This past weekend I played another gig at Ginger 62, Vancouver’s hottest club for House Music. It was the most fun I have had DJing in some time and I thought I would share a few pictures and a bunch of the tracks that I played to share the experience.

I still can’t believe that I get paid to drink for free, play awesome tracks from Play It Tonight and have girls come up to meet me while I play. The girls were loving the tracks from our site.

Here are some the tracks I played in the club this night that had the girls shakin’ it and the guys groovin’:

Didn’t Mean To Turn You On Kaskade’s Extended Mix

Colette

OM Records 2005-11-29

6:18

$1.48

Ain´t Nothing Personal Christian Alvarez Bling Bang Hype Mix

DJ Marmol

Diamondhouse Records 2007-04-27

7:41

$1.48

Warrior Andy Caldwell’s Electric ReRub

Andy Caldwell

OM Records 2007-04-13

8:10

$1.48

Lei Lo Lai Original Mix

The Latin Project, Jez Colin, Matt Cooper, Robbie Nevil, Vancho Manoilovich,

T.L.P Musica Records 2006-11-28

4:19

$1.48

Can’t Get Through Original Mix

Miguel Migs

Salted 2007-03-20

5:19

$1.48

A Thousand Nights Original Mix

Gregor Tresher

Great Stuff Records 2007-07-30

7:39

$1.98

2 Doors Down Sax Mix

Kelvin K F. Dom Thompson

Nordic Trax 2006-08-15

6:09

$1.48

I find it so interesting that as a dj you have to start off by opening nights for bigger and more established DJs and yet so few DJs actually know how to open properly.

Time and time again I walk into nights where other DJs are playing and, in typical dj fashion, I think ‘what is this DJ doing? He should be playing this track and not that one’. It is standard for all DJs to think that they can do a better job than whatever DJ is playing, I think it is part of human nature to think you have better taste in music than everyone else.

That being said, there are a few important “what not to do” points that an opening DJ should keep in mind when opening the night:

- Do NOT play tracks of the DJ/Producer that you are playing before. If you are opening for Dubfire DO NOT play any tracks that Dubfire produced or that he has been playing recently.

-128 BPM at 11:00pm is not acceptable when opening for a house dj. A DJ is suppose to read the crowd and play accordingly but the old industry rule is 124 @ 12pm. This means that you should not be playing anything too far over 124 bpm before 12pm. This is so that the headline DJ will have room to speed it up and bang it out if he wants.

-Just because you are playing the right speed (124 @ 12) does not mean that you can just pitch down big name tracks. Big peak time tracks are suppose to be played at peak time. A Richard Dinsdale track or anything that is usually played at 2am and at 128bpm is not opening music. There are always some exceptions to the rule but generally deep house, tech house and even some minimal make for great opening music. Here are some examples of opening music:

I Try AN-2 Remix

François DuBois, An-2,

Urbantorque Recordings 2007-05-14

5:40

$1.98

I Try Original Mix

François DuBois

Urbantorque Recordings 2007-05-14

7:51

$1.98

A Thousand Nights Original Mix

Gregor Tresher

Great Stuff Records 2007-07-30

7:39

$1.98

Seven of Nine Original Mix

Andrew Macari

Nordic Trax 2004-07-13

4:36

$1.48

What God Has Chosen Jimpster Dub

The Rock Solid All-Stars, Pete Doyle,

Defected 2007-04-29

6:52

$1.98

Strategy Original Mix

Joshua Heath

Salted 2007-07-24

7:06

$1.98

Warm, deep, and grooving tracks are what opening is all about.

-Do not hang around in the DJ Booth after the headliner has started playing. If you want to sit back and learn, cool! If you want to have a chat with him or her for a bit, also cool. Do not jump around, play with the eqs or the effects on the mixer or make requests when you are done.

-Do not let all of your friends hang around in the booth with the headliner. There is no reason for them to be up there. Bring them up, show them around, introduce them to whoever but after a few minuets lead them back down to the dancefloor.

-Ask the promoter and even the headlining DJ what style and tempo you should play. Ask the headliner when he is coming on what type of a track he would like to be left off with.

The ironic thing about this industry is that it is generally the DJs that know how to open properly that end up making their way to playing the peak time slots. If you want to be playing to big crowds at decent times, watch the pros, take my advice above and learn how to open.

Best of luck!

This past weekend I celebrated my birthday. Over four different nights we partied with four different groups of close friends.

One night I was lucky enough to play to a packed club called The Caprice with Dan W, the other owner of Play It Tonight. This was a university crowd that aren’t used to house music and people were losing their minds! They had never heard good ‘techno music’ as they called it and wanted to know where they could find more dance music online.

(Sean Gallagher [CEO] & Brent Sutherland [CFO] helping put up the banners)

(Sean [CEO of Play It Tonight] with Olivia)

(Jerin [promoter], Dan [President of Play It Tonight], Sean [CEO] & Brent Sutherland [CFO])

Later on the weekend I played at one of Vancouver’s biggest clubs; the Red Room. There was one moment where I played one of my favorite tracks, Strategy - Joshua Heath on Salted, and there I was looking out at a smiling / cheering sea of people which included my best friends, my brother and countless beautiful women. I looked behind me and three cute girls were dancing around and hanging in the DJ booth with me. At this moment my friend Anna ran up to the booth with tears in her eyes telling me that this was her favorite song and that she hadn’t heard it in a club before. She had a tough day and hearing this song in the club brought up all of the emotions that she had been storing away from her tough day.

(Sean Gallagher [CEO of Play It Tonight] with girlfriends Katy, Coco & Sammy @ Red Room)

The final night of my birthday weekend was a little more relaxed. A friend and I were hosting a dress to impress cocktail party for our close friends. For the occasion I made some CDs from Play It Tonight and they were played throughout the night. At around 11:30 the party was at its peak. All of my close friends were mingling and having a blast. Everyone was smiling and just as I was looking around enjoying the moment my ears clued into the fact that another one of my favorite tracks Les Djinns (Trentmoller Mix) - Djuma Soundsystem on Get Physical Music was being played through the house system. The song fit and highlighted the moment perfectly and it just added to the magic of the evening.

(Sean Gallagher’s Birthday Cocktail party - Sean Gallager [CEO] and Brent Sutherland [CFO] can be seen in the top middle of the picture)

These three amazing experiences reminded me of how lucky I am to be working with music on a daily basis. Sometimes when you deal with music all day you take it for granted; you forget the power that it holds. Dance music has the power to blow people’s minds, it has the power to evoke such emotions that it can bring someone to tears and it can bring any moment to the next level; for this I am thankful.

This week we have another HOT list of TOP RELEASES! We have taken the time to scan through the 438 new releases this week to pull out the gems for you to rock this weekend! Click on the PLAY buttons below to listen to the samples.

“Time After Time” - Tocadisco [Superstar Recordings]

Time After Time Original Mix

Tocadisco

Superstar Recordings 2007-07-20

7:09

$1.98

“Star Future” - Discokris [Discokris Records]

Star Future Electro House Mix

Discokris

Discokris Records 2007-07-25

7:12

$1.98

“Strategy” - Joshua Heath [Salted]

Strategy Original Mix

Joshua Heath

Salted 2007-07-24

7:06

$1.98

“My Headphones (420 re-rub)” - Joshua Heath [Salted]

My Headphones 420 re-rub

Joshua Heath

Salted 2007-07-24

5:36

$1.98

Let us know your thoughts on this week’s picks!