DJ Right On Beat is a Vegas legend. Involved with music and clubs for more than 20 years, ROB's career is a history lesson. Born Robert Hathcock in San Bernadino, he has played every major Vegas club; done remixes for Maverick and Interscope, including for Enrique Iglesias; spun live on The Arsenio Hall Show; and written and produced the hard-house classic, "Make Some Noise For My DJ," which can be heard every Tuesday at Studio 54's EDEN.
Soft-spoken, modest and honest, ROB's musical interests began as a child playing drums. After moving to Vegas and starting high school, he discovered hip-hop and the rest is history.
What was it that made you pick up the turntables in the first place?
The hip-hop thing was starting to get cool: Sugar Hill Gang, Grand Master Flash. When [Afrika Bambaataa's] Planet Rock record came out in '81, I was blown away by that stuff. I said, "Man, I gotta start playing it!" I was always making tapes for people and going to parties with the boombox and supplying all of the music ... I did all the high-school dances. And when I finally got two 1200s [turntables], it was all over. That was '83.
How did you get the whole Magic Mix show going?
I thought I was the only guy DJing in town. There were a few black guys, a few R&B guys playing the clubs and doing high-school dances and stuff. And then one day, they say, "We got a new show called Magic Mix starting up on KUNV college radio, and we got a DJ from New York called DJ Frankie and he's gonna do a mix show." Who the hell is this guy? So I got up early and listened to the show and he's playing all the Sugar Hill and Planet Rocks and all the real New York dance stuff that was big at the time. So I called the station and asked him his background. "Well, I'm Italian; I used to play the drums; I'm from New York; I moved out here; I got a job at a local club called the Brewery; and I came to this college station to see if I can start introducing some of this music." "Well, my name is ROB, and I'm Italian, and I play the drums too, and I'm DJing too!" I made a tape and met him at his club. It was an adult club, and I'm underage, so he had to let me in. I gave him a tape and he said, "Wow." We did the mix show together from that point.
And I was a kid, 9 or 10 years old, listening to you guys. My older sister would be like, "Here, listen to this. You'll like these guys."
Believe it or not, that whole time frame changed the way the city is now. It introduced a lot of people to the culture. It would've taken a lot longer—10 more years—without that mix show. Getting that hip-hop culture, the breakdancing, the graffiti ... I don't think it would've happened without it.
Now you and Hollywood are the resident DJs at Rain Nightclub. But you're also the musical director for Rain and Ghostbar, and Desert Rain at the new Morongo Resort in Palm Springs. How do you like the gig?
I like it only 'cause I know I like that it benefits the club; my knowledge and expertise in the music programming. I love to DJ and entertain the crowd. But then there's the musical director part, where I'm scheduling five or six DJs here and I'm scheduling nine DJs out there. I'm doing the invoices for all the DJs, I'm doing the guest DJ bookings, I'm doing private parties. A lot of DJs probably don't want that burden, but they're younger and they want to entertain. I'm getting to where I'm not going to be DJing in a couple of years. So if I can get my foot in as a manager or do some consulting or music programming for venues and stuff like that, it's still my love of music. And I can still DJ when I want. It works out.
What separates the Vegas market from, say, LA, New York, Miami or London?
It's the extended hours. You know LA clubs close down at 1:45 a.m. But to keep an energy level up from 10 p.m. till 5 a.m.—it's a lot. You can't just throw your two-hour hits, you're done and go home. Here, you got to build the night, and the business of building the night is rotating the crowd. Keep the dance floor crazy. Vegas is the new testing ground for nightclubs. A few years ago, they were saying, "Vegas is the new Ibiza." But Ibiza's a lot more cultured, they appreciate a lot more different kinds of music. Where here is a very mainstream melting pot.
What kind of music are people going to want to party to this year?
The only thing I see is emphasis on the mash-up thing with the rock incorporated into hip-hop. I thought hip-hop had reached its peak. But every time I turn around it's getting bigger and bigger. Hip-hop is going to be the driving force in popular music for awhile.
Unless a rock band comes out that people can dance to.
And it happens. I play Maroon 5—it's one of my strongest songs. It's obvious, though, that more white people like hip-hop than black people. I'll have a black girl come up to me and ask, "When are you gonna play some house? We're from Chicago," and I'll be shocked. But as I soon as I see five white girls coming up to me, I know they're asking for Little John or Usher or something like that.
What do you think about current trends in the scene? It seems everybody's latching onto this burlesque thing.
I don't get the burlesque thing. I think it's a gimmick. The DJ thing is so big. They are the prime source of entertainment for the club. You create and set the mood for the whole night. When you stop the action to do something else, you'll have a few appreciate it. But in reality, if your energy level were to keep up, you'd just leave the DJ on. Those things should be icing on the cake, not something that diverts attention.
What about the Wal-Mart approach Pure is taking, with five rooms and the Pussycat Lounge all at the same spot?
I would hope there would be different rooms with different vibes going on. If people go there and appreciate it, if you sell some drinks there, and keep that crowd there, and then there's this crowd here, and everybody's having a good time, that would be great. But it seemed for awhile there that the multi-room stuff didn't really work. When Ice was doing it, it was really weird. Because that main room was supposed to be a big house room, and that small room, they would play hip-hop. And for awhile, it would switch with the main hip-hop and house in there. If there's not enough people enjoying that one energy, then I don't think it's gonna work.