DJ's and Drinking.

if i’m playing a club, there’s a very good chance i’ll be having a beer.
At a corporate or mobile gig, it kind of depends on the gig, some aren’t really appropriate to be drinking, some i’m too far away from the bar, and no-one offers to get me one 🙂

How is this not DJ chat? It belongs in the DJ Booth and I moved it there :D, with all the other posts on the topic LOL.

I used to drink heavily as a resident DJ in 5-star hotels, after all I could crawl to my room after my “performance”. But when I got back and into mobile DJ-ing I stopped drinking all together. And I like it better this way, if only because I will always be more sober than the guests, which – especially in mobile DJ-ing – is a seriously good thing.

I drink ridiculous amounts of water at my shows (two 60oz pitchers minimum at most), so I tend not to drink a lot due to basic logistics – I might actually burst during a 4 hour set! lol

That said, if someone buys me a drink I never say no.

Side note for the non-drinkers among us: Whether you want it or not, always say yes if a customer offers to buy you a drink. It’s a sale for the bar and a tip for the bartender. You can just set it aside and give it to a friend later.

Todd – Good tip, thanks.

^ lol – ya, that’s an old bartenders trick to help keep from getting too smashed when everyone wants to do a shot with them. Shooter girls will do that too – keep a few shots on the tray that are just pop.

Problem with that trick as a DJ is it only works if the customer tells the bartender who they are buying the shots for!

From my experience in the clubs it all depends on how much control the individual has, along with level of tolerance. I would think that for most, having a drink or 2 during a set would probably be ok. It is drinking to excess that is not, and I have seen far too many do the old “just one more, that’s it” and it never worked out well.

So, like I said, I certainly think its about control.

For me, it would be coffee that would be the drink of choice.

I favour the water/energy drinks route but I remember a few times… One time starting at a new venue, the regular resident kept getting us shots of Jager every 20 minutes.. and they were giving me lots Jacks&Coke… afterwards the manager gave me 7 drinks tickets and said to ask for more later… Didn’t help I’d had food poisoning from dodgy pizza only a few hours before beginning. Anyway my set was fine .. my stomach was not when I got home!
Another time, I Was playing on a big boat in Ibiza, it for 6 hours… it was fine when I was playing deep & tech house, but once the organiser asked me to play commercial/EDM I decided I’d take the offer from the bar of unlimited drinks and started to knock back whiskey & red bulls… The only bad effect was when someone would come to talk and I’d forget the next song I’d wanted to play, but in the end it all went well.. and I got a free ticket to Amnesia afterwards and went with the people from the boat, so it was a fun night!
I’ve seen the other side when another DJ has screwed up his set while drunk or even collapsed wasted… so I’d recommend sticking to soft drinks and water, something I try to stick to unless offered rinks by others…
BUT … I’m different.. if someone told me I could not drink a drop of alcohol again for the rest of my life I wouldn’t miss it.. I put that down to my sporting past when I was serious about basketball and didn’t even taste a beer until the age of 19, and thought it was disgusting (still do!). I can take it or leave it.