Earlier this week, I posted a remix that UZ did of some group called Five Knives. Why? Because I fuck with UZ, and I know a lot of androids are into his sound—hell, he's one of the reasons many people got into trap music. Not too long after our post went up, this tweet got sent our way:
@DoAndroidsDance @fiveknives @BallTrapMusic don't support drugged out posers. #pretendDJs https://t.co/YWhK5CCSur
— JAS (@AverageJas) November 19, 2014
That lead us to the following video of the Five Knives, um, "DJing":
Now the video should speak for itself. Whoever the guy is at the decks is obviously has no business being up there as a "DJ." There are (weak) mixes being done, but he's not touching any of the decks; he barely has his hands on the crossfader. It's pantomiming a DJ performance... and horribly.
One thing that caught my eye initially was Khalid Bartikh (the guy who posted this video on Facebook) said that Red Bull had been blocking this video from being on YouTube; it makes sense, as Five Knives are currently signed to Red Bull Records. It sucks that, with so many talented—and real—DJs and producers out there, an entity like Red Bull (who has done a lot in the realm of helping give electronic acts a push and an outlet) would be co-signing and protecting an act that is so obviously misrepresenting the culture... and getting paid to do it.
Over the last few days, the video has been circulating around Facebook, to the point where it caught deadmau5's eye:
.@fiveknives the fuck is this shit? https://t.co/LihEsdRl5u you fuckin get paid to do that? so fuckin cool.
— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) November 22, 2014
Which Grandtheft wasn't feeling:
@deadmau5 @fiveknives wow guys... — ❡яαИÐ☂♄€ƒ☂ (@grandtheft) November 22, 2014
With the big names (some that they've actually "performed" alongside) taking notice and speaking out, Five Knives felt now was the time to drop the following, ahem, explanation:
2.
Wait a minute, they admit that they aren't DJs; they're a band? But the above video didn't look like a live band performance; it was definitely some guy standing behind the decks like a DJ, flailing his arms like a DJ, trying to excite the crowd like a DJ, but just going through the motions to what sounds like a collection of music that was laid out into one "set" before the show. And is it just me, or does the next part not even make sense? They "refused to fake the CDJ's," even though they were being filmed... so they just chose to fake it the laptop while awkwardly trying to hype the crowd? Was this somewhat "better" than using the CDJs? And while I imagine some "REAL DJs" were offended, it wasn't because "a band" faked a DJ set; it's because they got booked, promoted, and paid like "REAL DJs" and chose to not even attempt to drop a set like a "REAL DJ."
Now with all of that said, I can still understand why they would get bookings. It's the same reason why the Las Vegas EDM scene is full of DJ Mag Top 100 DJs, and why we get so frustrated over word of artists faking Facebook likes or SoundCloud plays: promoters will look at the "accolades" being thrust at them, like "Red Bull Records-signed Five Knives." They assume this will bring heads into the club over a DJ they may not have heard of, but could at least match two beats—and it might be the case. It's not cool, either way you slice it: if we want this scene to grow, we need to make sure that the dope DJs who aren't getting noticed START GETTING NOTICED, while bands who have no business being booked, promoted, and paid as DJs stop getting those spots.
This isn't rocket science, nor should it be tolerated.
