I have been thinking about this for quite some time...it has come up on our forum postings several times...and I don't have an answer. The rest of the gay world embraced DJ's...name DJ's have been sellable attractions at circuit parties and gay dance clubs in every major city for years...the community knows their names...knows their style of music...and pays top dollar cover charges to hear them mix. The closest big city to St. Louis, Chicago has some incredible DJ's...and many of our customers travel there to experience them on a regular basis.
Faces has some of the best DJ's in St. Louis...our resident DJ's, Pavel, Josh Waters, Beezwakz, Adrian Fox, and Steve-O are talented, skilled, and can fill a dance floor just like many of the name DJ's...our resident DJ's are great...yet, I doubt that most of our customers could name our DJ's....I doubt they could name the DJ's spinning at any of the gay bars in town...and they certainly don't know the names of the guest DJ's that we have booked...even though many of them are famous. There seems to be a disconnect in St. Louis...or a lack of interest in the music and the talent delivering it...something that we don't see in any other big cities....and it has made it hard...hard to know what our customers want to hear....hard for the DJ's....and hard for us to book/plan events. Browsing our website forum, there are as many opinions on music as there are customers...some want hip hop all the time....some want house....some want pop....some want "gay" dance Anthems....we try to please as many different tastes as possible by offering several different DJ's...each with their own style and approach to the music...and by offering different styles of music on different nights....yet there is no consensus...no prevailing support for and demand for a particular style of music or DJ....so often we (the club and our DJ's) are flying blind....unsure who our audience will be on a particular night....what music they will respond too...or even if they will respond at all....I have seen nights when a song will fill the dance floor but empty the dance floor the next night it is played. Often, our Main Room resembles a junior high school dance....with guests surrounding the dance floor but afraid to be the first one to dance. If the DJ can break through and get the first people out there....the night can build into something incredible...for me, I don't dance, but few things are as exciting as watching a dance floor filled with hot, sweaty men....moving to the music....feeling the beat....but few things are as hard on a DJ (and a club owner) as an empty dance floor. What is frustrating is that even if our customers don't like everyone of our DJ's and don't like every song we play....it would be nice if they would consistently support at least one of them....sending a signal that this is what we should play....this is who you like as a DJ....we have a handful of customers who do that...who make a point of coming when certain residents are on the turntables....but that is only a handful...there is a fairly large group of "circuit boys" in St. Louis...guys who plan their vacations around circuit parties...who travel just to hear a DJ....yet even that group is inconsistent with their support of DJ's....we can book the same name talent that they paid hundreds of dollars to hear at a circuit party yet they don't keep up with and support our guests or resident DJ's...frequently they tell us that they did not know we had an event or a guest....they just happened over and had a good time. We continue to work on the problem....we are booking fewer guest DJ's then we did a few years ago and focusing on our own talent....but we could use some help...when you enjoy the music...when you like what you hear....tell the DJ.....fill the dance floor....but more importantly tell your friends that you liked the music and had a good time at Faces. Last weekend we played 28 years of dance music...the dance floor was full for hours....we think everyone had a great time....but again....we need the guests who had fun tell tell their friends...the easiest way to make sure you have a good time is to make your own party and bring your friends with you to Faces.
This weekend, resident Pavel spins Friday & Saturday in the Main Room, Steve-O spins Saturday in the Basement AFTERHOURS, and Josh Waters spins on Sunday. Next Saturday both Josh Waters and Steve-O will spin in the Main Room for our Bare As You Dare Fantasy & Fetish Ball.
