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
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