You’d think DJs are aloof people too caught up in their world of beats, rhythms and turntables to make anyone around them feel at home, right?

You’d be wrong, at least for the ones who spin their magic at Home Club on the new monthly night “Loose Your Head” which features Electro music, Mash-ups, Baltimore Club, Baile Funk, Dancehall, Dancepunk, Dubstep and Bass.

UrbanWire speaks with the stars of Loose Your Head DJ Inquisitive and DJ Kable from the duo Dubwise and finds out that they’re really a down-to-earth lot who survive on their passion for music and are motivated by their fatigue of boring, mainstream junk.

DJ Inquisitive

Real Name: Leon Ho

Age: 23

Day Job: Student at the SAE Institute, working on getting his Diploma in Audio Engineering

Vinyls on his Deck: Electro, Hip-hop, Rock

The Legend: Singapore DMC Champion for 2006 and 2007, and 4th in World DMC Championships 2007: quite an impressive resume for someone who just started DJing 4 years back. He charges an average rate of $180 per hour.

The DJ Speaks:

UW: Most people your age are into the mainstream genres like Hip-hop and R&B, so what made you decide to venture into genres like electro?

Leon: “Well, I used to spin hip-hop a lot. But after a while, it got boring, especially in the DMC Competitions in which all the previous title-holders won by playing hip-hop. Since I used to play remixes, I started branching out into Electro and began including it in my routines.”

UW: So why these 3 genres? And do you feel strongly against any kind of music?

Leon: “Well, music is subjective and I don’t feel strongly against any given genre. I just prefer Electro, Hip-hop and rock over other types of music. I can say that I listen to all kinds of music and even used to dig boybands like N’Sync in my younger days!” (shares a laugh with Home Club’s manager Kelvin)

UW: As a DJ, most of the time you spend in clubs is behind the console. Do you go clubbing to let your hair down once in a while?

Leon: “I do go clubbing when my friends are spinning as Guest DJs at clubs. Most of the time, it’s at Zouk.”

UW: So, does being a DJ really get you the chicks?

Leon: (Laughs) “Well, sometimes. But I have a girlfriend who supports me a lot. She even goes to every event I spin at!” (Looks around to make sure she is not within earshot) “So even if I do want to get the chicks, it won’t be easy.”

DJ Kable speaking for DJ Duo Dubwise (DJ Kable & DJ Castro)

Real Name: Darren Tan

Age: 27

Day Job: Sales and Marketing Executive in local record label Love Da Music

Vinyls on their Deck: Drum & Bass, Dancehall, Reggae, Electro, Baile Funk, Baltimore House, Bass, Breakbeats, Techno

The DJ speaks:

UW: Being a DJ duo is rather unique. Can you tell us how you started working together as a team?

Darren: “Well I started working with Castro since 1999. We were DJing at an event and we discovered that we had chemistry because we both came from a Drum & Bass background, so we had a mutual understanding of what we liked and what we wanted to play. It was pretty much on the fly. Our first real collaboration was a reggae night at Cocco Latte in 2006 that was incidentally named Dubwise, which is where we got our stage name.”

UW: You spin a lot of different genres. How would you sum up what your mixes are all about?

Darren: (chuckles) “If there’s a bass line, we’ll play it!”

UW: Why do you go into such niche genres, when mainstream genres like Hip-hop, Rock and Pop are more marketable?

Darren: “In general, I don’t listen to pop music. I don’t watch TV and I don’t listen to radio, though I use quite a bit of the Internet. The music in the mainstream media latches on to the next big thing in the Underground. So mainstream music is kind of useless, even though that’s where the money is, because what is hot now in mainstream music was already quite hot in the underground.”

UW: You sound quite disillusioned with mainstream music, why is that?

Darren: “We’re in Singapore, so everything is about the money involved. Radio only plays certain tracks if it’s paid and the same goes for TV. Because music is so consumer-based, if people only support the mainstream music and ignore Underground music, music does not progress.”

UW: From being a buyer at a music store, to doing sales and marketing for a record label, your whole life already seems to centre around music. So why be a DJ?

Darren: “I love music, but sadly I don’t play any musical instruments. So my way of expressing music is to play it in such a way that I allow other individuals to feel how I feel for it.”

UW: Fact or fiction? Does being a DJ really get you the chicks?

Darren: “I’m actually attached and my girlfriend supports me fully. But being a DJ does bring me closer to people and helps me make new friends.”

According to the Home Club release, Loose Your Head is the new monthly night at Home Club where DUBWISE, DJ Inquisitive & guests will be making you shake, bake, pop, move and drop with the most indecent sounds of Electro, Mash-ups, Baltimore Club, Baile Funk, Dancehall, Dancepunk, Dubstep, Bass and more.

Loose Your Head happens one Saturday every month and will hit Home Club again on Apr 26

Entry: $12 for 1st drink (before midnight), $15 for 1st drink (after midnight)

Minimum Age: 18

Drink promotions: $5 beer and housepour glasses till midnight
$108 housepour bottles till midnight

Home Club is part of the UWtimate Download discount programme. Get your free download here [https://theurbanwire.sg/uwtimatedownload/index.html] and enjoy free entry to Home Club on normal paid nights, as well as discounts at more than 60 youth lifestyle outlets.

HOME is built on 20 Upper Circular Rd #B1-01/06 The Riverwalk.
Normal Operating hours are Monday-Thursday: 7pm-3am, Friday/Saturday: 7pm-6am and closed on Sundays.
The club opens from 10pm to 6am on Loose Your Head nights.