Every DJ has one.
A night when everything that can possibly go wrong does – and it does so in spectacular fashion. ClashMusic brings you DJ Disasters, featuring some of the most respected figures in the dance world reminiscing about those moments when it all went badly wrong.
Best known for his work with Azari & III, Toronto based producer Alixander III is steeped in vintage house and techno. A respected DJ in his own right, Alixander’s solo productions refuse to be pigeon holed.
But we all have to start somewhere, and for Alixander III his furtive attempts to absorb dance culture ended in disaster…
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The year is 1993 and Im a total indie rock shoe gaze guitarist playing in some bands and making some recordings. All is well and rock n roll until I meet a girl a fall instantly for.
Im head over heels for her, and she is into this shit called “techno” that is starting to bubble up in my small town environment. She goes to the clandestine warehouse parties that are being put on by some ex-disco DJs now doing the techno thing. She loves Plastikman and has a bunch of DJ buddies she hangs with. One night while hanging with these DJ friends of hers (Ive by this time moved in with her and we are lovers) they spot my guitar and make a load of fun of me that I’m still playing this outdated instrument. I was so obsessed with showing this girl that I’m the shit, that I went and pawned the 1960’s Gibson ES335 and bought some turntables and some techno records.
So I collect some decent records, and she is collecting records too and aspiring to be a DJ, but she cant mix whereas I have picked up beat matching very quickly. So comes the night of my first real DJ performance, at a warehouse party Ive promoted with some other budding technophiles. But I don’t have quite enough records to fill out the set, so I discretely grab a few of my new lover’s records to compensate.
Ten minutes into my set, Im playing her Spastik record and she comes up to the Dj both all pissed, “Those are MY records what the fuck are you doing playing them?!” she screams. Then she proceeds to take the record off the table and throw it at me. The once pounding room goes deathly silent as the crowd witnesses a most uncomfortable sight, she is taking all the records out of my box and throwing them into the dance floor. Im running after them trying to collect them from the hands of the partygoers who are either taking the piss or looking totally shocked by this bitter spectacle.
A huge screaming match ensues that ends with me taking some purse beatings to the head, and she storms off. After 5 or 10 minutes of awkward silence I get back on the decks and try to finish the set, but Im so riled up I just train wreck the rest of it. I never got back my Jeff Mills Casa vinyl and some others were lost or ruined, including her Spastik copy which was broken into bits during the foray.
We end up spending 5 twisted years together, but I never ever played out any of her records again.
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Alixander III is set to release ‘SCHLAAM’ on November 20th. Stream a quick preview below…
Alixander III – Schlamm EP (gtcm008) by getthecurse
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