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CHANGE CITY :
House music maestro Danny Howells is currently in Australia for the first time in over two years, sweeping across the country for a series of intimate club shows to promote of his new mix out on Renaissance. But, before making it even halfway through the tour, Howells ignited a roaring debate on ‘warmup ethics’ – what exactly is appropriate conduct on the part of a warmup DJ who’s been charged with heating up the dancefloor for an international guest? It all went down at his first gig in Perth last Saturday.
“Only two days in, yet wondering what I’m doing here. It’s not the crowds or the venues that’s wrong, but I’m just curious as to what my purpose is,” Howells wept to fans on his website, before quickly removing it following a case of blogger’s remorse (it lives in on via the ITM forums, of course..!) His outburst was related to what he felt was a completely inappropriate choice of warmup DJ for the sort of set he had intended to play. “I’m supposed to be promoting my Renaissance CD,” he wrote. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to promote it or play remotely in that style when opening DJs decide to play techno/trance at 132 BPM right before I go on.”
According to Howells, all the ingredients were there for a top night out. “Really cool, intimate club with a nice crowd.” All well and good, except for Man With The Red Face being ‘blasted’ through the speakers at a whopping “132 BPM” when he made his grand entrance. Oh the horror! “This is not just ignorance, this is downright rude. If you’re playing a support slot, you really need to have at least the vaguest idea of what the headline DJ is going to play.”
Not a happy chappy, Howells howled at the promoter for the tempo to be brought down a notch. What he was given however was “the kind of driving prog/trance that I imagine Armin Van Buuren plays,” and as a result Howells claims he played a much shorter set than intended because it was impossible to sustain the energy that’d been created in the club. “I don’t come down under very often, so it’s a kick in the teeth when I’m forced into either banging the shit out of it all night thanks to the opener, or am forced into playing a reduced set time. I come here to do my best, and if I’m not being given the platform to do that, then I’m very sorry.”
What do you think; is Danny Howells justified in his complaints, or is he being a bit of a diva? Let us know what you think, and if you’re up to the challenge you can see him for yourself at his remaining Australian gigs this weekend:
Fri Nov 7 – Empire, Brisbane
Sat Nov 8 – Chinese Laundry, Sydney
Stryder78 says...
I think Danny made a fair call. Most people turn up to see the headline act
somevideodude says...
I have VJed a couple of shows with Danny and he has always been very polite and responsive when i have emailed him on odd occasion, I could not see him been the overly diva type. I also put on a fair few club nights, and the promoter should be putting on support acts that do just that, support!! techno/trance at 132 BPM is totally the wrong kind of mood and vibe for someone like Howells. Maybe a pub Dj should have to cover every type of music, but you would assume that an artist touring a CD would not have to vary too much from Genre. is he expected to pull together a rock set if the dj before him is banging out AC/DC tunes?
puretrance89 says...
i think he is a bit too critical, i mean everyone is there to see him with his new cd so i am sure the crowd will recognise his songs and appreciate what he is playing even if it is a tempo down from the opening trance djs. lol and his comment 'i imagine armin plays', i take it he doesn't listen to much trance
ALSTARK says...
Danny Howells is THE master of the full-night's journey, taking it from dreamy, deep house beats, through to proper jackhammer marching music (with anything elase in between), over 5, 6, 7, 8 hours. For me, the whole experience is like nothing that anyone else can produce. It would be a crying shame if this was compromised, in one of Danny's few visits to these shores. Every warm-up DJ knows that there are courtesies to be respected - to say nothing of plain common sense, when it comes to working the energy and anticipation of a crowd, WITHOUT overspending or going past the tipping point.
sumphreak says...
I don't buy it, unless the stuff played before is ridiculously out of line. In that case it's the promoter's fault. Even then, no matter what was played, it should only take you a few tracks to wind it down, then back up again if the crowd was there to hear you as the primary DJ. I mean, they know what to expect from you and any decent crowd I know will take into all these things into account. It's just being too precious and too full of yourself. Danny if you're reading this: I've heard/seen you play many times in the UK and I enjoyed those moments plus I had respect for you as a DJ live and in the studio, but you've gone down in my estimations with this. Yah boo sucks to you.
Spanyolie says...
Danny Howells it completely justified. I know that when I go to a club and someone is playing high intensity high bpm music and then the next DJ starts playing slower stuff it is a bit of a downer no matter how good it is. So this may have essentially cost him money in the future because people that didn't know him well may go away from that gig thinking he was a bit boring and not come the next time. The whole night has to be a build up to the headliner in my opinion
langmonster says...
personally I believe he is totally justified in expressing his concerns to the warm up djs set being unsuitable. Surely, as a professional, the dj would make every effort to provide the ideal build up for the headline artist. The fact that you are even fortunate enough to be on the same bill as such a recognised international artist would be reason enough to go with flow of the nights theme. Music that provides an adequate build up and gets the crowd amped for the main artist is totally the aim. Perhaps it was ego getting in the way, or just ignorance or maybe just an unfortunate choice of lead in tracks, but why wouldnt you just aim to be respected by the headliner, rather than being known as the dj that caused controversy. What kind of guidelines are presented to djs playing on such a critical nights as a promotional world tour anyway?
macc4 says...
the man with the red kolon
Mikee Metro says...
I opened for the Pot B's over the weekend in Mackay. The crowd was fulee into my set, they kept calling for me to step it up. The temptatin was there but when you're the crowd fluffer you have to be mindful of the main act. That is who the people are really there to see. Mind you for a 1 hour set I got to play for just over 2 so thanks to the boys for that. They really owned the room that night. Mikee Metro
Aftertouch says...
who was playin before him ?
judgeMental says...
hmmm... try turning the line fader right down, get the crowd to start cheering for a little, then - BANG - start the new track for the set. i think one should be more concerned about keeping the crowd entertained, rather than burdening 1self and the crowd over such an issue. sure the promoters r to blame, and yes warm up djs have a responsibility to do just that, but i'd be f*cked if i were to let myself be affected (and in turn the crowd) by the dj playing before me. i wonder how he'd react if the dj that supported him played better than he did??? take a tablespoon of cement and harden the f*ck up!
original21 says...
Fair call! Unless the main act asks you to step it up...you stay in line!!
petebb22 says...
maybe danny could have been the support set for the trance dj well he should have been
DJ Hitch says...
steviegeorge says...
I couldn't agree more with Danny, it is a shame to have a headline act come to Oz and then be so totally down trodden - What were the promoters thinking. Not everybody who enjoys Dance enjoys hard or fast. I would be honoured to have had Danny in the ACT however yet again we miss out. Hopefully next time he will come here and be thoroughly enjoyed, rather than being wasted elsewhere.
rowandix says...
Starting to think that Deadmau5 was right... Fucking cunts....
SIRCrx says...
just get robbie lowe to do it .. he is one of oz's best warm up dj's
itchy says...
Danny's rant is absolutely justified. He's the main act, and the majority of people in attendance are there just to see him. It's his show, there's nothing 'diva' about it! The night is on for him to showcase his talents, and it's the warm-up DJ's duty to allow him as much scope as possible to do this. I think it was Howell's who said years ago that a warm-up DJ should never go over 125 bpm. I don't remember if that was the exact figure, but it's the right idea. Almost every time I have seen a headliner pull off a great set it's because the warm-up DJ was respectful and opened with plenty of more mellow stuff. I haven't seen them in a while, but Korbel and Lowe used to do it with class. Every warm up DJ should take a lesson form these guys and leave the ego at the door!
Laundry says...
stevie George - Friction have had Danny play in Canberra 3 times before
m1kest4r says...
danny said to me during his melb set how bad he feels about what he wrote about perth and what happened. he was quite annoyed its gotten so much attention too. i think what he said is quite alright. the dj's are there to warm up for him... too many times i've heard inappropriate warm ups and the vibe of the night has been ruined because of this.
DJ BB says...
Justified. Saturday at Chinese Laundry will be awesome, always a great crowd!!
shaiki says...
Its important for support acts to keep in context with the theme of the whole night, sounds like it was just a misconception of styles thus clashing.
Son_of_Zev says...
Everyone's in the wrong here. . 1) promoter... they should have slotted in someone who would compliment Danny Howell. 2) Support DJ, know your role... 3)Danny Howell... yes the other were in the wrong, but the dummy spit was Diva like and his comments put down his own abilities.. We've all had to play after people that bang it to hard to intro.. simple trick .. bring the feel down again before bringing it back up.... there are many ways to do this. Oh and when did "man with the red face" become a banger... and 132 BPM become considered fast And FFS, he's a DJ, bring a big box of records and be prepared for anything... Have a thought for the live acts.. especially us hardware based ones (we can't re-adjust timings of their samples on the fly and so are locked into specific BPM's for tracks with rythmically looped samples and have a limited selection of tracks to play at any gig due to the amount of RAM on our hardware). There's still a way around it, and that's part of the fun. Personally, I've had to play after people playing Wah Wah, and Stay Up Forever records, and my stuff definitely isn't as hard as that, yes it was tough to level it out to bring it back up..... but why complain, that's life.... I never heard Voiteck complain that Will-E-Tell was playing too hard before he played..... Nor SpeedyJ when I saw him once and the person before him banged it out harder than the tracks he was playing (scuse my memory this was Altona days)... A well worked out gig with the promoters matching the acts properly and the support acts being considerate is always better.... but complaining when it doesn't happen is being a Diva.. Take Jimi Hendrix attitude when The Who made him play after them at Monterey Jazz ... "If I'm going to play after you guys, I'm going to pull all the stops".... (sic.. this is probably a slight misquote)
spaso27 says...
He is being wayyyyyyyyyyyyy to hard on himself.. he is a legend.. END OF STORY!
walkdogz says...
warm up dj should have been doing his job properly... he gets paid to do a job, so do it.
asil86 says...
go danny howells!! cu at laundry front centre!!
windowboy says...
i have faith in our brisbane boys... they know the deal...
Ben Korbel says...
I totally hear Danny. And it's both the promoter's fault for not knowing how to program a night and the DJ's fault for having no idea how to warmup. Most Australian DJs wouldn't know what subtly was, if it hit them in the head. We need people like Robbie Lowe, John Devecchis, Simon Caldwell, Gavin Keitel, Phil K and Virginia Le to give out lessons in how to behave!
forbidden says...
Danny is 100% right. If i was in the crowd i would have felt embarassed for him.
mattos000 says...
man up and get over so what if the opener f***ed up there was nothing howells could do about it once it was done so just play what people came to see you do
thursday says...
whinger, next thing he'll be on about how it's too hot the new CD sucks anyway
BEWARE THE CAT says...
warm dj need to be shot
king_james says...
haha Thursday thats gold i don't think hes being a diva ay. i'd be pissed too. good onya danny
jayman says...
Guess he doesnt like to play at festivals then huh ??? Main act ,for a niteclub gig in Perth? Us locals like our local djs mate and support our own. As a dj , dont you - " play to the crowd/atmosphere" Did he advise the warm-ups of what he was going to play,or even ask for a laid-back lead-in to his set? When you rock up and expect something other than what you got then you are a diva...
Spekman says...
yep totally justified, the warm-up DJ is called the warm-up DJ for a reason, and their purpose is to, "warm-up" the crowd for whatever is following them... not bang it out harder then the main act so that when they come, if they started as they had planned it would be a massive anti-climax and ruin the vibe needed to build a set up.... heard an interview with Carl Cox saying the exact same thing, how he found himself a warm-up DJ to tour with him so that he could avoid that problem...
gifrod says...
i'm feeling a "Danny Howells Only"
Molecular00 says...
Word Danny, if you've ever listened to any of his mix cds, you understand his style is to simmer until the crowd boils over. Fuckwit local djs who think they are better than god never bother to know the style a headliner plays and to build into it. Sydney djs are the worst for it in the country! It detracts from the night, and promoters make them selves suffer as a crowd burn out to fast.
hanky says...
Danny is totally justified in his complaints and you only have to look at his comments in the 'DJ Booth forum' thread to see that even when approaching this situation he was still professional about the whole thing. Whoever was the gimp who mentioned that his new CD sucks needs their head checked - his new Renaissance is class all the way.
samheaton85 says...
I'D like to know the rude amount that Danny would have been paid?? Put that at the start of his whine on his blog; "Last night I was only paid XX? thousand dollars to have a crap warm up set. Put it into perspective and get over yourself Danny.