YOUR AD HERE »

British turntablist makes Vail debut Saturday

Caramie Schnell
cschnell@vaildaily.com
Vail, CO Colorado
Special to the Vail Daily
ALL |

VAIL, Colorado –Though DJ Yoda, has entertained plenty of ski-and-snowboard boot wearing folk at resorts across Europe, Saturday will mark his first performance in Vail, Colorado The British DJ will perform his mix of hip-hop, funk and club music at Samana Lounge.

Local DJ Psychonaut said Vail is lucky to have DJ Yoda perform here: “Dj Yoda takes the mash up and dance floor experience to another level, the guy absolutely rips.”

1. Vail Daily: Tell me how the DJ scene differs in your home country of Britain versus the U.S. Do you find the audiences are different?



DJ Yoda: A lot of new dance music genres originate from the UK. I think it’s because the weather is so bad that people stay inside and make beats! Because of that, crowds tend to be very clued up on the the latest thing – not to say that all American crowds are too commercial. But that’s one noticeable difference.

2. VD: It says in your bio that you use film, TV shows and YouTube visuals when you perform to elevate your set. Tell me more about this. What kinds of things do you show? What does it accomplish?

Support Local Journalism



Yoda: Half of the shows I play are regular DJ sets, like I’ll be doing in Vail, because that’s what I started doing, and I’ll always do that in some way. But the other half are visual shows – the technology exists now to scratch and mix DVDs in the same way DJs normally manipulate music – and my show is about taking my favorite movie and TV clips, as well as cool stuff from YouTube, and mixing it with the music that I would normally play when I DJ. It’s kind of difficult to explain in words, but if you look up DJ Yoda on YouTube then you’ll get an idea.

3. VD: What’s the strangest/most interesting/unexpected piece of music you played as part of one of your last sets?

Yoda: I pride myself on having no musical boundaries when I DJ – to me that’s what true “hip-hop” is – playing every and any kind of music that you like, but mixing it up to make something new. So the style that I play is hip-hop, but the actual music can be anything from opera to heavy metal! Hopefully every track I play is interesting or unexpected – someone once described the kind of stuff I play as ‘curve-ball.’

4. VD: Rumor has it you rescored two of my all time favorite movies – “The Goonies” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Tell me how that came about. What did it entail?

Yoda: Before the DVJs allowed me to mix, edit and scratch small samples from movies, I always wanted to DJ with visuals somehow. So I worked out entire DJ sets that would synch with both those movies. They screened the movies, and I DJ’d alongside them – with a new track for each scene that all made sense – it was pretty unique!

5. VD: What can audience members expect from your set at Samana Lounge in Vail?

Yoda: Best to expect the unexpected. I’m going to cover a lot of different music that I’m into at the moment, but hopefully with some semblance of flow.

6. VD: Q Magazine named you as one of “The 10 DJs you must see before you die.” Was that a big honor for you? What’s the biggest honor you could receive as a DJ?

Yoda: It’s not something that I can take too seriously, as I can think of about 20 DJs that I rate higher than myself. For me, the biggest honor to receive is an ecstatic crowd at the end of a night.

7. VD: You perform all over the world, from New York to Beijing. But have you performed in Vail before?

Yoda: I’ve DJ’d at ski resorts all over Europe, but this will be my first time to Vail. I can’t wait to check it out!

High Life Editor Caramie Schnell can be reached at 970-748-2984 or cschnell@vaildaily.com.


Support Local Journalism