Author: akadjblaze

So Im trying to renew my blog writing and will split it up between this and Tumblr for now and see how it goes, its been a year since I jumped on here, and its been a busy year… some of the highlights include 

– Sponsorship with DJ Korea

– Thre3style Qualifier

– DJn around the Country with Pinnacle the Hustler

– WDJ Fest with DJ Korea

– 2nd Place BeFM DJ Competition

– B-Boy Shows with Show Kings

– Guest Appearances at MadHolic

– PKDC Qualifier

– Steady Residency at Bar Fly

There was more but thats it for now, for my blogs Im going to keep them strictly DJn orientated to hopefully make sure I keep them going since this year I have a few projects planned… so lets see how it goes!

Well happy new years to everyone! 2012 the year the world ended or was at least meant to has come and gone and we now move into 2013, time definitely flies when your busy and 2012 was a busy and very good year for myself hopefully setting up 2013 to be a stellar year for me if things go to plan…

Anyways before getting to far ahead of myself, 2012 in review, here it is

–       Jan: NYE DJn at the loft, while NYE isn’t a big deal here compared to most countries it was still a good night, the countdown went well, Auld langsyne mixed into party rock anthem then a selection of the previous years club bangers kept the reasonable crowd happy

–       Jan: The 1am curfew began to take its toll on the nightlife around Itaewon, resulting in me finishing up at the Loft end of Jan making it my first full year residency here in Korea, good times, fun memories and met a lot of great people! But the place was holding me back and the timing to leave couldn’t have been more perfect

–       Feb: With time now on my hands, came the arrival of Redbull Thr3style, while only had a few weeks to prepare I managed to get a set put together and recorded granting me passage into the top 16, while I wasn’t out to win this competition I still wanted to put my best out there as the exposure from this would be more beneficial than anything else

–       Mar: Played my set at Club Eden, because of my dumb teaching job, no sound check, but my set went well, I didn’t screw anything up so I was happy, I didn’t make it thru to the next round but I had played well enough to turn heads and impress everyone who was there but more importantly I met some great people who have become good friends

–       May: After Thre3style I continued to met other DJs and go see their gigs and get to know them better, eventually leading to my discovery and first guest set at Madholic in Hongdae, while unfortunately it wasn’t very busy that night there was still a few in attendance who I also got to met and become friends with

–       June: While playing a few charity and other small gigs, this month saw me take on my 2^nd residency here in Korea at JR pub, more of a sit down drinking and dinner orientated establishment they wanted to increase their nightlife more and thus I started playing here to great success and also used it as an opportunity to do video mixing as well

–       July/August: Kept going much the same, DJn at JR pub, then afterwards going to Madholic or other gigs to see other DJs with the occasional side gig or random DJ appearance (Flow/KingClub etc), also I was away on holiday during this time so it was all in all a low key cruising month

–       Sept: Saw the end of my tenure at JR, possibly a victim of my own success or behind the scenes politicking I will never know but finished off strong and enjoyed my time there

–       Oct: This was a busy month having multiple appearances at different bars, the main ones of note being DOJO (I use to love her), FLOW (becoming part of the Soulful Sat line up) and a return to Madholic (which in hindsight I might have messed up, playing for the crowd instead of playing me… more to come on that later)

–       Nov: This month and April were my quietest all year, no gigs, just a couple of one offs so meant time spent going around other clubs and catching up with people and seeing other DJs at work and seeing how crowds react to different songs and playing styles, basically as they say, research time!

–       Dec: often the more busy month of the year, and this ended up being no different for me, had some major gigs, Move2 being the most important one for me, Seoul Seekers being the most forgettable one (due to laptop failure…) Other gigs included Flow and Bar Fly. Also a DJ workshop with DJ Angelo meant meeting new DJs and getting re-acquainted with other DJs

–       But most importantly by the end of this month I now have 2 residencies, FLOW Bar, Friday nights 11-1 (Hip Hop & RnB) and Bar FLY Friday and Saturday 2-4 (Electro Pop/Hip Hop Club Joints)

So it has been a busy year, not crazy intense busy but as far as networking goes and getting myself out there, very good, plus the friends I have made and people I have met are awesome and will definitely help lead me to bigger and better things in 2013 however that isn’t something I will rely on and will always do my best to make it on my own merits which I have always done but its always nice to get a little help from your friends and to help them out as well.

Before I sign this off I have to give shout outs to all the Thre3style DJs I met, especially the Brand Nu boys and the other Korean DJs, its hard being a foreigner here at times but getting to know these guys and work with them has been a privilege. Also shout out to JC and the Iconz Media crew, been a pleasure working with them and last and def not least shout out to the Show Kingz crew, again its been a pleasure

So whats in store for 2013… as I said if things go to plan… well you just gotta wait and see!

I know its been awhile between posts, so thought its time to throw up a little update of where I am at and whats going on.

So, its finally November and its getting dam cold, the big thing I have been looking forward to this month is the release of Halo 4, off to try and get a copy tonight and will do a diff blog post on how I find the game. I have had a couple of games of reach online to get use to the online gameplay again since its very diff to that of COD which is what I have been playing most of the last year. Teaching still sucks, my manager needs to slap herself in the face and give me my dam holiday dates for winter. Been keeping relatively low key in-between gigs except on sat night which was a blast, ending up eating breakfast at McD’s at 10am, might have to do round 2 this sat if the Island crew makes it up to Seoul…

Right enough of that, the real update is for DJn. So at the moment, I have no set DJ residency which kinda sucks, but I have been DJn pretty much every weekend for the last 2 months so it hasnt been much of an issue yet. In that time I have done gigs at JR, FLow, Dojo, Sinbin and Madholic so been getting around.

Madholic is prob still my fav bar but its getting dam busy there! Best thing is its strictly Hip Hop and RnB, a bit of new styles but mostly old skool and people really dig that there and get into it. The 4 DJs there do a mean job so I feel lucky when I get asked to guest DJ there. The set up isnt bad, DJM 800, a 1000mk2 and 800mk2 with good sound (thou the 800 plays up occasionally..) Hopefully Ill get the chance to play there again soon

JR, well thats an interesting place, I have done 2 functions there the last month, both were jam packed, music styles is really my choice but I always play old skool first then some club bangers later on, however the old skool again still seems to rock the show the best. The set up thou sucks, only 1 800mk1 works, the mixer is a behringer and it is just a poorly thought out mixer, trying too much to be like an Alen and Heath. Anyways, as most of you know, I know longer have a residency there due to noise complaints, jealous neighbours and the fact their license only allows them to be a restaurant not a club… go figure… Either way, ill be back there only for special functions.

Sinbin, well that wasnt really a DJ gig, it was meant to be, but yeah, fail! No set up at all, just home theatre speakers set up and a DJ who plays music from iTunes, was a waste of time really, I dont even know why they get the guy in their to ‘DJ’ but each to their own.

Now to one of the best set up clubs, Dojo, while its a little small, it has that feel to it, not cosy but its just a nice club. At first I was a little apprehensive because I knew it was a House club, but doing a hip hop night there was really fun and had a nice crowd digging it too. Mean sound set up, you can tell a DJ set it up, 2000’s with a DJM 900 and sound set up to match, one word, DOPE! Will hopefully be back there again soon!

Now the last place, FLOW, this is a strange bar because it has so much potential yet is not living up to it, thou they have been bouncing back and forth between lots of diff things its no wonder. There is much to be said for consistency in your clubs entertainment… Set up is pretty oldd skool, 800mk2 and DJM 600, but plenty of room in the booth and nice sound, thou overkill on the smoke machine often happens… But the  couple of gigs I have done there have been really enjoyable keeping it mostly RnB/New Jack Swing styles, and I might be working more and more with the club to try and pick things up so looking forward to the challenge…

So, thats it so far, at this stage I dont have much lined up, but lately that seems to change very quickly so Im hoping that trend keeps going. The best thing thou is that I have been playing the music I really love, RnB, New Jack Swing and Old Skool Hip Hop, that feel good music we all grew up too. In a way I do miss playing those crazy ass club sets but thats all good, save that for the Thre3style battle next year!! I still want to get into the bigger clubs, there is nothing quite like that big club feel and mixing up crazy sets to hundreds of people, but at the same time, that intimate feel of the smaller clubs esp playing those feel good tracks where people can just get their sexy (not slutty) groove on is just as good… Welcome to my 2 completely diff styes of DJn lol

Anyways, have to give shout outs to the Crew and DJs at Madholic, the Korean DJs (DaQ, Qyu, Nol.e, Kone, Maniac), DJ Que and Potty Mouth, Iconz Media, DJ 4Play and Dojo and My Seoul Photography for the dope photo! Looking forward to working more with you guys and others in the future!

Well finally the day of the last touch competition for the year has come and gone, and it was an awesome and satisfying day thats fore sure! So just to paint the picture, this year there has been 5 touch tournaments, consistently having around 10 teams entering into each tournament, with varying levels of skill. The first tournament I was playing for the Exiles, the team I first hooked up with when I moved to Korea, however I had been growing steadily disillusioned playing for them, and almost jumped ship for the first tourney to take up an offer to play for the Island Styles team, which eventually I did do for the second tournament and was instantly relieved with my decision.

Anyways, to date, we had won 3 out of the 4 tournaments for the year, having some tough games (and not so tough games) but not always having our full strength team to draw on, that and also still learning how each other plays on the touch field kept us from being a completely dominant force on the field. Once the 4th tournament came around, we barely had half our squad, and subsequently had to bring in alot of new players who really didn’t know what they were doing or had the commitment to play, suffice to say we didn’t even make the finals, and our core players left with a sour taste in our mouths at how bad we had performed as a team. This also set the tone for the next tournament, that firstly we want all our top players here to play, and secondly, not only do we want to win, but win with authority! While it might seem a little conceited and arrogant to say that, its more of a dig at ourselves, knowing that we can do better than we have been.

So with all that said, lets review tournament day. Now even thou we came to play and play hard, we still have fun, thats what touch is about and the Island Stylez team is more of an extended family than just a team, and we do like to have fun together, but also know when to knuckle down and take things seriously. So our first game was against touch luck, a relatively new team, mostly Japanese (I think). These guys have a lot of speed but unfortunately very new to the game. While we started out with our initial game plan, we quickly realized we didn’t need to stick to that and instead started playing expansive free flowing touch. The type of touch that is usually played with teams who know each other well, who run lines and moves knowing that the other players will be in the right spot at the right time. While we weren’t always perfect with this, we did managed to string together some well worked tries! Final score 9-0 against Touch Luck, the second game was against Exiles 2, once again we went to work, while they managed to get a try (thou we are sure he was dummy half) again we took them down with ease, 10-1. It was at this time that other teams realized we were here for business, and even thou we scored 10 points, we still dropped alot of scoring opportunities as well, plus our defensive was becoming extremely aggressive holding both teams out of our half for the majority of each game.

The third game was against a team from Hwsaeo Uni, unfortunately they had never played before, and even thou we did beat them 10-0, we did go easy on them as this game could have easily been a huge blowout. The final 4 teams were Exiles 1, TCIS, Ruamoko and Is Stylez. We had TCIS in the semi, now these kids were young but they were developing well, if they had a few more years together and a couple of extra players they could have really given us a run for our money, and still managed to hold us back, only winning 2-0, once again thou we dropped alot of scoring opportunities but got to give credit to them as they were prob our hardest team of the day to play.

Just before the final we got to witness an epic drop off against the 2 new university teams from Hwsaeo, A vs B, in the end it was still a draw, watching these guys just keep going and going was awesome, it was a pitty they didn’t have the skills to be able to shut each other out, but both were in exactly the same position and never gave up.

So, the final was between us and Exiles, and to start with was pretty intense, while exiles don’t offer much up in the way of attack on the line, they do drive very effectively, however our aggressive defense held them at bay most of the first half without them even seeing our line. On the flip side we made it down to their line often but again, couldn’t quite string together that last pass, until we finally broke the line before half time going up 1-0. The second half was much the same, but this time we were looking even more threatening and produced one of the tries of the day after some good yards and some simple but well executed play (here is the video https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151171574901740) While exiles managed to get down to our line once, their attack was easily snuffed out and the game was in the bag, Island Stylez just to dominant on the day and playing at a whole other level compared to the other teams. However still have to give these guys props, touch is slowly developing and if it wasn’t for the other teams competing then there would be no touch here. It is good to see many new faces coming down to play and give it a go, its also good for them as well to see the better teams play so they know what to aspire to. Big ups to the awesome job the KTA has done this year, and big ups to our team for winning and doing the damage! As we like to say, winning is fun!