On track... DJ at work
Words to strike ennui in the heart: "And also featuring a DJ set by Snow Patrol." When I read that in an advert for a London club last year, I was gobsmacked. Why would anyone believe that having Snow Patrol, better known for pathos-soaked MOR nerdery, on the so-called "decks" would add value to a clubber's night out? Wrong, wrong, wrong.
If you haven't encountered the pop star-as-DJ trend, it involves a band - one member or the whole gang - commandeering the DJ booth and erm, playing records for a couple of hours. They're all at it - Editors will be DJing at London's Astoria next month, Franz Ferdinand recently had a go, and even the Kaiser Chiefs' Peanut imposed his record collection on a club crowd at this year's South by Southwest.
Their keenness is understandable: it's performance without the hassle of actually performing, they get to display their supposedly impeccable taste (if they're so hot on grime, Belgian new-beat or whatever, why doesn't it show in their own music?) and they have the cachet of being DJs.
And being a DJ has never been more popular. Kids used to want to be pop stars; this millennium, they'd rather play records. The epitome of this is arguably Miss Peaches Geldof, who alternates going to premieres with operating as half of a DJ outfit, cringesomely known as the Trash Pussies.
This is all the wrong way round. Before hip-hop came along and validated the role of the DJ, DJing was what people did when they couldn't be rock stars. Now rock stars want to be DJs. A friend was recently invited to a FilmFour party, and the invitation boasted of a DJ set by Bobby Gillespie. He said, "Do they think people will go just because Bobby Gillespie is playing records?"
Despite it all, there will be those who like the concept of celebrity DJs, and for them, a new album series called Back to the Bus will appeal. Each monthly release is a compilation of a band's favourite tour-bus listening - the Paddingtons launched the series with tracks that "we love and inspire us as a band".
What do you Vultures think - are celeb DJs self-indulgent egotists, or is this the coolest thing since sliced bread?
