Today we bring you the second installment of the November Three Stars, an interview with DJ Will Eastman. Yesterday, we reviewed Plastic Explosives, the new album from The Caribbean, and tomorrow this Three Stars will conclude with coverage of the Routineers. DCist Kyle Gustafson assisted in the preparation of this piece.

DJ Will Eastman

Since 1998, DJ Will Eastman has been haunting the clubs of DC, spinning the newest and best in pop (indie, Brit, electro, soda) for DC's audiophiles and duffshakers. He's hosted Bliss, a monthly indiepop dance party at Black Cat, since September of 2000, making him one of the longest tenured DJs in the area.

We caught DJ Will as he spun tracks between acts for the Black Cat's Katrina benefit last Friday evening. His sets were different animals from what one might hear at Bliss, constrained by limited time, band sound checks, and crowds that fled to the bar while the stage was briefly empty. He didn't disappoint, nonetheless, playing a mix of old and new, beat-heavy and melodic, and he appeared to use the styles and sounds of the bands to guide his choices, making for some nice transitions throughout the night.

Visit him at: http://www.blisspop.com

See him next: November 18, Guest DJing at Marx Cafe's Taking the Piss. The next Bliss is December 2 at Black Cat, where Eastman turns the stage over to Annie for a guest performance.

Questions for DJ Will Eastman:

Bliss is five years old. Does that now make you a grizzled veteran? How has the scene changed since you started?

It doesn’t seem like a long time, but I’ve learned a lot. I feel like Bliss keeps getting better and if I no longer feel that from month to month I’ll start to worry. I get excited about new music and eager for each month’s gig, so I’m happy.

The scene is healthy. Clubs and events come and go and right now there are a lot of great dance nights in D.C. and Baltimore. I think in the future, in general, things will be even better.

What made you want to become a DJ? Do you remember the first song you ever played at Bliss?

Specifically, I don’t recall the first song played at Bliss but it may have been “Blue Boy” by Orange Juice.

I was promoter of an indiepop event series called Anorak City (after the Sarah Records’ band Another Sunny Day song of the same name) which paired bands and dj’s. I got tired of going to shows where the sound guy played music, well, totally incongruous to the artists performing live and wanted to create parties with live band performances and dj’s that held together. Fairly quickly, I started djing myself and loved it. It also helps justify my ever-growing record collection!

How do you balance playing new material and the songs that everyone comes to hear?

Ah, that’s the challenge! Anyone who’s stepped behind the decks knows what you’re talking about. You’ve alluded to the answer—at least from my own perspective—in your question: balance. I try to serve the audience, not preach to it. That means serving Clor, The Chalets and Voxtrot with Bloc Party, Junior Senior and Franz Ferdinand, which I do with no hesitation. After all, several years ago it was Junior Senior and Franz Ferdinand I had to serve with material people knew then. The first time I played Bloc Party at Bliss, in January 2004, it nearly cleared the floor. Hard to believe that happening now, but people needed to absorb it. By summertime, Bloc Party was kickin’. I post mp3’s and links to new bands on blisspop.com in a section called the monthly “Hit Parade.” This grew out of my experiences trying to play new artists at Bliss. People wouldn’t dance to music they hadn’t heard, and who could blame them. There’s energy and excitement to music we know and love. Without familiarity it’s like being asked to perform to a piece of choreography without opportunity to practice it in advance. So I tried to take that barrier away by offering a chance to hear emerging artists before coming to the club. The results have been fantastic and people at Bliss regularly request stuff in the Hit Parade. It's also led to Blisspop.com having an audience around the world that feeds even more new music to the effort.

What kind of equipment do you use? Do you prefer vinyl or CD?

I use Denon cd decks and a cheap Gemini mixer. I prefer the flexibility of digital. You can pause a track on one-one hundredth of a second, loop, and change pitch up to 100%. I probably couldn’t beat match with a pair of turntables if my life depended on it.

What do you do to find new music? How has the internet changed your methods?

Basically, I’m obsessed. I spend a lot of time in record shops and read voraciously. Mp3 blogs have challenged music journalism and there are about 30 personal favorites I read on a daily or weekly basis. NME is another resource, although I don’t have time or inclination to absorb it regularly. Bands, labels and promotions companies, as well as people who are purely enthusiastic about new music, send me Mp3’s, cds, links, etc., and I gratefully listen to every single track I get.

The best recommendations by far come from friends and the Bliss request book, available at the club each month. The Bliss crowd is extraordinarily knowledgeable and passionate about new music and I get great tips from regulars and new friends every month.

What's the weirdest request you've ever gotten?

Electric Light Orchestra. The guy even had the cd and pressed it into my hand. But I think I shocked him even more when I said “No thanks, I have my own copy” and played “Sweet Talking Woman.” Those strings!

New DJ nights are springing up all the time, what do you do to make yourself stand out?

I try to do the best possible job I can every time out. DJing is the best job in the world and I respect it and work as hard as I can at it. I hope that earns an audience, but I never expect it. There’s also the unquantifiable aspect of “taste,” I suppose. I play music I adore, whether it’s underground or mainstream, and I’ve been most fortunate to connect with others in the form of Bliss.

You're DJing the Katrina benefit at the Black Cat with a bunch of bands. What do you do differently when you play in between bands as opposed to your own night?

I’ll try to make people think a bit more than shake their butts but if I can do both simultaneously, all the better.

What do you do (or specifically, what do you play) to get a crowd of wall huggers out on the dance floor? Do you have a "can't miss" record that you pull out?

The Jackson Five’s “I Want You Back” is about as close to fitting that description as exists.

Wall huggers don’t necessarily want to dance. Some people just aren’t comfortable dancing. They come out to socialize and be part of a community. Perhaps they’re more interested in observing, rather than participatory dancing. I try to serve folks who are deciding whether to shake it or hang out somewhere else, and my hope is the wall huggers enjoy the music and have a good time, too.