After 3 months on the road and away from the decks, I was itching DJ again so I was very excited when, through mutual friends, Farshad managed to arrange a couple of gigs for us in Shanghai. Ryan (DJ Trix http://www.myspace.com/djryantrix) was very helpful and was a great host, taking us out for food at a few of his favourite hang-outs.
Our first gig was at Shelter, a small basement club, somewhat reminiscent of Lotus, back home, just smaller. Interesting fact, Shelter is actually an old bomb shelter converted into a nightclub. Our first half-hour was plagued by technical issues with Serato, which made Farshad regret not bringing some vinyl with him. The club was fairly quiet as it was a week night but we were very happy to see a few Vancouver faces that came out to hear us play. We also met some of the local producers which was nice as well.
The next night, we shared the decks with Ryan and David (Slackerton, http://www.myspace.com/slackerton) at Logo and this time, without any technical issues, played a wicked set and had a rocking time with the local crowd.
Sadly, this was Farshad’s last night in Shanghai and after a couple hours of drunken sleep, I headed out the door to see him off to the airport. It was really nice to get to hang out for a week and get to DJ together again. We were both exhausted and hung over and I was looking forward to getting some sleep, but I had one last thing to do before I could relax; the night before, we were introduced to Mimi (DJ Mia), who works for Udancecn.com, an underground electronic music radio station based out of an advertising agency in Shanghai. She invited me to come over the following afternoon to record a one hour set for the station, and even though I was ready to drop dead, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. So on the way back to the airport, I started sorting through my music and planning my set, trying to feature as many Vancouver and Canadian producers as possible.
I barely had time to shower and grab a couple tracks form Beatport and I was out the door again, trying to make my way to the studio in the sweltering Shanghai heat. I finally got to the nondescript black office tower and was showed to the 6t floor offices by Mimi. The setup was quite impressive; two floors of open-space loft style offices with a giant plexiglass bubble hanging over the reception desk, the bubble being the recording studio. I was warmly welcomed by the staff, offered some beer, which I gladly accepted (nothing like a little hair of the dog) and got setup for my set.
Djing there was a great experience and even though I was ready to pass out by the time it was over, am grateful I stuck it out and also extremely grateful to Maia for allowing me the opportunity. I will post a link to the podcast once it’s up.
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