i always used to play tunes that i liked. i have cleared a room of 200 people in under 5 minutes before. at the end of the day i was booked by the promoter to play my style of music, not to play the same as the guy before me.

it is sometimes hard to play after "mr dj popular" , playing weak commercial techno. But u are instantly rewarded when some punter comes up to you after ure set and tells you that u blew him away with what u were playing. or maybe bumping into somebody at another event about 2 months later and they say how much they enjoyed ure set on the previous occasion. Probably because your tunes stood out from what everybody else was playing. I have not dj'd for about 4 years now, and i still occasionaly get somebody say something nice about one of my sets that they witnessed or maybe have on tape from an event.

you have to have guts and believe in your music.

Just imagine following a DJ playing 200bpm Hardcore and opening your set with Drexciya..... I have done it..... and i dont care..... some people loved it , some people hated it ... but some people were so shocked they stayed around to hear more.

I must admit that i was tempted to "sell out" on occasion, and had a few "get outa jail free" records in my box, but i am confident that i always played from the heart and not the wallet.