Audio By Carbonatix
This week’s DC9er takes you behind the booth, North of the Dial style, with Denton-based, eclectic party-DJ, Joey Liechty aka Yeahdef.
Liechty has been DJing for the past 7 years, and is the founder of ’90s night, one of Denton’s hottest dance nights, bringing people from Denton and Dallas to Hailey’s Club every Tuesday. He’s also recently kicked off DentStep, a monthly Dub-step night which also takes place at Hailey’s Club on the last Friday of each month. Lately, Yeahdef has been getting into booking and promoting acts and events, bringing talent like Anamanaguchi and Jessica 6 to the region.
Whether booking an event or DJing it, Yeahdef promises a good time. His inspiration? “To see the crowd boogie down.”
Have a listen after the jump to Yeahdef’s exclusive DC9er Mix. And if you like what you hear, now you know where to find him each week!
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How long have you been DJing for?
7 years
How
did you get your start DJing?
Like so many other DJs, I was
just curious about scratching. I had an ‘itch’ to know what it felt
like. I didn’t know anyone who was a DJ, so I picked up a garbage Gemini
belt-drive table and rack mount no-name mixer from American Pawn on my
way home from work in Oak Cliff in the summer of ’03. I was instantly
hooked. Self-taught all the way.
What was your first gig like?
It was a house party at Jim Harrington (who currently plays
bass in Writer) and Jon Grubbs’ (who currently teaches English in
Taiwan) house on Bernard Street in Denton. Right across from R-Bar.
[Laughs.] We had a lot of adventures with R-Bar back then. Basically,
all of us were getting tow up, and I was mindlessly mixing Beastie Boys
and the Pokerap–getting faded.
Who/what are some of your
biggest influences musical or otherwise?
I’m obsessed with the
concepts of recursion, puns and word games. I love the book Gödel,
Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter. I’ve
played the SNES RPG Earthbound over and over again–probably 100
times or more. Old school RPGs in general inspire me.
Which
DJ’s do you follow? Do you have a favorite?
Locally, I examine
the moves other DJs are making in the region. I love any DJ who isn’t
ashamed to flip something retarded just to get a few smiles–even if the
dance floor comes to a grinding halt. You can always win back the
floor, but sometimes you have to get silly with your mix. I hate
serious-faced DJ’s in general. Goof troop 4 lyphe. No favorites, but
when I think of that sort of question, Jazzy Jeff comes to mind.
What’s
your favorite genre of music, both to play and to listen to?
DJing,
I love crafting together sets of golden-era hip-hop. Driving in the
car, I listen to stuff like Modest Mouse, Flying Burrito Brothers and
Interpol. At home, I like to go early electro and funk and spend most of
my time listening in bed previewing new music to play out. I listen to
talk radio at work–lots of old episodes of The Phil Hendrie Show and
Coast to Coast AM.
How do you decide what songs you’re going
to play?
I get a vibe for the night from talking to any other
DJs performing, find out how long I’ll be playing, multiply by the
Coefficient of Radness, then divide by zero.
How much
preparation goes into putting a set together?
For my
weeklies–’80s and ’90s night–I’ve spent well over 300 hours making
those playlists. Hell, I’ve spent my whole life making those playlists!
If I get invited to play somewhere or I put together a one-off event,
I’ll usually go in for around 1 to 2 hours pulling material for the
night. I’m OCD with library management so it doesn’t take me long to
find what I need to get people moving.
What are your main
objectives when it comes to playing music? Are you looking to entertain
the crowd, educate them, or something different altogether?
I
want to surprise them. Give them something they thought they forgot
about, but it was still always rattling around in their heads somewhere.
Ultimately, my goal is to get them drinking a lot–making my employers
money. I’m not in the art-school of DJing; it’s a business like anything
else, and I do a fine job. That being said, transitions and building
the mix is of huge importance to me, whether I’m mixing top 40 to pump
up some unfamiliar faces or obscure Mtume b-sides to have people saying
“WHAT IS THAT?!” It’s going to be done properly. I HATE
trainwrecking–so I make sure I know my songs and my equipment so that
doesn’t happen.
What can someone expect when they come to
see/hear you play?
Sort of answered in the previous question,
but depending on the night and time they show up, you could see me
chilled back, selecting obscure italo or fist pumping to the Bloody
Beetroots.
What kind of equipment do you use?
Hi-speed
Midi turntables. Numark V7s + Pioneer DJM 800 w/ SP-303 Sampler on
Serato Itch. The Numark joints are the absolute latest and greatest of
the midi controllerism revolution that’s been going on for the past four
years. I’m a huge gear-head and relentlessly read up on new ways to
interface and expressively DJ in a compact setup. My setup usually
changes drastically each six months or so. I’m really interested in what
the iPad will offer. It’s capable of becoming a very cheap Lemur
controller.
Requests. Love em or hate em?
They’re
great for crowd morale and if the requester is polite and succinct, I
can usually make it happen. A good way ensure I play your song is to
just write it down on a napkin and hand me a few dollars. “Please” and
“Thank You” are great phrases to remember! A good way to make sure I
never play your song is to ask for it over and over again and complain
if I don’t bust it out fast enough. I DJ to see the crowd boogie down,
not to feed my own ego.
If you could play a gig anywhere,
with any other DJ/music act, whom would you play with and where would it
be?
I would love to play the demolition of a building or
historic artifact–like the Parthenon or something. Maybe the implosion
of King Tut’s tomb with a troop of b-boys led by Mr. Wiggles with me
dropping “Moments in Love”.
What sets you apart from other DJs
in Dallas/Denton/Fort Worth?
Allow me to speak for tech-minded
nerdy sci-fi DJs as a whole: I have a few kindred spirits of DJing
around the region–we can’t form a ‘crew’ because we are too
individualistic. Our idiosyncrasies force us to play unexpected drops,
ruin childhood memories, and we love to play anything from either Chronic
albums. We live online almost better than we do IRL.
When/where
will you be playing next?
I’m doing ’90s night at Hailey’s
Club in Denton, every Tuesday.
What can Dallas expect to see
from you in 2010?
You might be seeing me expand my weeklies to
some spots in Dallas. There’s been talk of a ’90s night monthly. In
fact, I should probably be following up on that. L8R!
Track
Listing:
1. Spooky Tales and Scary Sounds – Frankenstein’s
Thunderstorm
2. Kamil Wolnikowski – Tree Bark Mobile
3. Yellow Magic Orchestra – Key
4. Klymaxx – Video Kid
5. BB & Q Band – Dreamer
6. Destiny’s Child – Perfect Man
7. Diamond D – Stunts, Blunts, and Hip Hop
8. Big Boi – Shutterbug
9. 213 – Sassy Ways
10. My Mine – Hypnotic Tango
