If you missed last year’s Red Bull Thre3style competition at the Old Rock House, you’ll have a second chance to experience eight of St. Louis’ best DJs fight to win the “party rock” crown: DJ Who, DJ Deception, DJ D-Mega, DJ Needles, DJ A-Flex, DJ Kue, DJ Uptown, and DJ Lonnie Bee. The rules are simple: fifteen minute sets, live mixing, and at least three genres. The rest is in each contestant’s hands (or timecode vinyl and Serato, to be more specific). And the stakes are high: the winner get’s to rep St. Louis at the national championships, and possibly the entire USA in the final, world event in Vancouver.
Although crowd participation is one of the scoring categories, choosing the winner of Red Bull Thre3style is left up to a seasoned set of judges with an intimate knowledge of DJing and the proper technique to truly rock a dance floor. Although 2011′s event is a global series, the original concept was born out of a Tuesday night event at a small Canadian club. Seeing it’s potential beyond entertaining a few Canucks and with some backing from Red Bull, the competition grew to incorporate many Canadian cities, and in 2010, the whole world.
As with last year’s St. Louis qualifier, Red Bull Thre3style is a quasi-summit for St. Louis club and DJ culture. With eight different DJs hailing from eight different musical backgrounds, each set will fall into a distinct style, and showcase different elements of the scene. Plus, quickly mixing three genres together seamless in one set isn’t trivial, either. But, considering the goal of each set is to best energize the crowd, be ready for a healthy dose of club bangers and hopefully some obscure, out-of-left-field drops.
Last year, the powers that be chose the ultra-talented DJ Mahf to represent the Lou in the US finals in Denver. Who will it be this time around? Be at the Old Rock House on Thursday, July 9th to find out!
