Industry Weekly

[Flipside]

DJ Icey is bringing back the breaks

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“People were on the dancefloor and going for it all night, no cell phones to distract from the reason you went to the show: to dance.”
Courtesy
Deanna Rilling

Too much time has passed since breaks legend DJ Icey graced Las Vegas with his prowess. But our patience has paid off, and he’s making the trek from the Sunshine State to bring some booty bass to Artisan Afterhours on Saturday night.

What kept you away from Vegas? I used to play in Vegas quite often. My old friend Sol [Shafer] used to sort out bookings at Rain at the Palms on Paul Oakenfold’s nights, as well as other nights a few times a year, and prior to that back in the day with DJ Noey at Club Ra—so many good nights there! And way back to David [Cohen]’s club [Utopia]. After the EDM mainstream explosion though, things changed.

Since there haven’t been proper breaks in Vegas for a while, how would you describe the genre for noobs who only know the clubs on the Strip? A lot of DJs are mixing in breaks in their sets these days. DJ Mondo, who I believe is one of the residents at Hakkasan and Omnia, has the balls to drop some breaks after he opens and closes for whichever EDM DJ is in town. People have heard breaks, they just didn’t know it if they aren’t familiar with genres. Boom-chk, boom-boom-chk!

What can we look forward to the rest of this year? I am always working on something and am currently finishing up five new tracks.

Do you miss the old-school rave days? What do you think about the new-school ravers? The old-school rave days were more hedonistic in terms of dancing. People were on the dancefloor and going for it all night, no cell phones to distract from the reason you went to the show: to dance. New ravers maybe bounce more than dance, but everyone is still having a great time. New school, old school, all school—it’s all good.

DJ Icey with Donald Glaude & others at Artisan Afterhours, April 8.

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