The Smiling DJ
A regular on Brisbane’s clubbing and festival circuit for a number of years now, Jimmy Vegas will be packing not only his music, but also his pyjamas when he heads to Bedroom this Saturday night.
The Jimmy Vegas clubbing experience - here's your chance to pigeonhole yourself; what can peeps expect from you when you're in the DJ booth?
I really enjoy playing to people whether it’s a few or a packed room. So when I’m in the booth it’s with a smile on my face, having fun and hopefully getting the same response from the crowd!
What are cooking for your upcoming set at Bedroom? Any exclusives re-edits, new productions you're going to drop on the night?
It’s great playing at Bedroom because I get to play a broad range of music and the crowd seems to love it! I've got some edits by my mates Jeremy Iliev and Habebe and of course some stomping remixes from Baby Gee, Reekay Garcia and Danny T! My new stomper would have to be Dizzee Rascal and Armand Van Helden - ‘Bonkers’ (Original Mix). It’s going to be one of those massive tunes for sure! Check it out!
With the onset of new technologies, there are a glut of new DJs getting about these days - but honestly, how many pretenders are out there who think they're good DJs and who are getting regular work?
Look, from my point of view there are too many DJs getting about, but it’s a competitive industry these days and I think the ones who are any good will eventually find regular work and the rest will get weeded out slowly. Everyone has to start out somewhere, so it’s not for me to decide who's good and who's a 'pretender'.
So how did the Vegas portion of your DJing moniker arise?
It's one of those things that just kind of stuck and the origin has kind of been forgotten over time (and many drinks!). I went for a coast trip with Habebe and Baby Gee a couple of years ago and we made it up for some reason and then that was that! Jimmy from Vegas ... Jimmy Vegas!
Dancefloor etiquette - are there really rules punters should follow when they're losing their shit to the music?
I don't think there are too many rules I can suggest except mind your personal space, be careful of others around you and don't break anything! Other than that, enjoy the music and let loose!
The normal week for Jimmy Vegas - is it all fancy parties and hanging out with uber-cool peeps? Or is there a large slice of reality thrown your way that keeps you grounded?
Ha ha, that would be sweet but no there's definitely a few slices of reality eaten by myself during the week! I have another job to tend to and it usually takes me about three days to recover from the weekend so that's never fun either! If you hear of any 'fancy parties' though, let me know ... I'm down!
Have you ever had a set where, no matter what you tried, everything’s gone to shit?
It's like the bumper sticker, ‘shit happens’, and stuff goes wrong sometimes, but you just have to keep your head up and try make up for it next time. CDs will skip, people will ask for tunes you might not have, you may spill a drink all over the mixer (oops!) but life goes on. I think, like anything, the more practice you have with DJing, you'll gain confidence and you can learn to adapt to a crowd and then, hopefully, you won't end up in the shit so often!
How confidence sapping are bad sets; does it take a few shows to get your groove back?
At first, when things didn't work out or I messed up it was very confidence sapping but as you play more and more you get better and the confidence comes back. Things inevitably will go wrong at some point just like with anything else but you learn from your mistakes.
As we head into the cooler months, what's going to be the must-have accessory for clubbing this winter?
A wicked smile and some comfy dancing shoes!
You can catch Jimmy Vegas with the early set at GPO, before he heads south to Bedroom, Surfers Paradise, on Saturday May 23.