Energy

Kevin “DJ Machine” Given has been a gentlemen’s club DJ for over 20 years and currently DJs at Skin Gentlemen’s Club in Tampa, Florida.

“There’s no energy in the room!” 

How many of you heard that from a manager? I’m sure many of us in this industry have heard it many times. But what does it mean to have energy? The dictionary says: the capacity for vigorous activity; available power. So, energy is activity. What brings energy to a gentlemen’s club? Is it music?

The faster the music the more energy? Maybe, but what if you’re playing the fastest music you have in your library and nobody’s moving? Everyone is sitting still, no one is going up to the stage and tipping your entertainer, nobody’s going toward the V.I.P. room and getting dances. You can safely say there’s no energy in that room.

So, what is the problem? It could be any number of things, but I believe it is the entertainers that bring energy to the room. On occasion, I have shown up to work and there was a room full of customers but I had no entertainers (Don’t you hate when that happens?) I tried everything I could do to keep the customers there- telling jokes on the mic, calling shot specials, taking music requests- but, if no entertainers show up it is usually all for naught as your room diminishes in size. Your room has energy when the entertainers are active and looking to make money. There can not be energy if there is no activity.

One club I recently left wanted to dictate the music selections to the point where I couldn’t do what I know how to do. The last night that I worked there I followed the manager’s instructions and played mostly one format of music. When I did my hourly floor check (I couldn’t see the room from the DJ booth) it was a slow night and there were 7 customers, 3 were asleep, no one was near the stage and not one of the 9 girls that were there that night was in the V.I.P. room. There was no energy in that room, despite how fast the music was that I was dictated to play.

The night before, when I was doing my thing, there were people standing up and dancing (to the music I was told would put them to sleep), there were people at the stage, and the V.I.P. room was full with roughly the same size crowd. That’s where your energy comes from-people having a good time and getting actively involved. No one was asleep.

So what is the DJ’s role in all of this? Contrary to what we’ve been told, a DJ does not bring the energy to the room. As I noted earlier, if you have no entertainers, you have no energy no matter what you, as a DJ, can do. That, however, does not mean that you don’t pay a role. Of course you do. A good DJ will enhance the energy that is brought to the room. He is the one that gets the crowd involved to the point that they will have a good time and spend money.

The bottom line? If you as a DJ are having fun, then the crowd will have fun. Even though you don’t bring the energy to the room, you are responsible for directing the energy into being a productive part of the activity in the room.

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