Jason Kanzler, better known as DeadAsDisco, spins every Wednesday night at the Atomic Cowboy in The Grove. Fortunately for his small group of followers, this is just one of the four shows her performs on a weekly basis. He sat down with Eleven to talk the Atomic Cowboy, St. Louis, and his taste in music.
You play at the Atomic Cowboy in The Grove on Wednesdays, what drew you to this area?
DeadAsDisco:
We were doing it at Rue for a couple years and it just started fading out. A lot of regulars weren’t coming any more. We found out that crowd doesn’t like Washington Avenue anymore, so we moved to here and it exploded. It’s nuts here every Wednesday.
What is your favorite part about playing at the Atomic Cowboy?
DAD:
It just seems like they have everything figured out pretty well as far as the management staff goes, you don’t get hassled a whole lot. They kind of do their own thing, I guess they do listen to their customers but they don’t buckle when only two people have a problem with something.
What is your favorite part about being a DJ in St. Louis?
DAD:
I guess there is a small group of people who really like what I am doing. I mean there are people like that in ever city, but being right in St. Louis, It’s a real small group of people. I went to Flamingo last and it was all the people that go to Dollar-Bin on Wednesday. If you want to do what those people are doing there is one place to do it. It’s kind of cool to have a close following. I mean I guess I kind of like going against the mainstream. I like to kind of push the envelope a little bit.
How do you go about deciding what songs to spin during a set?
DAD
Mostly I go by the tempo of the song, as long as the next one goes with it. I don’t like to jump around a whole lot. I do jump around genres a lot. I look at the crowd and see what they’re doing. Depending on how late in the night is and how good a time everyone is having, that is usually when I start playing funnier stuff.
When you aren’t spinning at shows, what music do you enjoy listening to?
DAD
I really don’t listen to a whole lot of the music that I play, actually. I sneak a couple songs in every now and then, but I know that the music I like is not for everyone. I like a lot of indie rock, but if it’s a good song, it doesn’t really matter what genre it is. I don’t listen to any country music, that’s about it. I don’t listen to a whole lot of electro or house stuff.
What made you decide to be a DJ?
DAD:
A long time ago I started writing electronic music, I found this kid online, I forgot what his name was, but it was when MP3s were just starting to come out. He was like 16 or 17 years old and was writing this really good trance music and that kind of got me into trance. I was like, “I want to make that kind of music,” so I got into that. I want to see it be performed so I started going to raves and clubs and seeing how a DJ affects people.
