"One night, I’m over Erick Morillo’s house for a party, the music stopped playing and I thought, this is the perfect time for me to play “Special K.” The security threw me out for touching the sound system and trying to play the song, someone tossed the CD in the garbage, but a guest who was there found it; Erick listened to it and signed me the next day..." -- Lee Kalt
spyehampton arrives at Lee Kalt’s lavish Larchmont studio, on the edge of the Long Island Sound, during a warm summer evening. Overlooking the Gold Coast; Manhattan glistens as a distant gem on the horizon. An impromptu invite from Lee’s publicist, Malinda Carlton, has landed us here. Entering the lair of the most influential Hamptons DJ of the last decade, we first notice the sterility of his studio and the seriousness of his demeanor.
* * *
spyehampton arrives at Lee Kalt’s lavish Larchmont studio, on the edge of the Long Island Sound, during a warm summer evening. Overlooking the Gold Coast; Manhattan glistens as a distant gem on the horizon. An impromptu invite from Lee’s publicist, Malinda Carlton, has landed us here. Entering the lair of the most influential Hamptons DJ of the last decade, we first notice the sterility of his studio and the seriousness of his demeanor.
After our introduction, he spins around in his chair and revs up some beats on his system—“I’m working on something for True Blood right now, give me a minute.” We watch as he nods his head to some tune that we are probably the first to hear. With the fervor of a laboratory technician, Lee toils for a few more moments as we gaze on, baffled by the sea of sliders, loops, meters and screens. Whatever this track will be called, it sounds damn good. This is the main nerve—the point of origination for songs that are piped through the veins of NYC venues like Chelsea Room, Webster Hall, Affaire, Le Souk, CAIN* and Pink Elephant*. In the Hamptons, Lee’s seamless and sexy sets emanate from Georgica, 75Main, Dune/Axe Lounge, Sir Ivan’s Castle and Lily Pond** — formulas prepared for the crowd of market makers, trend-setters and jet-setters. Overseas, it’s Ibiza, Dubai, Europe and South America, where partiers get their dose of what Lee cooks up in his lab.
As the music fades down, Lee relaxes, offers us a drink and we start to chat:
[sh] Where did you grow up?
[LK] I grew up in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. It’s where Norman Rockwell was from and the Boston Symphony Orchestra plays at Tanglewood. I was involved in a lot of musical theatre in high school. I was also part of writing and producing a Musical that showed off-Broadway, before graduating high school. I was also a chef before becoming a DJ.
[sh] When and where did you begin DJing?
[LK] I started in high school, at high school dances. It was as simple as playing two different mix tapes on a boom-box, that early. Making mix tapes of The Beastie Boys, Disco, everything—in high school I was always the one who was in charge of the school dance, doing that whole thing. In 2000, I started pro DJ’ing.
[sh] I once read that you were inspired to become a DJ during a vacation in Ibiza—tell me about that.
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| Photo by Rick Dean |
[LK] That was my first trip to Ibiza. I saw Danny Tenaglia play at the closing of Space. It was one of those magical moments and I was like, I’m doing this.
[sh] When “Special K” wound up on Radio One’s Essential Mix, did you know that you had gone from being a successful DJ, to a successful producer?
[LK] “Special K” is a simple song. There are really only seven sounds in it and it was actually the essential tune of the week. Which means, according to Radio One, it was top 50.
I sent “Special K” to every label, every manager, every agent and no one wanted to listen to it. One night, I’m over Erick Morillo’s house for a party, the music stopped playing and I thought, this is the perfect time for me to play “Special K.” The security threw me out for touching the sound system and trying to play the song, someone tossed the CD in the garbage, but a guest who was there found it; Erick listened to it and signed me the next day.
[sh] How did spinning at Le Souk rifle you into the realm of touring the US, Ibiza and Europe? What really made that venue a special place that you referred to as home?
[LK] There was a three year period where I was the resident at Le Souk, on Monday nights, which was their biggest night – it got to the point where people like Erick Morillo were showing up there very often. Out of all big name DJs, Erick Morillo is the guy who has come to my shows the most. I’m an exclusive artist on Subliminal Records, for the past five years now.
[sh] Describe the balancing act between being a live DJ and a Producer of your own programming.
[LK] It’s like I always try to produce music that is stuff that I want to play. Stuff that I’m keen to the fact that people want to hear—they want to hear something sexy, funky, happy. When I play a set, I don’t want to just play my music, but I want to play music that emulates the vibe of the room.
When you DJ you have to look at the entire night as one song. Using the music to tell a story and take people to a different place. It’s not special if you play music that is the Top 10 of Beatport. There’s a lot of producers out there who play too much of their own music. You’ve got to please the people, then you please yourself.
[sh] Where is your favorite venue to spin at—where do you feel the most comfortable and connected?
[LK] Affaire, in NYC. It’s got a really great vibe, it’s got a great menu and zero door policy. They don’t hit people up for a bottle. It’s a sexy party. It gives the availability to create a good vibe. It could change.
In the Hamptons, Lily Pond was the only time during the past 10 years where the right music and the right people were all at the same venue. It was obvious because that’s where the $20,000 tables were, that’s where the models were. I don’t think there has been a club that commands the respect that Lily Pond had during the summers of 2008 and 2009.
[sh] What do you bring to the Hamptons that is unique to the social and nightlife scene?
[LK] I don’t believe there’s a DJ that has worked out there who understands the crowd in the Hamptons better than me. I’ve been a driving force behind every successful house music party that’s been going on there for the past 10 years.
House Music TV focuses on the “jet-set” lifestyle. If you travel to an amazing location to see a DJ play, there are a lot of things that go along with that lifestyle. Hotels, beaches, nightclubs, fashion and food—we appeal to a green/organic edge.
[sh] Where can we find you in the Hamptons during the day?
[LK] I like going to the beach on Fowler Street, in Southampton, because there’s like nobody ever there. Most people go to Flying Point beach, instead.[sh] What was your goal in creating the very unique and dynamic “House Music TV?”
[LK] I just thought, for us specifically, we have a lot of great stuff going on in interesting locations. I thought it would be cool to share it with people who don’t go there. It’s not for the 1,000 people at the club, it’s for the 10,000 people that couldn’t make it there that night. Most videos of nightlife have club videos with overlaid music. House Music TV really takes you there, because we don’t overlay music on-top of club footage. There’s nothing scripted, we don’t plan anything out. We just shoot what’s there.
[sh] When you’re spinning, what is the most satisfying point in the night for you?
[LK] When someone says, ‘I was having a terrible day and you made my night.’ There’s always one person that comes up to you that makes some sort of positive connection. That’s the payoff. That’s the good feeling. There’s always a million people who didn’t get to hear a certain song, they didn’t get to hear Lady Gaga. Any time someone makes a request it’s like, you’re not trusting my judgment. It would be like if I came to your job and told you what to do—like what the fuck.
* * *
Lee Kalt concludes by mentioning his future endeavors and alluding to some covert operations:
[LK] This year House Music TV is launching an app, which is going to give you access to all of our podcasts, all our music, all of our videos, for free. The app is going to be like a promo pool. There’s people that use apps that won’t necessarily watch our show. One thing that we’re going to do is take the top 50 names in dance music and consolidate it, put it in one place, that’s going to be the hook for the free app. The House Music TV app makes you a leader, instead of a follower. Besides, most people that are just getting into music now, their musical history only goes back to Afrojack, to them, it’s all something new! Aside from all that, these venues are going to be getting up-to-the-minute reporting from the inside.
The show [House Music TV] is viewed on average 20,000 times per day. We’re the global leader in DJ Lifestyle videos online. Everything you do is a representation of yourself…
*CAIN and Pink Elephant are now both closed and regarded as two of the most exclusive and distinctive venues in Manhattan nightlife history.
** Lily Pond is now the very popular SL East.
Please check out:
http://www.leekalt.com/
http://www.housemusictv.com/
www.youtube.com/HouseMusicTV1
www.facebook.com/HouseMusicTV
www.twitter.com/HouseMusicTV
http://www.housemusictv.com/
www.youtube.com/HouseMusicTV1
www.facebook.com/HouseMusicTV
www.twitter.com/HouseMusicTV
Drew Pancila, Jr. -- Editor-in-Chief of spyehampton, extends a heartfelt thank you to Malinda Carlton, of House Music TV and to Theresa Stebe, of Theresa Stebe Photography.
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