Be the DJ
3D: January 22, 2007

Do you reckon you could pick the tunes to make a packed dancefloor totally lose their shit? The head down to the next Stick It ON night and have a crack – you don’t even have to be able to mix.

‘I’m shitting myself,’ says Harry Free. ‘I’m a doctor, not a DJ.’ Yet here he is, looking down the barrel of a crowded dancefloor on the second floor of the Burdekin about to bare his musical soul to friends and strangers.

He’s part of what’s known as the DJ democracy, one of 12 people who will stand up tonight and be counted among their favourite spin doctors. But Stick It On isn’t about being famous, nor is it a launching pad for wannabe DJs, it’s about real people; you me and the MD getting a chance to play what they want to hear on their night out.

Unlike The Doctor, DJ Kid-A, Alice Kidman, has brought only a select few mates. ‘I’m not nervous,’ she says bravely, ‘I don’t know too many people here and I’ve practised my set. It’s gonna be great.’

The second floor is filling up as it nears 11.35 when the DJ line-up will be drawn out of a hat. Anyone can register to play a set, and DJs are given fifteen minutes to wow the crowd with their choice of tunes. No experience is necessary: the technical side of things is taken care of by the Stick It On team, who scurry around twiddling dials and adjusting levels while the DJ waves to the crowd.

Scott Joffroy has been to one of the past three Stick It On nights, but tonight is the fist time he’ll step up to the decks. ‘I’ve never DJed before, or even thought of it, but I came along to Stick It On last time and watched it unfold and I thought, “I’ve got to be a part of this”. The organisers are top blokes, they help out and make you feel really comfortable,’ he says. Tonight Scott will play as DJ Aussiecrombie.

The night originated in Brighton and is now a regular fixture on the UK party-town’s scene. The concept has travelled here to Sydney thanks to three British ex-pats, Neill Kerrigan, Stretch Dorrington and Richard Morris. ‘We saw here what we saw in Brighton,’ says Stretch, ‘people are fed up with the same old, same old: clubbing with attitude and unsmiling DJs who stare at the mixer all night.

‘Stick It On is a celebration of the true form of playing – you get up and play your best tunes, you’re not trying to be a big DJ, pandering to the crowd.’

Zoe Barnes, aka DJ Meercat is first up. ‘I’ve handed in my record bag,’ she says, referring to the two CDs onto which she’s burnt two songs each. The club’s packed and charged with an air of anticipation and excitement, the first for the DJs and their supporters, the latter from the non-participating partiers looking forward to a night of random tunes.

Not much mixing takes play – in fact it’s actively discouraged – until someone like Brendan Cameron comes along. The dark horse of the night, DJ Brendan Sharp is in the airforce and has been teaching himself to mix in his bedroom. He’s a bit stiff at first, concentrating on his records, oblivious to the crowd. Stretch and Neill give him some initial help, but he’s opted to go solo for his electro house set. By the second track, he’s in the groove and gives a big nod and a wry DJ half-smile as the bass kicks in. His friends look on, stunned. They had no idea he even liked this kind of music, let along could make it happen.

But Brendan is the exception, not the rule. Most DJs are content to press play when the countdown reaches zero; Aussiecrombie is a master at air-scratching and Kid-A waves her arms in the air like she just don’t care.

As for the music, anything goes. Brit pop, funk, rock’n’roll all make their way onto the beat. The aim is not to please the crowd, but to play what you want to hear.

‘I’ll be playing a mid-90s to 2000 set, harking back to the glory days,’ says Harry The Doctor. ‘I want to get people jumping. The last song, though, is what I’m really about. It’s nerve-racking: I have to get up there and tell all these people so much about myself and what I like. What if they don’t like it? What if they walk off the dancefloor?’ he says.

He needn’t worry. Such is the respec’ given to the DJs brave enough to get up there and Stick It On that even the oddest track gets people grooving. Within ten seconds of his first track The Doctor is a superstar in front of an adoring crowd. He’s loving it – and they’re loving him right back.