that. We had a group of scrotes in the other week who I really wanted off the dancefloor, they weren`t dancing just bouncing off each other etc, and I could see some of our regulars were waiting outside to come in.

I changed the music back to some very Vocal Trance and it cleared them, but it was a subconscious thing, but yes, you are spot on Steve!

most djs don't realise the power they have behind the decks. i can make a crowd do anything i want, i've nearly started full scale riots before now. i've made crowds fall in love, i've made them dance their asses off!

last month at marsden i wasn't on top form so it didn't go as well as i'd hoped but this month i'm going to dig deep in th crates for some special records and make the crowd go mental!

Well, I thought you both did excellent sets and the contrasts made it even better in styles!

You`re right, there is a Power trip to DJing, but in a nice way. I have even been known to do some more than usual amounts of Nodding when the right people are in!

!!NEW most djs don't realise the power they have behind the decks. i can make a crowd do anything i want, i've nearly started full scale riots before now. i've made crowds fall in love, i've made them dance their asses off!
ive made crowds leave!

Right then, whats the funniest thing youve had happen to you when youve both playing?

This should be a good un, I`ll be back online later when I`ve thought of the best!

As for making people leave, yes, I do that often, just by playing something they don`t know before 9.45!

Right then, whats the funniest thing youve had happen to you when youve both playing?

a little worse for wear one night i took a record off, put it in my box, searched for a record selected the one i just took off and played it again!

One night DJing abroad I was asked fo Missy Elliott (it wasn`t exclusively Dance), I found it in the resident`s collection and put it on.

Problem was the pitch was at full setting and I was pissed, so imagine `Work It` 16 times faster. I didn`t realise till about 2 minutes in that everyone was staring..

I picked out the wrong Faithless CD once and instead of `Insomnia` played `Bring my family back`. Killed the night stone dead...


I watched someone out of their head on God knows what thinking they were rowing on a dancefloor once for about half an hour. That`s rowing as in the boat!

The thing that sticks in my mind, i was playing it up in town, and i really need a piss, i'd had a fair few beers and thought, right i'll mix this in, then run downstairs and go for it!
Instead of running a took a pleasant stroll down a long set of stairs and let rip, the bar where i was playing has the music i was suppose to mixing playing live in there, which was nice! So im trying to piss as quickly as possible when a bloke walks in and stand next to me, he starts humming the tune i was playing, so i turn round to him and say, aint the music in here fuckin awesome... he says, this aint too bad, ive just got here, i turned round to him and said, music not bad but the DJ is the most fuck ugly twat ive ever seen, when you go upstairs, look at him your'll see what i mean. then i ran upstairs and got back on with it... 2 mins later this bloke walks upstairs... looks at me and starts pissing himself... i dont know why, i found this so funny, but at the time it made my night!

I`ve been havin a piss and the sodding song started skipping badly mid piss.....

to top that, whats the strangest thing thats happend to you?