View Full Version : grantheftaudio in Skins tonight!
Grantheftaudio13
18-Aug-06, 11:53
A cracking set of House, Dance and Trance will be on show at Skinandi's tonight.
Get yourself there!
GTA
You know, a lot of DJs bandy about terms like 'house' and 'trance' without a clue what they are talking about.
Having heard you grantheftaudio, why don't you tell me where 'Paris to Berlin' fits in on that masterplan?
And anyway, how can you play house, dance and trance when house and trance are genres of dance? I know I'm being pedantic but the dance music scene is so so bad in Thurso and it just annoys me. So glad to be clear of Skins and it's nonsense. Thank God for the likes of Nastinho up at Liquid.
Oh u cant beat good old xtina 'dirty' and dolly parton '9-5' in skins on a saturday night!
the_big_mac
01-Sep-06, 19:12
You know, a lot of DJs bandy about terms like 'house' and 'trance' without a clue what they are talking about.
Having heard you grantheftaudio, why don't you tell me where 'Paris to Berlin' fits in on that masterplan?
And anyway, how can you play house, dance and trance when house and trance are genres of dance? I know I'm being pedantic but the dance music scene is so so bad in Thurso and it just annoys me. So glad to be clear of Skins and it's nonsense. Thank God for the likes of Nastinho up at Liquid.
And just look at the massive crowd of dancers Naill pulls in!!!
Before you critise clubs like Skins, maybe you should do a wee tour of some of the countries biggest clubs (and this does not include the Arches). You may be surprised just how similar the scene is.
If your so desperate for a big Dance scene im sure we could persude Brian to let you run a night in Skins some Sunday. You proivde the entertainment and Dance DJ's, he takes the bar. Lest see how much money you make :roll:
I do believe that this belongs to one of you?
http://www.external-identity.com/images/stingray/stingray-leather-hobo-handbag.jpg
theboysintheband
01-Sep-06, 20:30
Buuuurn!!!
Now , now boys!!
I find this - "My DJ is better than yours" VERY amusing!!.
Never been in Skinandis (hate the name), but aren't these dudes just musical parasites anyway? (as bad a lawyers, estate agents & bankers/money lenders!!).
What musical instrument can thay play? (turntables DON'T count).
O yes - they put on someone elses recordings as if they had something to do with the craft and art of producing/creating/writing it in the first place!! NO, NO, NO - this culture of the DJ is serious flawed.
Yes, the SHEEP (punters) pile in (because there's no other drinking competition in town!!) How many actually come to hear the DJ? (chancer)
Sorry to be so negative, but I've never got this end of the music business at all (almost as bad as rappers - people who can't sing)
:confused
The Big Mac can play drums.... says it all really!
the_big_mac
02-Sep-06, 08:55
The Big Mac can play drums.... says it all really!
Cheeky illigitamet child :D
Deemac, its more to do with the fact that some folk think they are experts in the scene and simply dont have a clue what they are talking about.
These folk tend to be of the "dance is the only style that matters" ilk. Which gets right on my nipples!
Maybe we should get Deemac in for a try on the decks, see how easy he thinks it is keeping a dancefloor full all night ? ;)
Chobbersjnr
02-Sep-06, 15:00
Cheeky illigitamet child :D
Deemac, its more to do with the fact that some folk think they are experts in the scene and simply dont have a clue what they are talking about.
These folk tend to be of the "dance is the only style that matters" ilk. Which gets right on my nipples!
Maybe we should get Deemac in for a try on the decks, see how easy he thinks it is keeping a dancefloor full all night ?
feel the love.................
"oh me I play guitar etc etc."
"yeah well I play decks"
kind of gets to me as well
BTW I tried to play decks a couple of times & gave up, not for me
put a record on & leave it, don't touch it again untill it needs turned over (never could work out why half of the CD is blank:Razz )
Cheeky illigitamet child
Deemac, its more to do with the fact that some folk think they are experts in the scene and simply dont have a clue what they are talking about.
These folk tend to be of the "dance is the only style that matters" ilk. Which gets right on my nipples!
Maybe we should get Deemac in for a try on the decks, see how easy he thinks it is keeping a dancefloor full all night ?
Big Mac,
Done my stint on the turntables actually (for 6 years with Caithness FM), but it was jazz & fusion music not dance. The criteria was musical depth, interest and sophistication, not four to the floor, 132bpm monotony designed only to send you in a state of mental paralysis!!. (As a sequencer/programmer, I can appreciate some of the programming/sound design skills though).
As for filling dance floors, I also do this most weekends, but at weddings & dances, not discos, playing real musical instruments (drums actually - hence Jeid's little dig!!), live (not pre-recorded). Seems to work quite well (38 gigs on the books this year alone)
I do take your point on the so called experts. All musical areas appear to contain the chancers and the charmers. The rest just get quietly on with it, doing our thing.:)
theboysintheband
02-Sep-06, 15:06
''O yes - they put on someone elses recordings as if they had something to do with the craft and art of producing/creating/writing it in the first place!!''
Now I dont like Dance or whatever were callin' it but in the defence of DJs...Dont they mix tracks. there must be some kinda talent in that.well when its done well
Chobbersjnr
02-Sep-06, 15:10
''O yes - they put on someone elses recordings as if they had something to do with the craft and art of producing/creating/writing it in the first place!!''
Now I dont like Dance or whatever were callin' it but in the defence of DJs...Dont they mix tracks. there must be some kinda talent in that.well when its done well
indeed check out anything you can find by St. Germain, especially an album called tourist
DJ jazz
the_big_mac
02-Sep-06, 17:27
Big Mac,
Done my stint on the turntables actually (for 6 years with Caithness FM), but it was jazz & fusion music not dance. The criteria was musical depth, interest and sophistication, not four to the floor, 132bpm monotony designed only to send you in a state of mental paralysis!!. (As a sequencer/programmer, I can appreciate some of the programming/sound design skills though).
As for filling dance floors, I also do this most weekends, but at weddings & dances, not discos, playing real musical instruments (drums actually - hence Jeid's little dig!!), live (not pre-recorded). Seems to work quite well (38 gigs on the books this year alone)
I do take your point on the so called experts. All musical areas appear to contain the chancers and the charmers. The rest just get quietly on with it, doing our thing.:)
Deemac, In my defence, i dont play all that much in the way of Dance (all varieties). Probably about 80mins worth in a 3 hour set. Being a bit of a metal head im always trying to push different styles into my sets. That and real hip hop. And im not talking about 50 cent!
My argument was with the guy who tried to tell us that dance is the only way forward for clubs and such. Their are a lot of good real dance fans in town. Most of whom are glad with the current set up. In skins we HAVE to cater for all tastes and I think between the four of us we manage to do that in our own idividual ways quite well.
And yes, there is some degree in skill with mixing. However when you've been playing drums for 15 years it makes life much easier!;)
Chobbersjnr
02-Sep-06, 17:42
Deemac, In my defence, i dont play all that much in the way of Dance (all varieties). Probably about 80mins worth in a 3 hour set. Being a bit of a metal head im always trying to push different styles into my sets. That and real hip hop. And im not talking about 50 cent!
My argument was with the guy who tried to tell us that dance is the only way forward for clubs and such. Their are a lot of good real dance fans in town. Most of whom are glad with the current set up. In skins we HAVE to cater for all tastes and I think between the four of us we manage to do that in our own idividual ways quite well.
And yes, there is some degree in skill with mixing. However when you've been playing drums for 15 years it makes life much easier!;)
only 15 years....
the_big_mac
02-Sep-06, 18:02
only 15 years....
Not all of us had a kit from the age of three :)
My opinion:
There are forms of dance music which Are actually creative and have had as much thought put into them as any other form of music.
The argument in this Thread is a little squewed.
The problem nowadays is whats popular, its like everything else. (TV, film, gone to hell, on or two gems pop up everyso often but theres a lot of crap). If it sells, they make it.
There was a time where music only really existed in pubs in the form of a jukebox or live entertainment. Since recorded music came in, Live (small and large scale) has declined. When people can hear it as much as they want, whenever they want it becomes less of a novelty hence less desire to see live.
So people are getting de-sensitised to the thrill of music having heard it the whole time (one idea).
Another point (hear me out on this one), Certain things in songs (chorus lines, guitar/drum/bass/vocal solos for example) can arguably be seen as the most excitable part of a song for the crowd. You guys have all played on stage, you know what i mean. Writing/creating songs which would take advantage of this (be it un-artistic) would tend to make joe blogs (stoopid public) want to hear it more.
Some people make quite crowd pleasing songs deliberatly. others make songs directly for this purpose. Unfortunately, it is very easy (comparable to other music forms) to make dance tunes. so a lot of dance is just big brash noise and beats!!
Every genre of music has its naff artists/songs but with dance at the moment its getting pushed by heavy marketing and its also easy to make really fast: a track for a five piece band will take a day (Isaac speed!!) in an expensive studio but a dance track (all samples, some are nowadays!!) could be produced from an old pc in a spotty teenagers room for no money at all.
Anybody hearing the point im making here?
The music which it popular nowadays is, in general, a bag of crap.
There Is good music in all genres, but there is also non-music in all genres. Popularity and marketing are evil tools guys.
Ok, I think I may have been misunderstood here.
I DJed in Liquid along with Niall (I'm Dave Whitelaw in case you hadn't guessed) and I now DJ professionally in Aberdeen and work as a consultant for website www.djstore.co.uk (http://www.djstore.co.uk) (get a wee plug in there).
I consider myself a 'harder' DJ but I have total respect for DJs who do your kind of thing on a Saturday night. I know very well that you need nights like a Saturday night in Skins with plenty of cheese and I'd go so far to say that on occaision I really like it.
What I DON'T like, is when you have DJs advertising a 'dance' night when the set list is essentially the same as a Saturday night.
And as for no skills in DJing? You try mixing. If you can listen to two songs at once and beat match you have a talent. I'd love to play guitar and I wouldn't compare the two but dismissing DJs because they can't play instruments is severely warped.
As a wee aside by the way, I love ALL genres of music. I seen Beck and Radiohead last week and was at T in the Park where I didn't go to the Slam tent. Some people need to open there eys a wee bit more and stop being so narrow minded. Then again, that's Caithness for you.
Hmmmmmmm
now, i love my music, but i also love all that trance, and dance stuff, cal me a freak if you will
but my opinion of a night club, is you go in and your gonna dance the night away, get drunk, maybe pull
but for me youve gotta here all that gatecraher, clubbers guide stuff, for me, a nightclub aint a nightclub if it doesnt play that, hhhmmm, sometimes skins is a nightclub, other times its js a pop convention, so, sadly we dont have that here either then, the gaTECRASHER, CLUBBERS GUIDE STUFF
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Heh, i just read last post, slightly off the subjest eh. part of an energy drink trip probably(bought 24 25p cans from lidl)
Im not stressing off DJs by any means, would be silly of me to do so. But mixing is a one man job, and its easier (in the grand scale of things) for one man (or woman!!) to learn to mix than to get 3,4 or more people to play in a band.
P.S. i do try mixing, maybe try being the operative word but still. im also learning to play an instrument. as per my experience i find it harder and more time consuming to learn the instrument.
To make a point of the thread, Liquid does have it pinned for what a lot of people up here have called dance, which is fine, skinandis goes for the wider audience. if we just played one kind of music all night we would get complaints. And i dont think its really right to be the biggest club in a town and not play a wide(er) selection of music. Save spamming people with 2 and a half hours of music people may not like.
Give me that handbag Jeid!!
I 100% agree that Skins should cater for everyone (not that it makes any difference since you have a captive audience up there anyway) but if someone advertises a 'dance' night, as Skins is meant to do on a Friday night, then you should play dance music. Girls Aloud isn't dance music.
As for the band thing, you have no idea how much I respect anyone who can play an instrument. I am insanely jealous of people that can play and DJing for me is as close as I'll ever get.
As I said before, people have misunderstood me I think. The 'normal' Saturday Skins night is and always should be the normal Saturday Skins night. Thurso wouldn't be the same without it. But how about a bit more variety on other nights? If you are going to advertise 'dance' play dance. It's not much to ask and I know a lot of people would appreciate it.
Referring back to a previous messgae left by Big Mac, Liquid does very, very well actually but it doesn't get the numbers Skins gets. It's not exactly a fair comparision though, is it? What with Liquid being 1/5th of the size and very obviously aiming at a certain market. Tell you one thing, since Liquid has opened and the Holburn has opened, and even the Newmarket getting in a bit more, it's pretty obvious the Central has taken a massive hit from the days I was 18 and drinking there. And it's very much a mini-Skins.
the_big_mac
04-Sep-06, 14:17
Ok, I think I may have been misunderstood here.
I DJed in Liquid along with Niall (I'm Dave Whitelaw in case you hadn't guessed) and I now DJ professionally in Aberdeen and work as a consultant for website www.djstore.co.uk (http://www.djstore.co.uk) (get a wee plug in there).
I consider myself a 'harder' DJ but I have total respect for DJs who do your kind of thing on a Saturday night. I know very well that you need nights like a Saturday night in Skins with plenty of cheese and I'd go so far to say that on occaision I really like it.
What I DON'T like, is when you have DJs advertising a 'dance' night when the set list is essentially the same as a Saturday night.
And as for no skills in DJing? You try mixing. If you can listen to two songs at once and beat match you have a talent. I'd love to play guitar and I wouldn't compare the two but dismissing DJs because they can't play instruments is severely warped.
As a wee aside by the way, I love ALL genres of music. I seen Beck and Radiohead last week and was at T in the Park where I didn't go to the Slam tent. Some people need to open there eys a wee bit more and stop being so narrow minded. Then again, that's Caithness for you.
Ok so your point is your annoyed at Grant for covering a friday night, while the rest of us went on the peeve, then called it a Dance night???
From my understanding he played Dance (all genres) up until about 2am, when he finally gave into to numerous complaints about the constant beats. Not his fault! He said right from the start, in the paper, on here and by word of mouth that is was going to be a dance night. People turn up, moan like hell and eventually get their way, and you dust off "the gambler" for another playing.
For instance, last night we had a very successful live band night, I showed up and played some Rock and Metal for filler, and once again some stupid woman came and asked me to play PCD! Was she not listening to what had been played for the three hours previous?!
The point being is that whether we like it or not we gotta play what the crowd want 99% of the time. Either that or have an empty dance floor all night. Those who wont change their set to suit the audience are the naive ones.
I totally agree with your point about playing to your audience. I was playing out on town Saturday night, loads of peeved up Scotland fans, I ended up playing indie for two hours, which hadn't been planned.
I do think that Skins has a responsibility to play a wider range of music. Lets not beat around the bush... There are two universal truths here.
1) Skins is always heaving. Always has been and always will be. Everybody (myself included) goes to Skins. A lot of us complain about the music on occaision but we always end up there.
2) Skins have had some seriously awful bands on. Some really good ones but a lot are just awful. You had these girl group vocal band on maybe a year, 18 months ago, singing folk music. People were sat on the floor with lighters. It was £8 or 9 to get in. On a Saturday night. It was abject.
My point is this, you could have a rock, jazz, dance, any kind of night on in Skins on a Friday or Saturday and the place would be heaving. Remember, DJs have two responsilities. You need to play what people want. But you also, perhaps more importantly, need to educate people a bit. It must be frustrating as a DJ, no matter how much you like the songs, to play The Gambler and 9 to 5 week in, week out but you bring it on yourselves.
Skins would come across as much more of a positive venue if say one or two Fridays a month, you had a theme night and stuck to it. Maybe it would lose you a little money but, again, let's not beat about the bush, Skins ain't exactly an ongoing concern - not at £7 or 8 minimum to get in on a Saturday night. It would certainly earn the place a bit more respect and credibility and maybe, just maybe, people would, over time, stop asking for 9-5 every week.
the_big_mac
04-Sep-06, 15:02
I totally agree with your point about playing to your audience. I was playing out on town Saturday night, loads of peeved up Scotland fans, I ended up playing indie for two hours, which hadn't been planned.
I do think that Skins has a responsibility to play a wider range of music. Lets not beat around the bush... There are two universal truths here.
1) Skins is always heaving. Always has been and always will be. Everybody (myself included) goes to Skins. A lot of us complain about the music on occaision but we always end up there.
2) Skins have had some seriously awful bands on. Some really good ones but a lot are just awful. You had these girl group vocal band on maybe a year, 18 months ago, singing folk music. People were sat on the floor with lighters. It was £8 or 9 to get in. On a Saturday night. It was abject.
My point is this, you could have a rock, jazz, dance, any kind of night on in Skins on a Friday or Saturday and the place would be heaving. Remember, DJs have two responsilities. You need to play what people want. But you also, perhaps more importantly, need to educate people a bit. It must be frustrating as a DJ, no matter how much you like the songs, to play The Gambler and 9 to 5 week in, week out but you bring it on yourselves.
Skins would come across as much more of a positive venue if say one or two Fridays a month, you had a theme night and stuck to it. Maybe it would lose you a little money but, again, let's not beat about the bush, SKins ain't exactly an ongoing concern. It would certainly earn the place a bit more respect and credibility and maybe, just maybe, people would, over time, stop asking for 9-5 every week.
Losing money to obtain credibility in a town with no competition?
Never ever ever gonna happen!
Plus its been tried in the past and failed. Friday nights used to be purely dance, however the crowd demanded music they can sign and dance along to. So it changed.
I used to play an alternative night every Sunday, we had a few folk coming every week. Certainly enough to pay for itself, but it was cut.
There isn't the demand for particular styles that you think there is. And Skins being the only club in town will always attract criticism. Which is fair enough, but people should know we've lent ourselves to every idea in the book. And the ONLY one that works week in week out is playing to the Gambler & 9-5 crowd, whether we like it or not. And trust me when i say I don't think any of us enjoy playing that kind of stuff.
Personally i would play dance or Rock all night if i could get away with it, on occasion, when the right crowd is in, Ive manged that and had a ball. However, I don't think playing to a full dance floor every week has ever affected my credibility regardless of the style i happen to be playing that night.
I used to play an alternative night every Sunday, we had a few folk coming every week. Certainly enough to pay for itself, but it was cut.
Why was it cut if it was paying for itself? Was it a case that it was only just covering itself so seeing as it wasn't making significant sums of money, it was cut? If it was covering itself, you must have had plenty of interest so that can't have been the reason for cutting it.
And trust me when i say I don't think any of us enjoy playing that kind of stuff.
Personally i would play dance or Rock all night if i could get away with it, on occasion, when the right crowd is in, Ive manged that and had a ball. However, I don't think playing to a full dance floor every week has ever affected my credibility regardless of the style i happen to be playing that night.
So you don't feel, as a DJ, that playing a set list which contains a very large percentage of the same tracks week-in, week-out, for years and years, compromises your credibility? Especially when you openly admit that you don't like doing it? Do you think your music really has a lot to do with Skins being full every week or is it because you have no competition (which I know you admit to)? In any Saturday night Skins set-list there are maybe 5 new songs from the week before (I'm probably being generous here). It amazes me to think that this allows you any credibility whatsoever.
And just to confirm Skins position, you wouldn't force a dance night on the populous, but you would force (for roughly a £10 and on a Saturday night) the Supernaturals or some crappy folk voice band - Waking the Witch or whatever they were called? And if people don't like dance music and complain when it is played, why bring Dave Pearce north twice last year?
There is no consistency in your argument.
David Whitelaw?
Hmm that name rings a bell..... Weren't u the guy who did the 10 minute rendition of pulp's "common people" and offspring's "pretty fly for a white guy" at the singer's showcase in Thurso High all them years ago?
Enough said I think.
Skins has always tried to cater for the different classes of music lover in caithness (I personally loved the sunday night sets that big mac put on, but it was a dedicated few of us that were the regulars) from hard rock to cover bands to folk bands to the various stages of dance and pop music. Name a popular genre, Skins has probably had it playing there in skins.
I don't see why people constantly slag off skins, If u don't like it then don't go! simple as.
When im there I dont dance all the time but i will dance when i hear a tune that i think is catchy. I wont stand about and whinge about the other stuff thats always getting played.
Also,
Everytime i have been in liquid, no matter how good the dj, I have never seen one person dance to what's been played. not one person at all. To me it is just background music in that place, very loud thumpy dance music, but background music all the same.
lol @ Moncur
Nice comeback - bring up something I did when I was a schoolkid. And as an aside, surely the point that I sang those songs backs up my argument of liking all different sorts of music and willing to do something a bit different?
You loved the Sunday night thing. It was paying for itself. You are a fan of different music (which is cool). How can you then defend why they would cut it?
I just don't like Skins attitude. You're going to come so we'll put Dave Pearce on at £16 or the Supernaturals at £12 but if you ask for something like a dance night, we're not going to do it.
As someone who likes different genres of music would you not like an indie or a rock night or a Friday? I know Skins have done the occasional different thing but it would appear that now they won't do it because it's not what people want - that's what Big Mac is saying. You've just said you'd like to hear different things. It would appear Skinandis would disagree.
Nobody dances at Liquid for the same reason no-one dances in the Holburn. There's no dancefloor and it isn't a club. It doesn't even try to be.
And as I'm sure you've noticed, bars like the Holburn and Liquid are doing well, even the Newmarket, whilst the Central appears to be being hit hard.
The Pepsi Challenge
04-Sep-06, 17:15
The last couple of times I was unfortunate enough to end up in Skins they were playing Shania Twain and Cotton Eye Joe whilst a few of the local barnyard oddities wrestled with a buckin' bronco in the middle of the dance floor. As the song in Evita goes: "When the money keeps rolling in you don't ask questions..."
It's funny cos it's true.
Cough, Cough.
The second time Dave Pearce came north the place was veeeerrryy quiet. Just thought id say.
Correct me if im wrong but taking bands up north (especially this year and end of last) has been very sucessfull. Lose your illusion, ABCD, NU2, Whole lotta lead.
Have you any idea how much it costs to get such bands to "stop off" at skinandis, its not cheap. and on a saturday night (where he would have the crowd anyway) he loses the extra money paying bands to come up. He doesnt have to, but its definately a step in the right direction. Charity gigs, tens of local bands have played this year alone. If it wasnt good before on that fron its definately getting better.
As for DJing. You said yourself, almost everybody in thurso who goes out, ends up in skins. You cant say all of the thurso populace enjoy the same kind of music, so the DJs cater for everybody.
By the time the likes of Frantic, Andy and Ryan can hold full dancefloors for practically the whole 2 and a half hours on a friday and saturday night i would say there doing quite well. no?
if the whole night was taken up by one genre, the floor would be next to empty the whole night. and the three quarters of skins who dont happen to want to hear it all night will leave.
Maybe you need to examine your business head.
DJ Kev
Ok, so buisness head....
Brian brings up rock bands at a loss beacuse that's what people want.
But he won't dedicate a Friday night to dance even though that's what is advertised on all posters and it wouldn't make one jot of difference to the number of people that turn up anyway?
I hate rock music like Led Zepplin and ACDC but I fully support (and go) to these nights cos it's Skins.
By your buisness accumen, he could run a proper dance night every couple of weeks for absolutely zero loss yet he brings bands up and loses money. Hmmmmm.... Where's Carol Vorderman to do the maths when you need her?
And as for holding a crowd for 2 and a half hours - lol. I now DJ at Tiger Tiger in Aberdeen - try a 5 hour set.
if the whole night was taken up by one genre, the floor would be next to empty the whole night. and the three quarters of skins who dont happen to want to hear it all night will leave.
lol - yeah people will go to that other nightclub in Thurso, lol. Everybody goes to Skins. Brian could put Teletubbies on on a Friday night and the place would still be packed to the gunnels that night and the night after.
Yes:
" Brian brings up rock bands at a loss beacuse that's what people want."
This is correct.
And er. it wasnt Brian DJ-ing that friday night, and it wasnt one of us, it was the advertised guy. His set.
Dance was what he said he was going to play. I was helping out that night and i spoke to him about his material. he said that he was going to play different kinds of dance and also use remixes of charty types just to keep his set more wide that just straight dance. Nothing wrong with that. It was a relatively good night and im sure he will be doing it again in the future.
Sorry about that.
Yes he could run a dance night every couple of weeks at little cost. And he did, and it got less popular, and it was cut.
We could run every week a night with different kinds of music no problem. but each night would be, to me, quite boring. and it would not pull the crowd.
The size of the crowd that goes out every week it enough to fill skinandis or less. We would not draw the full crwod it we did a dedicated night too much.
The way it is done in skinandis is tried and tested and it does work. the only argument you may have is that we arent giving the crowd a varied enough show. hence the live nights, which is probably the best thing which have happened in a while. Skins has had a number of Guest DJs as well.
Going for the cheap and fast method is not always the best way to run things btw. Live acts can be pricey but it is putting the venue on the map for tours and the like. Respect due.
Im sure he has lost money on acts before but it hasnt stopped him trying, and not acts are asking to come north.
Skinandis has become an event venue as opposed to just a nightclub.
Sorry did you just use the "word" lol?
Very clever.
I did a private party for about 40 people last week for 6 (6-12) It went well. Not because i am a fantastic mix wizard but because i could read the crowd and choose(from all genres) which song to play next.
So whens Liquid going to come out of the shadows and appeal to the wider audience?
I know it wasn't Brian DJing. I was meaning Brian in his context as owner of the nightclub and therefore the person who is ultimately responsible for his DJs, bands, etc.
As I said earlier, Skins is lazy with lazy DJs. Big Mac has already said he doesn't like having to do the sets he does, week in, week out. DJs have a responsibilty to try and educate people. It's your job to bring new music to people - when does this happen with DJs in Skins? Skinandis is incredibly influential when it comes to music tastes in town so if you want it to change you need to introduce new things or you aren't doing your job. It's a fine balance between that and playing what people want.
6 hours is a long set - you must have been knackered. But I play for 5 hours, all genres, every Saturday night. And trust me, Tiger Tiger is one of the premiere venues in Aberdeen - wouldn't be there if I didn't know what I was doing which, whether or not you liked the genre of music, anyone who has heard one of my sets in Liquid would attest to.
As for Liquid appealing to a wider audience? 2 points...
1) It's always heaving on a Saturday night until 11ish when people head down the street. And people don't leave because of the music.
2) Liquid is a bar, with competition. People can vote with there feet and go somewhere else. And the big difference between bars and clubs (especially a club like Skins) is that bars normally target demographics. Clubs have a much bigger group of people to try and atract and therefore the music policies tend to be less focused. This is all fairly basic stuff.
PS - I have been very careful not to rubbish anyone or there opinions and already during this thread two people have gotten personal. You Kev with that 'lol' comment. It makes me a bit sad that people have to pick up on things like that when they don't agree with you.
As an aside, I'll give you a Skinandis type place with a perfect working model - Fusion, Kirkwall. Skins type cheese in one room and something alterative in another.
Just how hard would it be to seperate the upstairs and downstairs in Skins and have two different dancefloors / DJs each with there own bar? Would make so much sense and I can't think it would be that expensive.
Just a thought....
lol - yeah people will go to that other nightclub in Thurso, lol. Everybody goes to Skins. Brian could put Teletubbies on on a Friday night and the place would still be packed to the gunnels that night and the night after.
He he, never heard the teletubbies yet. would make for a good story though!
I must argue that there are several other factors which draw people to skinandis.
As an aside, I'll give you a Skinandis type place with a perfect working model - Fusion, Kirkwall. Skins type cheese in one room and something alterative in another.
Just how hard would it be to seperate the upstairs and downstairs in Skins and have two different dancefloors / DJs each with there own bar? Would make so much sense and I can't think it would be that expensive.
Just a thought....
As for this one, Yes it has been tried. and it didnt work on the technical front. The building was never designed for it. In its current state, serious structual changes to the original building would have to be changed. I could go into detail- PM myself or frantic. (might get too long and boring!)
Yes 6 hours is very long, no break too!!! I was actuall coming down with flu that day aswell and one of my eardrums was knackered. Made mixing a challenge!!
As for Liquid appealing to a wider audience? 2 points...
1) It's always heaving on a Saturday night until 11ish when people head down the street. And people don't leave because of the music.
2) Liquid is a bar, with competition. People can vote with there feet and go somewhere else. And the big difference between bars and clubs (especially a club like Skins) is that bars normally target demographics. Clubs have a much bigger group of people to try and atract and therefore the music policies tend to be less focused. This is all fairly basic stuff.
The second part of your point two kindo of agrees with the stereotyped skins set. Apart from the introducing new music part.
If skinandis suffers from anything its probably the DJs willingness to play the songs the people want to hear. It would take a long time to adjust peoples moods to be wanting to hear new music every week. people are generally more comfortable and more likely (in thurso) to enjoy themselves if they know the songs which are played.
Well.. this thread has opened up a big can of worms.
Ok, me(as a Central employee) have the same sort of inside view as BigKev and the big mac.
You can't possibly sit there and criticise Skinandi's without knowing how the boss thinks. He's a businessman. Not a DJ, not a music lover... a businessman. If the tills are full at the end of the night, he's happy. He wants the crowd to be happy. The DJ's want full dancefloors and to keep the crowd happy.
Skins, unfortunately, is a venue for all ages and EVERYONE has to be catered for. No matter how much we advertise that a specific band or night is in place... the crowd will always ask for their favourite songs. This has been explained over and over again.
As for bands coming up... the Supernaturals.... 6years ago? Going back a bit! Rock bands hardly ever go down well in Skins. Snow Patrol played... nobody really showed up. Tribute bands are the only time skins gets a decent crowd for live music. ABCD, Whole Lotta Led etc. It's a shame, Skins is a pretty decent venue.
As for Ryan's Sunday nights, they were taken away, unfortunately. I enjoyed the air guitar competitions. I won a few air guitars ;) But, the boss decided to pull the plug. Some nights it was making lots of money, sometimes it wasn't. It was another place to keep open and the people who went there on a Sunday night, usually go to the Central now.
As for splitting up and downstairs, its possible, but why split the club in two? Skins is a small town venue. That's that. Its never ever going to be a big Dance venue or a purely rock music venue. Its gotta cater for everyone.
I totally appreciate that. People in Thurso like what they like. As I said before though, people like Skins DJs and to a lesser (or greater?) extent, Caithness FM DJs, are the only people who can help change that.
It is a shame that Skins couldn't be made a two room venue though. I think, personally, it would make it a top venue.
It is a shame. If skins was in a city, I'm sure it'd probably be a top venue(assuming the music was changed).
As for splitting up and downstairs, its possible, but why split the club in two? Skins is a small town venue. That's that. Its never ever going to be a big Dance venue or a purely rock music venue. Its gotta cater for everyone.
Ok, I do understand how these things are from a buisness perspective and I understand that people like Brian and the DJs are under constraints.
As for your quote above, you kind of answer your own question. Skins has to cater for everyone. Surely by having two rooms / two types of music, on any given night, it caters for twice the number of people? It's absolutely nothing to do with being a dance venue. Notice when I said splitting it into two rooms I said 'something alternative' in the other. You could have rock, indie, dance, jazz, chill-out, country and western.... Surely this would cater to far more people Jeid?
Skinandis aint built for 2 seperate systems.
The gear we have can do it, its been tried before.
The two floors are not independantly soundproofed enough for the job.
Fusion was acoustically purpose built for the task. Skins is basically a converted cinema.
Whens the supernaturals coming up?
It is a shame. If skins was in a city, I'm sure it'd probably be a top venue(assuming the music was changed).
I 100% agree with this. As a venue / building it could be top. Especially with the two rooms idea methinks.
As Kev just said, I meant to mention the systems thing. My bad.
As a slight techie aside, can anyone tell me what the set-up is in Skins?
I'm now used to a pair of CDJ1000s and a pair of 1210s in an Allen and Heath Xone:62. Just wondered what the equipment was like.
I had a talk with frantic about it one night,
The two systems were running using the two DJ desks
(i just finished writing the whole technical desc. on how this was done but then thought it was a waste of space!!!!)
<<<deleted!!>>>
Anyway, you could hear the upstairs PA through the ceiling of the bottom floor. Very weird. Also any gaps in the music lead to hearing the other floor quite easily.
Also, the lighting rigs would have to be split upstairs/downstairs.
A new desk and about 100hours of frantic Frantic would be required for this particular miracle.
It would be really cool but hard im afraid.
Maybe at the next renovation?
(i will check what the spec is and post it, i could tell you all the amps, mics, leads, desks, cables and speakers but not the players!!)
Yeah that would be cool. It is a shame that but like I say, I understand buisness constraints so it's prob not cost effective.
Of course you know what else could be the best thing to happen to Skins?
A second nightclub.
Never going to happen, I know, but it would be good for Skins. Would force a change in the way people have to think about things.
The main booth has DN-D6000s (as of last week!!) pretty dam cool!!
and the mixer is a Allen and Heath XONE:464
Anyone want to know the Band PA rig? that ones pretty much off by heart!!
We sell Denon DND6000s at djstore.co.uk. They are ace bits of kit. And so is every Allen and Heath mixer like ever. The only mixer I'd have above that would be a Pioneer DJM800.
Whoever picked the DJ equipment knew what he was doing.
Nah, PAs don't do it for me - I have a DJ equipment fetish ;)
The main booth has DN-D6000s (as of last week!!) pretty dam cool!!
and the mixer is a Allen and Heath XONE:464
Anyone want to know the Band PA rig? that ones pretty much off by heart!!
I wanna know the band PA specs...
Right (takes big gasp of air)
Microphones (we'll start easy)
4X SM58
6X SM57
4X Senheiser 604
1X Shure Beta 901
24/8 multicore/box
All Van damme, Neutric leads/multicores
Desk/effects
Allen&Heath GL2200
2X DBX231
1X DBX Quad Gate
1X DBX Quad Compressor (cana mind the model no's of these)
(This is getting worse i cant mind what the front of house is like)
FOH
1X DBX DriveRack 6 channel
1X Crown(yes Crown!) 4k approx amp - Bass
1X Digital amp model? 1k8 - Mid
1X Digital amp model? 1k8 - High
2X some other PV amps 1K each - monitors
2X Two channel JBL speakers (think they are 800/600 watts each)
2X 2.4K JBL Angled double 18" cabs
4X 500watt monitors cana mind make!!
Sorry Jeid i kinda screwed up there at the end.
i very rarely see the amp rack (its hidden away) and ive never seen the back of the speakers.
Thats roughly it, this reply will most likely encourage Frantic to engage conversation and correct my in-accuacies.
Preety good Kev... Well remembered
Whoa, havent seen a thread with speals as big as this in a long time, but a very interesting thread indeed
Everyone has made good points, I go to skins, not as much as i used to, but i used to be your typical, thursday, friday, saturday, and even the odd sunday kinda person
Yes, i go in, and i cringe as its STILL the same set list of the cheesiest tunes imaginable played
Yes, if in skins they played dance music, proper dance, not cheesy pop (some people dont know the differance) i would be delighted
like i said before for me it is what a nightclub should play, but at the same time i know that wont work as being the only nightclub in town it isnt like nightclubs down the line
EVERYONE goes to skins, therefore dance music wont work which i believe is a crying shame as it is what nightclubs SHOULD play
As this is the case, we are stuck with the same cheesy pop setlist that has ALWAYS been there, but truth be told, if it was such a major issue, skins would not be packed all the time.
Sayin that however, the main reason skins is packed all the time, It has the latest drinking license in town and its the only place to go at the end of the night, so people wont complain as its the only place
Therefore everyone goes there and Chessy pop tunes work, however, if there was another nightclub in town things might be differant
But until that happens things will stay the same as they are
Ive always wanted to do the whole spin the decks thing, so, i ordered myself a set of decks, ive already got over 100 records of dance tracks from a dj off of ebay (Ebay rocks hahaha)
Um, i know my speal is kinda off the point, well, kinda off, but i love dance music, i love all kinds of music, but oh how i do love my dance
:roll:
Skinandis aint built for 2 seperate systems.
Whens the supernaturals coming up?
The 12th of never. They split up a few years ago. Im mates with the guy who was playing keyboard with them before they split. Shame really, great bunch of guys
They played in Skins years ago. He never said they were coming up.
[quote=midi2304;130065]Hmmmmm.... Where's Carol Vorderman to do the maths when you need her?
Probably fronting an add for a profit making debt agency - forgot her calculater that day. You don't need to be a mathematician to know that you are onto a loser there!
roblovesplastic
09-Sep-06, 01:47
man ive lost that lighter again
uh-oh, i detect another thread being deleted!
roblovesplastic
10-Sep-06, 12:05
wow just checked and u updated it a min ago.
Ok well so as not to be too random I have to say I love dance music and do see what some dj's do as art. I speak as someone who was the worst dj ever, I mean crashbangwallop. During that time I met a few who just had this gift of mixing, as well as making their own toons. I only seen a few references to producers but they are the dance music people I respect most as they produce their own music and mix..
But dj's yeah even when I knew both records I would still be gobsmacked at how they made the tunes mix. Its not a skill anyone can master.
Example of greatness: Ferry Corsten
oh yes indeedy
:roll:
roblovesplastic
12-Sep-06, 19:57
Example of greatness: Ferry Corsten
oh yes indeedy
:roll:
He did a few good numbers but I mean leftfield/chemical brothers/slam/silicone soul types, producing track after track of good dance music and the ability to mix.
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