What a weekend!

Well, it's a rainy Sunday afternoon here in Sydney but it was one action packed weekend. I received a call on Friday afternoon from my good friend Simon who manages Title Fight Records to say that he couldn't play the opening gig for Bassic at the Civic hotel that night and said that I could DJ in his place. It's been a couple of years since I had spun tunes down at the Civic and it really does have one of the best sounding systems in town - too bad it is under utilised as a club. Only having a short time to pack tunes I decided to grab some classic breaks vinyl which I hadn't played in a while:

- Jeep Beat Collective - Technics Chainsaw Massacre
- Blowfelt - Back Up (Lickle Rolla)
- Hi-Grade - Brockout
- Freestylers - Spaced Invader (Ruffneck B-Side)

yussss!!! So good to hear vinyl on a big system again. Laptop DJs take heed - the power of vinyl compells you! The highlight of the night was seeing Canada's Shamik the Human Beatbox in action. He made the room and system sound full using only his mouth. Big ups to DJ Kev for letting me play and for playing a pretty dope set himself, Shamik for his awesome beatboxing skills and signing my CD, Jansen, my boys Sam and Ev the Audiophilez and to Skool Of Thought for signing my vinyl.

Saturday saw more action for me down at favela in Kings Cross. I must admit, I'm really liking the joint - it's a cozy modern venue and has a really cool lightbulb display in the main room (think Justin Timberlake - Rock Your Body video clip) or just check the favela website. As per usual I played the Courtyard room downstairs doing a lovely 3 hour set. Whoever's birthday it was that night I hope the 3 hours of party tunes was to your favour! Woohoo!

The highlight of Saturday had to be the save fbi fundraiser at Melt. fbi is one of Sydney's finest community radio stations who have a music policy of 50% Australian artists and 50% of that from Sydney. Not only does fbi look after local musicians but it also supports the local artistic community advertising local art exhibitions, film screenings with support from listeners and local businesses. After a very successful promotional Ask Richard campaign, fbi was still in the red from its target of 1 million Australian dollars to save the troubled station. I can understand Richard Branson not wanting to give his money to the station I'm sure he gets asked for money all the time but it really is up to the listeners of the station to help save it so there has been a huge supporter drive and a fair few save fbi events happening about town featuring various music acts from indie, dance and hip hop.

On Saturday Melt hosted the fbi funk raiser featuring funk heavy weights such as Invada Records' Katalyst, Knowfoowl's Huwston, oiishi's Naiki San, fbi's own Shantan Wantan Ichiban and Tyson Koh and Off The Beat's resident DJ Frenzie. I had never seen the place so full and busy so much so that we had to borrow glasses for the bar from next door hahaha... nice one Walter! It was really good to hear so much funky party music and I could tell the crowd really enjoyed it as well. Here's hoping the night gains more momentum as time goes on.

That's all from me today, I'll be back soon possibly with some gym tips on hand

Safe!

First ever post!

Oh man count em... seriously, count em...

1.

What a lonely, desolate number! Yet is the origin of all things.
Well it's a start.

Anyway, to kick off this blog I want to mention a few bits and bobs of what you're going to expect and read about in my rants (I'll try for a weekly update). Firstly, a bit of history...

My name is Karl and I DJ under the name SayWhut?! and have been a DJ for about 8 years. I have been an avid vinyl and music collector since I was 17 and got my first set of turntables at the age of 22. After purchasing my first set of turntables I found myself fascinated with the then fledgling breaks scene - the housey tempos combined with the hip hop edge and cut up vocal samples really did it for me so I spent a good portion of my weekends attending clubs and parties to get a taste of this new sound.

Around 2004 I was given my first DJ set under the name DJ Robotek and big thanks go to Frenzie for giving me my first chance to play. Chinese Laundry seriously got a first taste of my sound and my ear drums got a first hand lesson on how to DJ in a massive club system - steep learning curve! Around the same time I also met Jackal who ran the Broke'n'Beats room at Kink which was running a weekly night at the Arthouse on Pitt St from 2003 - 2008. Maximum respect goes to Matt Jackal and Scott from Kink for giving me a weekly project looking after the breaks room and helping to promote the night. Also must give props to Paul Azzopardi and the crew at Chinese Laundry for giving me regular DJ sets for the Friday night party Break Inn.

Around 2007 the breaks scene in Sydney started to take a back end whilst electro house and tech were gaining momentum. I decided to take a break from DJing so I could focus on work and going to the gym to stay fit. After a good year and a half of not having to play out, I got that itch to DJ again but not before reinventing myself and finding a new sound.

Fast forward to 2009 and after much deliberation I finally came up with my new DJ name - DJ SayWhut?! - which pays homage to my hip hop roots as well as highlighting my wacky sense of humour. Although the breaks sound is still very inspiring to me, the current sounds I'm playing are funk, disco, hip hop, R&B (the good ol' skool stuff), b'more, booty bass and a mash up of all that and more as well as dropping a few cheeky breaks tunes for good measure (hey, why limit yourself?) Seems like it was a good idea as well as I've now earned myself 2 weekly DJ residencies around Sydney - Off The Beat @ Melt and Together @ favela. Not only was it a good idea, it seems like Sydney is also looking for more organic music after being saturated with really noisy, techy electro for the past 5 years. I sure hope the trend continues.

So what will readers get when reading through my weekly rants? Well I plan to inform all of you about my weekly gigs and fill you in on some highlights about each gig. I'll post up some cool vids both music based and quirky, cool stuff that only the internet can offer. I'll post up some DJ mixes so you can keep your ipods nicely filled with music and as a gym fanatic I'll also post up some tips about weight training and boxing routines I've learnt and utilised at the gym.

Music, mixes AND gym advice... say whut?!

'til the next post - have yourselves a great week!