DJ ELK

I was interested in Rock Music since i was a kid. When i was 14 Years old, i had all Records by The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and The Who and was starting to buy Bootlegs and other Illegal Recordings and Videos of my favourite Bands (also look under music). Coming from Working Class background i earned the money for it with simple stupid jobs. When i was 17 i started my own Music-Scene-Fanzine, called "START", which lasted for 5 Years and is now a legendary time-document· At that time i also started to promote Gigs for Garage-Mod-Punk-Indie- Alternative-Organgroove-Grunge-Rock&Roll-Bands like The Prisoners (GB), Fuzztones(US), Chesterfield Kings(US), Sick Rose(I),Lombego Surfers(Schweiz), Stunde X(D), Timeshift(A), Razorblade(A), Eleanor Rigby(GB), The Moment(GB), The Risk(GB), Stomach Mouths(Swe),The Pow(I),The Thanes (Scotland), The Cynics(US), Creeping Candies(D), Broken Jug(D), Surfing Lungs(GB), Miracle Workers(US), Thee Fourgiven(US), Marshmallow Overcoat(US),Direct Hits(GB), The Creeps(SWE), Sex Museum(Spain),The Pleasure Fuckers(Spain)-Kike R.I.P.,The Backdoor Men(Sweden),The Lemonbabies (D), The What...For!(D), Swinging London (D), Chocolate Factory(D) The Heartbeats (D), The Hydeparkas(D), Nine Pound Hammer(US),The Devil Dogs(US),Electric Eels(A), Heretics(US),Big Chief(US),Ronnie Urini (A), The Surfing Flintstones(A),Underground Arrows(I), Sacred Hearts(GB), Lust-o-Rama(Nor),Shadowland (Scotland), The 2nd Generation (Scotland), Los Flechazos(Spain),James Taylor Quartet(GB),Ballyhoo(A),Los Ass-Draggers(Spain),The Purple Hearts(GB), Les Robespierres(D),Doctor Explosion(Spain),Sick Rose(I),99(A), Silberstern (A) and losta more.. Most of this Bands slept at my flat and there was not much money in it, with me losing all my pocket money, but we had a smashing time! As there werent hardly any clubs in Vienna, i rented church-venues or Kolpinghaus-Social-Places, old discos or rotten cellars. A big thanx to my parents, especially to my father who died in 2006 for all the support during all this years until his death, this will never be forgotten. But further on in history: Then the Chelsea-Club opened and i became the first regular DJ there, promoting my bands from all over the world at mostly this club now. Then i started a cellar-club of my own, the "START-KELLER", in the 12th district. This club lasted for about 4 Years, and lotsa DJs and journalists who are still on the scene today started there or were parts of the regular crowd (Robert Rotifer, DJ LX,DJ Thomas-Ede Wolf-Tesar,Heinz-Singer Michi Gaissmeier, FM4-BTO Spider,Thomas Rottenberg - to name but a few). Then the Roxy Club was opened by Horst Scheuer (who now has a restaurant called "Skopik und Lohn" in the 2nd district) and i was the DJ at the opening Night and the following years until new owners got the club. Besides me there were lotsa other DJs there who started their career like Peter Kruder (later with Dorfmeister), Sugar B. or Crazy Sonic. At that time i was listed ex equo Viennas No.1-DJs with Kruder-Dorfmeister in an Viennese Magazine. But not to bore you i became more and more a full time DJ, quit university (i studied yournalism and theater-film research)and DJed -and still do - in all cool clubs in Vienna from Arena(Iceberg), Bricks, Bach, B72, Volksgarten, Flex (5 Years), Cabaret Renz, Ring, Fledermaus, U4, Shelter, WUK(Crossing All Over), Atrium-Club Ost, Fun-Club (now closed) and lotsa more. Besides this i am regular DJ at the Frequency-Festival every August at the Salzburgring, i DJed at the Viennese Film-Festival Viennale for Years (with Catherine Deneuve, Joko Ono or Richard Lester with Rita Tushingham as guests)and i made our Head of the Country, Heinz Fischer to DJ-Hi-Fi, showing him how it all works at the desks during the elections. When the Flex-Club started at the Donaukanal i was in first line again, doing the Panic-Club together with Harry Jenner who is now Head of the Musicnet-Promotion-Organization who is doing the big Festivals in Austria now like Nova Rock, Frequency, Nuke and Lovely Days. After 5 Years and a change of name (i parted from Harry, doing a club all alone called "Atomic" ) and quarrels with the Flex-Owner i went to the Shelter-Club with "Atomic". But big costs - always a live Band, 5000 Flyers,etc..- made me stop the Atomic-thing... I still DJ vor Harry every year at the Frequency-Festival /Salzburgring at a big party tent and in the VIP-Tent. At the Bach-Thursday-Club "Born Bad", which i do together with DJ Noize Director we often have new young live-Bands playing - for anyone interested, contact me! There are lots of episodes supporting all this, like: At the U4-Club i met Johnny Depp, when he played there with his band "P" and i was DJ-ing that night. Afterwards we were talking backstage and he wrote me on his foto "You are the best, best, best DJ ever-Johnny Depp". The Austrian journalist Chris Duller once said: "When i come into a club and i dont know who is DJing i can tell without looking it is you after 15 Minutes by the way you handle it all." And one Fan of mine described it as: "The Art in what you do is, that the whole evening is the masterpiece and every song is a part in this puzzle. At the end it all fits together to a picture - or not, that makes a good DJ, which you are." - and i have to add that the picture does not fit at every DJ-Night, it is like a Live-Band who does better and worse Gigs depending on many things. In the early 90s i also worked part-time at the Viennese Record-Shop "Rave Up", stil a hot spot to visit. I did some work as Music-Journalist as well, writing articles for the German Magazine "Spex" and many others. I also tried to get to film university but i did not pass the first test, as the film i made for this was to weird and experimental for the jury... As my friend Christoph Grissemann, an austrian comedian,said:"If you were not a fab DJ you could have become a famous writer, film-director or whatever!" -Well, but you can only live one life at a time... Besides this i managed the Viennese Band The Jaybirds for 6 Years, driving around Europe with them - a time i wont miss in my life, either. The Band Members now have 2 new Groups - The Subcandies and Medusa. At that time i had a record label of my own called "Ilsa/Elk-Records", where the Jaybirds Records were released along with EPs by Ronnie Urini, Sore, Mother Mathilda and Paste (whos singer Michi Gaismaier is now in "Heinz" - at that time singing in english - ). Most of the Austrian Indie-Bands who are around now played at one of my Clubs or DJ-Nights like Heinz, Staggers, Nevergreen,3 Feet Smaller, Sofa Surfers, the 05, The Base, Los Deepest, Medusa, Parascopes, The Subcandies, Side Effect, Silberstern, Shy, Anajo(D),etc. I am also a member of the Viennese Turbonegro-Fanclub "Turbojugend Söngerknaben" and every second Thursday a month there is a Turbojugend-Special at the Bach-Born Bad-Club with me on the desks. There would be lots more to tell, but i think i have to stop now, see you at my DJ-Events! Or driving around in my Ford Puma or on my Scooter Vespa Rally 200! Check out www.djelk.net www.iceberg.at www.chelsea.co.at www.bricks.co.at www.b72.at www.clubnet.at www.musicnet.at