So, we were sitting down to a beer and my friend Joe Barrs suddenly lets me know that he had been asked to DJ the Melbourne Comicon. Naturally I was stoked for him. Apparently he was to play a silent disco as Iron Man as an activation for the new ‘Spiderman Homecoming’ movie. This idea had never been attempted before by Marvel. There was a catch though. They didn’t have a Spider Man DJ, and apparently with my wiry build and youthful exuberance, I would be an excellent option. Would I do it? Would I take a chance to dance with the Devil with Mouse Ears? (Marvel is owned by Disney) Hell yes, I would!
The Convention
We got there on the day and set up. It was pretty incredible. A huge $100, 000 (the project manager told us explciitly) curtained dais stood erected gloriously in the middle of the convention centre. It’s not an exaggeration to say that this was the main attraction of Comicon, aside from the giant, surprisingly limber Optimus Prime waltzing around.
The concept was pretty novel, that is Joe would DJ on one side of the room playing harder house, dubstep and punk rock and I would play the other side of the room: more poppy, top 40 stuff with some occasional alt rock and future bass thrown in. The genius of it was punters would be given set of headphones from which they could select and blue or red channel, blue for me, red for him. At any given point during the day you could look out over the crowd and pick your fans out from the other guys. It was a legitimate DJ battle!
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Comicon Nerds
The crowd was a mixed bunch. Lots of kids, garbed up in their tiny little costumes. Tiny stormtroopers, Spidermen and princess-fairies ran amok among the dance floor getting under foot as their minders chased after. There were, of course, the super geeks as well; Master Chiefs, Narutos and Pokemon trainers littered the dance floor, shaking their awkward booties at the dance floor fire we were laying down. At one point there was even a sword fight between Gandalf and some sort of ninja. And the cosplayers…. fell in love every five minutes.
The best part was when a group of kids would come in and start listening to your channel really intently. You’d play to right to them, constantly trying to one up them on the last song. “Whoah, David Bowie! Whoa, the Clash! Whoa the Weekend!” Then at some point you’d go too far and lose them on Getter or something and they’d take off. It was fun seeing how long you could keep their interest though before switching over or leaving. At one point, the guys from the Australian Disney channel came in and started filming a skit which was hilarious. They are total are champs by the way.
Finishing Up
I’m not going to lie, it got pretty exhausting. DJing, contrary to popular opinion, actually uses up a lot of brain power.We were definitely burnt out by the end of the 9 hour day but don’t worry we got breaks. We packed down, swapped Facebook details with the organizers, who were so friendly and accommodating the whole time. When all was said and done, we had done a great job blasting good vibes at Comicon and as I bid the Melbourne Convention Centre Goodbye I wondered, how many people get the opportunity to make so many nerds dance? It was time for a beer.
Alex is also a skilled music producer. Click below and listen to his latest drop, a future bass remix of Miley Cyrus’ ‘Malibu’. It’s a stone cold banger…
