After a decade of running successful club nights, DJ, comedian and man about town Andrew McClelland is bringing his deck prowess to the Adelaide Fringe Festival.
Andrew will transform into DJ Phone Home, where the setlist is chosen by the audience. “It is part of what it says on the tin,” Andrew explains. “It's a dancefloor democracy which alliterates perfectly, and what a magnificent construction that is for catching the eye.
“Whenever you're DJing at any place, you take requests and that kind of stuff but the audience has no control, as much as they might like to at times; this [show] gives them to some degree the reality and also the illusion of control, although I'm not sure I should reveal the secrets too much,” he laughs.
From the same creative minds as the Hot Dub Time Machine, DJ Phone Home selects songs chosen by the audience using their mobile phones. Think of it as a live auction for which song gets played next. “Genres come up on the screen and usually about four songs come up for each genre and [the audience] can choose between them,” Andrew says.
“There's a bar chart on screen, so if they're voting for a particular song they can see how well their song is doing against other people – the votes happen within about 20 seconds, but it's quite exciting. It's strangely arresting for people to get involved and watch how their song is doing.”
As with any democracy, there are pros and cons to 'people power' as Andrew explains. “The fact of the matter is, if enough people really want to hear 'I Cum Blood' by Cannibal Corpse – although I don't mind Cannibal Corpse but I wouldn't DJ it; if enough people were to suggest it I might put it up for a vote. If enough people vote for it, it might get up; there is that wonderful freedom, which is freedom for me too.
“It's good and bad. Sometimes there are songs I know an audience will vote for but they won't enjoy, which is quite uncanny in some ways. Like 'Boombastic' by Shaggy; people think they want to hear that because they remember the chorus but then when it gets up it's surprisingly slow and long... but that's all part of the fun.”
Having operated his own club night, Mr McClelland's Finishing School, in Melbourne, Andrew brings a wealth of expertise and finesse to the role.
After successfully launching the DJ Phone Home event at last year's Fringe, Andrew says he is excited to see how it has developed and evolved. “On a basic level I'm looking at all the music categories and reworking them so we don't have the same tracks as last time or the same tracks voted for.
“So there's a lot of new music and a lot of new choices this year. Visually as well, the whole thing is quite different from last year… we're bringing new graphics and trying to make it visually a lot more interesting. Last year was almost a proof of concept season, so I think now it's more in the form I always wanted it to be in.”
DJ Phone Home takes up residency at The Garden Of Unearthly Delights - part of Adelaide Fringe - on Friday and Saturdays from 12 February to 13 March.
