Phil Does It

The music that I play varies based on the mood of the event I've been hired to DJ. I like to play a variety of different genres and eras of music and jump between them to draw unusual connections between songs. I believe in pushing listeners' tastes and music knowledge by playing songs that work on the dancefloor and live on the edges of people's memories. I'll often play a couple of well-known songs to get people dancing before mixing in a song that is related but less well-known. I think that one of my responsibilities as a DJ is to educate listeners, introducing them to great new music ("breaking" records) and celebrating old songs that are in the canon of dance music history.

I DJ weddings differently than I DJ clubs or house parties. For weddings, I'll typically segment my DJ set into smaller sections focusing on different genres so that, over the course of the night, each demographic at the party gets to dance to a genre or era of music that they enjoy and can relate to.

I seek to understand my clients' musical tastes and the tastes, backgrounds, and age ranges of their guests so that I can play particular songs that cater to those tastes and compel partygoers to dance. I believe that you are hiring me to surprise you.

I've been a DJ for 14 years. I started as a sophomore at Kenyon College in Ohio using CD players and a mixer. As a junior I bought CDJs and learned to mix and beat-match. My senior year I bought two turntables and started buying and playing vinyl records.

While living in the San Francisco Bay Area (from 2008-2017) I had the opportunity to work at Vinyl Dreams records, DJ for Honey Soundsystem at the Paradise Lounge, perform original music at Run the Length of Your Wildness, and play records at various venues around town such as Raven Bar, Showdown, and Underground SF. I eventually bought a P.A. and began DJing the weddings of friends and friends-of-friends. As of today, at the end of October 2019, I've DJed more than 30 weddings and have signed contracts for 6 more this year and 7 weddings in 2020.

I returned to my hometown of Austin, TX at the beginning of 2018 and have been working as a full-time event DJ: booking gigs on my own and DJing events for several other companies in town and one venue.

Recently I've worked with:
* A husband looking to throw a party for his wife's 60th birthday
* 26 year-old fiances looking for a wedding DJ to pay 90's hip-hop and R&B
* A soon-to-be retiree looking to celebrate her retirement with friends and family
* A real estate agent looking to develop contacts with young professionals.
* A woman looking for a DJ to play classic hip-hop at her 40th birthday party
* A friend looking to throw a totally sick Halloween house party!

I need a nearby power outlet and a spot away from the elements (wind, direct sunlight, rain, etc.). It will have to be roomy enough to set up a folding table with my turntables and laptop on it. There should be enough room for me to move around behind the table and store a couple of record bags, which I'll be reaching for and digging through continuously during my set. The set-up location must be in a place where vibrations from the dancefloor or from attendee's footsteps will not shake the table enough to cause feedback on the turntable needle or record skipping. There also needs to be enough room to set up two 50 lb, 15" loudspeakers on stands pointed at the dancefloor. I bring my own folding table, black tablecloths, and facade (see my photos for pictures of my set-up).