Okay, let's get the important thing out the way first. Just picked up the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album and it is, as Dan had already told me, amazing. Not sure it's got quite as much dance floor potential, but it's clearly a grower. And I love it already, which means it's going to evolve into all kinds of awesomeness

Anyway, onto the post proper.

Requests. The backbone of any club night that isn't too up it's own arse to realise that people might actually like to hear a couple of records they know inamongst the DJs mission to show off their cooler-than-thou record collection. However, there is a certain etiquette to asking for a tune. If you come up and ask in a friendly way for a record that we like, then it will get played. If you hassle us every ten minutes, it won't get played. If you ask for something that would never get played at the night, it won't get played. If you tell us to play something good, we won't be impressed. If you ask what we've got, we might politely inform you that we have hundreds of records. If you come and ask for "oh I don't know... just play anything" we may (again politely) enquire as to the point of you asking at all. If you write something on your mobile phone and then hold it an inch from our face, we may get a little offended.

If we don't play a record, it's not a personal attack. It just wasn't a record we had, or a record we wanted to play. We get a lot of requests during the night, and we've already got a pretty good idea of the records we want to play. But it's great when someone comes up and asks for a record that makes you go "why didn't I think of playing that... that's perfect", or "more people than me like that band!?!".

The worst thing is I used to do all the things I've just pointed out as being annoying. When I started going to clubs in Hull (you see, I have suffered for my art), my regular Wednesday night would involve a trip to the now sadly close Room. It was a night similar to The Garage, but compressed into two rooms in a night club that normally hosted techno and drum and bass nights. And at the tender age of 17, I used to hassle the backroom DJ constantly. I'd turn up with CDs I'd made of records he should play, I'd stand and watch him picking out records hoping that it might somehow influence him. And every week I would ask him for this track



I was a big Pharcyde fan, and Drop was probably their biggest hit. I wanted to hear it in a club, and I knew he had the album. To his credit, DJ Dan (rubbish name by the way...) would play it occasionally, but it was way to laid back to be a dance floor filler. Infact, somebody asked me for it the other week and I didn't play it because I felt I was too far into the night to drop it without clearing the floor

As Mr Miyagi would say.... "Sun Rise, Sun Set".....

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