A smoke, a drink and a ponder...

Tonight I went to an indie club. It was my 'housemate' Rob's girlfriend Sarah's birthday night out, so we went to the Cockpit. I never thought of this before, but while I was there, it occurred to me how strange the phenomenon of the indie dj is. Those of you in Canada might not be familiar with this aspect of English club culture, so I'll fill you in a bit.

In most clubs, the dj is on a stage or platform. With hard house and trance (which I am most experienced with), the dj is almost like a sort of artist. When they play a certain tune, the crowd will cheer. They have friends in the dj booth with them, and when I well recieved record has been played, often these friends will take the record, and hold it in the air, to generate applause. Most people don't know most of the tracks that the dj plays, but they will stay and dance anyway. They will stay and dance if a track that they don't really like comes on, because the next one might be good. The dj beatmatches the records. They make them play at the same speed, and mix them into each other seamlessly, so that you get one long continuous journey of a night of music.

In an indie club, the dj's role is quite different. They press play on a cd player. This is not too unusual. In English 'cheesy' clubs, where they play pop music, the dj does exactly the same thing. The only real skill involved is in the selection of the music. The djs in these 'cheesy' clubs are almost hidden away. This is where the difference becomes clear. In an indie club, the dj is placed on a stage, much like in a hard house, trance, house, hip hop, or drum n bass club (the list is not exhaustive). This creates an odd effect. Because all they have to do is choose a cd, then play it, most of the time they stand there like a spare part. I only wish I had pictures to show you; it's quite hilarious.