Former House of Blues DJ Tony Soul (previously known as Sandman) recently moved to Taipei. His mission is to promote local talent through his Web radio station Radio4by4.
The son of WWRL radio station legend Hank Spann, Tony Soul is also a veteran radio host as well as a veteran hip-hop DJ. But after more than two decades playing hip-hop, he switched allegiance and now plays deep house.
His radio shows have attracted an international following over the past six months and he plans to broadcast house music sets by local DJs spinning at Opus Bar every Friday starting next month.
Vinyl Word: How did you start out spinning?
Tony Soul: My father gave me this lifestyle early in my life by bringing me everywhere with him. Eventually I was able to get on the one turntable and play to a crowd at a gathering for radio cats when I was 9.
VW: Why did you switch from hip-hop to deep house?
TS: After taking a five-year break to start a family, I wanted back in. But hip-hop wasn’t really growing. It was actually getting worse, with the horrible lyrics that disrespect women, and really give a false face to the music that I once loved. Using Traktor [DJ software] while on my hiatus, I developed a unique sound of always mixing four records at once. Things seemed fun again, so I changed my name and got back in the game.
VW: Who or what are your greatest influences?
TS: Besides my father, I am currently influenced by The Martinez Brothers. They bring the same intensity to mixing that I do, and do it with reckless abandon. Mark Farina influenced me greatly, too. Being from NYC/New Orleans, and having half of my family from Chicago gave me a combination of gritty soul with all of the Chicago house influences I could handle.
VW: What’s your deejaying philosophy?
TS: It’s your responsibility as a DJ to make them dance, but also to give them something new, something fresh. DJs playing the same old music are doing their listeners a disservice by not giving them new music. If you treat your listeners like they are dumb, musically, they become just that, dumb musically.
VW: What’s the idea behind Radio4by4?
TS: I am here to show the world that Asia has many house music DJs that are doing great things. Our station usually has about 400 viewers at any given time, featuring DJs from around the world playing all sub-genres. Hopefully this will help to expose DJs here to the world.
Opus Bar is located at 104, Civil Boulevard Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市市民大道四段104號).
Minimal techno producer/DJ Thomas Jung returns to Taipei for a set at tonight’s Earworm party at VU Live House. Jung will be spinning four decks using Traktor and an Ableton sequencer to add live elements to his set.
Earworm (耳朵蟲), tonight from 10:30pm to 4:30am at VU Live House (地下絲絨), B1, 77, Wuchang St Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市武昌街二段77號B1). Admission is NT$400. On the Net: earworm.tw.
In other clubbing news: Break out the cigars as Taipei has a new addition to the fold. Space opened as an electronic dance music club on Friday last week, boasting some of the country’s top veteran DJs (Jimmy Chen, Tiger and Stone) as residents. But the following day that club’s music policy changed to hip-hop, and the DJs were given the heave-ho.
“They told all the DJs not to come in because some friends of the boss said they want hip-hop,” says Jimmy Chen. “It was totally nasty. The club is owned by some outsider who cares about nothing but money.”
Space is located at B1, 171 Songde Road, Taipei City
(台北市松德路171號B1).
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