I consider myself a good guy, and a nice person. I’m well-trained in customer service, and I worked in retail. I understand the concept that the customer is always right and have a good amount of patience from my days as a teacher and camp counselor, not to mention time spent waiting during interviews, concerts etc…Anyway, I say all that in prefacing an incident that happened to me while DJing at Alive One on Saturday night with DJ Castle. Now, I’m not opposed to requests, I just don’t get them a lot. Nobody ever asks for music at Lava Lounge or Tonic Room, and many of the other places I DJ have the DJ booth somewhat secluded making requests not really possible. At Alive One the requests happened early and often. I had pretty much just finished swapping out needles when my first request for “insert random song that makes no sense at this time” here.
Things went on from there, and requests trickled in from random dudes wanting Sugar Hill (I don’t know either) to girls wanting Beyonce and Soulja Boy. I wasn’t even mad at some of the requests, such as “Empire State of Mind” or “Big Poppa”, both of which were programmed into my set already, and someone asking for them really just communicated to me that my set was making sense and the path I was taking musically was the right one. What I hate is when people bother me when I’m in mid-transition, and visibly doing something. You don’t bother a waiter while they’re taking someone else’s order, and you certainly don’t ever go behind the bar to serve yourself a drink. Similarly, you don’t ever put your hands near a DJ’s turntables, or their computer. Yet, some girl decided that I was not paying attention to her (and I wasn’t, I was DJing) and rather than think, ‘man, this dude has taken like 5 of my requests, maybe I should just let him DJ now’ she decided to put her hand over the glass divider and pretend to scratch my record, then to hit keys on my computer.
To me, such an action is completely out of line, and I told her so by explaining that is completely unacceptable to ever touch a DJ’s equipment or put your hands inside the DJ booth. I also tried to explain to her that I was working, and that she was invading my space. Asking me to play a record is one thing, f**king around while I’m playing records is another. She didn’t take too kindly to this and called me an “a**hole’ then continued to stand directly in front of the DJ booth and mouth “f**k you” for 20 minutes or so before she left. I felt a little bad for being somewhat responsible for someone leaving the bar, but again, her behavior was completely out of hand.
As I said at the beginning, I’m not totally opposed to requests, but let’s be clear, I don’t really like them. I come to the gig with a set prepared, or at least a crate with various directions depending on the crowd. I like to really get into the set, and don’t want to worry about anyone coming up and talking to me. But, I also know that the people at the bar/club are customers and it’s my job to keep them happy and keep them drinking, so being nice to them is something I just have to do. Much is talked about in terms of how to take requests, who to take requests from, and whether DJ’s need to honor requests. Well, I think it’s time to give some advice to bar-goers as far as what is apporpriate when it comes to asking a DJ to play a song for you.
Pick your spot wisely: This isn’t a buffet line, and you don’t get unlimited requests. Ask me once, that’s cool. Twice, ah, alright, but more than that and you should just leave and listen to the music you want to hear in your car.
Keep it relevant: It’s hard to force this rule on the general public, but at least try to keep your request relevant to what time it is, and the music being played by the DJ. If it’s 10PM don’t ask for “Single Ladies” or some other s**t like that. Conversely, don’t ask for some Gza track if it’s 2 in the morning and it’s all uptempo.
Be patient: You probably don’t want the bartender standing over you waiting for you to finish your drink and continually asking you if you’re done and if they can get you another. Same thing applies here. Wait for a DJ to finish mixing a track, or doing whatever they’re doing. They will let you know when it’s time for a request by acknowledging you and asking you, ‘what do you want?’
No repeats: If you heard the song once that night, don’t ask to hear it again. It’s really that simple…Also, only ask for your song once. I got you the first time, and if you don’t hear the song, don’t think I forgot. I’m either going to play it later, or not at all. But after you make the request, it’s out of your hands.
Be original: I do enjoy it when someone asks me to play a record that I really like and is somewhat obscure. Asking for a DJ to play “that Drake song” or any other hit record is fairly redundant, asking for an old classic, or unknown new record is much more appreciated.
Don’t ask at all: The best request comes from no request. Have faith that whoever is up there is a professional (I know that’s not always the case) and they wouldn’t be there if they weren’t good. Give the DJ a chance, and just chill, grab a drink, and just listen…you’ll like it.