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Vegas Mike Interview

February 10th, 2008
By: Do Something Tonight

How long has Acid Wash been going on?

Acid Wash started February 8th, 2005.

Where did the name "Vegas Mike" come from?

I moved to town I went from the airport to the office, and was introduced to everyone in the office and within 10 minutes I was "Vegas Mike". That was it.

Where was your first DJ gig?

When I was in college I threw parties for a living, I had friend's band's play at this club, I was 18 years old, and I was throwing parties at over 21 clubs. All week I would go around and hand out flyers to girls at UNLV. I started DJ'ing between the sets and made a pretty good living for an 18 year old kid.

Vegas Mike

How did you get into throwing parties?

I started in High School, I was throwing parties, then in college I started with the club, and I just became the guy that knew everybody and knew how to throw parties.

What are you plans for the future?

Acid Wash Las Vegas... We're going to model the event after Acid Wash here.

How was Acid Wash when you first introduced it in Hawaii?

Slow. Very very quiet downtown. It took awhile for it to get going. We started February 05, in April, we had Andy Rourke from the Smiths come out and that was the first big one we did. Up to that point, it was 25-30 people. It was downtown on a Wednesday night...

What kept you from scrapping it?

There's a couple times early on, when we didn't have much money for promotions, it was just word of mouth and making it happen. I guess Next Door didn't have any other plans for Wednesday night, they were content with it being mediocre at the time, and it eventually caught on.

Tell us about Digital Assassins.

Digital Assassins was a producer project that I was in with a guy name Carlos. In 1998 we started working together; we stopped working together in 2005. We did music for The Fast and the Furious [when Vin Diesel turns on his stereo before the first race], we did the intro to Behind Enemy Lines, had a video on MTV and Amped. We did a bunch of remixes, commercial licenses, video games, and we had a good time with it, we went around the world a few times. Now Carlos does his thing and I'm out here doing mine.

Have you made any new music since you've been in Hawaii?

Not since I've been out here. I done a couple things with Willis for a UFC fighter who's going to be on the "Next Ultimate Fighter", we're making his intro music.

Who is Willis?

Willis is my man [laughs]. Resident DJ at Next Door.

What's the difference between Vegas and Hawaii nightlife?

Vegas is the major leagues. It doesn't get any bigger, brighter, shinier, or more expensive than Vegas. Hawaii, Honolulu, is like a lot of other cities around the world, you have these places to go and certain nights of the week, but Vegas is absolutely off the chain every night of the week no matter where you go. It's a different level for sure.

What's your favorite spot besides Next Door?

Good question... I go out to Indigo; I try to stay out of trouble. Lotus has been fun a couple times, Living Room a couple times. I really don't hang out any place too much... Undecided.

What's your drink of choice?

Jagerbomb [laughs]; distant second would be Captain Diet Coke with two limes. That's really all I drink.

What brought you to Hawaii?

I was brought out to Hawaii through Miguel, the owner of Next Door, to come out and open the club. He had pitched me 6 months before I came out, at the time there was no way I was going to move out to Hawaii its all the way out here... I was opening a restaurant in Vegas and then the financing fell through due to an indictment that I had absolutely nothing to do with, in the 11th hour I essentially lost 3.5 million dollars of investment money. I wasn't sure what I was going to do next, and at that moment my phone rang and it was Miguel, with the offer and he caught me at a very good time. I came and checked the place out the next day and a few weeks later moved here.

What do you think of the new 80's music popularity?

It's a time where people have good memories. Everyone likes to sing along. The 80's generation, I've always considered like the 50's generation, the 60's are more like the 90's. There's a sense of innocence with it, good song writing, lot of love songs out there. The girls love it, if the girls are there the guys are there and everyone gets along.

Have you ever seen Corey sober at an Acid Wash?

Not ever. Not even walking in. I've seen him walking in on the street pink faced already.

What's your favorite record?

It changes all the time. Some stuff you play for a couple weeks in a row, and then I won't play it for awhile. There's always the crowd pleasers, for the crowd: I love rock and roll or don't you want me baby. Songs that you can sing along with. My favorite record of all time is Joshua Tree by U2. They're not always the easiest songs to play on a Wednesday night, but sometimes I fit em in.

Where are you from originally?

Brooklyn, New York till I was about 14, moved to Las Vegas till I was 28, then to Los Angeles for 8 years and I've been here for 2.

[Sarcastically] So are you a sports fan?

[laughs] Yes, I am a sports fan. Big Yankee fan, I've got a Yankee tattoo on my leg. I grew up in New York in the 70's watching the Knicks and Giants. When I moved out to LA, I became a Dodger fan. Dodgers are my national legue team.

Do you get all drunk at 80's night?

I've been known to have a couple at 80's night. Once I get on stage, my responsibility is over with. I usually close out the set, by the time I get on stage I know I'm not going to move more than within a 3 foot circle so as long as I know I'm not going to fall over on anybody I'll have a couple. Sure, why not.

Tell us a crazy story from an Acid Wash?

Girl fight? Girl fight was fun. It was hilarious actually. It was like; we never ever had a fight in the 2 years of doing Acid Wash. There were some big local girls, who didn't like the blond girls, and it was a battle royal going on in the middle of the dance floor and I could barely see it because I was on the stage and the lights kind of catch your eye. All I could see was hair. It was entertaining for sure.

Why is there no cover at Acid Wash?

Because I don't have to. Because who wants to pay a cover when you don't have to? As far as I'm concerned, there's no excuse not to come. The drinks are not that expensive, $3 draft beers, no cover, and all the girls are going to be there. It's just sort of the formula I came up with.

How did you meet Alex [from Dosomethingtonight.com]?

I met Alex at Flash's house, at club 301. Alex had never been to Next Door at that time and was giving me a hard time about something. I was trying to explain to Alex what I was doing at Next Door. I was drunk, we were very drunk. We spent 30 or 45 minutes trying to find his rental car in Makiki hitting the alarm button and trying to listen for it. During that time we got to know each other. When he came to Next Door it was over.

Why isn't Next Door isn't open till 4am?

They're not giving away 4am liquor licenses downtown. We'd love to, certainly on the weekends. On weekdays it's really not that feasible because people have to work, it's hard enough to keep a place open till 2. Given the opportunity we'd take it absolutely but the city doesn't really want to give out any 4am's downtown so we can't.

What's your favorite late night food spot?

Mac 24/7, I don't really get to go there as much as I used to. Liliha Bakery for sure. Definitely been a couple of late Wailana Coffee shop nights where I've been asked to leave. [laughs]

What do you do when you aren't promoting?

I've been working on the Vegas thing quite a bit, trying to get this club going and organize things from 3000 miles away and that's not the easiest thing in the world. When the writers' strike ends I'll be music supervising a major motion picture later this year. So yeah, I'm working on a couple of projects and staying out of trouble.

What section of the island is scarier at night: Waikiki or Downtown?

Well, they both definitely have some sketchy aspects to them. I think downtown, as long as you stay on [the Southside] of Maunakea Street you should probably be ok. Waikiki, well, you can catch the wrong element or some aspect of trouble anywhere. Just make a wrong turn and run into a bunch of drunk military guys or some crazy hooker [laughs] or someone just looking for trouble. Downtown you can steer clear of it as long as you pay attention to what you're doing. I think downtown has more of a name for trouble when I think it's actually less trouble.

Any shoutouts?

Shoutouts to: Nocturna, Quiksilva, G Spot, the resident DJ's at Acid Wash, Nocturnal Sound Krew, Willis, my girl Jenny Lee, and obviously you guys. You guys have been there helping us out and we've helped you out. We've had a good friendship throughout and I appreciate this.

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