One of the realities of DJing, especially on big stages in front of large crowds, is performance anxiety. And one of the most common ways to cope with this is to use alcohol – something that can easily slip into abusing alcohol, which has led a lot of DJs (myself included) to completely quit in order to be able to continue doing what they love for a job.
AFK asked for advice on his Twitter, sparking some interesting replies, the highlights of which are below, followed by some of my thoughts, on day 661 of my own sobriety.
Sober DJ friends, how do you deal with stage anxiety? I’m playing my first sober show in 12 years of DJing next weekend. I’ve been eating better & exercising which has helped immensely with general anxiety but I know i’m about to get a shotgun blast of it when I get on stage
— AFK (@AFKdubstep) February 20, 2020
There were lots of different suggestions, ranging from trying non-alcoholic drinks as a placebo, to just preparing so much you are ready for anything, to just getting up there and doing it! Here’s some of the more interesting suggestions, and I’ll be back to offer some of my thoughts after them!
To me the thing that causes any anxiety from being on stage is looking directly into the crowd’s eyes. Whenever you look into the crowd, look to the distance and no so much to the individuals. Anxiety kicks in when the contact is made. -tiago from ghost
— HI I’M GHOST (@hiimghostsound) February 20, 2020
Look at the back of the room like straight forward slightly above the heads of the crowd. Bring a friend with you that you confide in. Drink some tea before , don’t drink a shit ton of caffeine that’s going to make you all jittery and amp your HR up, request a few towels (1/1)
— LIZZY JANE (@thisislizzyjane) February 21, 2020
i been drinking non alcoholic beer to take the edge off. The placebo helps
— 🕯12th Planet🕯 (@12thplanet) February 21, 2020
275 days sober over here. Cater your rider towards good beverage alternatives. I always have a drink in my hand; it just always happens to be Topo Chico. Little things like that make it easier
— phenomenal (@PHNM) February 20, 2020
once you do the first mix you’ll find it feels the same as when you’ve had a few drinks. the nerves go away. it’s sometimes better!
— AC Slater (@djacslater) February 21, 2020
just remember that whether youre alone in your room or have 15k people in front of you, the actions required for DJing are the exact same. Youve preformed a million times and you will kill it like always. Those people are there to see you, its pretty damn hard to let them down
— Somnium Sound (@SomniumSound) February 20, 2020
You just do it man. You’re overthinking it lmao. Ever play a dubstep set before? Ok then you know what to do. Youll find that after the first song literally nothing bad happens and its autopilot from there
— CRY WACHI 😥 (@KaiWachiMusic) February 20, 2020
Prepare. Simple.
— DJ PUFFY (@DEEJAYPUFFY) February 22, 2020
My thoughts
While there is no “correct” answer to this initial post – there’s all sorts of different reasons people get performance anxiety, and all sorts of different reasons why people might decide not to drink, both in life and while DJing – there are a few things that I think are worth mentioning, some of which are covered above.
First of all – preparation.
One of the best ways to overcome nerves is to be so well-prepared, and so good that it is extremely unlikely that you will screw up. Experience will help with this, and that comes with time and effort. The more you practice, and the more you perform, the more you have that knowledge to fall back on. Have playlists well stocked and updated, have certain stock combos of tracks that you know you can fall back on when things aren’t going to plan and get a party back on track. Have spare needles, a back up USB or 2, some extra CDs just in case, a cable to plug your phone in… Be prepared for any eventuality that might throw you off track.
Nerves
Another point that was made by quite a few respondents to the original tweet – nerves are natural, its about how you interpret that. This is true of so much of life – things happen, we feel an emotional response to that, but then we have a choice of how to act, how to interpret this, and that makes a huge difference to the results. If you feel nervous, that means you care. That means you are playing a show you give a damn about. That means something is riding on your performance. These are all good things if you look at them the right way.
One suggestion that came up a lot is meditation, and this can be useful both in the moment, and also as a general life-practice. You learn to get better at spotting the emotions you are feeling, and recognising why you feel them, and in doing that you are much better placed to handle them correctly. And in terms of before you go on – for some people that will be a very useful way of calming themselves, bringing heart rate down and so on. This approach might not be for everyone though, as many people want to be amped up before they head out on stage!
Embrace mistakes
Likewise, if something does go wrong – don’t sweat it. Mistakes are the main way people learn lessons in life – once you wrap your head round that, it is liberating.
Things go to plan – win, it all went how you wanted.
Things don’t go to plan – win, you got a free lesson, and can avoid that mistake next time.
I’ve made every silly mistake you can imagine over the years – lifted the needle off the wrong record, ejected the wrong CD, the wrong USB, knocked the Serato box so it fell off the stage and we had several minutes of silence! And I’ve seen world DMC champs make the same mistakes – everyone does at some point! What matters is that you keep learning from them, and be better prepared next time.
DJing vs Performing
Of course, a big part of this is the subtle difference between “just” DJing, and DJing with the performance aspect that many big stage EDM shows require. But – if I think I need 20 tequilas to wave my hands around in the air and jump about on stage, then that is an issue with my mentality – it has nothing to do with the reality of the situation, which is that if I wave my hands in the air and jump around, it looks exactly the same and the crowd reacts exactly, no matter what drinks are running through my veins! The difference is, with a boat-load of alcohol in me my motor skills are impaired and I might not be making the most rational decisions about what tracks to play next!
There’s a real bit of wisdom in the famous Nike slogan “Just Do It”. So much of what we feel nervous about doing in front of people is just a barrier we have put up in our minds – the moment you hop over it, you realise how silly it was to think it stopped you doing anything.
In Conclusion
Before I quit booze, I told myself that I was a better DJ if I was on the same wave as the crowd, and used that excuse to justify drinking heavily to settle any nerves I had – but the problem there is that its very easy to get carried away after a few drinks and reduce your DJing abilities! And of course, once you are in the habit of DJing drunk, its easy to lean on that even when nerves aren’t a factor.
After I quit, I got SO MANY more compliments on my sets. And this is without even talking about the mental and physical health implications and so on. As time wore on, I realised that nobody really gives a shit if the DJ is drunk or high or sober, what they care about is the set they play, and the show they put on. I might have enjoyed my sets more when I was wasted – that doesn’t mean that they sounded better!
This is a topic I think about a lot now that I’m clean and sober, so I expect I will return to it more in the months and years to come. For now, get out there and kill it at your gigs this weekend!