Interview with Marty Angelo by Jan yahudeejay Pawul

Interview with MARTY ANGELO – an American deejay who worked for over 20 years in the music profession and who remembers what was interesting in the late ’70s.

Interviewer:
Jan 'YAHUDEEJ@Y' Pawul for DJ World Magazine and DJSPORTAL.
07/2002

Yahu - When did you decide to become a disc jockey? Where did you start? How long precisely were you a deejay?

Marty - I think I always had some form of Dj in me. From the very first time I ever heard a record I wanted to be involved in the music business. I could not keep my hands off record players. As a child, I use to take them apart and put them together again. As a teenager, I was the guy who always brought a record player and dance records to parties. When I threw my own parties in my backyard I would book live bands and play records in between their sets. Just 'yesterday' I went to a friend's house warming party, and guess who was asked to bring the CD player and music?

The first time I ever got paid for playing records in a nightclub was in 1969. I was the first club Dj in Buffalo, New York. I later became a professional disco Dj from 1974-1980.


Yahu - Tell me something about the pioneer deejays you know and you've met in your career.

Marty - I remember first hearing and seeing a live Dj perform in a nightclub in 1968. I am not sure who he was. I was fascinated to watch him spin records in between sets of the live bands that performed in New York's Steve Paul's Scene. That club was hot! All of the top rock performers appeared at the Scene back in the '60s. I was managing a blues band at the time called, the Raven. The Dj would play songs in between their sets. It reminded me of what I did as a teenager. That is why it got my attention. He was not actually mixing, as we know it today....just spinning 45s, but using two turntables! I never saw that done before in a club... only at a radio station. I was also exposed to this in 1969 at Andy Warhol's and Lou Reed's Electric Circus in the East Village. They also used the same setup. Raven appeared there with the Chambers Brothers and Sly and the Family Stone to benefit the radical Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) demonstrators: The Chicago Seven.

I met most of the top Djs in NYC back in the '70s. I was a VIP member of Eddie Rivera's International Disco Record Centre, charter member of the New York Record Pool, and founder of the Buffalo New York Record Pool. I met most of the top rated Djs such as: Tom Savarese, Walter Gibbons, Jim Burgess, Bobby DJ Guttadaro, Larry Levan, etc. They were terrific and had styles all their own. They were the ones who laid the groundwork for what we have today. They were the innovators and their mixing styles spread across the world. Every club Dj today owes a little something to these very talented disco Dj pioneers.

I did not want to remain stuck as "just" a Dj. I branched out into all aspects of the disco field, mainly because I already knew what it was like to be a part of the ever-changing music business. And I also wanted to spread disco in other ways. Not just inside nightclubs via records and tapes. Disco really was a lifestyle. I went on to producing, creating and writing my own television and radio shows, publishing, and consulting. I did not think my "calling" was just spinning records the rest of my life. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But it was not my only vision.


Yahu - Can you tell me anything interesting about artists you knew or met?

Marty - I met and worked for many major artists throughout my music business career. Actually rock guitar legend, Jimi Hendrix gave me my professional start. I was managing the band; Raven and he helped me get their first big time booking. Beatle, George Harrison was another one who helped me move along in my career. I traveled throughout the world with various bands prior to the disco era...working with ... (please see my discography - too numerous to list here.)

When I produced my television show I helped: Bar Kays, Claudja Barry, Chic, Jacksons, Silver Convention, Johnny Guitar Watson, Donna Summer, Vicki Sue Robinson, Bee Gees, Andy Gibb, Odyssey, Rick James, John Travolta, T-Connection, Village People, Cerrone, Earth Wind and Fire, Grace Jones, Peter Brown, Ritchie Family, Yvonne Elliman and many others. (please see my discography for a complete list).

I would suggest your readers check out my discography on my website for a complete list of just about every record, group, or artist I ever worked with or promoted: discostepbystep.com


Yahu - Have you ever done something else or is DJ'ing your life?

Marty - I've worn many hats in the music business besides being a Dj... from booking agent to personal manager. I've produced, promoted, and created television and radio shows. Dj'ing was just a very small part of my music career. I always considered myself a record promoter...and worked for over 100 record companies at one time... even as a Dj, I was promoting someone's record. If I liked it, I played it. If not ... it never crossed my live turntable... nor would I promote it to any radio station. It had to be "in the pocket" or as some like to call it, "in the groove".


Yahu - Since you are one of the pioneer disco DJ's - how was the DJ regarded in the beginning... and how it has changed during the years?

Marty - I was the first club Dj in my city... so no one knew quite how to treat me. I do know that the club owners liked the idea of using a Dj and owning their own sound system because they all went out and immediately copied my idea. I know the club owners loved only having to pay for one entertainer instead of a band of at least five or six musicians.

When I came back to the city after traveling with various bands for six years, every successful club had its own system with a Dj. It was then I realized just how much a club owner had to rely on the Dj, who was now receiving plenty of public recognition.

The Djs were beginning to become super stars! Just like the bands before them. They had their own records and I think that really made the club owners angry. That was the edge the Djs had on them at the time. If a club owner fired his Dj he also lost all the dance records the Dj brought in each night. I do not remember too many Djs leaving their records in a club overnight...even if he was playing there again the next night. They usually lugged them in and out in milk crates. Me included. I had at least six large milk crates full of records in my car's trunk at all times.

I never met a club owner who was a member of a record pool. They were always considered "outsiders". I remember when I first joined the NY Record Pool. My friend, who was a club owner, came with me and once the guy checking me in found out he was a club owner he literally asked the man to leave...just because he was a club owner! He was thrown out of the building. That was the edge Djs had. It was like the beginnings of a local union. Club owners were management ... Djs were labor. And as labor fought to keep their jobs, the record pools kept them in ammunition.

Later as the pools became accepted, they made agreements with various clubs to replace a fired Dj, but only if he cleared the dance floor twice. If it was a personality thing or the Dj broke a club rule, etc. the pool would not get involved. But if it pertained to the music, and the Dj's ability to move a dance floor, then that was another story. The club deserved a Dj who knew how to mix records to keep people dancing. That was why he was hired in the first place and if he could not do his job, the club owner had the right to get rid of him on the spot, and ask the pool for an immediate replacement! It was serious business back then because there were so many clubs and Djs. It turned out to be the survival of the fittest! Club owners ruled the clubs. Dancers ruled the dance floors. And the Djs? The Djs ruled the entire universe!

Also remember that the records the Djs played in a disco were selling thousands of copies just from club play. So the Dj was an important element to not only the disco club owners and dancers, but to the hundreds of records companies who, eventually stood up and took notice to the significance of the Dj. The disco Dj was placed on a pedestal... and rightfully so!

I find it thrilling to see what is happening today in the club Dj world. I love to hear of Djs getting paid thousands of dollars, flying first class, and staying in the best hotels. It is just so exciting but I keep thinking back to the guys who first started the movement. Many are dead and gone. I remember in the beginning, most of us only got paid ten or twenty dollars a night. I just hope today's popular Djs never forget their roots and are thankful to the ones who came before them and the price many had to pay.


Yahu - What do you think about today's deejays who uses samplers, CD mixers, "creates" special versions of the songs and burns CD's at home of their "creations"? Is this serious or just fake shit - I mean they create nothing in fact - just use good music made by someone else in the past. Other words - they can create nothing if no such old, good records of the '70?

Marty - I do not mind a Dj using whatever he has to in order to get by. I assume the competition is pretty heavy out there nowadays so if the other guy is going to use extras, then it forces everyone to do the same. If they have to sample songs from the past, then that is fine too! It just proves the music back then was good and is needed now to help move things along. I believe "what goes around comes around." The disco hits of yesterday are just as fresh today as way back then. So .. hey .. if it works ... and you can get away with it .. then God bless you! Just remember your roots. That's all. Give credit where credit is due.

Even the pioneer Djs had nothing when they started. We never wrote any of those great songs we played over and over. We were just a go between the artist and the dancer or consumer but what would we have if we were not supplied a record to play? Nothing! Air!

So if a Dj wants to be creative and use everything mechanical within his fingertips and come up with something different, than more power to him. It might not be really different in other people's eyes but if he thinks so, then that is all that really matters, especially if the dancers like it. Who are we to judge? Hell... I was happy when I finally got two variable speed turntables, and some Djs actually thought using them was... "selling out!"

All we are doing is playing someone else's music. I admire some of today's Djs who are actually musicians too. They write, produce and then spin their own music. Wow! Look how far we have come.


Yahu - Where do you live now?

Marty - Southern Florida - USA.


Yahu - Do you regularly work now as a deejay?

Marty - No. I have not spun a record professionally in over 20 years...nor do I want or care to. My spinning days are way behind me and I prefer to leave them there. I strive today to give credit and recognition where it is due. That is why I got behind the official Disco Dj Hall of Fame. I feel the pioneers need to be thanked and recognized.

There is not much us old-timers can do anymore to affect the future of disco music but there is a need to remember those who first walked down the road. Maybe by doing so we will help keep history on a straight and narrow course. If the innovators do not speak up and take notice of what is happening in today's music then who else is left to hold people accountable? Maybe no one needs to do this but I refuse to let people kick around a movement that was based on style, fashion and elegance and let it be ridiculed as some sort of meaningless era in polyester history. It wasn't that and it never started out to be that. So why in the world should people remember it that way? There is more to disco than just Saturday Night Fever, polyester clothes and platform shoes. That is the way some people want to leave it... but not me! It was much much more than that. History is still being written as we speak and I see the disco story being told in a much gentler and more intelligent manner with emphasis placed on facts not fiction.


Yahu - What music do you prefer: vinyl or CD?

Marty - Both. I think Cds are very convenient, easy to lug around and they stay in great shape. I still find it hard to believe a Dj can actually mix using Cds. It is mind boggling to me. I always thought you needed that ole vinyl, but I guess not. That shows you how far out of the loop I've been over the years! There were no CDs back when I was spinning so I really do not know which one is better. But from what I hear... it has to be vinyl!


Yahu - What was your favorite club you worked for?

Marty - J.P. Morgans in Niagara Falls, New York. The club owner actually designed the sound and lighting system exactly the way I wanted it. It was a two level club with a big stage on the first floor. I was originally off to the side in a little closet. The people would jam the dance floor when I played the disco hits and no one would dance when the live band came on. Before I knew it I was out of the closet and moved into a brand new sound booth built exactly where the band performed. They were moved upstairs, right above me. In order to see them from the dance floor you had you bend your head way back. It was a riot! Every time the band finished their set I would play the exact same song on record and the crowd would jam onto the empty dance floor and literally stay there until the band came back on. Then they would exit for drinks, etc. once the band started playing again. One would have to be there to appreciate this story. It was a sight to see. As you can tell ... the Djs back in those days were not very appreciated by the local musicians.


Yahu - Do you prefer just mixing records BPM, pitch control or use microphone and speak to the people like early deejays did?

Marty - I always mixed by ear. Mixing came natural to me. I could feel it in my bones. I knew my records and had the "feel" what should come next. I started as a DJ long before people counted "beats per minute" and used pitch controls on turntables. After disco became so popular I used BPM only to categorize the many records I acquired each week. I needed some kind of system to help organize what I had so I could just to listen to them, yet alone play them. I remember a Dj named, Tom Lewis. He published what he called the "Disco Bible". It was the first computer program that listed songs by BPM. This was back in the '70s when computers were not readily available as they are today. I would go through the "bible" to identify songs and then listen to them according to the BPM. I had separate milk crates for new releases and would try to arrange the crates according to Tom's listed BPM. Then when I tested a new release and I usually knew basically the tempo of the song I was playing I would turn to the BPM sorted records in that bin for my next song. I use to listen to hundreds of records a week from not only my record pool memberships but from individual record companies, magazines, and distributors, so Tom's "Disco Bible" came in very handy...if only as an organizational tool until I got a handle on the songs.

I would only use a microphone to make announcements that were forced on me. I never wanted to disturb the dancers with my voice or useless club promotional chatter. Most clubs knew this before they hired me... but I still was a professional so when it was necessary, I would use the mike. I think it takes real talent to be a talking club Dj. Some guys are very good at it while others are better off not saying a word. I do not think there is a happy medium. You either have it or you don't. It is not something you can really easily learn overnight. It takes practice.


Yahu - Do you like techno/house music - that use old tracks, do mixes, samples, new beat, etc. and call new BUT we know it's piece of shit if no serious '70s music they can remix because they simply do not know how this music create and record?

Marty - I am not so sure about your question. It sounds like you want to make your own statement about this kind of music. Personally I would not call any music a "piece of shit"... techno, house, or whatever. To me it is all disco music. I feel: "If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and sounds like a duck, then it must be a duck." It is all in the beat and the mix...and if techno and house music want to use those techniques then it has to bow down and kneel before their father: DISCO! I refuse to call it anything other than disco music.

It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out what is happening today in what people are still trying to just call 'dance music'. All of the different labels and/or titles people have are to me, just disco! May it go on and continue to live forever! Call it what you want ... but it is disco through and through. I hope the word comes back to haunt each and every person whoever said it sucked, it was dead, or tried to mask it over with useless synonyms!


Yahu - Is there anything you want to add to this interview? 

Marty - I guess I could go on and on but maybe we should just point your readers
to my website and let them dig around for other interesting nuggets.



interview update after 20 years - soon ...