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 like to play songs that are forgotten or less popular to gently push the boundaries of listeners' musical knowledge and taste.

I DJ weddings differently than I DJ clubs or house parties. For weddings, I'll typically segment my DJ set into smaller sections with different kinds of music 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. Oftentimes wedding DJs will play only the most obvious, culturally saturated, and tired songs, unmixed to try to appeal to the broadest possible audience all of the time. This approach to DJing does not interest me. I don't need to hear Baauer's "Harlem Shake," PSY's "Gangnam Style," or anything by DJ Snake ever again. I also think that playing Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" or "ABC" and "I Want You Back" by the Jackson 5 is lazy.

What I want to do is understand your taste in music and the tastes, backgrounds, and age ranges of your guests so that I can play particular songs that cater to those tastes and compel you to dance. I believe that DJs should be music evangelists and that you are hiring me to surprise you.

I've been DJing parties for 13 years. I've played weddings, clubs, fundraisers, house parties, dorm parties, retirement parties, birthday parties, and more. I bring, set up, and take down all of my own gear.

I started DJing house parties as a sophomore at Kenyon College using CDJs. My senior year I bought turntables and started trying to play more records. After college I moved to San Francisco, worked in a record store (Vinyl Dreams!), became dedicated to DJing exclusively with vinyl, and played clubs (Underground SF, Raven, Honey Soundsystem) and house parties. I bought synths and drum machines and started producing dance music with Ableton, which led me to start DJing with the software. As I got older, many of my friends (and friends of friends) got married and I was an obvious choice to provide music for their wedding parties. Since most pop music is released only digitally now, and records are expensive, I play a lot of music off my computer but still prefer to play records.

Recently I've worked with:
* 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 in the shade large 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. There also needs to be enough room to set up two 50 lb, 15" loudspeakers on stands pointed at the dancefloor. I'll need a table cover for the folding table.