Localized

Stream and download the SLUG 21st Anniversary Mixtape HERE!

SLUG Magazine is finally old enough to drink legally (like we weren’t partying hard before …)! To celebrate, we’re merging the anniversary party with Localized and throwing a massive dance party at Urban Lounge. Join us to celebrate 21 years on Friday, Feb. 19 with performances from resident W Lounge DJ Flash and Flare, electro duo Muscle Hawk and the four-piece synth-infused Mammoth.

DJ Flash and Flare

by Jessie Wood
jes.d.wood@gmail.com

All DJs want to be different, to stand out. Kyle Erickson, also known as DJ Flash and Flare, has done just that. In a world where DJs are defined by specific genres, Erickson wants to play “absolutely everything,” while making sure the crowd is excited and having fun. As a resident DJ at the W Lounge for over a year, and co-founder of Scenester Siege (a W Lounge event that takes place every Wednesday and occasional Fridays whose mission is to bring more dance music to Salt Lake), he has opened for some of the biggest little names in dance music, like Sammy Bananas, Designer Drugs, LAZRtag, Million $ Mano and Kid Sister.

It started two years ago with a passion for underground hip hop and a friend who had some turntables. Erickson wanted to know what DJs were doing with their hands, and within weeks, it was all he could think about. These days he uses Technics with Serato Scratch Live, MIDI for samples and Logic for production.

According to Erickson, technology like Scratch Live is pushing everything in the DJ world quickly. It makes the process infinitely less time consuming and virtually eliminates the grunt work of DJ-ing—marking records, cueing up records, digging through records and hauling them around town. This, along with easy access to new music, requires a good DJ to focus on progressing as a musician and expanding their music creatively. To be a successful DJ these days, you have to know a lot about computer software and hardware. This technical aspect to DJ-ing has grown with the technology. “DJing is really really really geeky nowadays,” Erickson says. Ultimately, knowing the ins and outs of your software and hardware (along with a good ear for music and reading the dance floor) is the key to being a good DJ.

Erickson was influenced by the turntablism movement, as well as DJs A-Trak, Z-Trip, Craze, and especially Diplo, who he says has “a perfect balance of something weird with something people will be familiar with. Different, but not too different.” Asked about whether he prefers dance music or hip hop, Erickson says, “the more and more I got into dance music, the crappier mainstream hip hop was getting and it was pissing me off, so now it’s kind of 50/50. Hip hop’s my love, and dance music is my mistress.”

A seductive mistress indeed. In the past year, Erickson and Matt Engle, founders of Scenester Siege, have brought some of the biggest DJs in the electro/house/dubstep/dance genre to Salt Lake City. The list includes Steve Aoki, AC Slater, Teenage Bad Girl, Le Castle Vania, Drop the Lime, and dozens of others. “Salt Lake has an amazing crowd,” Erickson says. “Everyone is responsive. Every DJ who comes through has as much fun as the people who are dancing.”  Erickson says that Scenester Siege grew out of a desire to see more DJs come to Salt Lake and the realization that if he wanted them, he would have to bring them out himself.  “I think it’s our duty now to keep bringing good shit,” he says.

The experience of being a resident at the W Lounge and opening for a continuous stream of experts has helped Erickson smooth and refine his sets. He used to practice all week for his Wednesday nights, but now if he knows he is practiced and prepared, he can go on and have no idea what to play, and just wing it. “It works better than building a set,” he says. “It gets better results because you’re vibing with the crowd. Plans usually don’t work out. When you have no plan, it always works out.”

Erickson is incredibly positive about the current local music scene in Salt Lake. “Per capita, for the population numbers that we have, kids are doing super cool stuff, and they’re hugely active in what they’re into … kids who are partying, and are active, are really hungry, and I think that’s huge for Salt Lake.” He throws out some names of DJs in the local scene who are paving the way: Hot Noise, Nickel & Dime, DJ Freak Show, Juggy and the Pierpont artists, and the EDP (Electric Dance Party) crew who is throwing bangers out of Provo. “We get a lot of kids from Orem and Provo at the W,” he says, “I don’t think we could have reached down there without the EDP kids.”

In 2010 Erickson wants to produce his own remixes and original tracks.  A tour in Australia is also in the works, but for now he will keep doing what he has always done in his sets—incorporating many different types of music, and making sure everyone is having fun. Although he has eclectic tastes, he’s also really picky, saying it’s got to be a great song to be played in the club. He also wants to stand apart from just the songs he plays, by manipulating them in a way that’s customized to him, to the crowd, and to that night. “I try to put my touch on absolutely every song,” Erickson says.

Photos:

Page:  [1]  2  3  Next >>

Comments on this article

Be the first to comment!

Add a comment

Please keep your comments on the subject of the article.
We will delete your comment if it is racist, misogynistic, sexist, bigoted or just plain lame.
No HTML allowed!