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Paris, Berlin, Waterford, San Francisco, Los Angeles, MIAMI and Toronto.
Posted: April 16, 2009
Greetings little ones, a lot has happened in the past few weeks and it’s about time for a good dosage of the House Gangster … As those who keep up with current affairs know, there are loads of great things happening for House music. I’ve been busting my ass but certainly can not take all the credit as many of you real hardcore fans still believe and are making a change that is now very visible to everybody. No more comments about House music being dead cause that all got busted up! The movement is now very apparent and very strong, if we all keep pushing the sound we love will take over soon enough, so let’s keep doing what we’re doing and this summer should be a great one for all of us. I’ve been touring the “Back in the Box” mix cd, that is finally out, so scoop it up and get your "Sneak ON" old school styles!
I know there was a recent “no show” on the tour, Leeds and Manchester did not go on but it really was not my fault or my manager’s mess up. I won’t get into it too much, but if people want me to come to another country to work I MUST have a valid working visa and Manchester dropped the ball in getting it sorted. I do apologize to the fans that may have showed up and got a lame excuse from the nightclub why I was not there, but the truth has been told. I will re-schedule Leeds ASAP & as for Manchester, I will play as soon as I can get some people that will do what they say they are going to do.
PARIS
So, the madness of this blog begins in Paris. It’s been a while since I’ve rocked Paris but I do believe they are finally coming around and getting off the Ed Banger stuff, It’s like it’s not cool anymore to be into that stuff … Hahaha! About time they wake up! I had a very pleasant stay in Paris, hooked up with some old friends and made some new ones. Phil Weeks and the crew came out to represent, dinner was awesome, the party itself was a little nutty with some dude from NYC playin’ some whacky electro-clash crap, but as soon as I got on the vibe was completely refreshed, almost rebooted if we're talking computer talk. The crowd was really confused for a few minutes but the House beats kicked in and people were actually enjoying House music again. Everyone was really cool and the night went off like it should, I hope to return to keep feeding them the good House sound they so desperately need in France. After the gig was all said and done, we all hooked up at Chris Carrier’s pad and enjoyed some “spliffz” & beats from Chris & DJ Wild. Watch out for these two, they’re making some great deep House stuff. Overall Paris was great and I am looking forward to returning soon. Mad love to the Entourage as we rolled deep and showed people there is unity in House music.
This Live set is available for 2 weeks or 500 downloads, whichever comes first ... get it while you can!
BERLIN
OHHHH YEAHHHH BABY! Panorama Bar!
I’ve heard great stuff about this venue in Berlin getting major love from everybody, and finally I was getting the chance to beat it down as the Original House Gangster is known to do!!!! Playin’ Panorama Bar in Berlin has been on my hit list for a while. I arrived to be greeted by Jay Haze at his Studio, listened to some of his new stuff and some of my recent traxx while getting mentally ready to play later… we chilled discussed things to come, I really was in a good mood and things just kept getting better… after dinner and a quick nap I was recharged. I really did not know what to expect from panorama but I knew if people knew I was going to play there, I would have to come with my “A” game… So it’s 4:45 am Saturday into Sunday morning and the line outside was crazy, at least 300 people trying to get in and at least 1500 people inside, the room was so cool & very welcoming, I knew that House music would sound great. I sort of went in quietly, no entourage at all, almost kinda shy in a way but in my mind very confident that I was going to KILL IT! And hells yeah I was ready for it… Panorama people were stunned by the force that I was conducting while playing, I was having fun but I was actually thinkin’ of what I was playin’. As I kept playin’ from 5am to 8am the music keep flowing and the sound was nuts in there, the crowd was very much into it too, they showed me big love and I fully appreciated it! I managed to snap some pics and take a little video, it was not allowed but I had to anyway, I did it for you guys so you could get a small taste of it … enjoy. I had a blast and did not want to stop but the Lil Big man from UK Jesse Rose steeped in to get some love too. I passed the torch to him and headed out to catch a hella early flight to Ireland, Yes!!! SNEAKY boy the Pipes, the Pipes are callin”
Waterford Ireland
Waterford! I have to say that this is still one of my favorite places to visit …. It really is!!!! And now even more so after really getting to know Soydan… I was greeted with a warm welcome and was ready to enjoy the land of the Irish. I had a night off, so I slept like a bear and woke up to eat and chill with Dan, playin’ tunes in his studio. I was playing’ him my new folder of goodies. For some of you who are wondering who this Soydan guy is, He’s a “Turkish” guy that lives in Waterford Ireland, his skills are dope and his love and support for House music is HUGE. He produces stuff on his label Yakuza and now a few new things for Guesthouse Music. Soydan is dope man; he’s a funny ass Turkish dude with an Irish accent, brilliant! He also does Tattoo’s with several shops here and there, I cant wait to get one done from him as he’s a dope ass Tattoo Artist!
Moving along Waterford was celebrating St. Patrick’s Day on Tuesday and the gig at the forum was Monday night, the crowd was ready for the DJ Soydan & DJ Sneak showdown, the night was a little lighter than usual but with a big holiday like St. Patty’s the next morning I’m sure people held back from pre-releasing the night before, never the less we all had a great time busting house cuts all night. Soydan, Lloyd Kenny and others were in full party mode so we all ended up doing it hard anyway. Much love always to Ireland, I always feel good coming back over and over again, the Original House Gangster always has big love for the green! Yessss baiiii!
This Live set is available for 2 weeks or 500 downloads, whichever comes first ... get it while you can!
SF
Home for a few days then off to SFO, that’s the way it goes! I’ve been waiting to return to another one of my most favorite places to play! I miss me some Bay Area love … and finally I was back in the house to House it up. Minority’s Hector Moralez aka “MOMO” continued his residency at Club 6 by hosting my “Back in the Box” tour date and it was sweet as hell .... A little warm up for the nights to come. Club 6 is in the so called “Tenderloin” area, located on Market & 6th in the heart of San Francisco. It’s definitely a place to experience .. you got Crazy peeps, Crack heads, Homeless, Clubbers and nightclubs all around … what’s not to like? Anyway the party was inside not outside where things were poppin’ off every 5 minutes. Oscar & Hector set the mood off and the shit was off the hook by the time I went on, San Fran House lovers were out in full effect and to many this was their chance to hear me play before the WMC … just in case they were not going this year. The night was awesome, we had a real session and things went as planned. I’m working on other things to play in SF and surrounding areas for the summer so stay put. Much love to the massive Entourage in the Bay, we do that shit hard, right on! Sets and videos to watch enjoy!
This Live set is available for 2 weeks or 500 downloads, whichever comes first ... get it while you can!
LA
HSII 2009 … How Sweet It Is … is it still sweet or what? After a crazy time in SFO, the next stop was LA & San Bernardino’s Orange Show. I came to do work and work was done. After dealing with some “knob head” chick working the artist’s check office, I managed to get to the stage only a few minutes late. I quickly took over the set and got things going like I know I can. After playing so many Raves over the years, I knew what I had to do at this LA event. Doc Martin & DJ Sneak under the same roof after many years of not playin’ together was awesome, I was really feeling it, I hope my enthusiasm showed while I was playin’ cause I was really “amped” to kill it for this next generation of future clubbers and House music lover. As usual, the love was immense and it was all around us. Much love always to the true supporters and little House Gangsters out there, we will show the world we can House it all night long. Doc was really awesome too, he took it a little deeper but not too deep, I really enjoyed his set too, and hopefully we can do a Sublevel soon for the heads. How sweet It Is, was still very sweet minus the sour taste of the door girl! Ha! Deal with that dumb ass! As usual I have little music for your listening satisfaction.
This Live set is available for 2 weeks or 500 downloads, whichever comes first ... get it while you can!
MIAMI
Wednesday the 25th
After all the excitement and pre-releasing that went down on the west coast, I was off to the south east coast for the most anticipated week for clubbers & DJS alike. It was finally around the corner … Miami WMC 2009 was on its way and most people were arriving early in the week to get ready for the festivities. I had a full schedule ahead with like 17 gigs in 2 days! Hahaha! Just Kidding … But it really felt like that actually. The first gig I played was on wed 25th @ Dr Feelgood, the Lust for Guesthouse music … the party was off the hook once again, and having such a limited amount of space made this party go off cause you’re always right in the middle of it. The “houseboys” did it up nicely & the party became a nonstop jukebox of House beats … It went on for like 8 hours straight. Big ups to all the people that went and the players of course, Guest House Music bringing fools together for the love!
This Live set is available for 2 weeks or 500 downloads, whichever comes first ... get it while you can!
Thursday the 26th
Another day, another café con leche & vaca frita for brunch at Puerto Sagua. I Love this place in my life. It has the best coffee with hot milk you can buy! Never mind spending crazy money for a starbucks and a burger or stuff like that, I love this joint cause it’s great Cuban food and not crazy on the pocket. Later in the evening the party continued at “LOVE HATE” Phil Weeks, Hector Moralez & Sneak, what a good combo that is … “fries & bridges” throwin’ down with “rice & beans”!!! Musically this little party was unreal, the vibe was crazy too. As Love/Hate is also a small joint, the sound was not the greatest but the love in the room was HUGE. Of course we wish everybody could have got in but it was so damn busy.
Friday the 27th
Damn ….You got me working day and night! This day was by far the busiest day in WMC history for me; I played a total of 4 parties and even finished the night off with a bang. It all started with a full schedule of Capone House Gangster t-shirt & sneakers to wear the whole day, haha! Cheeky maybe but I had to represent House music on this particular day. The gigs began at the Robsoul rooftop vip party, not much space to fill up but it was great to be in front of ocean drive and to be able to see the water from the roof. The looks were great, the sound was good; the vibe was like afternoon sunset style with “pina coladas” in your hands. I layed down some Latin house vibes to set it off and then before I knew it I had to run to round 2 of the day… The Beatport pool party at the National. The event was going on with some other good DJS representing their styles … the Martinez Brothers, Dennis Ferrer & Lil Louie Vega were showcasing their flex ad there was a full crowd excited to see and hear these guys from New York. I kind of felt out of place as I rep Chicago House and I was the only one there doing it. But Let me tell you this, I went in blastin’ off with some real House beats and some crazy ass blends. I did not have a plan of attack for the event, I just went in and did ME as I am. It really did seem like the party got started and I had to kill it cause all you get is a 1 hour set … I’m sure audio will be out soon, I know video is out now on you tube. I hope im not sounding like im biggin’ myself up but that set was BIG in many ways, there was a live stream all day at the party and we get charts as to how many people were tuning in to listen to the Djs and I believe by the dude’s own words, that I had the most listeners of the day. This makes me proud and it makes me feel like we are making a difference, that we are united by the love of music, and this is what I‘ve been fighting for… to get the message across especially since last year. I truly appreciate all the respect n love I’ve been getting, it’s very flattering, but let us not forget that it is not all about me but the music I make and play for all of you.
Round 3 - The X-mix party at Aerobar
This party was ok, I decided to play an early set and move on to the next party, I did play a nice House set with some club classic favorites. I was still very energized from the Beatport rockdown so all I kept thinking was how much fun it was to beat it up for people that don’t really fully know. After a couple of hours & a wardrobe change, I was getting more excited to get to “The Blacksheep Club” where my crew of real deep House people were gathering for a few solid hours of stress free dancing. As soon as I bounced off I heard some crappy vocoded remix of some hip-hop crap and I had to bounce. Sorry Xmix, I got love for you all but your parties aren’t all that musical.
This Live set is available for 2 weeks or 500 downloads, whichever comes first ... get it while you can!
Round 4 – Sneak Beats / Black Sheep
OHHH MANNN! This is it Ya’ll!!! We get to Black Sheep, formerly the Laundry Bar. When we walked in, I was like, “this place looks frikkin’ dope!” They renovated again and even though the place may look like a small bar, it’s got a big ass sound system …. no more washing machines and now just little areas around the back surrounding the DJ booth. In the DJ booth there is this massive light that looks like a EQ meter. The light was crazy bouncing all night and it was really the main attraction to the DJ. The people there gathered around the DJ Booth like bugs around a flashing light. The night was really dope! I fully enjoyed listening to almost all the DJS playin’ and overall I believe it was the real business of WMC that day. The night progressed from DJ Mes to Hector Moralez, then Mark Farina came down to put his foot down for House music, he had an awesome set, chucky-chuggy jackin house! The rest of the night belonged to Phil Weeks and me. I followed Farina into a crazy Epic frikkin’ DJ SNEAK set; this is the only way to describe it. There are no other words for it, I damn near threw down everything and the kitchen sink and the crowd that witnessed and experienced it knew what was going down. Then Phil followed my lead and had himself an epic set as well, good vibes followed each other while raising the bar. We all threw down for House music that night, this is what it is really about, and the people that witnessed it will never forget the serious DJ sets that went down that night. Do you know what the best part was about it?? This was a FREE party with a stress FREE environment where people were allowed to be themselves without stupid security guys, vip areas and dress codes … Come not to be seen but to listen.
This Live set is available for 2 weeks or 500 downloads, whichever comes first ... get it while you can!
Saturday the 28th - The OM Sound let Down!
Ok, so every year for the past few years “Om Records” has been doing their WMC events at Y Ultra Lounge in Miami… this year, for some reason, the management and the secret service looking security guys were breaking balls about turning down the sound every 10 minutes … apparently they have been dealing with sound complaints made by other night clubs in surrounding area. Apparently since the “Y Ultra” gets its fair amount of people, the other nightclubs call the cops on them and they continue to do this to each other. What a disappointment it was to hear Farina, then Colette and DJ Heather play with hardly any bass and the DJ booth monitors almost off … I know how things go but they don’t think about the people who come out to hear the music and pay to have a good time, those are the people that leave feeling cheated. I did go check inside where the sound was great, Chromeo played a DJ set, I said what’s up to Dave and P-Thugg, showed them some love while doing the DJ thing. Then I headed back to the “quiet zone” and decided that I had enough of this shit and I swore I would bring the volume up … As the Original House Gangster, these are the things you gotta do. When the time came around, I jumped on and the volume started getting higher by the second, secret service came around and I looked at them and stretched my arms and said “what’s up? What are you guys going to do?” I knew if I turned off the system, people would riot, it was dope that they backed off and by then it was 5 am and people wanted some beats and bass. No drama, so I kept banging out for the people there, I hope all you had a good time and enjoyed the bass cause when Mike Monday followed me I told him Not to turn the system down. So as I did my good deed for Miami 2009 I had the good vibes flowin’ from all directions, I really felt like House music was represented by one of Chicago’s Very Own, even though I live in Toronto … And talking about Toronto, It was about that time for me to get home and rest a couple of days before doing one last post Miami party in my home town.
Saturday April 4th 2009 – Sneak’s Post Miami Beatdown @ Footwork Toronto
Damn it feels good to be home and rest up after a crazy past few weeks, loads of sleep was what went down… I have been working a little here and there cause I felt like I came back with a Miami High! There are a few things coming out soon… hint! New Original LP! Anyway, back to the event at Footwork that was rammed jammed full of anticipating clubbers ready for a taste of what went down in South Beach… I opened up for Jay Haze founder of “Tunning Spork” Records Berlin, I wanted to be a good host and show Jay that Toronto has love for all good DJS. We both had very interesting sets and I felt like I was still doing it like the week before. There wasn’t much music shared in Miami so I had to bang out what I had, the night went smooth, Toronto showed some much needed love for House music, and I really think things are looking brighter as the summer approaches.
I really hope everybody can get some sort of visual from reading my stories, please understand that this is what I thought about Miami this year thru my own experiences, I’m sure there were many parties that were good and other things that I personally didn’t get involved with but overall I see change, I hear change, and things are looking better. I’m always grateful for all your love and appreciation, I live for this music we call House.
Thank You! Always for your love & respect.
DJ SNEAK
Top 10 beaters for March 2009
1. House Gangster feat Wally Callerio – Magnetic Digi
2. Dragosh – Maidan - Viva Music
3. DJ Soydan – question? - promo
4. Analog People in a digital world - Rose Rouge - promo
5. DOP – Mambo Jumbo – promo
6. Knee Deep - Sweet Love – Knee Deep Records
7. Dirty Secretz – Drop Tha Beat - promo
8. Rico the Wizard – Spell of love- Darling Records
9. Trip Mastaz – phlip sum xo - promo
10. Drew Tempest- uhhuhhuh- Trendy Mullet Records
Special Mention - Album of WMC 2009 *The Cool Kids
Past Blog Entries
June 2009 - 8 gigs in 10 days - Turin, Rome, London, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Mamaia, Liverpool & Aberdeen.
