noizemagazine - Index

noizemagazine - Spring 2008 Issue # 55 - Index

DJ Wess turns it out at Town
of having done a lot of different
spaces over the years and seeing
what works and what doesn't work.
You pick up everything you can that
makes sense and try to roll it all up
into one big ball and throw it out
there.”
The club averages over a thousand
people on a Friday or Saturday
night, although their legal capacity
is 692, so you might find yourself
waiting in line outside if you don’t
get there early enough. “We have
held the lines outside because we
don't want to get to a point where
we are overcapacity,” Bailey says.
“We don't want to create any kind
of uncomfortable situation. I just
think people who come want to
have a good time and relax and
be comfortable. We're not trying to
pack everybody in there and make it
too hot or too crowded or create situations
where you get drinks spilled
on you or your feet stepped on. You
ought to do everything you can to
make the night the best experience
it can be for the people who are in
the club.”
Town is open only on Friday and
Saturday nights for now, although
they do plan to add formats on
other nights. Fridays are 18-andover.
You’ll hear Bailey himself spin
retro on the first floor (at least until
he finds the right DJ to take over),
while upstairs, resident DJ Wess on
the main dance floor mashes up
funky pop and electro tailored for a
31
DAviD KNAPP:
Daddy Goes to Town
Despite being a full-time dad to two
young kids, David Knapp manages
to work nearly every weekend as a
DJ. He is currently alternating his
regular twice-monthly gig at Town
with regular appearances at Splash in
NYC and other dates.
The busy superstar has played every
major club here and overseas, but
he’s still impressed by Town. He
considers it a perfect space for D.C.
“Some of the boys have come up to
me and said, ‘We’ve been waiting
for someplace like this.’” The local
scene would have trouble supporting
a megaclub, so Town’s size is perfect
for the new generation of clubbers
the Atlanta-based DJ sees there.
“The kids,” he says jokingly, “like
different music. Their identity isn’t as
separate from their straight friends.”
They like Britney but also Timbaland.
Knapp happily accommodates them
with a mix that mashes up a Beyoncé
remix with Timbaland’s “Apologize”
in a set he calls “pop music adapted
to the dance floor.”
And it works. Here’s what one young
D.C. clubgoer had to say about
one of Knapp’s recent sets: “David
takes the current songs we all know
and love, and then selects some of
the best mixes of these songs that
will work for the crowd—and spins
them.”
Aside from playing DJ and Daddy,
Knapp has been busy in the studio
working on another of his successful
compilation CDs for Centaur and
planning an extensive marketing
tour.
—Steve Weinstein