BREAKDOWN w/ THE KIKI TWINS – DJ URI DALAL
Name: DJ Uri Dalal
What do you do: Professional DJ/Producer/Musician/After Hours DJ Legend (According to those who were there!)
Where are you based: New York City
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1. So tell us, what is the most FIERTH thing about you?
A: Wow! How do I answer this without sounding like the narcissistic, egomaniac that I am? LMAO! I’ll say this: When I was 5 years old, my father brought home two kiddie turntables and two copies of Elton John’s Greatest Hits for my sister and I from his record shop across from the Palladium on 14th St. (where D’Agostino is now), giving birth to our monstrous thirst for music and two phenomenal record collections (still growing). When my sister wasn’t home I would sneak her turntable in to my room, put on both EJ albums and try to make the same tracks play at the same time! If that doesn’t spell destiny, I don’t know what does. It was like Obi-wan giving Luke his father’s light saber, or RuPaul putting on that first pair of her mother’s platforms LOL! I was BORN to DJ.
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2. What type of art do you create and give a brief description?
A: I am a 10 year + veteran Dj, music producer and drummer. I mainly produce House music but I’ve played the drums since I was five.
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3. What’s going on right now for you?
A: I currently hold residency Tuesdays at Cellar Bar in the Bryant Park Hotel but am looking to do more events like a proper after hours or I would LIVE to be spinning at an event like Amanda LePore’s Big Top which is obviously where I belong. If anyone is interested in working with me on this please contact me!
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4. What’s on your plate for the rest of 2010?
A: Right now I just completed two remixes; one for Dragonette and one for Robyn. Currently my partner Saam Ishi and I are in the studio with the brilliant Jerico of the Angels producing some new music. We’re especially excited about my re-edit/remix of Dragonette’s ‘Easy’, which has been getting a lot of internet attention! I initially had no intention on playing it anywhere except my dance floor until my sister Dj Cori Spano told me how everyone was going bananas for it when she played it at the Monster. I posted it on SoundCloud and the response has been tremendous! Dan & Martina from Dragonette have also contacted me as well, so we’ll see what happens. I should also add that Franco Aviance has created a brilliant video of my remix that is also very popular.
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5. Who’s on your radar? Who should we be keeping an eye on?
A: Jerico of the Angels! What a talent! We met at the premier for the film documentary ‘A Flow Affair’ (we both have a song on the soundtrack). I was so blown away by his performance that I had to talk with him. It turns out he knew who I was and was a fan! We decided to exchange numbers and now we’re working on a project together which we hope will be a big hit.
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6. What is something no one knows about you?
A: There are probably two things. One is regarding my brief acting career, where I played a drummer in a band in the film “Looking An Echo” with Armand Assante, and the other is probably the drumming thing. Before I was a DJ, I was in COUNTLESS bands from punk to funk. I ended up DJ-ing almost by accident, where even though I knew how to do it for years, I didn’t realize therein lied my real passion and talent. I haven’t been able to do anything else since.
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7. What are some of your pet peeves?
A: Pet peeves? Hmmmn… that’s a hard one. Probably the DJs/people who are always telling you things like, “Real DJs use vinyl, fake DJs push buttons!” (which I made into a t-shirt I might add). I think they forget the people who were telling them that DJs weren’t real musicians back in the 80’s… and that sampling wasn’t real music (tell that to Todd Terry), synthesizers and drum machines weren’t real instruments (tell that to Kraftwerk) – I always invite technology. I don’t care if Traktor matches the beats for you, the real talent will use that as a platform to take the genre to the next level, and the talentless will eventually fall by the wayside. My other pet peeve is when twenty-somethings break it down for me and tell me how much BETTER the club scene used to be ‘back in the day’ as if it was my first night out. TRUST you don’t know ANYTHING about ‘back in the day’. I was there so SHUT UP!
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8. If you could be anywhere right now doing anything with anyone, tell us where, what and with who it would be.
A: I would be in my own DJ booth headlining my own party with my wife Saam Ishi-Dalal, spinning for an open-minded crowd like only New York can provide, bringing happiness through music. I would be performing a mega-Vulcan mind-meld through house music.
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9. Where can people find out more about you and keep up with you? www.djuridalal.com www.soundcloud.com/djuridalal www.facebook.com/djuridalal www.youtube.com/djuridalal www.twitter.com/djuridalal http://djuridalal.podomatic.com/ .
One final question… 10. Are we there yet?
A: No, we aren’t. But don’t worry we’ll get there soon. I hope.
LINKS TO BUY TRACKS FROM URI DALAL: Amazon
Masterbeat.com
iTunes
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