Stick-it-on

November 17th, 2003

Saturday night saw our second visit to Stick-it-on, a club night so different and entertaining that it demands a write-up.

Billed as ‘The DJ Democracy’, the basic idea at Stick-it-on is that the punters are the DJ’s. This concept is so beautifully simple that I’m amazed that I’ve never heard of it before.

Potential DJ’s have to sign up on the Stick-it-on website a few weeks in advance. On the night, everybody gets a 15 minute slot (which usually equates to 4 songs), and you can play literally whatever you want. You have to submit your play list in advance though, and if someone else has already listed one of your tunes then you have to choose an alternative.

In a masterstroke on the part of the organisers, any kind of professional mixing is actively discouraged. There’s a guy on hand to do the technical stuff if you don’t fancy messing on the decks, but fade-out, fade-in is the order of the day for everyone else.

The net result is an incredible mash-up of a night. One minute I’ll be gyrating to some Drum and Bass, the next, pogo’ing to Iggy Pop. Someone will play a rock set (although, thankfully, no Roxette) …and we’ll be air-guitaring. Someone else will play a full-on Rave selection, and everyone not pumping their arms in the air is holding up a ‘choon’ sign.

It was initially surprising to me that I enjoyed it so much, as I’m usually quite picky about what I listen to. But then I realised that every DJ had been planning their 15 minutes for at least a fortnight, and even if much of what was played wasn’t my cup of tea, all of it was Quality.

Also, for any given set there was a section of the crowd who had come along to support their mate on the decks. A consequence was that the atmosphere was great all night, with plenty of noise and a complete absence of any kind of pretence whatsoever.

Duly, we were there to support our friend Emily (DJ Ballroom Blitzer), who in the face of a very difficult week pulled an incredible set out of her bag. Her selection, in this order, was:

White Lines (Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel); Romeo (Bassment Jaxx); Got to be Real (Cheryll Lynne); So Much Love to Give (Together).

I might be a little biased here, but I genuinely think it went down as the best set of the night. During the first breakdown of So Much Love (credits to Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter), the place was absolutely heaving. Tremendous. Big props to Emily.

Surely it can’t be too long before DJ Robotperson is in the house 😉

Lara at our first Stick-it-on, 18.10.03. She’s in orange, over the shoulder of the tanned girl.

Stefan (left) at the controls, 18.10.03, wearing a "Cheer up, Goth" t-shirt. He’s about 6’2", so God knows how tall the dude next to him is. Stef also dj’ed our wedding, and did a superb job.

Photo’s from the Stick-it-on website

Comment on this post

You must be logged in to post a comment.