CENTERED WEDNESDAYS 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY (PT 2)
WEDNESDAY, OCT 16TH 2019
~ DJ HELL ~
44 years old, 1 internationally successful record company, thousands of DJ gigs, 3 albums as an artist, 1 football coaching license, 4 renowned music awards, 1 Ford Mustang, 1 club. Can success be quantified? Probably. Can DJ Hell be quantified? No.
Even though the above mentioned figures are impressive, the Hell phenomenon isn’t explicable by numbers. But you can explain it by telling his life story. Born 1962 in the village of Altenmarkt, Upper Bavaria, Germany, Hell achieved a worldwide breakthrough without compromising, without bending himself in any way. After so many years as a DJ and label boss he is still cutting edge, still lives today, is still hipper than any twentysomething. A star DJ without an interest in drugs, an ardent supporter of the FC Bayern Munich
football team who collaborates with Donatella Versace, who adores his mum’s pork roast, kicked off the eighties revival almost singlehandedly and rocked just about every club from New York to Tokyo. All that in a single lifetime. That is DJ Hell.
It all started with Hell spinning records. First at the legendary Libella club, out in the country, where he was so innovative, so exciting that it only was a question of time before he moved on to nearby Munich. There he went through EBM and the initial stages of techno and by that time it was already him who influenced people rather than him being influenced. And that was noticed in other cities, other clubs. That’s how he got to see the world. The first releases came about in a flash: “My definition of house music“ – still valid today – and “Geteert und Gefedert” (“Tarred and Feathered“), the first album. He put a meaning to the terms serious, tough and minimal and when everybody had understood he moved on immediately. That’s why he founded his own label, International Deejay Gigolos, and started to release new and exciting music: Miss Kittin & The Hacker, Fischerspooner, Zombie Nation, Psychonauts, Terranova, all household names within the
international electronica community by now. Meanwhile he still found some time to work on his own artist career. “Munich Machine“ was a manifesto and love letter to a city he’d made his own, including the Barry Manilow cover version “Copa“, a massive hit. By 2000 it was time for his own club, out in the bavarian
countryside of course, the “Villa“. The people look different compared to a regular techno club, it is there that you begin to understand that innovation is a question of your state of mind and not your origin. Summer 2003 sees the release of his new album “N.Y. Muscle“. Fresh again, different again, re-inventing himself again. Hell collaborates with the legendary Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and with P. Diddy. All that in a single lifetime.
And then the infamous broadcast of the Love Parade 2000, Hell, towering above a million people.
Seeing, visualising, that is of enormous relevance to Hell. He managed to convey pure music as well as pure style during his twenty-five year DJ career. Quite understandable for someone who entered the stage during the era of punk and new wave. The individual look, the do-it-yourself approach, the elitism. That’s how it grew.
I am sure that if you asked him where the limit is, he simply wouldn’t understand.
Support:
TBA
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9 PM – 2 AM | 18+
Nextdoor
43 N Hotel Street, Honolulu
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< OCTOBER ANNIVERSARY MONTH CALENDAR >
OCT 2ND – SYDNEY BLU
OCT 9TH – TBA
OCT 16TH – DJ HELL
OCT 23RD – TBA
OCT 30TH – HALLOWEEN w/ RESIDENTS
C E N T E R E D
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@centeredhawaii #centeredweds
<good techno (+) good people>