Chapter 3 - My beginning as DJ

CHAPTER 3: My beginning as DJ
 

Summer from ’95, My life is about to change

We could say it was a transformation from child to teenager. It took me months to do those "mega mixes" with the tapes, and practice with the dishes from my brothers when they were not home

I felt me more than ever a DJ, and different from other guys around me. But I really wanted to become: a real DJ! I could not ignore to get a cool name, something to make me feel closer to my goal. It was time to get the right name!

I remember one day I told to my brothers to let me see the album covers to find a word that called my attention, and to be consistent with "makinero style." I was looking for a name that sounded impressive to hear! And I had few information ...

 (Don't forget that at this time there was no Google, so I had to find my luck myself)

I looked at all the covers and credits for the magic word, and was writing down the ones which called my attention ...

Among so many vinyls ... baaaammmm !

Came one that caught my attention. The album was called

 "Barraca Destroy"

woooow! I said to myself ... Dany Destroy! Sounds cool!

 On that moment I felt me like a real artist baptized! I was anxious to tell all my friends.

On that moment it was not very common  to be a DJ, and at classroom all my partners looked at me like a freak to go with the walkman all day listening this music that they didn't understand. And I was trying to infect everyone!

(The Walkman! What a nice times!)

With those cassette tapes, which lasted between 60 and 90 min! Well ... back again

I remember that I shared headphones with my friend Marko, to analyze the tracks that called our attention and joking with some of the voices that we heard.

i turned the volume up and down!

(I know many of you have done it too hehe)

The truth is that I was not a very good student, I was a little thug too. I spent hours at class drawing my own flyers and putting my name with the best DJs of the moment.

My friend Marko was a genius with Paint program; and he designed some flyers.

We talked about how great it would be to have our own club.

We create our own stories and we imagine us becoming boss from a big club. The girls we were going to meet, and how famous that we were going to be.

Even we had created our own label which we had called  "Pachus Records"

The logo was consist in a bitten green chupa chups ...

now I know that may sound absurd and outdated, but for two small boys, with no information, is wasn't too bad to think about having your own business, doesn't it??

I can't describe my progress in my first few months ahead the dishes, neither I didn't have something to give me the steps to follow, no one to tell me if I was doing it right or wrong ...

I was putting into practice, and watching the nightclubs videos that my brothers brought at home, listening the tapes from other dj's, or watching my brothers when they played at home, and those things that called my attention. Then I copied them at home in my eagerness to be equal, like these dj's which I saw as idols, and untouchable people.

Imposed an enormous respect for me, seeing them so calmly and in front from so many people. I remember coming to the end of 7 GBS course, my classroom mates wanted to do a party at the school gym, and I had proposed the idea to do a show where I could be the DJ, and of course to play the "Makina style!"

I offered to rent some dishes, and a table, and I would take my vinyls. Again I want to emphasize, that although it may seem normal to have this equipment at home right now, or that many of your friends could be dj's ... at that time I assure you that was not common to have one of those equipments at home, this meant that all the others looked at you as a different person from the rest of them

I tried repeatedly, but the boys and girls from my class were not willing to do that ...

I discussed and I mocked them, because they refused to hear the music they cataloged as "boring".

I didn't understand his offense on this music when I saw them listening famous compilations that have marked many young people from my generation as: Makina Total, Bombazo Mix, Trance Mix,   Blanco y Negro Mix, Bolero Mix,  and many others ...

My struggle to defend the music that I liked, and my hobby as a  Dj, began to hurt my havoc, being rejected, and seen as a different boy from the rest…

The rest of the people was limited to hear topics "pop" and very "soft music" for me, with rhythms that are very slow, as for example:

Wigfield - Saturday night ,

Scatman Jhon - Im Scatman, among others ...

It was August, and my brothers were on vacation to Almeria, where I have my father's family. I could be for two weeks practicing with the vinyls…

Can you imagine the satisfaction that I could feel???

Two full weeks, where I was going to have the dishes just for me!

This is when I decided to record my first meeting in a tape

(tape that I still retaining as a treasure in my trunk for the memories, under the name of Dj.Dany Destroy)

Whenever there was an opportunity to be able to play on that tape in public, there I was! Cars, rooms of friends, fun in class, and could not miss… in my walkman!

Record my sessions and show it to others rewarded me. And although I felt I different from the rest of them, I liked the idea of being more "unique", and I was beginning to feel curiosity of being playing in front of people, and I wasn't going to stop until get it

After first objective, which was to learn, I though about my second goal:

To play in a club in front of people and show them what I did in secret with my vinyls…