DJ Disasters!
We asked you for your disaster stories, and you came through loud and clear!
Everyone who DJs has at least one story about something crazy that has happened to them at some point in their career. Whether it’s equipment failure, personality conflicts or biting off more than you can chew, these disasters teach us a lot about DJing and who we think we are. So, thanks to all who experienced the depths of misery and survived to tell the tale. Sharing our stories and laughing at ourselves is a great way to support each other!
D-SAM remembers being at the mercy of his equipment:
It was my craziest fail ever – the last edition of the Holi Festival, and I played a closing b2b (with Dj YAS). I wanted to show off a massive skill, but I touched the cue button and the music turned off! But I’m sure that I’m the fastest DJ ever because in one second I pressed the play button, and I pushed it to the drop. I was like a boss!
I’m pretty sure Sebastian Fritsch will never want another birthday party like this one:
It started with the preparation for my big birthday party. I prepared my best DJ set with the coolest and smoothest transitions three months before. For instance, I collected word-play transitions with all the songs that had “birthday” in their lyrics, like: Katy Perry’s “Birthday” or Madonna’s “Birthday Song”.
The party was supposed to be a private one, so I rented a party room and light equipment. For the rest, like speakers, turntables, mixer and MacBook, I took my own.
On the day of my birthday party, a good friend helped me put together all that DJ stuff and load the drinks in the kitchen. Two hours later we were done, and everything was perfect and ready to go.
I was so excited to begin my DJ set as soon as the first guests came in. So I opened up my MacBook and plugged it in. Except, it didn’t start up properly. There was just a white screen! First, I thought: ok just reboot it, and it’ll work again in maybe 30 minutes. However, there was that white screen again. There was also a file with a question mark on it. I felt so anxious and a little bit angry that nothing I did was helping to get it to work. In addition, barely half of the guests were there.
I left my party to go home to fix the issue. It was too hard for me to relax and enjoy myself. What I did was so stupid. But at the time I thought, I have to get this fixed!
At home, I searched the Internet for a solution and tried everything out, but nothing worked. Meanwhile my brother, who was at the party, called me. He said that I really had to come back because everybody was wondering where I was, and the worst part, the drinks had run out!
I went back to my party, and all my friends put me into a good mood. In the end, it was an awesome party regardless of the fact that the playlist was bad. The problem with my MacBook was that the cable for the hard drive was broken so it couldn’t find the firmware to boot. This never happened again because I bought an SSD which is much more stable.
What I’ve learned is that sometimes s*** happens, and if you can’t control or influence the bad situation you should do the things that you can influence before the emotions influence you. Finally I think whatever you feel, the crowd feels it too. Always have fun and enjoy the company of the people on the dance floor.
Rich knows what it’s like to be pulled in two different directions at once. He’s lived to tell the tale, too. I bet all of us can relate to this one:
I met with the couple that was getting married, and I was asked not to play any country music. Being a young couple, they requested the latest of everything. Anyway, while waiting for the bride and groom to arrive, the bride’s uncle came to me and said: “You don’t know me, but I’m used to getting what I want. I do not want to hear any of that other garbage. I only want to hear country music.” That was a good start to the events that followed. No one said it was going to be easy. What’s important is to satisfy your customers and have fun while doing so.
Jose Jimenez, aka DJ Hozer, must be an expert at the art of compromise after this experience:
One day I was doing an event at Planet Fitness. I work at Power106 KPWR Los Angeles. Anyway, there was another radio station booked at the same time as us. You would think it would be an upsetting occurrence since the two radio stations play two different styles of music. No one wanted to lose their time since both radio stations made the commute to make it to the location. However, we came to an agreement to go “back to back.” After one hour of power music, we did a sort of hand off to the Spanish music, and they did their thing! It was actually a fun idea and everyone had a great time because we all enjoy one thing “The Music. ” It went from an awkward situation to awesome. I guess the message here is don’t always look at it as a problem. Find your solutions.
Sheldon Phillip’s story is definitely one for the ages:
Me and a friend were on our way to a gig. We had a 12ft trailer full of equipment and accessories. The town we were playing in is two hours away from home. So, as we’re getting close to the venue, a car pulls up beside us, and a guy tells us that the trailer door is open. Oh s***! We pull over, and sure enough it is, and the trailer is half empty! We turn around and go back the way we came. Several miles down the road, we see police lights. As we get closer we can see crates of records all over the road, one speaker here, one over there, cable wires everywhere. We look toward the police car, and there is a car sitting on top of a subwoofer! We were charged with not securing cargo and a head-on collision with a speaker. We made it to the gig with a partial rig and hardly any music. The promoter was understanding, but, the incident gives a whole new meaning to crash and burn!
Over to you: Got your own story? Share it in the comments below and on Facebook!