Needle Exchange: A DJ Questionnaire with Drexler

His go-to records, his craziest gig and the music you should never ask him to play.

IMAGE: Sam Gehrke.
By Matthew Singer

Years DJing: About 5 years, give or take. Started in college with some friends but did it more seriously afterward.

Genre: Deep house, tech house, house, techno—I try to find a way to play it in all in my sets.

Where you can catch me regularly: You can usually find me at Holocene or the Liquor Store in town. I also just started a new party called Ordinary Thing that'll be bouncing between both of those venues.

Craziest gig: This past Electric Daisy Carnival, my friend Ryan Lassi had me come play a few tracks during his 3:30 am set on Sunday, and we packed a side stage out with 1,500 people while Paris Hilton danced in the crowd and her boyfriend rage-pointed at both of us, even though we were playing absolutely zero mainstream music. I dropped a new Go Freek demo and someone caught a video with Paris dancing that they ended up using as promo for the track! Suffice to say, it was both totally awesome and completely bananas.

My go-to records: "Faya," Not Usual; "The First Time," Bontan; "Pump Up," Detlef; "Not Enufff," Format:B; "Menace II Society," Mall Grab.

Don't ever ask me to play…: Drake. However, absolutely ask me to play Will Smith, because I've done it before and it ruled.

NEXT GIG: Justin Drexler spins at the Liquor Store, 3314 SE 3rd Ave., with Roska, Rude Bois Commune and SPF666, on Saturday, July 29. $10. 10 pm. 21+.

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