DJ Spotlight #9 - Martin
- Tana Abeni
- Aug 3, 2023
- 5 min read
This week's DJ Spotlight is heading back to Germany!
Martin is spoiling us, and he picked not one, but two Songs of the Week for us!
1. Welcome to DJ Spotlight! How did you first discover West Coast Swing, and what drew you to become a West Coast Swing DJ?
I started with dancing late in my life and truth to be told the beat in music and me dancing to it have more of a love/hate relationship. :)
After my wife and I started with ballroom and latin, with a little stopover at Discofox, we first came into contact with WCS at the Euro Dance Festival. Our first lesson was actually a boot camp with Kyle and Sarah.
After our decision to exclusively dance WCS, I made the step from WCS dancer to WCS DJ in 2015 as a DJ at local West Coast Swing parties in Hamburg and since then have been an integral part of the West Coast Swing DJ crew in Hamburg and northern Germany.
I cannot really say what actually drew me to DJing, but I guess I needed to find a place in the community. DJing also helped me in my own dancing in the way how to hear music and how to figure out the music structure in a song.
Besides being a guest DJ at various events (for example Budafest, Bavarian Open, etc.), I was lately on staff at Budafest and have been a staff DJ at Neverland Swing since 2017, but also at Swing Generation, SwingIn Festival, Austrian Swing Spectacle, Cologne Swing Festival, Nordic X-Mas Swing, Anchor Festival, Cozy Swing and Carnival Swing.
2. Give us a glimpse into your musical library! Which styles influence your taste the most?
My style is most influenced by R&B and hip-hop. I cannot dance hip-hop, but I like to listen to it. Lately also, more rock has come into my playlist (for example Evanescence).
I also have to admit that my wife also comes up with good music, which I usually put into my library. Also, there are a few people who managed to get a playlist of their favorite songs with me in my Virtual DJ library. The people who do, know who I am talking about.
3. Your Comps music game is impressive: at Budafest 2023 you succeeded in creating a huge series of impeccably consistent prelims sets. How long did it take you to get ready? Tell us more about the process you went through!
Well, at the beginning of November of the previous year I have been asked by Adam (Thanks again, Adam) if I would like to join the Budafest Staff-DJs. I already knew Nic and Justin for quite some time (I think since 2014) and knew I probably needed to play comps when being on staff.
So I started working on gathering music for different divisions which I found suitable for JnJs, and then I started working on it. I started sorting music by genre, BPM, mood, breaks/no breaks, straight rhythm/swung rhythm, etc. Then I grouped the music to represent the typical JnJ scheme (slow, fast, blues). I then ended up listening to these groups over and over again (the last time three hours before the comps) to see if I would still play the compilation like that.
All in all, it took a while. I can't put a figure on the number of hours since I also worked on it in the morning during breakfast before going to work, etc., but I guess it was between 10-20 hours.
4. Can you share a particularly memorable or interesting experience you've had as a West Coast Swing DJ, and how did you handle it?
There have been a few moments that have shaped my WCS-DJ "career". At the beginning of my DJing, I managed to drive all the dancers off the floor at a party, I was once replaced as a DJ during my set at an event and I survived playing comps at Budafest.
For the first two events, it's a question of how one bounces back from it. Truth to be told, both moments sucked bad times and I doubted myself. But I am of the opinion that you can actually learn something from everything, and that negative moments often teach you more than positive moments. Two things I definitely learned from the two moments above are how to read the room better and to think more about the music I play.
Playing comps at Budafest on the other side was of course something special. It is, after all, the biggest event in Europe and is broadcasted live. The tension was very high for me, and after the comps I was mentally drained. But what I've learned from this is that (at least for me) preparation is everything, and being well-prepared pays dividends at the end of the day. And because everything went well, and the feedback was very positive, it was a really great moment.
Another great memory is being on the DJ team with Mineh Ishida and Gergely Szabo at the Austrian Swing Spectacle (which unfortunately no longer exists). Here I learned what makes a good DJ team.
5. What advice would you give to someone who's just starting out as a West Coast Swing DJ?
What helped me a lot was getting feedback. I have asked many dancers and pros whose opinions I value for feedback after my sets. And of course, you also have to accept that not everything will be positive, but if feedback is constructive, it helps to promote development in the long term.
What also helped me is that I actually played at local WCS parties right from the start and was therefore able to develop my understanding of music and my own style. Here, too, it has been shown that theory is all well and good, but practice, i.e. in the sense of playing music, is what gets you further.
And another thing that helped me was to have played under other experienced DJs in my early days and also taking DJing-privates with Victor Loveira and Chris van Dommeln, among others.
6. Outside of West Coast Swing DJing, what are some of your other interests or hobbies that help inspire your music selection or style?
Well, since Corona I started photography and videography. The latter really helps me also in music understanding and how to listen for accents in music.
Other than that my other hobbies (like sports, riding motorcycle, etc.) don't really help in my music selection or style, but sports definitely helps in body awareness for dancing and helps me to create a more stable body position.
7. Is there anything else you'd like to share with our audience about yourself or your journey as a West Coast Swing DJ?
What I like to share is this wisdom: listen to your gut feeling (or if you have: your spider senses).
If something feels off, chances are it is, and that also includes DJing. If your gut tells you not to play a song, maybe even though you totally dig it, don't play it.
8. Lastly, share with us any upcoming events or projects that you're excited about!
Well, I am still playing as a WCS-DJ at different events. Although in the second half of the year I will dial it back a bit as I'm very busy with my main job and I also started photography as a new hobby during Corona, which I enjoy a lot.
My next events either for (a bit of) DJing or just dancing are: Swing Generation in Erding, Finnfest in Helsinki, possibly WCS Festival in Düsseldorf and like every year since we started going to events... Budafest.
Maybe I will see one or another of you at some event.
Comments