Perhaps you have seen Domenic Laury around campus or have had a class with this Theatre and Communication double major. What you may not know is that Laury leads a double life. SLU senior by day—professional DJ, SlantE, by night.
It all started while Laury was attending Saint Louis University High School, when his grandma gave him her old stereo system. Among its components was a turntable.
Having seen countless performances by the X-Ecutioners, notably the Ninja of Rap performance by Roc Raida, he started scratching “the needle down to the bone,” as it is said, on the single turntable.
“I shelled out $200 for a second turntable and cheap mixer, and I’ve had a great eight years since, albeit with several equipment upgrades,” he said.
Laury’s pseudonym, SlantE, comes from an old nickname of his—he played a lot of poker and put out his fair share of ‘antes.’
“In fact, I hate my DJ name,” he said. “If I could go back eight years to change it, I would probably just use my actual name. But now that I have eight years riding on this name, I am not about to start fresh.”
As for attracting people to his gigs, Laury uses a more undercover approach.
“Mystery promotional campaigns are a favorite tool of mine,” he said. “You may recall the phone number that was written all over campus a year ago: ‘Text SLANT to 68247.’ My DJ name, however, is SlantE, not SLANT, so any attempt at correlation by the wonderfully cooperative SLU administration would be futile.”
When Laury DJs, whatever genre it may be, he may spin anywhere from an hour to six hours, depending on the show. He said he spends the set setting up a point at which to drop a track that he calls the ‘keystone track.’ This involves controlling the energy level of the music being played. This is the track that defines the set, and if he is headlining, it defines the night as a whole.
For an opening set, the keystone track he chooses will have enough energy to start the crowd dancing, but not too much energy so as to give an appearance of showboating. For a headlining set, the keystone track must send the crowd into some kind of frenzy of dancing.
“The exact moment when a keystone track of a headlining set hits its peak level energy is my favorite part of DJing,” Laury said.
His best DJing moment was opening for David Guetta at Home Nightclub, when his lead track—Julien Jabre – Swimming Places / Sebastian Ingrosso Re-Edit—hit its peak.
“Nothing in my eight years of spinning has ever compared to that moment,” Laury said.
“There are a myriad of talented and honest, hardworking producer/DJs out there who throw themselves headfirst into music,” Laury said. “The best DJ out there is a DJ who can create and impose a lasting memory upon an entire city.”
Case in point: the day after Obama’s acceptance speech, Benny Benassi recorded that speech and played it during his last track. He first did this in New York the Friday after the election. The very next day he took the same moment he had created in New York and imposed a memory upon attendees of the Saturday show at Dante’s.
“The club atmosphere in these moments can be compared to theatre,” Laury said. “We all work toward one essential goal: Telling a story, creating a moment and imposing a memory. I get to do my favorite activity for a living.”
You can see Laury at work at Lure and Home Nightclub, the underground club “Upstairs Lounge,” Urban Lounge, and Pop’s Blue Moon. To learn more about Laury visit http://www.facebook.com/djslante.