How drunk do you get when you DJ or play music live?

i got drunk and fell off my drum stool and onto a broken bottle once.

the set was sucking as it was, felt like my "performance" improved it immensely

Depends. Playing live I'm more worried about needing a piss onstage than being too drunk to play, but it still curbs my drinking somewhat. I definitely need 2-3 drinks or I'm too scared. DJing I just get rat-arsed, but I'm from the "play some songs I like" school of DJing, I don't beat-match or anything.

I'm pretty sure I've never gotten better at playing records by being drunk, other than sharing the warm conviviality of the room a bit maybe, and I am sure I've stopped songs in the middle and played songs at the wrong speed - but I just DJ at bars anyway so no-one notices or cares all that much.

I'm more worried about needing a piss onstage than being too drunk to play

this is why I go for hard liquor as opposed to beer, seriously

Yeah, I used to go for vodka & cokes as a compromise but don't seem to do that much any more. I should probably resume that. Also tequila.

Or maybe I'm kidding myself - maybe people do care... does sloppy drunken DJ-ing ever bother you guys when you're out?

^ only if i paid to get in i guess? and mostly b/c i want to be drunk and playing records too

i would love to be somewhere between dean and ian.

ahem.

Depends what kind of thing. If it's DIY/punky/indie then I'm fine with sloppiness, but on the few occasions I go *clubbing* it is more of a jerk-you-out-of-the-moment thing if someone messes up.

I DJ or have DJed indie, kraut, psych and non-dance electronic stuff and I mess up all the time. So my tolerance is high, and I guess I'm biased.

djing stoned is great in general but can be a bit stressful if you try to beatmatch and go 1-for-1 or w/e. also i end up catering more to my own tastes and playing epic/blissed out/vibey tracks instead of the uptempo stuff that keeps people dancing

once i get access to a pa system that i have been promised for 10.5 months, then i suspect the answer will be : dean martin.

DJ: Rob Ford
Live: much less so

oh, and as for beat matching ..
nahhh .. not my groove.
just a nice segue will do me nicely thanks.
i have no intention of being a 4/4 groove mix master, just a chunk of eclectic tracks ..

DJ ing high even better tho

mackaye if pot doesn't count.

where you guys dj, how did u start? did you ask the owner / promoter? what did you say? i have anxiety approaching these dudes for special sheltered snowflake reasons. :/

i've only gotten gigs through friends, i would also be horrible at approaching promoters

and generally lack of confidence that i can bring any business to the bar xp

djing stoned is great in general but can be a bit stressful if you try to beatmatch and go 1-for-1 or w/e. also i end up catering more to my own tastes and playing epic/blissed out/vibey tracks instead of the uptempo stuff that keeps people dancing

― hug niceman (psychgawsple), Thursday, January 30, 2014 3:44 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol meeee too

is it even possible to enjoy djing and not drink, is a question i wonder

I've been so pissed I fell over, ripped a hole in my trousers, and ran out and fell in a bush. I get way too excited and nervous when I dj. Then again really im just playing out mixtapes when I play so there's not much skill involved on the night.

when i get drunk or otherwise fucked up at house parties i tend to wander off after putting a long track on and forgetting to come back in time and i have to run back to the decks when the music stops. but when i'm at a real gig i just get a little more fast and loose with the mixing.

Playing music live is different. I try not to have more than 2 drinks before going on

i could never dj while stoned

never done this yet.
in the last few months, many of my crew have said i should.
as has my local pub landlord.
but i am a bag of nerves and not good in public situations.
however, i know, seriously i know, i could get the pub folks loving some cool stuff
(i.e. a mix of easy/lounge/groove/70s/80s electro etc as opposed to appealing to scenester kids).
if only i could overcome the confidence issue ..

xpost : so a bottle of red seems to be the answer

you should!!

i generally have only a couple of drinks when i dj and even if i had more it wouldn't matter as i am incapable of noticing i'm drunk 'til i stop playing, but generally two is the optimum number to relax and still be on top of things. however, in the early 90s i was playing a rave in front of several thousand people and shortly before i went on a friend of mine passed me a bottle with his home brewed magic mushroom tea in it. i'd had it before and it had been quite mild so i drank half the bottle. my friend was distracted by someone else while i was taking it so i'd already drunk it before he had a chance to point out that i should only take a tiny sip as he'd put several thousand mushrooms in this batch. i freaked and tried to make myself sick but must have already absorbed a huge dose by the time i got on the stage and started playing. i was ok for about twenty minutes and then i played "helter skelter" by meat beat manifesto which has a label that looks like this - http://s.pixogs.com/image/R-95936-1151023169.jpeg

i became completely entranced by the label and didn't notice the record running out. after a few minutes of complete silence i became aware of the audience shouting and decided i didn't want to be in this enormous venue anymore so very calmly put on my jacket, left the stage and left the building. the venue was in the middle of nowhere surrounded by lots of fields and i started running across the fields. i had an enormous amount of energy and must have run about two miles before i came to a fence which i leaped over. i then slid down a bank and next thing i knew i was in a river. it was fairly slow moving and my jacket must have puffed up so now i'm floating on the river having the most ecstatic trip of my life. it was almost dawn at this point and a guy walking his dog walked by on the other side and must have thought there was a dead body floating in the water and ran off, probably to call the police. time had stopped making much sense by this point but some time later my friends who were completely freaked out by my disappearance and the police arrived simultaneously. my friend jason got to me first and dragged me out of the river, only for me to start swinging punches at him because he was "killing my vibe". then the police intervened and next thing i knew i was in the back of a van with about ten policemen who had no idea at all how to deal with the situation. they took me to the local hospital where i was dried out and stuck in the only available bed which was in the geriatric ward. the last thing i remember was looking round at all these bewildered old men and thinking "this is nice, this must be where you go to wait to get into heaven". then i fell asleep.

i woke up a few hours later feeling completely normal and my friends were there waiting to take me home. they were beyond freaked out while i was perfectly serene and was trying to convince them that this was the most amazing experience i'd ever had. despite trying to bring it up again on a few occasions none of them ever wanted to have a conversation about it again. it turns out there was about 20 minutes of silence at the rave before someone else started playing music again and no doubt an awful lot of bewildered ravers. the story made the local newspaper - "dj found floating in river" though thankfully (or sadly) my name wasn't printed.

since then i've general kept any revelling until after i've played.

holy shit!

Oh my god. Best story.

Same

oh, and i just remembered. back then we discovered that you could have an advert shown on local television (stv) after midnight and it was only about £50 for a 30 second slot so we made an advert as we figured our core audience were likely to be the kind of people who were sat up after midnight watching crap late night tv. it must have worked as we sold out two nights. the aforementioned incident was on the second night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmUiuy6se5A

bloody hell.
summary : red wine only.
cos of this thread i have txt'd the bloke with the pa system re borrowing it for this weekend.
watch this space.

*bites nails*

bravo!

nothing will happen.

but tis ace to push the envelope

(off to the pub for lunch tomorrow .. so will warn/check with them !)

i have enough KPM/perry como/tony christie/carpenters now for a 45 minute set.

you've only just begun

oh i know.
i could rock a receptive crowd for hours and hours
have done so @ ireallylovemusic hq
but a public outing is very different ..

Don't worry, you'll have a blast. Just get some moral support from friends and lay off the mushroom tea!

I suppose this is going to sound very passe but I once assaulted a room full of people with three plays of Tequila by The Champs. To me, at the time, it seemed as if I was just 'playing what we were all thinking'.

Can't play drums drunk (or even slightly buzzed) at all. Serious motor skills problems. Never tried it live, never will.

Played guitar and/or sang drunk a fair amount at shows, and it always seemed to go ok, except for one time when I had no memory of playing the set immediately after we'd finished.

I never drink during paid dj gigs. Doing house parties, idgaf.

I used to perform high and drunk when I was a teenager, I've seen footage, ghastly footage, stopped that pretty early on. A country band in which I played fiddle (age 21), we played a friend's wedding while I was baked. During a slow dance I "took a solo" and remember feeling really into the notes I was playing, thought it was an especially tasty solo. I felt an ephemeral hand patting my back while I was soloing, good job, good. Was told later that I'd slid up to a G (the song was in G) and held it, the same G, for the entire duration of the solo, unmoving, just the one note, held the entire time.

These days I begin sober and start my first drink about 20 minutes before the end of the set so as to finish with one drink in.

Was told later that I'd slid up to a G (the song was in G) and held it, the same G, for the entire duration of the solo, unmoving, just the one note, held the entire time.

fwiw, Tony Conrad is on my short list of musicians I would want to play at my wedding.

I don't play live or rly ever DJ so can't vote in this poll but I would vote in a poll of the best part of stirmonster's post

i used to like getting really fucked up when i was younger, especially when i was playing live music, however now i dont really like it at all and probably only have like 4-6 drinks

^4-6 drinks would be really fucked up for me.

i usually only have a beer or two before playing, either with a band or solo (which is the closest i get to dj'ing). but for years i've been having the experience of other band members (all horn players) being a few drinks in when we start the gig, and then totally blasted by the end. the problem with being a drummer is that you never stop playing, so while i'm sobering up during the set(s) they can keep drinking every time the horns aren't in their mouths.

sorry for the very wide category of "somewhere between Ian MacKaye and Dean Martin" but I couldn't think of anyone who is famous for having two or three drinks.

alls i'll say is playing while tripping is a poor move

these stories are great by the way

i like the triple play of Tequila and the one-note fiddle solo - love the disconnect between how great things sound in your head and how they sound in the room... also maybe they were fucking great

good work! please liveblog

nice shelves!

haha .. god bless ikea.

not sure i can do the live blogging thing as it will not be that exciting.
however, it is 30+ girls, and me on digital tune selection.
shit.
what the fuck have i let myself in for.

question : what do proper people use ? for basic click and drag of tracks i use 'virtual dj'.
tis ace for blends from one track into another.

stirmonster thats a belter of a story. I remember a load of late night tv adverts.

Did you ever see that STV series in the 90s where they got a "jury" and got 2 people in to debate. One was "is dance music just a fad?" I think the guy from TTF was the PRO guy and because he was a fanny he lost the vote.

i've generally played in bands with halfway-between-ian-mackayes-and-dean-martins -- normal people, that is -- but once i played with a drummer who was halfway between the replacements and rob ford. we were unaware of this until the first gig we played with him. when we were helping him carry his drums out of our rehearsal space, he was sweating like niagara falls and having trouble navigating through an open door with his kick drum. we just thought he was nervous. he was a good drummer. but during the first song, he started hitting things in no relation to the song or the beat or any other coherent system that us normals might be able to understand. occasionally he would swing his sticks and miss his drums completely. then he stopped playing and started screaming, "i broke my snare drum! i broke my snare drum!" he had not, in fact, broken his snare drum, but it was pretty clear he had lost the ability to locate it.

we stopped for about 10 minutes to cry amongst ourselves, then finished the set without him.

we forced him to play one more gig with us as penance -- he actually came through -- and then parted ways.

the end.

One of the best gigs I ever saw had my mate and promoter of the night play 'Bug Spenders about three times with random skip backs in the interval.

*big spender lol

Supposedly Dean Martin was actually drinking apple juice on stage most of the time, it was just an act.

considering the amount of apple juice i actually drink, put me down in that case as "somewhere between dean martin and dean martin"

That mushroom story might be my all-time favorite drug story. That's incredible.

yeah it's a good one

well, that was great fun.
couldn't go deep as it was a party for a bunch of young'uns.
but damn ..
people danced, shouted out 'tuuuune', and had big smiles, and hugged me at the end.
summary : dj for hire.
oh, and to answer the thread : 2 bottles of wine.

sorta relevant

http://whiteraverrafting.com/new-las-vegas-club-will-ban-mainstream-records-and-lazy-artists/2014/02/01/

but once i played with a drummer who was halfway between the replacements and rob ford.

I used to play in a band with a drummer like this, only he could hold it together when he felt like it. Unfortunately, he rarely felt like it. On one gig, after two songs, out of the corner of my eye I noticed his snare drum fly past the singer's head, missing it by maybe two inches. He later said he was frustrated because he couldn't hear her in his monitors. So, instead of saying between songs "Hey, hold up! I can't hear her!" he nearly killed her.

There’s usual a few beers and maybe a pinger or two involved when I DJ out, but I’ve been told I still mix well - and in the moment I also think I’m playing better in that state. I was playing impromptu with other peoples records at an afterparty on Saturday morning way beyond that state and was complimented on at least one “sweet mix”. The problem is most people were also in a similar state so who knows!

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

dean martin.

and yes, i too have read it was all an act.

in which case, the man deserves even more love ..

the dean martin sobriety society starts here.

when's your next gig? glad to hear it went well.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

the mushrooms river story, the tequila story and the holding 'g' story are the three best stories ive read on ilx in months. genuine laugh-out-louds, amazing

as for me, when djing a weekend night: roundabout 4 pints but some venue staff get giddy and bring over shots and more. when djing midweek, like 2 shandies. dunno how that translates to the above scale, mind

wow! i thought Dean Martin had a lock on this

if only dean had reunited to play riot fest last year.

anyone care to share their experiences with handling requests that you aren't going to play? i'm doing a bar night and just starting to face the uphill battle of "my service is to be your jukebox" that i wanted to pretend wasn't an issue. last night i went into ignore mode in order to avoid dealing with an argument about my lack of "gay music" (britney, etc). for another request, i acted like i was just starting my collection.

i think maybe the answer is to advertise or try to make it known as much as possible beforehand that this is an "underground" night. maybe it's a good idea to put up a sign on the booth that says as much? brainstorming to myself.

also, on topic, i drank a bunch of beer while djing last night, something i'm going to avoid doing in the future. the more i do this the more drinking while doing it loses its appeal.

Oh, go on, play some Britney.

My usual response is to act like I really like the song, but don‘t have it with me. Just seem friendly and they will soon get over it, hopefully!

If it has anything to do with the music that the night puts on, I do as Chewshabadoo do do. If it has nothing to do with the music that the night puts on, I just say "we don't take requests, sorry".

Or sometimes I laugh in their face. Like when they ask for Robbie Williams while I'm playing Brainticket.

good idea, thanks. i've seen people do that and it seems to work, nbd. xp

>>>act like I really like the song...

^^^ yep, totally. Because I usually bring a fairly small crate of stuff, and the nights I do are pretty retro, they usually understand, and I'm often able to deflect their request in favor of something similar like Madonna, or Blondie, or something else I actually brought.

maybe it's a good idea to stock on pop remixes that will work in your set?
http://soundcloud.com/b3naqua/wanna-get-next-2-u

Oh, go on, play some Britney.

My usual response is to act like I really like the song, but don‘t have it with me. Just seem friendly and they will soon get over it, hopefully!

― Chewshabadoo, Wednesday, June 4, 2014 4:21 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this. i act regretful that i don't have the song, and then sometimes i'll say if they stick around they'll hear me play something similar later. the best was one time a guy requested michael mcdonald and i was able to mix directly into a track with vocals that sounded just like him in it--thumbs up from across the bar.

haha, i actually don't have any mainstream gay club stuff at all. nothing against britney or lady ga ga, honest! someone wanted to hear janet jackson, if i had that i would play it. then they want me to google it or w/e. sorry, no wireless? sorry, i don't have the cord that would allow you to plug in your phone? god. glad i've had some positive feedback so far.

the night is house / techno / disco. honestly my reasoning has been that in the interest of diversity i'm not doing mainstream gay club because that can literally be heard every night of the week at the two gay clubs in town and it's been that way now for god knows how long. i've heard from many people that they find it oppressive!

xp thanks for the advice everyone. i think i will stock up on some pop remixes. i need some bridges!

If people are being so pushy that they're asking you to google shit or plug in their phones, you might want to just throw down a "no requests" rule. I've had people telling me to play stuff off Youtube before - it's shitty behaviour. You can politely say "Sorry, I can't do that" without making excuses - they're the ones with bad manners at that point. Requesting a song is one thing, demanding it is another.

But all the above advice above about being as friendly and as accommodating as you can is really good. A lot of times you can laugh it off with them pretty easily even if you don't play their request.

Good luck with it! I bet once your night gets going people will get into it and you'll have people coming up requesting stuff you want to play.

thanks!

very politely and with as much sincerity as you can possibly muster, say you have never heard of the artist in question (no matter who it is). as the artists people will ask for are usually well known, this generally causes the person asking to become sufficiently confused and / or to think there must be something seriously wrong with you that they will leave you alone. always works in my experience.

wow!

i'm gonna have to work on my swag for that one, but i love it.

Hahaha, proper skills, next time I see you play I’m going to start giving awkward requests.

>>> people telling me to play stuff off Youtube...

aaaaand this is pretty much why I don't dj out much anymore.

Hahaha, proper skills, next time I see you play I’m going to start giving awkward requests.

ha! feel free. i'm also almost always happy to play a request if i like it and have it with me, so am not completely anti requests.

I think "just plug in my phone, I'll pull it up on Youtube" was the moment I decided to go back to playing only records when I DJ - makes it easy to shut that kind of thing down.

I've also had people request the artist I'm playing at that moment - and still had them unhappy, so sometimes it's not even worth worrying about.
"Play some James Brown!"
"This is James Brown."
"No it's not!"
"Yeah it is, look at the record..."
"Play some OTHER James Brown!"

a tech house dj matches the 1-3s of one track to the 2-4s of another track.

a) the worst, impossible to dance to, who is this clown
b) not a deal breaker per se, kind of annoying.if i'm paying attention
c) who cares

think i'm somewhere between a) and b) while most people seem to be between b) and c), tending toward c)

Stopped at the forth letter.

I mean word. *Hands in smart-arse badge*.

But seriously, it would depend on if it sounds musically interesting. But generally it won’t, so probably A.

B. i always notice and it's annoying, but i don't care thaaat much about mixing anyway.

Stirmonsters story is the greatest of all time. Been looking to read it again for ages.

I was going to post something but it pales to Stirmonster's post.

please do anyway!

i had never heard that story!! wow.