DJ B: Yes, I do a lot of these interviews and I have to tell you, I have
a stock line that I tell everybody, which is that not everything here is
covered in rhinestones.
Julius: Right. And I figured that because Jay J's told me, he's been
there and he's played the party, or I think he might have played it more
than once. I said oh that's great news, that's great news.
DJ B: Well, we had Tiesto come here last year. He did three US dates -
New York, Miami and Nashville. And two years ago, the summer of 2003,
Oakenfold was here, so we do get some pretty big names.
Julius: That's pretty good.
DJ B: And so I did an interview with Renny Pilgrim late last year and it
was kind of interesting to talk to him because he said some of the same
things that you're saying about the way the sound is actually changing. So
I was wondering if I could get you to talk a little bit more about that, I
mean how you feel the shift is going about, is the emphasis going away or
from a particular kind of music, like there's been a lot of hue and cry
about the death of drum and bass as an art form, just for instance. And
Renny and I had an interesting talk about how he feels the breaks are
changing. And one other thing, I read something maybe two months ago in
Wired about Norman Cook trying to integrate a lot more organic sound into
his live performance. So San Francisco is well ahead of the country, I
think, in a lot of respects and one of those is obviously the music scene,
especially dance music and that sort of stuff. So just over the last
three/four, maybe even the last one or two years, what's the shift been,
what's the focus been in the Bay area for the kind of music that you do?
Julius: Well it just seems in general, I would say attendance in clubs is
generally down. And what I mean by that is during the week, whereas a few
years ago you could go out during the week, maybe even Wednesday/Thursday
night, even Sunday nights and now it just seems like attendance is down,
like in other words you don't have as many people going out every week on
those weekday nights, number one, you don't ever have?
DJ B: Do you think that's because of the economy?
Julius: I don't even know, it could be, I have no idea. If it doesn't
completely come from that, it's got to be a part of it at least I've got to
believe. But I'm not sure about that because I see people spending money
on other things that may or may not be?
DJ B: Essential, like flat panel TVs?
Julius: (Laughing) That's a funny thing you bring up flat panel TVs, what
a market that is. You know, a few years ago before the flat panel TVs came
out, I think a television was pretty affordable, you could get a decent
model pretty cheaply. I remember I bought my big screen TV, which is a
forty-one inch, oh about a good ten years ago for $1,500. Now I just went
out and spend twice that on a wide screen TV and I'm thinking, well,
technology generally gets better and things usually come down in price, is
that not true? Especially when you're talking about computers and stuff.
DJ B: Yes, that's the way it goes.
Julius: And I know the technology is better because the picture's
sharper, so maybe something's costing more, I don't know, but I don't buy
that. But I just think the TV companies have just probably come up with
some sort of master plan. Because if you really go in to Fry's and all
these stores to look, a lot of these televisions are kind of different
brands but they're all kind of priced the same.
DJ B: Oh yes they are.
Julius: So maybe they got together behind closed doors and said let's
just kind of get up there and see how much we can charge and for how long,
because people are spending $3,000 and that's not the end of it. I mean
there's TVs costing two or three times that amount.
DJ B: Yes, no doubt.
Julius: I think that's a little outrageous when you think about it.
DJ B: That's a lot of money people could be spending on drinks in clubs.
(laughs)
Julius: Well, you know, I mean it's easier to sit at home and get your
butt big sitting on the couch watching TV five nights a week, you know, and
I think that's part of our culture, I think it's not just the US but North
America in general. You know, I think that nightlife is perceived
differently in North America than it is actually in the rest of the world
including, and especially in Europe. Because in Europe people go out and
it's more like a social event when they go out, even if it's to a club.
They will meet their friends, they will meet whatever, they'll just go out
and have a good time, they'll dance more and they'll get into the music
more and they'll actually go out more often and not really think about it
like oh my God I've got to go out tonight, or I can't go out tonight it's a
Tuesday night or whatever. They just go out because it's part of their
culture and life, they go out to socialize.
