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Podcasts ‘Fourth Meal’ and ‘R.O.A.D.’ find Vegas DJs reflecting on the club scene

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(Top) Fourth Meal’s DLux (left) and DJ Five; (Bottom, left to right) R.O.A.D.’s DJ Crooked, DJ Neva, Jamie Da Great and DJ D-Miles
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Everybody has a podcast these days, right? It's a cliché punch line, but it's true. And although I'm working on multiple pods at the moment, I'm the first to admit that not everybody should have a podcast.

But local DJs? More, please. I wouldn't have guessed I'd become addicted to podcasts produced by people who spend most of their time spinning records in Strip nightclubs, but it makes sense for many reasons. Plenty of DJs have extensive radio experience, so these audio shows feel like a natural progression.

"It's definitely different, because there are no rules, no time limits, and we can say what we want," Eric DLux says. He started his career on LA's Power 106 and earlier this year launched the Fourth Meal podcast with DJ Five, his longtime cohort in DJ duo FAED and business partner in the Headliner Music Club record pool.

"We would always get asked for advice because of our [work] with HMC, and we just thought, let's do it in podcast form. It will help us reach DJs who don't know about HMC, and it will go hand-in-hand," DLux says.

But it wouldn't work if the quick conversations with guest DJs and producers like Vice, Chase B, Sourmilk, E-Rock, Politik and Graham Funke weren't helpful to up-and-comers listening to the pod and fascinating for other industry folks interested in the artist's perspective. Fourth Meal takes its name from the after-hours conversations between DJs at bars and restaurants. "We would always have these types of conversations after the club at 2 or 3 in the morning, meeting up somewhere for wings or hotcakes and comparing gigs and nightmare stories," he says.

That insider's viewpoint is also the focus on the Reflections of a DJ podcast (aka R.O.A.D.), started two years ago by DJ Crooked, DJ Neva, DJ D-Miles and Jaime Da Great. These shows are longer and dig deeper into the industry as a whole, with a fun focus on Las Vegas. The foursome shares opinions on production and performance gear and methods, influential albums and nightclub and music trends. The guys have also scored some major players for compelling interviews, including Sean Christie, DJ Felli Fel, Sujit Kundu, Sway, Jonathan Shecter and Warren Peace and Mike Pizzo. Those last two are the Vegas hip-hop pioneers who produce another essential podcast, Let the Record Show.

Every R.O.A.D. episode is full of gems, but the interview with Christie, currently president of events and nightlife for MGM Resorts, is a must for anyone with an interest in Vegas club history or nightlife entertainment in general. Who came up with the idea for nightclub companies to expand into restaurants? Leonardo DiCaprio. Which smash record was played so much, it was literally yanked off the deck and hidden from the DJ? 50 Cent's "In Da Club." These are just a few of the legendary tales discussed in that one episode.

Tags: Nightlife, DJ
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Brock Radke

Brock Radke is an award-winning writer and columnist who currently occupies the role of managing editor at Las Vegas Weekly ...

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