The nightlife scene in Shanghai is stagnating, according to one of the city's veteran DJs, "Missile" Myles. He tells Aubrey Buckingham the best gigs are found outside the city, where the crowds want more than hip-hop.
Being a DJ in a foreign land is tough for anybody but DJ Myles "Missile" Hallet still sees his future and career intricately entwined with this city.
The South African has been in Shanghai since 2004, and since then he has seen the local music scene fall into a bit of a rut.
"Even though there's a small culture coming along, there's not much respect for local DJs," lamented the 35-year-old. "Clubs need guys like PVD (top German DJ Paul van Dyk) because its high profile and you get a lot of press, but on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday they are dead.
"The days of having just the rich foreigner in town are over. Now there are more people earning in the 16,000 yuan (US$2340) to 25,000 yuan category and they won't go out and spend 1,000 yuan in one night. They go out and are happy to get freebies," the electro DJ explained, referring to the current practice of clubs offering open bars or free drink nights.
But to Hallet the sky is the limit, and the Johannesburg native feels at ease playing at venues across the country. "I love DJing outside of Shanghai, the money is better for a start," he says.
"A lot of local foreign DJs make their money outside of Shanghai, even though we only get a fraction of the money that has been allocated, it's beyond this city where the real work is being done.
"Shanghai has been done over and over again - how many times has PVD been here? Of course, there will always be new faces so this formula will work. But in these clubs across China, where you're just showing a foreign face, if you have some skills and work hard, you're actually teaching the local DJs. All they know is what they're doing every week, but when you're there they can see something new. Most DJs I know leave a CD behind when they go."
Naturally, in a place as diverse as China, the experience also varies from city to city. To date Hallet has spun in 60 cities across the Chinese mainland.
Hallet, who is also the Bulldog Pub's entertainment manager, was still a music store assistant when he was literally thrown into the deep end and made to work the decks at an alternative rock club back in RSA. He spoke fondly of his time in places like Jinan, capital city of Shandong Province.
"Jinan was nice to play in. There's a Filipino DJ there, DJ Aldwin (Macapagal), who's been there for seven years and basically he's played something different from the moment he's got there. This has really paid off, and now people really get into the music and you can pretty much play anything you want there. The music has really progressed and it's not scary, like you feel when you walk into a club with music at 145 beats per minute."
The mixmeister also praised the music scene down south in Guangzhou Province, where the Hong Kong influence has proven to be successful. According to the DJ, the area is quite ahead in music, although the scene in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is still limited to hip-hop. While other Shanghai-based disc jockeys have enjoyed gigs there, Hallet is simply not interested in the genre.
But not every venue was impressive, and some have left a sour taste in his mouth. "It's all relative when it comes to clubs, some things don't work at one place but they will up the road at another club. But I didn't like Fuzhou. If they don't like your music they take you off because they have customers spending money on tables. It's not as easy as some places here. Some of them are really bad. I used to freak out when I got to a place and they were playing hip-hop. What do you play after hip-hop?"
At his age, Hallet carries an air of sensibility.
While he would still love to make it big on the international scene, he is also realistic of his chances. "To make it big you need three important things - you need a EU passport, you have to be there in the hub of things and you need to know people. Even if you spend the next five years perfecting your style you've still got to get it out there. If you don't know anybody, they're not going to promote you."
Still, DJ Myles is sticking to what he loves, writing music and doing the occasional freelance gig.
Anyone interested in listening to some of his remixes can sample his tracks at his Myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/missilemyles).
(Shanghai Daily August 1, 2008)
