Goldroom’s First Club: When Dim Mak Ruled LA

My First Club takes us back to the beginning, transporting DJs and producers back into the depths of their memory, asking them to take us on a trip to those pivotal first nights in clubland. This week's subject: Goldroom.

My life changed and took me down an entirely different path when I saw Daft Punk at Vegoose, a short-lived festival in Las Vegas. I didn't know what to expect. Up until that time, I hadn't really experimented with electronic music in a live environment. Seeing their show completely changed my perspective on the power of electronic music, how broad and widespread it could potentially be.

I realized that living in LA there was actually a lot of amazing electronic music all over the city. I found out about Cinespace, a club in Hollywood with a Tuesday night event that was put on by Steve Aoki and Dim Mak. This event really changed my opinion on the genre. Before that, I didn't really understand the clubbing concept at all. I thought club kids were all about PLUR and kandi, but these ones were dressed darkly in leather jackets.

I think Sebastian was the very first DJ I ever saw at Cinespace. The aura of it was just so much cooler than I ever expected. It was very heavy, which is funny because I don't tend to make very heavy music myself. He doesn't relate to what I do at all, but the music was so crisp, and the production was so incredible. There's something to be said about being in a club, those sounds just cannot be reproduced, even in a studio. Hearing that music for the first time, and being around the great people that I was around changed my life. There was a level of camaraderie that I had not experienced in any other environment. I think a lot of people have their early club experiences when they're young, but I was like 24. I felt like I had been missing out on this entire world.

I have this vivid memory of going to Cinespace on a night that happened to be Busy P's birthday. The lineup was insane—Brodinski, Sebastian, and A-Trak played. Then Justice played. Then one of the guys from Daft punk showed up and performed without his mask on. It was like this weird sort of pseudo-religious worship event. When I look back, Cinespace was really cool because a lot of my formative club experience happened at that club night back in the late 2000's, not warehouse raves or anything like that.

I'm pretty sure I was alone the first time I went to Cinespace. Sebastian was going to play and I really wanted to go see him. I jumped in a cab, went to Hollywood, and stood in line with a bunch of weird looking kids that I'd never seen before. I went into this smoky club and I didn't know what to expect. I remember immediately feeling like these were my people

Although Cinespace Tuesday has definitely died, I was lucky enough to have my first LA DJ gig there. The first time Goldroom ever played live was also a Cinespace Tuesday, so that was really special for me. At the time, I was so nervous. It was the first time that I ever DJ'd on CDJs, so I was practicing a lot. I was opening up for Classixx, but I don't remember it feeling very special because I was so nervous. I just wanted to get through it. Then the next day, I was at home and I was processing the show and I cried because I was so happy. It was a special night. It was a very cool feeling being able to stand on the same stage that I had seen A-trak and Brodinski, and even half of Daft Punk play.

Goldroom is performing with Gavin Turek at The Hoxton in Toronto on Friday, October 23. Tickets and information are available here.

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