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Image: Christa Wittmier

Hell of a Night

by Christa Wittmier | Mar 13, 2013

I played my first ever EDM event last weekend. King Kekai invited me to open for the DSKOTEK Hawaii Tour, and the experience of working with him and his Ekahi Mngmnt crew was, like, seven trillion times more awesome than mixing through Hardwell and Hypercrush for an hour on their bananas sound system. They are so pro! My favorite part was getting comfortable on his limited edition all-white Pioneer CDJ 2000s practicing my transitions while his team was setting up all the lights and sound around me, singing along. They work methodically while having so much fun doing it. It was hard to be anything but excited for the show. DSKOTEK headlined and are virtually an overnight success story from 2012, winning the Insomniac’s Discovery Project and consequently DJing at EDC. They brought it in a major way in their live performance but what blew me away even more was the original music Kekai performed with Erin “Roxy on the Mic” Bunda. She is a staple in the scene at just about every event that needs hype, not just EDM, so I thought it was cute that she was nervous before they performed. “The track is too pop for this crowd!” she told me backstage, the first time I ever saw her usually confidant demeanor absent. It made me more excited because I love pop, and I couldn’t really see her doing any wrong. The performance was incredible and everyone loved it: a bright, high-energy anthem that perfectly describes a night out with that crew. “Hell of a Night” is a single that’s set to get tons of radio play with its sing-along chorus, “Live in the fast lane/That’s what we’re about/We gonna have us a hellllllll of a night.”

It immediately brought back memories of bumping into all of them at SoHo the Wednesday before, then taking the party over to the Safehouse for Crush, consequently ruining my Thursday morning. It was one of those nights where it’s shots and jumping around and more shots and more jumping around. The track will be on Kekai’s full length album Wait on Me, set for a release this year with special cameos that range from Anuhea to Massfunk.

Speaking of jumping around, congratulations to Downbeat Diner for expanding into the space next to them to create the Downbeat Lounge. They tore up Hotel Street last Saturday with Animal Mother performing. I love those Saturday nights when there’s so much going on in Chinatown, and how lucky we are to have another venue to showcase live music! Just when you think you can’t get any better than a late night side of bacon and homemade ginger brew.

Showdown in Chinatown returns to Nextdoor this weekend (see the feature on pg. 7) and organizer Cyrina Hadad told me they have many of the OG filmmakers participating, including Zac Heileson, the Rising Sons and the Hawaii Five-0 crew. With this showdown’s topic, “An Action Adventure,” the screenings on Saturday night will be a great prelude to a hellllllll of a night.

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