Who: DJ Tanner
Where: Savage Beagle
When: March 7
It’s not often people get to meet their idols but for one of Savage Beagle’s residents, DJ Tanner, playing alongside Mix Master Mike Friday night will be a dream come true.
Tanner, who took his DJ name from the little girl in Full House, has been working the turntables for eight years, watching the masters like Mike to pick up tips.
"He’s incredible, an absolute inspiration. I’ve gone and seen him a bunch of times. His level of expertise is incredible, there’s nobody like him," said Tanner.
This winter is Tanner’s first in Whistler, with Thursday’s Locals night all to himself in the Beagle booth with the return of the digital underdogg. The hip hop DJ spends most the week in Vancouver playing establishments like Caprice, the Plaza and Balthazar, but always looks forward to the trip up to the mountains.
"Whistler’s got a good scene for urban music and the crowd are always up for it," he said.
Tanner has noticed a shift in the hip hop scene of late, one that he’s glad to see.
"The music seems to be a lot more positive, which balances out the darker stuff. Conscious hip hop is getting the respect it deserves in the charts right alongside the gangster or bling-bling outfits."
So what’s hot on the dance floor right now?
"Everybody’s into 50 Cent of course, although I’m getting a bit sick of it. I really like the latest Snoop Dogg track, Beautiful , and Sean Paul’s Get Busy gets the crowd going too," he said.
Tanner plays a lot of the hits when he comes to Whistler but he also does remixing with his crew, The Faction, when in Vancouver. In partnership with DJ Action and DJ Arems, they work off three turntables at venues around town. He’s hoping to bring the show to Whistler in the near future.
Tanner’s motto for his Whistler residency is to give people a good time, rather than an education on the latest trends.
"I can listen to what I want at home but when you’re in a club you want people to have a good time and it might not involve the obscure stuff that I like. It’s a delicate balance working out how much new stuff to lay down in a night verses the tracks they know and love. You can give them some surprises but you can’t shove it down their throats. The dance floor is a collective conscience, people want to go off together, so occasionally you gotta play the stuff you might be sick of because it bonds the crowd and that’s what makes a good night."
Tanner said his DJ career was something he fell into.
"I was always the guy changing the tapes at parties. I eventually started harassing college radio stations to DJ and when I was 17 I got my very own show. Albeit it was a country and western show but it was an awesome experience. It was cool, all that old country bluegrass, with themes that are not that different from hip hop. It was all the disenfranchised and the poor voicing their concerns," he said.
Catch Tanner with DJ Def Dub as the opening acts for Mix Master Mike from 7 p.m. and then come back on Thursday for the return of the digital unerdogg. Ladies get in free before 11 p.m., and stickers from the manager guarantee no cover for locals either.
