Heavy Metal?

[DazzyD]

Heavy metal covers such a wide range.
One extreme is soft rock and the other is death metal.

I think you are right in asking for the music to play.
Or at least a play list.
Trying to second guess might cause a riot !

I have had ipods handed to me at the beginning of some gigs and simply let that play all night !

This isn't true. Heavy metal doesn't cover such as wide range and it certainly doesn't encompass soft rock! Rock is the overall over-riding genre and heavy metal, soft rock, death metal, hard rock, etc are all sub-genres of rock in their own right. But each have individual traits and characteristics.

But you are right in that trying to second guess a specialist genre, especially at someones' wedding, is never a good idea! Blagging might get through a few tracks and subsection of a night but not a full-on metal-fest!

[yourdj]

This isn't true. Heavy metal doesn't cover such as wide range and it certainly doesn't encompass soft rock!

Or prog & glam rock (is there a smiley for being sick)

I was thinking that, heavy metal is a sub genre in itself.
Probably what the friend means if that they are metal heads, which as I have said encompasses any rock that is on the harder side.
There is a great run down of them all here: https://beat.media/guide-to-metal-subgenres

You play some of those tracks that Toby mentioned at a "heavy metal" party and you'll get lynched.

metalheads are big, hairy, ugly so-and-sos (and that's just the women!)

I was friends with this band and used to go to the metal nights they played at & no you would not get away with playing Status quo thats for sure (I would not even class that as soft rock, its in my cheese/chavs playlist!) its no different to playing house in a happy hardcore night.. Yes they are an ugly bunch of sweaty gits, but Download festival was full of the nicest people i have ever met! It's the Urban music events that have the most violent people as the music is largely about gangs and sex! Much better to sing about evil, death, hell & stuff like that LOL



Definitely agree with not doing it if they need specialists help, its is a wedding. In this case my guess is that even if the bride and groom only love classic heavy metal then only a small proportion will follow suit and it will be a mixed wedding, so its very unwise to just go armed with a lot of heavy metal. If they wont accept a back up list then forget it.

Out of interest do you don't know the following tracks then give it a miss!!
I am certainly no rock expert, but I think you need some form of knowledge/interest before taking the booking.
Yes this can be gained, but would require many hours listening to the following music:

[Nakatomi]

Being a resi there's a lot of gigs where on paper I'd have thought a specialist would've been more suited to but you know - if you're any good at spotting similarities & patterns in tracks there's a lot you can learn by just winging it. To quote Mr Pengelly - Brides don't know what they don't know, right? So if they don't know that not every DJ is knowledgeable about every genre going (or read their mind that by 'heavy metal' they actually mean what I call 'pop punk' - yeah been there, got that T-shirt)... they just go with A DJ.

Anyway have you ever tried looking for a rock or metal specialist wedding DJ? :O In my part of the world there doesn't seem to be any such thing - I know of one DJ who claims to be an expert in rock & metal but he doesn't advertise the fact! Similarly, dance music specialists who don't advertise they specialise in dance music... Infact most of the people I know who advertise in specialisms don't actually pin any special fields down (they 'specialise' in non-specifics ) There's a hell of a lot of 'experts in all genres' BS floating around too. You can be jack of all trades for sure, but master of everything? Bah!

[simon1969]

I simply would not take a gig on with music that I knew nothing about.

Oh why?

I would have thought it give a DJ experience ?
As long as you get some sort of playlist, and they say what they definitely don't want playing it shouldn't be to hard.

[rth_discos]

Oh why?

I would have thought it give a DJ experience ?
As long as you get some sort of playlist, and they say what they definitely don't want playing it shouldn't be to hard.

Experience? That's something you gain from knowing the genre. Not when someone is paying you.

Firstly, this is not a pub rock night where you get to try out some tracks that others have told you "might" work. This is someones' wedding. Their special big day. It's a specialist genre which deserves a specialist DJ.

Absolutely. Metalheads are massively in to their music. Their music is their life. I got a booking the other day for a wedding because I knew who Skindred were - they only wanted a couple of metal songs, but because I was the only DJ to know who Skindred were, I got the booking (they're a Welsh reggae-metal band for anyone interested!)

You play some of those tracks that Toby mentioned at a "heavy metal" party and you'll get lynched.

Yup! Imagine turning up to play at Ministry of Sound and spinning The Conga, YMCA and Agadoo. That's what you'd be doing playing Bon Jovi, Semisonic and Tina Turner at a gig full of metal fans!

Heavy metal covers such a wide range.
One extreme is soft rock and the other is death metal.

Soft Rock is absolutely not metal. In fact, hard rock is not metal. Play hard rock, and you'll get a very disappointed crowd.

If anything, the responses I've read on this thread just highlight why a DJ shouldn't ever take on a gig that is outside of their knowledge and expertise.

[yourdj]

Anyway have you ever tried looking for a rock or metal specialist wedding DJ?

Yes, I use Dave Mills when I don't know a single track that a bride is presenting me. I had one with a very strange lady (literally no eye contact and was raising her eye brows all meeting) who said "I have nothing else to do with the wedding so the music is mine". They were getting married on Halloween in a witch village near me, and I felt that it would be wrong to take the event and to be fair did not want to do it as it would have been really hard. I think she reminded me of my hippy ex girlfriend too much LOL.

https://www.facebook.com/djdavemills/

[DazzyD]

Oh why?

I would have thought it give a DJ experience ?
As long as you get some sort of playlist, and they say what they definitely don't want playing it shouldn't be to hard.

You would use someones wedding to gain genre experience that you don't have before the wedding? Thankfully, I have no need to get married in Nottingham!

Experience? That's something you gain from knowing the genre. Not when someone is paying you.
...

If anything, the responses I've read on this thread just highlight why a DJ shouldn't ever take on a gig that is outside of their knowledge and expertise.

Couldn't agree more. There are some very blaise attitudes to performing on someone's big day! Before I quit, even after 20+ years of DJing weddings, I still got nervous before each one. I put that down to me wanting to be the very best that I could and give them the very best for their wedding that I could. And even though I did some kids parties from time to time, I actually tried to sway each of those clients in to booking, not me, but an experienced, specialised kids entertainer rather than just a DJ who can play a few games while being a bit silly (i.e. me!). This is why I started my business. I saw a niche in the market for a mobile disco that revolved around giving the client what was best for them rather than just yet another generic DJ show, a role I'd done many times myself working for others whilst thinking to myself "Surely this whole process could be better and more customer-focused?". And that's what I did. I would never try and win bookings that I wasn't best suited to.

Oh, and for the record, I'm an old-school rocker with a slight crossover in to the metal world! And even I wouldn't take on a metal wedding (at least without giving it a lot of thought and discussion with he client) but I could recommend a couple of DJs who could do that job!

[Excalibur]

So based on the premise that you must never do a function where you aren't totally comfortable with every piece of music required, how do we expand our knowledge?
On the basis that we might need to DJ at a Metal Wedding, do we go to night classes and gain a degree in the subject, just in case? How do we know what functions we're going to be asked to do?

" Sorry Mate, I'd love to do your Punk wedding, but foolishly I majored in Northern Soul, with Tamla Motown as an add on ".

So when is a fifteen year old DJ permitted to do a wedding? By your logic, not until he's in his early thirties, or has served his apprenticeship somehow, and has papers to prove it. Last time I looked, there wasn't a City and Guilds in Mobile DJ'ing, sadly.

I said it before, and I'll say it again. With good preparation and good communication, it's possible to do gigs outside your comfort zone,and thus expand it. If you only do things you already know, how will you ever learn? Some of my best reviews have come from bookings where I wasn't on paper the man for the job, but as Justin says, you get an idea of what will fit in with the music. I will freely admit however that a good internet connection, and a willingness to download music on the fly is an enormous advantage, and quite possibly essential.

Simply going in with fingers crossed and a copy of Black Sabbath's Greatest Hits isn't the way to do it.

[rth_discos]

So based on the premise that you must never do a function where you aren't totally comfortable with every piece of music required, how do we expand our knowledge?
On the basis that we might need to DJ at a Metal Wedding, do we go to night classes and gain a degree in the subject, just in case? How do we know what functions we're going to be asked to do?

Take the rather excellent Dave Mills, who has already been mentioned on this thread.

His love of music is in the heavier side of things. He knows that inside out.

Equally someone who has a passion for Northern Soul is the right person for a Northern Soul gig.

You wouldn't expect to see a heavy metal enthusiast taking on the decks at a nightclub where the latest dance songs are required. So why put a party DJ in to an event where metal music is required?

If you don't like metal, no one is going to enjoy 5 hours of it being played loud of out their speakers.

I really detest this view that DJs should be Jack of All Trades when it comes to music genres. No, we should each play to our strengths.

I've said it before, and I'll repeat it again - we should be proud of the music we have the most knowledge in, and proudly display it on our website, rather than the awful catch all 'all types of music catered for'.

It's one of the reasons DJs are seen as a generic commodity, because we don't do enough to individualise ourselves.

[Excalibur]

I really detest this view that DJs should be Jack of All Trades when it comes to music genres. No, we should each play to our strengths.

I've had one gig in ten years playing sixties music. Unless I command six figures a night, that's not a living wage.

You wouldn't expect to see a heavy metal enthusiast taking on the decks at a nightclub where the latest dance songs are required. So why put a party DJ in to an event where metal music is required?

Well this " Party DJ " has been listening to Metal for a lot longer than you've been on the planet, so why not?

I've said it before, and I'll repeat it again - we should be proud of the music we have the most knowledge in, and proudly display it on our website, rather than the awful catch all 'all types of music catered for'.

Yeah right. " I play -insert genre/label of choice here- and if you want a DJ who'll play what you actually want you can jog on". That's one hell of a marketing strategy.

It's one of the reasons DJs are seen as a generic commodity, because we don't do enough to individualise ourselves.

Baa.

OK, whimsy over. We're all rocking up with stick rigs, using two Barrels on sticks, with a scaffolding booth ( hideously ugly things in my opinion, but who cares ) playing digitised music with controllers and laptops to customers who want " just a mix of music we can dance to ". Not that much wiggle room in my opinion.

Yes, I'm stretching a point, but not that much. How many " Wedding DJ Specialists " are there now? I think being a Jack Of All Trades will soon be my USP.