LE BAIN: Your latest mix was recorded live at Le Bain over Labor Day Weekend. What can you say about it?
DJ BRUCE: I don't think any of us went in with any agenda. I picked this section of the almost 6-hour recording because it was a pretty nice representation of all of our DJ personalities. It has all the sleaze, sheen, soul, weirdo stuff, and, most importantly—the FUNK!
DJ Palace's live mix from Le Bain
TOMMY CASTRO: It was the day before Labor Day, so I definitely brought party jams. It's kind of cool that as a crew we all stay on the happy side of dance music. There is the occasional tech-y banger, but it's all about fun vibes and good energy. I'm all over the place, but I always try to give a solid nod to NYC's dance history and music makers.
WILLIAM ROBBINS: That night being the last night of summer so to speak, I was definitely going for hot and sweaty summer jams. I think seasonal selections of music are very important; the weather and time of year dictate a lot of what we play. So that night it was sleazy, slow, and dirty at times, and big and beautiful at others. It was sort of a recap of all the emotions and feelings of summer.
DJ Palace's house (photo by Bruce Easley)
"Honestly, [the name DJ Palace] came from an online food order from a not-so-great pizza place."
The three of you share an apartment in Brooklyn. Is your home a "DJ palace"?
BRUCE: Honestly, it came from an online food order from a not-so-great pizza place. The form required a nickname for the address. Glamorous, I know.
WILLIAM: Aside from our our home having close to 10,000 records between the three of us, a plethora of sound gear, keyboards, drum machines, speakers, mixers, fog machines, a 6-foot tall inflatable smiley face, and various other party supplies, which definitely suits the title very aptly, it became a place for the three of us to just vibe off each other. We started playing together as sort of a lark one time, and it was really, really good. We sort of started building on that. I think there is a natural chemistry that you have with people you live with. They become family.
TOMMY: I assumed it was literal and acted royal accordingly.
Another night at Le Bain, another live mix by DJ Palace
DJ trios are pretty rare in the scene, which is too bad, because it's a perfect format. Let's just look at Body & Soul and Tiki Disco.
BRUCE: Having a very intimate knowledge of Tiki Disco, I can tell you that Tiki works great because they're all opposite. Like, polar opposite playing styles and backgrounds. And you'd think that would create friction for the dance floor, but Andy, Lloyd, and Eli are all committed to the health of the party before all. And that's the ultimate bond. And it shows in their success.
WILLIAM: Body & Soul is a classic trio in the sense that they all have their own sounds and can vibe off each other. When Joe is going too deep on the tribal tip, Danny has some really classic big disco track to get everyone up again, and when its getting too disco, François has this deep, spacey vibe that is almost hypnotic. When you have that chemistry with the people you play with, it creates the peaks and valleys that we see played out in any art form. It tells a story and keeps people on their toes.
TOMMY: I mean there must be moments where someone like Danny discovers a track and is all, "My dudes gonna flip when I share this at the next B&S." I definitely have those moments where I can't wait to share my new bangers. The world is vast, busy, and distracting, so getting three personalities to unite can only happen when there is a love in common. We ALL love it!
On Sunday, October 9th, Le Bain presents Nouveau York
The Move, NYC: 5-10pm | DJ Palace: 10pm-3am
Header photo by Neil Aline
