April 27, 2025 • 39 mins
In this episode, Mickey D shares his journey from a young DJ starting at 14 to becoming a prominent figure in the nightlife scene, particularly at the iconic DCM nightclub. Mickey discusses the importance of adapting to changing music trends and the emotional impact of significant moments in his career, including the last days of DCM.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Approach production. Welcome to Secrets of the Oderworld. I am
Neil the muscle Coummons, and in.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
This episode I speak to old school DJ legend Mickey D.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Finished party and then I'd wait to the record stores
with on a Sunday morning at late tenor and I
don't even slam. So I did the millennial change. You know,
I've played just after it clocked over two thousand. I
was still playing at lots of places. But for me,
my value as a DJ was not necessarily as my
name anymore. It was I was just becoming a jukebox.
(00:43):
I just I just think that none of us thought
that this was going to happen. So it was just weird, right,
like an end of an era was happening. I think
it was just sad. You don't ever want anything to
come to an end, right, Mickey D is in my house.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I used to say that all the time, when you'll
come to DC's, I look, I'd be gone, Yes, mister.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Coup Neil, you know what you only DJ?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
And this is God's truth? Is I only DJ? I
used to wait to get a CD off. I used
to fucking love your CDs and I just want it
and every time I came. I didn't want to know
you all the time, but you go, can you see this?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
What you know? What? If there are any DJs that
are listening to this right now, and hopefully Neil you
don't edit any of this, I'm glad that you said that.
And Alex K if you're listening to this, did you
hear what Neil said? I'm the only DJ that Neil
wanted a CD from. Thank you and hopefully I'll you know,
(01:49):
make more CDs. Anyway, thanks for coming on.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Let's start off about you growing up first and how
you got into DJing, what kind of path you were
you're led to come to this.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Way, and then we'll get into the nitty grizzy of
the night. Okay, so one am I Now I'm too old,
so I don't want to actually say to any of
your listeners how old I am. But my djaying career
started when I was fourteen. It's going back a fair bit.
You just all started early, didn't you. Well, mine was
fourteen and the reason being, and this is some of
(02:23):
the stuff that you probably haven't heard about me. I
played ice hockey, so ice skating, ice hockey at Canterbury
Ice Drink played for my country. I was over in
Canada for a couple of years and when I was fourteen,
I was working at Canterbury Ice Drink and there was
a DJ Friday, Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons. And one
day he didn't turn up. It was a Saturday night.
I was working making coffees and doing ice patrol. DJ
(02:46):
didn't turn up and I said to the manager in
Milner at the time, I said, in I've got to
music at home. I sort of know what I'm doing,
but can you drive me home? I wasn't living too
far and I'll put to music on and the rest
is history, right. So I started my own business, my
DJA and business when I was fourteen. Did that for
about a year and a half. Thought loved it. Unfortunately,
(03:10):
it was a little bit of self taught back in
that day. So I was using Christmas vials, Vinyl was
there and CDs just sort of come through. Had an
old mixer, turntables and I was just fading it and
now so it wasn't really sort of probably mixing like
I was at DCM, but I sort of just self
taught very in and out playing hip hop. I was
(03:31):
playing a lot of Happy Heart at the time, but
just self taught. So did that for about a year
and a half and it was a lot of fun.
Just really loved it. Started my own business, went over
to Canada, played ice hockey. When I came back when
I was eighteen, I thought, I want to really give
this a crack, and so my first sort of residency
was at Paramount of Leagues at Kicks night club. I
(03:51):
started there as a lighting job out of all things right,
came back really wanted to sort of understand how I
can get into the club scene. An opportunity presented itself.
Did that for about two years eighteen till about I
was twenty. And you're confident now with DJing, you're you're
pretty confidence. No, not at all. I was learning and
(04:12):
hopefully Dave listens to this because I just reconnected with him.
So Dave Marini was the head DJ at the time,
and he taught me. He taught me how to beat mix.
I put my own turntables, by CDs, all of that
sort of stuff, and during that time in my tenure
over at Paramoted, at least I just started playing. I
was doing the lighting jock. Then he taught me how
to play. I'd do opening sets blah blah blah. But
(04:34):
in that transition period right up until Kicks Night Club
closed in Paramount Leagues, I used to start going to DCM.
So that would have been around about ninety seven ninety
eight yep, So started going there. The city back then
was the place to be right, and that's where I
(04:56):
wanted to be. So I'd finished DJing, I'd finished the
lighting Jock, and then i'd it into Oxford Street and
then obviously the Cross and so forth. And so when
that sort of shot, I was like, Okay, how do
I now get into the city. And so the DCM
opportunity came after a while of playing at places like
the Lizard Lounge, Temple, Troy Holland did a little stint
(05:20):
over at Envy. Did you get them gigs from word
of mouth? Or what was he? Now? So back then
for me was literally just about going every single weekend
whenever I could write, just going to the clubs, meeting
the right people, partying, watching those incredible DJs, Kirk Jules,
(05:43):
Stevie Cadell, all of them right, and I just wanted
to be there, and so I just go every single weekend,
Go go go, go, go. Every single opportunity, I would
start buying music, you know, I'd start listening to music,
and you didn't have mobile phones like we do now.
You don't have Shazam. So you asked the DJ, you know,
what's that record? And then it'd be so bad. Right,
(06:04):
I'd finished partying, and then I'd wait to the record
stores would open up on Sunday mornings right over at
One Stop DJ, which was over at the Qualitie n
if you remember. So that would open up on a
Sunday morning at late ten or eleven, and I don't
even slept, and so I'd go there and say, I'd
go and buy Happiness one because it was just a
huge student and I'd buy that record. I'd have a
(06:26):
little bit of money, be will intruly in another world,
buy the record, go home and then play it because
you just get so obsessed. And so then all of
a sudden, I got a gig at black Market, right,
so I did the whole Oxford sit thing. Then I
went to black Market, and then from that point on
people were starting to listen to me. I was doing
(06:47):
mix tapes, actual proper sets. I've got four or five
still at home in a very special place because they
were the demo. So I do twenty or three copyed
demos and I would just send them out to people.
And I still remember once I started playing at the
Black Market over at day Club, then people started to
(07:08):
recognize it. I was starting to work alongside Juweles and
Milton and all these incredible people. But I still remember
that day. I still remember the day that I got
asked to do an opening set at DCM, and I'll
still remember the day that I got to play and
do that opening because there were six hours. Yeah, you know,
(07:28):
you'd start at nine and ten and you'd go to
three and then four and then the next DJ would
come and play. But yeah, that really just changed my
life and my trajectory in terms of my passion for music.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
And have you ever been there, like like, would you
get intimidate to buy someone that you looked up to
in the and DJ world when you were first starting?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Yes, I was. I don't know, Like DCM was an
incredible place for all of us, and it was part
of my learning ground to music and DJing and partying.
Because it's so hard to describe it. When you're on
that dance floor, that screen comes to the laser, all
of a sudden starts going those bass bins. People are
(08:09):
dancing around you. You've got those incredible podiums, and you
can just feel this music right, you just feel it.
You just get mesmerized, and then looking up and going
who's playing? And you know when certain djls would jump
on in those transitions, because you can just tell on
that music. But when I had that opportunity to play
before or after Jewels or Stevie or Kirk in those
(08:32):
early days, man, I would shake like a leave just nervous,
nervousness around, not wanting to do a mistake and fail,
but nervousness as well, because these are your idols. These
are people that you looked up to, and anybody that
you look up to, I feel you always have that
sense and not intimidation, but that oh my god, that's
in your cummings man, like I don't want to, I
(08:54):
don't want to do anything bad, or I don't want
to I want to really perform morell and so, and
then you've got like, don't forget it, you had you
know a thousand people, how many people there all looking
at you, mostly not really giving a damn. But but
I think they did. But you also just know that
you could really stuff up. You press stop on a
(09:16):
song that's playing, you'll get told very quickly how bad
you are, you know, So you also have that, and
you also got to think about, you know what I've
got to play for. I don't know two, three, four five,
You know, I'm most of the sets these days. When
I play, it's like an hour, right like that, Then
you're doing four, five, six, eight. I do nine hour sets.
(09:37):
Now you're like, and you have to think about that
journey now it's for me. It's just so different. So
answer your question. Yes, very intimidated, very nervous, but also
very excited.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Did you ever look at the crowd when you're playing
or is it just always concentrating on you? Because I
always want to know if that these is actually seeing
what's going on over there.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
It's a great question. I'm a very excitable person, and
I think I feed off that energy of people. So
I love to interact. Putting up your hands in the
air and enjoying yourself is just part of my personality.
Other people are very different. I like to know that
you're having a great time, and I'm part of making
(10:17):
that night a great night because of the music that
I'm playing. Yes, sometimes you can get a little bit
buried in terms of what's happening, but you know, sometimes
you just got to just go with the flow, enjoy
the experience, see people having a great time, And that
for me was probably one of the biggest reasons why
I enjoyed what I did and probably why now the
(10:37):
thing that I miss, you know, like just seeing people
have a good time something that I don't do as
often as I used to, So when I get to
do it, it's pretty special.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
I don't know if it's ever happened to you, but
say the big names are before you, right, and you're
coming on to do a set now, and you've got
to come on after these people. Yeah, is it hard
to keep that crowd on that dance floor knowing that
all that crowd were there, and if you see if
you leave and leaving, how does that make you feel?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Yeah? I think yes is a short answer. You've got
to do your homework. I always think if you're playing,
and depending on what time you're playing, who's playing before you,
You've got to do a bit of homework around how
people are going to feel at that time. You're always
going to lose people, especially if it's really later on
in the morning and they've been going out for a while.
(11:25):
So it's about understanding that journey, the time of what
you need to do, what sort of music you're going
to play. Do you keep on that trajectory, do you
slow things down a little bit, do you change pace?
Because you's got to think, you know what, back then,
when you've still got another five or six hours to go,
you've got to sort of put in the time and
nurture the floor back then. Also, you're also got to
(11:47):
remember you've got a second hit of another crowd coming
around out. So if I'm doing a three or four
or five o'clock in the morning set, I know that
you know, Envy up the road or temple or liquid
across the road or places across, they're closing and so
they're coming to us. As you would remember, you us
know that you've got to sort of grind it to
(12:07):
that particular point, keep whatever you can, but know that
you're going to get a fresh bunch of that other
crowd to come through. So doing that homework, doing that research,
trying to understand and you know, as DJs back then
you're buying for me, buying lots of vinyl. You're so
eager to go, Okay, great, I know Kirk or Jewels
or Stevie or Keller. I'm going to have they. So
(12:28):
I've got a really robust set at least for that
first hour, so I can test excite that crowd and
hopefully keep them in a little bit longer, but also
have some more stuff to play a little bit later
on what you prefer opening the set or closing the set?
These days want to be plus ten o'clock eight pm?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Is it easier to do the opening set because people
are just starting in the club compared to closed that
set where they're fucking off their face and they're ready
to go home.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
It takes two different skill sets, so meaning that if
you the opening set is really magical because you're creating
the whole night. Yeah, so I think there's something magical,
Like everything's fresh, there's no glasses around, like you know,
the bar staff is still just walking around, there's nobody there.
(13:27):
The lights are just very casual, like it's beautiful and
seeing it's like, I don't know, you know, let's use
an example of a book, right, you love writing your books,
and congratulations by the way, and the success of the book.
But you look at all these blank pages and then
after days, after months, or however long it takes you,
(13:48):
all of a sudden have got this beautiful letters of
words in this really sort of full book. When you
first start, you think, god, wow, you know, I mean,
here we go and we start that journey. It's the
same with dejaying and music and doing that start of
that night and just seeing people come through and just
letting people go, oh my god, yeah, I like that
tum because they go from sitting down having a dream
(14:10):
talking to all right, you know, we're ready to dance.
So all of a sudden you won ten one hundred
and two hundred people, and all of a sudden you've
just got a full floor. There's something pretty special about
that flip side of that, though, it's something amazing Like
I did a close set, Like my god, I did
a close at six am, five to six am at
(14:31):
a techno club called Black Noah not far up from
Oxford Street. There is something pretty amazing for people to
still be out at that time and stand back and
give you a huge round of applause at the end.
When you do that last song because they are just
like they'rein and just seeing that type of excitement is
really magical because you're there at the end of that
(14:53):
particular experience. Whereas seeing something from nothing to something is
pretty cool, but also seeing the end of something pretty
special is equally amazing. What do you think that because
of your old school all right? No, I like to
think that. Please old school DJ. Okay, let's get that right.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
But don't you think like it if I knew that
you'll go to a club to play, I'll be honest
with you right now. I don't know any DJs in
this generation, modern time, like, I really don't know, especially
in the in the in the nightclub scene.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
But all you guys you know that were at DC's
and at the Cross Oxford Street.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
You know, I know you all. I can, I can.
I can fucking go twenty off my head.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
But if I know that you're going to be a club,
and even if it's at fucking four o'clock in the morning,
I'm going to go and see Mickey D old school DJ.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Yeah, I want to listen to his shoes again. Best
DJ by the way, Okay, correct, we'll give you that everybody.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
But that's what I'm saying, Like, so people who are
going to be in that club where you just mentioned,
I would stick around if I know that you're going
to come on set, because I haven't fucking heard you
play for years. Compare to some other one who's just starting,
you know, he's wet beyond the ears.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I'm going to go on yeah, and look there's whilst
I don't go out, I still listen to a lot
of DJs, like usually on Sound Club, which I'm on YouTube.
You know, like obviously post covid, you know, so much
came out. You know, tweet you can use. So I
think there's a huge array of content and ways and
(16:31):
means to be able to see these guys, and they're
all incredible, like everybody is. You know. The way that
this has moved is just unbelievable. It's sort of the
same like you if there's something that you like and
you got to remember it, let's put your mind in
a twenties, late twenties, early thirty year old. They know
what they want to tend to go and see, and
(16:52):
they'll go and do what you and I used to do.
I just feel like you've just got so much choice,
not necessarily from a clubbing perspective, but festivals, right, Like,
you know, they just had Alterra Australia here on the
weekend and you know, and Travel out of Melbourne did
an incredible job. So there's a lot more of that
(17:12):
international stuff. But what I what I'm finding at the
moment is that there's a lot of those big international
brands that are coming here to Australia, which a lot
of the let's say the kids, the kids are going to,
which I think is fantastic. Back in our day sounds
terribly old. Back in our day, we just didn't have
that much choice, so things like the DCM was huge.
(17:35):
You know, obviously wild Off all those great things were amazing,
but they used to use you guys correct, Yeah, so
that was really lucky. But now that you know, James
Hype or Dom Dollar or you know, all these incredible DJs,
they've got huge followings, massive, massive pool. You know, technology
(17:55):
is just really taking up to that next stage. So
you know, I think the current generation is lucky. The
sport for choice, which is great. They can do their
research so you can watch. They don't even have to
go nightclubbing. You have your own party at your house,
bring a bunch of people, have an incredible sound system,
and away you go looking into YouTube. Bang, you know,
(18:16):
you can watch Coachella, which was on on the weekend.
They don't need to do anything, right, so all of
that sort of stuff can literally be to you or
a lot of those things are just being coming to Australia. Now,
do you prefer festivals or the clubs? Oh prefer my home?
I prefer yeah, yeah, So I think this is just
(18:40):
a whole different vibe. It's a very different vibe. Like
I still love the intimacy of a nice small club
and seeing that DJ or the music though I enjoy,
Like I said, I did this venue the other day,
Black Noir and you know, holds a couple hundred people
and it's just wild. It's so good. The sound system
is great there, the music is what I love and
(19:01):
it's very intimate. But then again, you know, like if
you see like a huge festival and it's twenty thousand people,
thirty thousand people, like I said, actually played in Melbourne
the other day part of Swedish South Mafia, unreal, right,
you just but very different, big, open, crazy, all that
sort of stuff, right, So it just depends on how
you feel at the time, what you know, So the
(19:23):
time you're going to invest you know, because those things,
you know, you spend so much money, and yeah, they're
for hours, like a long time. And if I'm out,
I'd much prefer to be out during the day and
come home at a decent time rather than you know,
starting late at the night and then coming back home
and the sun's coming up. No. Thanks.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Well, before we get into other clubs that you've worked
at and you've performed that, let's go back to DCS
where you now you become a permanent resident.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
What was the feeling there to be a permanent resident
at a.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Club that you've wanted to work out for, you know,
years beforehand.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Was that your goal to work there? It was? Yeah,
it just it was a number one club in if
not Home night club because Homelke Club was its arrival
at the time. Yeah, so Home wasn't around when I
was with and by the time Home was because I was,
I was. I was fortunate enough to have been at
d CM. I'd clubbed there for years, I was playing there.
(20:16):
It was packed, it was great, I was doing so.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I'm not talking at what makes DC so special? What
makes it stand out more than all the other fucking clubs?
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Well, I think for me it was and just going
back to that memory, like it was the best club
at the time, right, And there's a lot of better
clubs today. Technology has gone the other way and it's incredible.
But for that I just felt comfortable, right. I knew
the music, you knew so many people. You'd say hello
(20:46):
to people, right, and everybody at that moment and that era,
we were just happy. Everyone's happy. Don't like a big family.
There's always political stuff and there's always bad stuff. But
I'd go there, and because I clubbed there for so
long before I became a DJ, you knew about it.
You just knew. And then all of a sudden, when
I started dating there, all of I'm just eating to
(21:08):
my family, to my friends and to that made it
more magical. So then all of a sudden, it's just
you're there every weekend getting paid doing something that you love.
And that to me was just incredible. But what makes
the club incredible outside of people and all of that, mate,
that sound system, that laser show, you just felt like
(21:31):
you were in the middle of this warm bas bin
of just sensory It's just such an overload, and there
was nothing like it at the time, and I had
been doing every single nightclub in all of Sydney. I
was touring a lot all around Australia and there was
just nothing like it. So weird. Unless you had lived
that time when I did together, you would just not
(21:53):
know anything different. What's your best memory? When you were
asking me that question, the big thing that sort of
popped into my mind was two thousand, So I did
and your change, you know, like if you think about
generational change from nineteen nineteen ninety two thousand. I was there,
(22:15):
you know, I played sort of that middle set just
after it clocked over twelve o'clock when it became two thousand,
Like when you just bottle that up for a moment.
It was packed, it was busy. We thought that all
of the computer systems and everything was shut down, like
you thought everything was just going to be done, you know,
(22:36):
like I was getting paid a fortune to be there,
and we didn't know if we were going to be alive,
like maybe you know, like the stories of the story, right,
but we're all there, and I'm like, it's twenty twenty
five now and I'm still here. But if you think
about that moment, the amount of pressure when people are saying,
you know, you got to do this, and blah blah
(22:57):
blah and all of that, like to have been there
at that particular moment in time, because everybody that's listening
to this now right, some people were obviously born at
that particular stage, and none of us are going to
be a live by the time it clicks over to
three thousand. It's just wild to have thought that I
(23:19):
had been there the second probably moment. And I talked
a lot about when people ask me, like your most
memorable moments just in general, was Marti gras So two thousand,
Marti gras So two thousand played at DCM did nineteen
ninety nine to two thousand changed over? Marti gras happens.
I got asked by Troy Holland. He had set up
(23:40):
this ridiculous setup in front of Lizard Lounge and it
was Liquid nightclub at that stage, and we were up
high and they set up this DJ setup to the parade,
and when the parade finished, we were playing music. Troy
just goes, I want you to blast as much sound
as you could. So there's me and Pete Mark who
was in another DJ at the time. We went okay, great,
(24:03):
no worries, started playing music, and then all of a sudden,
all of Oxford Street, right, I just got this incredible memory.
We're playing on this balcony, had this huge speaker stacking
system playing Vinyl, and from one end of Oxford Street,
all the way up, going going up to that end,
and all the way going back down past the DCM,
just a street full of people. It was like hundreds
(24:27):
of thousands of people. For forty five minutes. All you
could just see is like little Lands, hungry Jacks, was
just packed, pack, just completely wild. One of the most
disappointed things is that I just didn't have a camera
or I didn't have a fun but that just in itself,
like that whole street and the time and the life
(24:48):
that I'd given back to it was just it gave
me these enriching feelings of just incredibleness. So yeah, so
too two very memorable.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
But why why did you think d CMS is still
memorable in people's minds like this though? Like as you said,
like we'll get the probably three thousand and still people
are talking about it like it doesn't seem so, but
it doesn't seem to ever lose its like its value.
It's the only thing in the world I know that
the holds is fucking value.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
It's really wild.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Like there are a few haters that go on, I'll
like to let DCMS go and I like that, But
the thing is, and it's I said this to everybody,
you had to try it even once people can bag
it out, and I backed it out. I must admit
I backed it out. I used to sack a lot
of my dormant from Yu and soho if they worked
it really yeah, that was my I sacked too, Yeah,
because they used to leave the shifts at three o'clock
(25:38):
to go down and do the shift down at DC's.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
And when I found out this, I sacked them.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
I hated d C's at the time, but then as
I said, wed, Yeah, but it's just the name of
it and the premises, the music and the crowd just
forever keeps going and going and going, and it's like
it gets stronger each each year we talk about it.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
It's a great question. I don't know, like it's for me.
It's obviously my era. It's something there that I intrinsically experienced.
You know. We talked a little bit about family and
knowing people and the music and the way it was
you know represented, you know, all of those things and
(26:19):
those memories are just so very evident. So I don't know,
it's just like, well, Mickey, you got to look at it,
back down and look at them.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
But you've got Cuba, Biblos, Envy played all of them,
you know, you know, you've got to No one talks
about them, Black Market.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Oh yeah, they talk about that, But DC's everyone wants
to talk about. Yeah. I just think there was this,
you know, in the nineties, it just continued to grow
and just had this you know, sense of people could
just be their own identity, their own self and just
loved and enjoyed it. And you know, people would just
have these great moments and great memories. They meet people
(26:55):
new people like me meeting you and meeting other clubs
and people there that love the same music. Right, and
you know this, I'm gonna make it.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
I'm gonna I'm gonna give you the hardest question you're
probably going to get nowt Okay, question, The question is right,
which DC's was better when John had it or before
John had it.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Now, this is a debate that has come up with
me a lot. Yeah, So which one do you think
was better? Both of them were great. I don't want
to give you the political answer here.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
And because I never I'm sorry, I did get to
see before John had took over.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
I partied did once.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
I must admit I didn't like it because it was
partly a gay club too, you know what I mean.
So I didn't really like it. I didn't fit in,
but you know, it was the kind of music it
went off and like that. But the dcs that I
know and I've worked at, I liked.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
It, I think. But I think each of them have
got its moments, if I'm really honest, because you know,
I started piling there and let's just call it ninety
seven ninety eight, then started dayjaying from like ninety eight,
ninety nine, two thousand and then all the way right
up until I got closed. All of it had its
own moments of good and bad. You know, like even
(28:09):
old DCM was not perfect. Let's be honest. You're always
going to have challenges, but each part like because for
me as a DJ, every year the crowd was changing,
and you change with the crowd. You as a DJ
have to recognize where your value stops. So I could
still play music that I love back in the late nineties,
(28:32):
but then as the crowd changed in the early two thousand,
they didn't like that, right, So if that didn't sit
comfortably with me, then I would start thinking should I
be here, Do I need to change my style? Blah
blah blah. Right, But for me, I just like to evolve,
right Like even now when I play music, Yeah, I'll
play some old school stuff for certain events, but you know,
(28:53):
even in the mixes that I'm doing, people go, I
don't like your new stuff. And that's completely fine that
some of the new stuff isn't geared to that old crowd.
All my old school stuff that I played and stuff
that I've shared with you, that's what they want to hear. Great,
but I won't continue to just keep on making old stuff.
There's only so much of that stuff that you can play.
(29:16):
But again, going back, there's no one or different that
when John OneD it became worse or you know that
was better. I just yeah, it was DC was DC
in formy, whether it was in the nineties or in
the two thousands.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
I just like you do you think it do you
think when it got moved up to Havana that you
could tell it was it was lost its magic.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
It did, yeah, yeah, But I think the biggest difference
when it got moved there was the club was smaller, right,
so it just became a lot more intimate. But a
lot of the old school people left because they didn't
want to come there, of course, and you're you're never
I think you've got to start drawing a line in
the sand on who you're going to appeal to as
(29:56):
things change. And even with the old school parties, right,
there's only so many people that are going to come out, like,
let's be honest, right, Like even me, I was saying
to you before, You're going to rarely see me out
at an event. I just, you know, I love the events,
and I appreciate the guys that are doing what they
are trying to do, but I'm just not that target audience.
You know. I value being at home. I value being
(30:18):
with my family, I value getting up in the morning,
even when I just you know, I did a house
party for a friend on Friday night and I left
there at seven point thirty pm because they were going
to Bloody John Summon and I didn't want to go
because I wanted to be home, and because I wanted
to wake up and feel normal and I have commitments
(30:39):
with my families. I'm like, no, I just I just
want to go home. Yeah, I just yeah. I value
that I did, you know, close to twenty years right,
just playing all of that and you know COVID. When
COVID was happening, it was nice because I was already
transitioning out, so it was nice to just go. You know,
(31:00):
I think there's time that I gave this a reckon.
I was slowing right down. How long did you give
it a break for? So COVID happened. Obviously I stopped
like most people did all the way through that particular period.
I was really slowing it down because I was like
playing a Bungaloway and so I see it Bungalow. It
is a couple of times. So I did like Bungaloway,
cargo both lounge, cargo, bar a. You want to enjoy it.
(31:22):
It's just like I think for me, I was just
getting tired, you know, like I had had my full
time job DJing well, I was still doing lots of stuff.
I was at Ivy for a bit, you know, I
was doing stuff over at the Casino. I was still
playing at lots of places, but for me, my value
as a DJ was not necessarily as my name anymore.
(31:44):
It was people were going to those places, so like
Cargo and Bungalow to go to party with their friends.
You know, it was a Hen's night or a bus
or something like that. So you're playing open format music,
which basically means I'm playing just party music. Yeah, And
I sort of felt I was just becoming a jukebox. Yeah.
And I was leaving home, yeah, thinking I don't want
(32:09):
to do this, and to me and to anybody, that's pain.
That's just not fair. Like I hadn't even started playing,
and all of a sudden, I'm pissed off from having
to go to work. So then it it started shifting
from being a DJ to going to a job, and
I just started losing that love and passion of why
I got into it. What was it like there on
(32:30):
the last day of disease?
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (32:33):
God? Emotional? Which one are you talking about one? Yeah?
Well I was there. I just I just think that
none of us thought that this was going to happen.
So it was just weird, right, like an end of
an era was happening. You know, you just felt and
look d CM was. It was struggling, you know, at
(32:55):
a particular time. I think it was just getting to
a particular point where the magic of what d CM
was was just eroding. So some had to make a
decision around Okay, well the crowd's not coming here. There
was a lot of competition. I think you were talking
about Home Nightclub, you know, lots of people were going
there at one stage. There was plenty of other places
(33:16):
that were on the horizon, and it just had done
its time. So I think it was just sad. It
was emotional. All of us were getting older, we were
all working at plenty of different places already, and it's
just like anything, you don't ever want anything to come
to an end, right, Everything's got to come to an
end at some point. So it's emotional and it's sad.
(33:38):
But I'm luckily enough I'm sitting here on a podcast
with you talking about this place that you know, you know,
I started almost over twenty years ago. Like that to
me is magical, right for you to ask me to
talk about such an incredible memory is what now it's
giving back to me?
Speaker 2 (33:58):
So yeah, it's how many clubs have you played hundreds. Yeah,
so you'd say that club that is the stand up
or is there any other club that stands out.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
In your memory?
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Like, I just think it was probably the one there
that I could. Yeah, and I think that was pretty big, right.
You know, back then we had things called three D World.
I don't know if you remember that, So you that
was your gig guy. You know, obviously the Internet was
sort of growing, but that was the old school. Okay,
(34:30):
where's Micky playing? You know what else is happening around?
So having that type of like culture, that's what was
really important to me at the time. Those are the
feelings there that wrapped up that was pretty special. There's
amazing clubs, right, Like you know, Markhi was great. I
was there for the I wasn't playing there, but I
(34:50):
was there for the for the opening. Ivy is pretty special.
Like all of these places have their fascination. But I'd
already been a very established DJO when I was already
doing those. So, you know, I think to your point,
because I really wanted to be at DCM. It was
the place that I was so young. It was a
(35:11):
huge goal of mine. All the rest were just the
successes of me playing at d CM and then all
of a sudden, you know, everything else just came and
rolled off the back of that.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
You So now you're back in, You've refueled, got your
vibe by.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Yeah. So I got impacted in my corporate life I
sort of mid last year. And when that happened back
in sort of June, and I was looking for a
new job, I just had time. I had time to
think and reflect, and I didn't know what to do
with myself. You know, I've been in my corporate role
for almost twenty two years. That got impacted. I sort
(35:52):
of put music on the back burner, and when I
had nothing else to do, I just and I'd always
been tinkering around. I'm always tinkering around with stuff, and
music will never ever die, you know. But when the
opportunity sort of came up to just start reinvesting back
into listening to music and back into the studio doing
mixes again, sort of like, oh, this is all right,
(36:13):
you know, because but I'm not doing it a lot.
I'm just doing it at my own pace. I started
getting a bit busier towards the back end of last year,
and that was getting a little bit chaotic. Now that
I'm working again full time. I'm just trying to balancing out.
What I am loving though is still putting stuff together,
putting some mixes together, showing them out across my SoundCloud base,
(36:36):
back in the studio, doing some production work, but not
putting too much pressure on myself, doing it at my
own pace, and doing it because I love it, and
also doing it because it's actually people just enjoy listening
to me. Yeah, or even just like at a gym session. Yes,
I used that in my gym band all the time.
And so any regrets, any regrets, I wish I probably
(37:02):
invested more on the production side. And when I'm about production,
you know, you had Alex recently, and you know he's
an incredible not only a great DJ or a great person,
but a great producer. I think he really owned you know,
that DONK sound back in the two thousand era, and
you know continues to do it incredibly well. Whish I'd
(37:22):
done more of that. It wasn't my forte you know,
I wrote stuff with Wheels from Sunset Brothers and a
whole bunch of stuff with a bunch of different artists,
but that was with them doing a lot of the
controls and me giving my influence things that I liked.
So that's what I would have probably invested more into.
(37:42):
But other than that, man, I've had a wonderful career.
I'm still alive, you know. I mean, I've made it
through COVID like all of us. You know, I've got
a wonderful family. Now. I traveled the world. You know,
it was rated like in the top fifty DJs in
Australia at one particular. I say, like all of those things, right,
get to hang I hang out with you, and I
(38:03):
still hang out with you. So yeah, Like I'm really
really blessed. Before we go, describe yourself in one word
or two if you need to. So funny that you're
asking me this, I'm actually working with a business coach
at the moment. It's just business close slash therapist because
a bit weird and we're starting to sort of get
some words around my values and so forth. I'd like
(38:27):
to think that respect and respectful are things there that
I want to continue to live by. And just being happy, bro,
Like just a good one, bro. Just to be happy,
but happy with in myself, happy with the people that
I work for and with, happy with my family, you know,
just just that, Bro, we have one life, right, so
(38:50):
just try and live it and the best way that
I can.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Well, So, bro, well you know what, Mickey, thanks you
for coming in. This is and I've loved that. The
memories of DC's and new playing. It's being fucking awesome.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Remember that you like that CD, right you just I'm
the only one I used to wait to the door
for to get a CDN. You tell and anybody listening,
never all these.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Other I'm not going to name the names because I'm
not gonna name them because they have not been on.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
My podcast, so I'm not gonna plug them. Don't name them.
I'm here and I will be always your Thank you
so much. This is great. This is a lot of
fun and congratulations.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
I know you're successful, brother, Thank you, leg you mate.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
H
Approach production. Welcome to Secrets of the Oderworld. I am
Neil the muscle Coummons, and in.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
This episode I speak to old school DJ legend Mickey D.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Finished party and then I'd wait to the record stores
with on a Sunday morning at late tenor and I
don't even slam. So I did the millennial change. You know,
I've played just after it clocked over two thousand. I
was still playing at lots of places. But for me,
my value as a DJ was not necessarily as my
name anymore. It was I was just becoming a jukebox.
(00:43):
I just I just think that none of us thought
that this was going to happen. So it was just weird, right,
like an end of an era was happening. I think
it was just sad. You don't ever want anything to
come to an end, right, Mickey D is in my house.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I used to say that all the time, when you'll
come to DC's, I look, I'd be gone, Yes, mister.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Coup Neil, you know what you only DJ?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
And this is God's truth? Is I only DJ? I
used to wait to get a CD off. I used
to fucking love your CDs and I just want it
and every time I came. I didn't want to know
you all the time, but you go, can you see this?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
What you know? What? If there are any DJs that
are listening to this right now, and hopefully Neil you
don't edit any of this, I'm glad that you said that.
And Alex K if you're listening to this, did you
hear what Neil said? I'm the only DJ that Neil
wanted a CD from. Thank you and hopefully I'll you know,
(01:49):
make more CDs. Anyway, thanks for coming on.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Let's start off about you growing up first and how
you got into DJing, what kind of path you were
you're led to come to this.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Way, and then we'll get into the nitty grizzy of
the night. Okay, so one am I Now I'm too old,
so I don't want to actually say to any of
your listeners how old I am. But my djaying career
started when I was fourteen. It's going back a fair bit.
You just all started early, didn't you. Well, mine was
fourteen and the reason being, and this is some of
(02:23):
the stuff that you probably haven't heard about me. I
played ice hockey, so ice skating, ice hockey at Canterbury
Ice Drink played for my country. I was over in
Canada for a couple of years and when I was fourteen,
I was working at Canterbury Ice Drink and there was
a DJ Friday, Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons. And one
day he didn't turn up. It was a Saturday night.
I was working making coffees and doing ice patrol. DJ
(02:46):
didn't turn up and I said to the manager in
Milner at the time, I said, in I've got to
music at home. I sort of know what I'm doing,
but can you drive me home? I wasn't living too
far and I'll put to music on and the rest
is history, right. So I started my own business, my
DJA and business when I was fourteen. Did that for
about a year and a half. Thought loved it. Unfortunately,
(03:10):
it was a little bit of self taught back in
that day. So I was using Christmas vials, Vinyl was
there and CDs just sort of come through. Had an
old mixer, turntables and I was just fading it and
now so it wasn't really sort of probably mixing like
I was at DCM, but I sort of just self
taught very in and out playing hip hop. I was
(03:31):
playing a lot of Happy Heart at the time, but
just self taught. So did that for about a year
and a half and it was a lot of fun.
Just really loved it. Started my own business, went over
to Canada, played ice hockey. When I came back when
I was eighteen, I thought, I want to really give
this a crack, and so my first sort of residency
was at Paramount of Leagues at Kicks night club. I
(03:51):
started there as a lighting job out of all things right,
came back really wanted to sort of understand how I
can get into the club scene. An opportunity presented itself.
Did that for about two years eighteen till about I
was twenty. And you're confident now with DJing, you're you're
pretty confidence. No, not at all. I was learning and
(04:12):
hopefully Dave listens to this because I just reconnected with him.
So Dave Marini was the head DJ at the time,
and he taught me. He taught me how to beat mix.
I put my own turntables, by CDs, all of that
sort of stuff, and during that time in my tenure
over at Paramoted, at least I just started playing. I
was doing the lighting jock. Then he taught me how
to play. I'd do opening sets blah blah blah. But
(04:34):
in that transition period right up until Kicks Night Club
closed in Paramount Leagues, I used to start going to DCM.
So that would have been around about ninety seven ninety
eight yep, So started going there. The city back then
was the place to be right, and that's where I
(04:56):
wanted to be. So I'd finished DJing, I'd finished the
lighting Jock, and then i'd it into Oxford Street and
then obviously the Cross and so forth. And so when
that sort of shot, I was like, Okay, how do
I now get into the city. And so the DCM
opportunity came after a while of playing at places like
the Lizard Lounge, Temple, Troy Holland did a little stint
(05:20):
over at Envy. Did you get them gigs from word
of mouth? Or what was he? Now? So back then
for me was literally just about going every single weekend
whenever I could write, just going to the clubs, meeting
the right people, partying, watching those incredible DJs, Kirk Jules,
(05:43):
Stevie Cadell, all of them right, and I just wanted
to be there, and so I just go every single weekend,
Go go go, go, go. Every single opportunity, I would
start buying music, you know, I'd start listening to music,
and you didn't have mobile phones like we do now.
You don't have Shazam. So you asked the DJ, you know,
what's that record? And then it'd be so bad. Right,
(06:04):
I'd finished partying, and then I'd wait to the record
stores would open up on Sunday mornings right over at
One Stop DJ, which was over at the Qualitie n
if you remember. So that would open up on a
Sunday morning at late ten or eleven, and I don't
even slept, and so I'd go there and say, I'd
go and buy Happiness one because it was just a
huge student and I'd buy that record. I'd have a
(06:26):
little bit of money, be will intruly in another world,
buy the record, go home and then play it because
you just get so obsessed. And so then all of
a sudden, I got a gig at black Market, right,
so I did the whole Oxford sit thing. Then I
went to black Market, and then from that point on
people were starting to listen to me. I was doing
(06:47):
mix tapes, actual proper sets. I've got four or five
still at home in a very special place because they
were the demo. So I do twenty or three copyed
demos and I would just send them out to people.
And I still remember once I started playing at the
Black Market over at day Club, then people started to
(07:08):
recognize it. I was starting to work alongside Juweles and
Milton and all these incredible people. But I still remember
that day. I still remember the day that I got
asked to do an opening set at DCM, and I'll
still remember the day that I got to play and
do that opening because there were six hours. Yeah, you know,
(07:28):
you'd start at nine and ten and you'd go to
three and then four and then the next DJ would
come and play. But yeah, that really just changed my
life and my trajectory in terms of my passion for music.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
And have you ever been there, like like, would you
get intimidate to buy someone that you looked up to
in the and DJ world when you were first starting?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Yes, I was. I don't know, Like DCM was an
incredible place for all of us, and it was part
of my learning ground to music and DJing and partying.
Because it's so hard to describe it. When you're on
that dance floor, that screen comes to the laser, all
of a sudden starts going those bass bins. People are
(08:09):
dancing around you. You've got those incredible podiums, and you
can just feel this music right, you just feel it.
You just get mesmerized, and then looking up and going
who's playing? And you know when certain djls would jump
on in those transitions, because you can just tell on
that music. But when I had that opportunity to play
before or after Jewels or Stevie or Kirk in those
(08:32):
early days, man, I would shake like a leave just nervous,
nervousness around, not wanting to do a mistake and fail,
but nervousness as well, because these are your idols. These
are people that you looked up to, and anybody that
you look up to, I feel you always have that
sense and not intimidation, but that oh my god, that's
in your cummings man, like I don't want to, I
(08:54):
don't want to do anything bad, or I don't want
to I want to really perform morell and so, and
then you've got like, don't forget it, you had you
know a thousand people, how many people there all looking
at you, mostly not really giving a damn. But but
I think they did. But you also just know that
you could really stuff up. You press stop on a
(09:16):
song that's playing, you'll get told very quickly how bad
you are, you know, So you also have that, and
you also got to think about, you know what I've
got to play for. I don't know two, three, four five,
You know, I'm most of the sets these days. When
I play, it's like an hour, right like that, Then
you're doing four, five, six, eight. I do nine hour sets.
(09:37):
Now you're like, and you have to think about that
journey now it's for me. It's just so different. So
answer your question. Yes, very intimidated, very nervous, but also
very excited.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Did you ever look at the crowd when you're playing
or is it just always concentrating on you? Because I
always want to know if that these is actually seeing
what's going on over there.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
It's a great question. I'm a very excitable person, and
I think I feed off that energy of people. So
I love to interact. Putting up your hands in the
air and enjoying yourself is just part of my personality.
Other people are very different. I like to know that
you're having a great time, and I'm part of making
(10:17):
that night a great night because of the music that
I'm playing. Yes, sometimes you can get a little bit
buried in terms of what's happening, but you know, sometimes
you just got to just go with the flow, enjoy
the experience, see people having a great time, And that
for me was probably one of the biggest reasons why
I enjoyed what I did and probably why now the
(10:37):
thing that I miss, you know, like just seeing people
have a good time something that I don't do as
often as I used to, So when I get to
do it, it's pretty special.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
I don't know if it's ever happened to you, but
say the big names are before you, right, and you're
coming on to do a set now, and you've got
to come on after these people. Yeah, is it hard
to keep that crowd on that dance floor knowing that
all that crowd were there, and if you see if
you leave and leaving, how does that make you feel?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Yeah? I think yes is a short answer. You've got
to do your homework. I always think if you're playing,
and depending on what time you're playing, who's playing before you,
You've got to do a bit of homework around how
people are going to feel at that time. You're always
going to lose people, especially if it's really later on
in the morning and they've been going out for a while.
(11:25):
So it's about understanding that journey, the time of what
you need to do, what sort of music you're going
to play. Do you keep on that trajectory, do you
slow things down a little bit, do you change pace?
Because you's got to think, you know what, back then,
when you've still got another five or six hours to go,
you've got to sort of put in the time and
nurture the floor back then. Also, you're also got to
(11:47):
remember you've got a second hit of another crowd coming
around out. So if I'm doing a three or four
or five o'clock in the morning set, I know that
you know, Envy up the road or temple or liquid
across the road or places across, they're closing and so
they're coming to us. As you would remember, you us
know that you've got to sort of grind it to
(12:07):
that particular point, keep whatever you can, but know that
you're going to get a fresh bunch of that other
crowd to come through. So doing that homework, doing that research,
trying to understand and you know, as DJs back then
you're buying for me, buying lots of vinyl. You're so
eager to go, Okay, great, I know Kirk or Jewels
or Stevie or Keller. I'm going to have they. So
(12:28):
I've got a really robust set at least for that
first hour, so I can test excite that crowd and
hopefully keep them in a little bit longer, but also
have some more stuff to play a little bit later
on what you prefer opening the set or closing the set?
These days want to be plus ten o'clock eight pm?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Is it easier to do the opening set because people
are just starting in the club compared to closed that
set where they're fucking off their face and they're ready
to go home.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
It takes two different skill sets, so meaning that if
you the opening set is really magical because you're creating
the whole night. Yeah, so I think there's something magical,
Like everything's fresh, there's no glasses around, like you know,
the bar staff is still just walking around, there's nobody there.
(13:27):
The lights are just very casual, like it's beautiful and
seeing it's like, I don't know, you know, let's use
an example of a book, right, you love writing your books,
and congratulations by the way, and the success of the book.
But you look at all these blank pages and then
after days, after months, or however long it takes you,
(13:48):
all of a sudden have got this beautiful letters of
words in this really sort of full book. When you
first start, you think, god, wow, you know, I mean,
here we go and we start that journey. It's the
same with dejaying and music and doing that start of
that night and just seeing people come through and just
letting people go, oh my god, yeah, I like that
tum because they go from sitting down having a dream
(14:10):
talking to all right, you know, we're ready to dance.
So all of a sudden you won ten one hundred
and two hundred people, and all of a sudden you've
just got a full floor. There's something pretty special about
that flip side of that, though, it's something amazing Like
I did a close set, Like my god, I did
a close at six am, five to six am at
(14:31):
a techno club called Black Noah not far up from
Oxford Street. There is something pretty amazing for people to
still be out at that time and stand back and
give you a huge round of applause at the end.
When you do that last song because they are just
like they'rein and just seeing that type of excitement is
really magical because you're there at the end of that
(14:53):
particular experience. Whereas seeing something from nothing to something is
pretty cool, but also seeing the end of something pretty
special is equally amazing. What do you think that because
of your old school all right? No, I like to
think that. Please old school DJ. Okay, let's get that right.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
But don't you think like it if I knew that
you'll go to a club to play, I'll be honest
with you right now. I don't know any DJs in
this generation, modern time, like, I really don't know, especially
in the in the in the nightclub scene.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
But all you guys you know that were at DC's
and at the Cross Oxford Street.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
You know, I know you all. I can, I can.
I can fucking go twenty off my head.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
But if I know that you're going to be a club,
and even if it's at fucking four o'clock in the morning,
I'm going to go and see Mickey D old school DJ.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Yeah, I want to listen to his shoes again. Best
DJ by the way, Okay, correct, we'll give you that everybody.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
But that's what I'm saying, Like, so people who are
going to be in that club where you just mentioned,
I would stick around if I know that you're going
to come on set, because I haven't fucking heard you
play for years. Compare to some other one who's just starting,
you know, he's wet beyond the ears.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I'm going to go on yeah, and look there's whilst
I don't go out, I still listen to a lot
of DJs, like usually on Sound Club, which I'm on YouTube.
You know, like obviously post covid, you know, so much
came out. You know, tweet you can use. So I
think there's a huge array of content and ways and
(16:31):
means to be able to see these guys, and they're
all incredible, like everybody is. You know. The way that
this has moved is just unbelievable. It's sort of the
same like you if there's something that you like and
you got to remember it, let's put your mind in
a twenties, late twenties, early thirty year old. They know
what they want to tend to go and see, and
(16:52):
they'll go and do what you and I used to do.
I just feel like you've just got so much choice,
not necessarily from a clubbing perspective, but festivals, right, Like,
you know, they just had Alterra Australia here on the
weekend and you know, and Travel out of Melbourne did
an incredible job. So there's a lot more of that
(17:12):
international stuff. But what I what I'm finding at the
moment is that there's a lot of those big international
brands that are coming here to Australia, which a lot
of the let's say the kids, the kids are going to,
which I think is fantastic. Back in our day sounds
terribly old. Back in our day, we just didn't have
that much choice, so things like the DCM was huge.
(17:35):
You know, obviously wild Off all those great things were amazing,
but they used to use you guys correct, Yeah, so
that was really lucky. But now that you know, James
Hype or Dom Dollar or you know, all these incredible DJs,
they've got huge followings, massive, massive pool. You know, technology
(17:55):
is just really taking up to that next stage. So
you know, I think the current generation is lucky. The
sport for choice, which is great. They can do their
research so you can watch. They don't even have to
go nightclubbing. You have your own party at your house,
bring a bunch of people, have an incredible sound system,
and away you go looking into YouTube. Bang, you know,
(18:16):
you can watch Coachella, which was on on the weekend.
They don't need to do anything, right, so all of
that sort of stuff can literally be to you or
a lot of those things are just being coming to Australia. Now,
do you prefer festivals or the clubs? Oh prefer my home?
I prefer yeah, yeah, So I think this is just
(18:40):
a whole different vibe. It's a very different vibe. Like
I still love the intimacy of a nice small club
and seeing that DJ or the music though I enjoy,
Like I said, I did this venue the other day,
Black Noir and you know, holds a couple hundred people
and it's just wild. It's so good. The sound system
is great there, the music is what I love and
(19:01):
it's very intimate. But then again, you know, like if
you see like a huge festival and it's twenty thousand people,
thirty thousand people, like I said, actually played in Melbourne
the other day part of Swedish South Mafia, unreal, right,
you just but very different, big, open, crazy, all that
sort of stuff, right, So it just depends on how
you feel at the time, what you know, So the
(19:23):
time you're going to invest you know, because those things,
you know, you spend so much money, and yeah, they're
for hours, like a long time. And if I'm out,
I'd much prefer to be out during the day and
come home at a decent time rather than you know,
starting late at the night and then coming back home
and the sun's coming up. No. Thanks.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Well, before we get into other clubs that you've worked
at and you've performed that, let's go back to DCS
where you now you become a permanent resident.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
What was the feeling there to be a permanent resident
at a.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Club that you've wanted to work out for, you know,
years beforehand.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Was that your goal to work there? It was? Yeah,
it just it was a number one club in if
not Home night club because Homelke Club was its arrival
at the time. Yeah, so Home wasn't around when I
was with and by the time Home was because I was,
I was. I was fortunate enough to have been at
d CM. I'd clubbed there for years, I was playing there.
(20:16):
It was packed, it was great, I was doing so.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I'm not talking at what makes DC so special? What
makes it stand out more than all the other fucking clubs?
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Well, I think for me it was and just going
back to that memory, like it was the best club
at the time, right, And there's a lot of better
clubs today. Technology has gone the other way and it's incredible.
But for that I just felt comfortable, right. I knew
the music, you knew so many people. You'd say hello
(20:46):
to people, right, and everybody at that moment and that era,
we were just happy. Everyone's happy. Don't like a big family.
There's always political stuff and there's always bad stuff. But
I'd go there, and because I clubbed there for so
long before I became a DJ, you knew about it.
You just knew. And then all of a sudden, when
I started dating there, all of I'm just eating to
(21:08):
my family, to my friends and to that made it
more magical. So then all of a sudden, it's just
you're there every weekend getting paid doing something that you love.
And that to me was just incredible. But what makes
the club incredible outside of people and all of that, mate,
that sound system, that laser show, you just felt like
(21:31):
you were in the middle of this warm bas bin
of just sensory It's just such an overload, and there
was nothing like it at the time, and I had
been doing every single nightclub in all of Sydney. I
was touring a lot all around Australia and there was
just nothing like it. So weird. Unless you had lived
that time when I did together, you would just not
(21:53):
know anything different. What's your best memory? When you were
asking me that question, the big thing that sort of
popped into my mind was two thousand, So I did
and your change, you know, like if you think about
generational change from nineteen nineteen ninety two thousand. I was there,
(22:15):
you know, I played sort of that middle set just
after it clocked over twelve o'clock when it became two thousand,
Like when you just bottle that up for a moment.
It was packed, it was busy. We thought that all
of the computer systems and everything was shut down, like
you thought everything was just going to be done, you know,
(22:36):
like I was getting paid a fortune to be there,
and we didn't know if we were going to be alive,
like maybe you know, like the stories of the story, right,
but we're all there, and I'm like, it's twenty twenty
five now and I'm still here. But if you think
about that moment, the amount of pressure when people are saying,
you know, you got to do this, and blah blah
(22:57):
blah and all of that, like to have been there
at that particular moment in time, because everybody that's listening
to this now right, some people were obviously born at
that particular stage, and none of us are going to
be a live by the time it clicks over to
three thousand. It's just wild to have thought that I
(23:19):
had been there the second probably moment. And I talked
a lot about when people ask me, like your most
memorable moments just in general, was Marti gras So two thousand,
Marti gras So two thousand played at DCM did nineteen
ninety nine to two thousand changed over? Marti gras happens.
I got asked by Troy Holland. He had set up
(23:40):
this ridiculous setup in front of Lizard Lounge and it
was Liquid nightclub at that stage, and we were up
high and they set up this DJ setup to the parade,
and when the parade finished, we were playing music. Troy
just goes, I want you to blast as much sound
as you could. So there's me and Pete Mark who
was in another DJ at the time. We went okay, great,
(24:03):
no worries, started playing music, and then all of a sudden,
all of Oxford Street, right, I just got this incredible memory.
We're playing on this balcony, had this huge speaker stacking
system playing Vinyl, and from one end of Oxford Street,
all the way up, going going up to that end,
and all the way going back down past the DCM,
just a street full of people. It was like hundreds
(24:27):
of thousands of people. For forty five minutes. All you
could just see is like little Lands, hungry Jacks, was
just packed, pack, just completely wild. One of the most
disappointed things is that I just didn't have a camera
or I didn't have a fun but that just in itself,
like that whole street and the time and the life
(24:48):
that I'd given back to it was just it gave
me these enriching feelings of just incredibleness. So yeah, so
too two very memorable.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
But why why did you think d CMS is still
memorable in people's minds like this though? Like as you said,
like we'll get the probably three thousand and still people
are talking about it like it doesn't seem so, but
it doesn't seem to ever lose its like its value.
It's the only thing in the world I know that
the holds is fucking value.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
It's really wild.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Like there are a few haters that go on, I'll
like to let DCMS go and I like that, But
the thing is, and it's I said this to everybody,
you had to try it even once people can bag
it out, and I backed it out. I must admit
I backed it out. I used to sack a lot
of my dormant from Yu and soho if they worked
it really yeah, that was my I sacked too, Yeah,
because they used to leave the shifts at three o'clock
(25:38):
to go down and do the shift down at DC's.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
And when I found out this, I sacked them.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
I hated d C's at the time, but then as
I said, wed, Yeah, but it's just the name of
it and the premises, the music and the crowd just
forever keeps going and going and going, and it's like
it gets stronger each each year we talk about it.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
It's a great question. I don't know, like it's for me.
It's obviously my era. It's something there that I intrinsically experienced.
You know. We talked a little bit about family and
knowing people and the music and the way it was
you know represented, you know, all of those things and
(26:19):
those memories are just so very evident. So I don't know,
it's just like, well, Mickey, you got to look at it,
back down and look at them.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
But you've got Cuba, Biblos, Envy played all of them,
you know, you know, you've got to No one talks
about them, Black Market.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Oh yeah, they talk about that, But DC's everyone wants
to talk about. Yeah. I just think there was this,
you know, in the nineties, it just continued to grow
and just had this you know, sense of people could
just be their own identity, their own self and just
loved and enjoyed it. And you know, people would just
have these great moments and great memories. They meet people
(26:55):
new people like me meeting you and meeting other clubs
and people there that love the same music. Right, and
you know this, I'm gonna make it.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
I'm gonna I'm gonna give you the hardest question you're
probably going to get nowt Okay, question, The question is right,
which DC's was better when John had it or before
John had it.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Now, this is a debate that has come up with
me a lot. Yeah, So which one do you think
was better? Both of them were great. I don't want
to give you the political answer here.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
And because I never I'm sorry, I did get to
see before John had took over.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
I partied did once.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
I must admit I didn't like it because it was
partly a gay club too, you know what I mean.
So I didn't really like it. I didn't fit in,
but you know, it was the kind of music it
went off and like that. But the dcs that I
know and I've worked at, I liked.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
It, I think. But I think each of them have
got its moments, if I'm really honest, because you know,
I started piling there and let's just call it ninety
seven ninety eight, then started dayjaying from like ninety eight,
ninety nine, two thousand and then all the way right
up until I got closed. All of it had its
own moments of good and bad. You know, like even
(28:09):
old DCM was not perfect. Let's be honest. You're always
going to have challenges, but each part like because for
me as a DJ, every year the crowd was changing,
and you change with the crowd. You as a DJ
have to recognize where your value stops. So I could
still play music that I love back in the late nineties,
(28:32):
but then as the crowd changed in the early two thousand,
they didn't like that, right, So if that didn't sit
comfortably with me, then I would start thinking should I
be here, Do I need to change my style? Blah
blah blah. Right, But for me, I just like to evolve,
right Like even now when I play music, Yeah, I'll
play some old school stuff for certain events, but you know,
(28:53):
even in the mixes that I'm doing, people go, I
don't like your new stuff. And that's completely fine that
some of the new stuff isn't geared to that old crowd.
All my old school stuff that I played and stuff
that I've shared with you, that's what they want to hear. Great,
but I won't continue to just keep on making old stuff.
There's only so much of that stuff that you can play.
(29:16):
But again, going back, there's no one or different that
when John OneD it became worse or you know that
was better. I just yeah, it was DC was DC
in formy, whether it was in the nineties or in
the two thousands.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
I just like you do you think it do you
think when it got moved up to Havana that you
could tell it was it was lost its magic.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
It did, yeah, yeah, But I think the biggest difference
when it got moved there was the club was smaller, right,
so it just became a lot more intimate. But a
lot of the old school people left because they didn't
want to come there, of course, and you're you're never
I think you've got to start drawing a line in
the sand on who you're going to appeal to as
(29:56):
things change. And even with the old school parties, right,
there's only so many people that are going to come out, like,
let's be honest, right, Like even me, I was saying
to you before, You're going to rarely see me out
at an event. I just, you know, I love the events,
and I appreciate the guys that are doing what they
are trying to do, but I'm just not that target audience.
You know. I value being at home. I value being
(30:18):
with my family, I value getting up in the morning,
even when I just you know, I did a house
party for a friend on Friday night and I left
there at seven point thirty pm because they were going
to Bloody John Summon and I didn't want to go
because I wanted to be home, and because I wanted
to wake up and feel normal and I have commitments
(30:39):
with my families. I'm like, no, I just I just
want to go home. Yeah, I just yeah. I value
that I did, you know, close to twenty years right,
just playing all of that and you know COVID. When
COVID was happening, it was nice because I was already
transitioning out, so it was nice to just go. You know,
(31:00):
I think there's time that I gave this a reckon.
I was slowing right down. How long did you give
it a break for? So COVID happened. Obviously I stopped
like most people did all the way through that particular period.
I was really slowing it down because I was like
playing a Bungaloway and so I see it Bungalow. It
is a couple of times. So I did like Bungaloway,
cargo both lounge, cargo, bar a. You want to enjoy it.
(31:22):
It's just like I think for me, I was just
getting tired, you know, like I had had my full
time job DJing well, I was still doing lots of stuff.
I was at Ivy for a bit, you know, I
was doing stuff over at the Casino. I was still
playing at lots of places, but for me, my value
as a DJ was not necessarily as my name anymore.
(31:44):
It was people were going to those places, so like
Cargo and Bungalow to go to party with their friends.
You know, it was a Hen's night or a bus
or something like that. So you're playing open format music,
which basically means I'm playing just party music. Yeah, And
I sort of felt I was just becoming a jukebox. Yeah.
And I was leaving home, yeah, thinking I don't want
(32:09):
to do this, and to me and to anybody, that's pain.
That's just not fair. Like I hadn't even started playing,
and all of a sudden, I'm pissed off from having
to go to work. So then it it started shifting
from being a DJ to going to a job, and
I just started losing that love and passion of why
I got into it. What was it like there on
(32:30):
the last day of disease?
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (32:33):
God? Emotional? Which one are you talking about one? Yeah?
Well I was there. I just I just think that
none of us thought that this was going to happen.
So it was just weird, right, like an end of
an era was happening. You know, you just felt and
look d CM was. It was struggling, you know, at
(32:55):
a particular time. I think it was just getting to
a particular point where the magic of what d CM
was was just eroding. So some had to make a
decision around Okay, well the crowd's not coming here. There
was a lot of competition. I think you were talking
about Home Nightclub, you know, lots of people were going
there at one stage. There was plenty of other places
(33:16):
that were on the horizon, and it just had done
its time. So I think it was just sad. It
was emotional. All of us were getting older, we were
all working at plenty of different places already, and it's
just like anything, you don't ever want anything to come
to an end, right, Everything's got to come to an
end at some point. So it's emotional and it's sad.
(33:38):
But I'm luckily enough I'm sitting here on a podcast
with you talking about this place that you know, you know,
I started almost over twenty years ago. Like that to
me is magical, right for you to ask me to
talk about such an incredible memory is what now it's
giving back to me?
Speaker 2 (33:58):
So yeah, it's how many clubs have you played hundreds. Yeah,
so you'd say that club that is the stand up
or is there any other club that stands out.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
In your memory?
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Like, I just think it was probably the one there
that I could. Yeah, and I think that was pretty big, right.
You know, back then we had things called three D World.
I don't know if you remember that, So you that
was your gig guy. You know, obviously the Internet was
sort of growing, but that was the old school. Okay,
(34:30):
where's Micky playing? You know what else is happening around?
So having that type of like culture, that's what was
really important to me at the time. Those are the
feelings there that wrapped up that was pretty special. There's
amazing clubs, right, Like you know, Markhi was great. I
was there for the I wasn't playing there, but I
(34:50):
was there for the for the opening. Ivy is pretty special.
Like all of these places have their fascination. But I'd
already been a very established DJO when I was already
doing those. So, you know, I think to your point,
because I really wanted to be at DCM. It was
the place that I was so young. It was a
(35:11):
huge goal of mine. All the rest were just the
successes of me playing at d CM and then all
of a sudden, you know, everything else just came and
rolled off the back of that.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
You So now you're back in, You've refueled, got your
vibe by.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Yeah. So I got impacted in my corporate life I
sort of mid last year. And when that happened back
in sort of June, and I was looking for a
new job, I just had time. I had time to
think and reflect, and I didn't know what to do
with myself. You know, I've been in my corporate role
for almost twenty two years. That got impacted. I sort
(35:52):
of put music on the back burner, and when I
had nothing else to do, I just and I'd always
been tinkering around. I'm always tinkering around with stuff, and
music will never ever die, you know. But when the
opportunity sort of came up to just start reinvesting back
into listening to music and back into the studio doing
mixes again, sort of like, oh, this is all right,
(36:13):
you know, because but I'm not doing it a lot.
I'm just doing it at my own pace. I started
getting a bit busier towards the back end of last year,
and that was getting a little bit chaotic. Now that
I'm working again full time. I'm just trying to balancing out.
What I am loving though is still putting stuff together,
putting some mixes together, showing them out across my SoundCloud base,
(36:36):
back in the studio, doing some production work, but not
putting too much pressure on myself, doing it at my
own pace, and doing it because I love it, and
also doing it because it's actually people just enjoy listening
to me. Yeah, or even just like at a gym session. Yes,
I used that in my gym band all the time.
And so any regrets, any regrets, I wish I probably
(37:02):
invested more on the production side. And when I'm about production,
you know, you had Alex recently, and you know he's
an incredible not only a great DJ or a great person,
but a great producer. I think he really owned you know,
that DONK sound back in the two thousand era, and
you know continues to do it incredibly well. Whish I'd
(37:22):
done more of that. It wasn't my forte you know,
I wrote stuff with Wheels from Sunset Brothers and a
whole bunch of stuff with a bunch of different artists,
but that was with them doing a lot of the
controls and me giving my influence things that I liked.
So that's what I would have probably invested more into.
(37:42):
But other than that, man, I've had a wonderful career.
I'm still alive, you know. I mean, I've made it
through COVID like all of us. You know, I've got
a wonderful family. Now. I traveled the world. You know,
it was rated like in the top fifty DJs in
Australia at one particular. I say, like all of those things, right,
get to hang I hang out with you, and I
(38:03):
still hang out with you. So yeah, Like I'm really
really blessed. Before we go, describe yourself in one word
or two if you need to. So funny that you're
asking me this, I'm actually working with a business coach
at the moment. It's just business close slash therapist because
a bit weird and we're starting to sort of get
some words around my values and so forth. I'd like
(38:27):
to think that respect and respectful are things there that
I want to continue to live by. And just being happy, bro,
Like just a good one, bro. Just to be happy,
but happy with in myself, happy with the people that
I work for and with, happy with my family, you know,
just just that, Bro, we have one life, right, so
(38:50):
just try and live it and the best way that
I can.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Well, So, bro, well you know what, Mickey, thanks you
for coming in. This is and I've loved that. The
memories of DC's and new playing. It's being fucking awesome.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Remember that you like that CD, right you just I'm
the only one I used to wait to the door
for to get a CDN. You tell and anybody listening,
never all these.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Other I'm not going to name the names because I'm
not gonna name them because they have not been on.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
My podcast, so I'm not gonna plug them. Don't name them.
I'm here and I will be always your Thank you
so much. This is great. This is a lot of
fun and congratulations.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
I know you're successful, brother, Thank you, leg you mate.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
H
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