{"id":6826,"date":"2013-04-19T07:51:53","date_gmt":"2013-04-19T07:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/?p=6826"},"modified":"2013-04-19T12:55:05","modified_gmt":"2013-04-19T12:55:05","slug":"eat-to-the-beat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/?p=6826","title":{"rendered":"Eat to the beat"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve all seen the images: Teens and young adults, shouting with glee, jump up and down to a beat that an onstage disc-jockey (DJ) mixes for them while strobe lights pulsate across a sea of raised hands. And while we expect to see a DJ at a club or bar, mixing music for partygoers, having a DJ at a restaurant<\/em> seems like an odd idea. Yet more and more restaurants throughout Ottawa are now bringing in DJs, to guide guests through their meals, one song at a time.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n Music is atmosphere. DJ Phil, background right<\/em>, spins tunes for diners at The Cornerstone Bar and Grill.<\/p>\n

For example, Empire Grill, The Cornerstone Bar and Grill and Steak Modern Steakhouse and Lounge are three ByWard Market restaurants that have incorporated DJs into their nighttime atmosphere, creating a subtle interaction between the patrons dining and the music in the background.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of value to having somebody that\u2019s able to control the emotions of the people around them,\u201d says Robert Hawley, a DJ who plays at various ByWard Market clubs. \u201cRestaurants are starting to realize that, and they don\u2019t want a stagnant, boring playlist.\u201d<\/p>\n

An essential part of the craft, according to many DJs, is being able to read the mood of the crowd. Having a live DJ in a restaurant who is playing music based on the desired dining experience creates a certain atmosphere that can encourage people to stay for another drink, increasing the restaurant\u2019s revenue, says Kyle Churchman, bar manager of Empire Grill and a local DJ himself.\u00a0 It\u2019s a way of getting the customer to stay longer, he says.<\/p>\n

\u2018There\u2019s value to having somebody that\u2019s able to control the emotions of the people around them.\u2019 \u2014 Local DJ Robert Hawley<\/p>\n

\u201c[A restaurant with a live DJ] is the kind of place that is trying to hold their crowd throughout the night,\u201d says 24-year-old Steven Borchuk, who enjoys eating at restaurants with live DJs.\u00a0 \u201cWhen there\u2019s someone actually there, it\u2019s more conducive to people having a few more cocktails,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

And the restaurant live DJ does more than just improve the spot\u2019s atmosphere and increase the stay-length of guests.\u00a0 He or she is also a way for restaurant owners to enlarge their market by appealing to a younger crowd \u2014 a crowd that is more open to the idea of a DJ playing music during dinner, a crowd that is more likely to be out a few nights a week, instead of just one, says Logan Hedmann, manager of Fat Tuesday\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Restaurant owners] want new blood,\u201d says Hedmann.\u00a0 \u201cThey want new potential customers, young customers who are going to keep coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mixing it up<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n DJ Zedd works the controller on stage, mixing beats for crowds at the Ottawa club Liquor Store Party Bar, in October 2012.<\/p>\n

Liquor Store Party Bar in the ByWard Market, a combination bar-dancefloor-club that aims primarily at a twenty-something crowd, exemplifies the current, DJ-prone shift in music culture. Recently the club underwent renovations to increase visibility of its new stage and maximize its dance floor capacity.\u00a0 It will be putting in more lights and better sound equipment, allowing it to host shows for well known, international DJs, says general manager Justin Murray.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe figured there\u2019s no spot downtown that [people] can actually have big [live music] events at,\u201d says Murray. \u201cOur capacity is higher than any other bar in [the ByWard Market], so we figured it would be a good opportunity to open up on off nights, [midweek], for DJ shows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right now, the sound that Liquor Store Party Bar is promoting on DJ nights is Electronic Dance Music (EDM), a popular DJ genre characterized by repetitive beats using synthesizers and heavy bass drops. In the past few years, the increased popularity of EDM has led artists such as Britney Spears and Justin Beiber to incorporate it in their music.\u00a0 (See sidebar: \u201cA Brief History of EDM\u201d.)<\/p>\n

From clubs to restaurants<\/p>\n

Picking up on the increased demand for DJs by young people has encouraged many restaurants to try and accommodate DJs in their dining atmosphere. \u201cThey\u2019re bringing [DJs] into restaurants because [this generation of young people] want to listen to it in restaurants instead of bars and clubs,\u201d says Hedmann.<\/p>\n

However, the youthful EDM sound isn\u2019t right for all restaurants, says Liban Hassan, a local DJ who has played at Cornerstone. \u201cWhen you have a formal restaurant, you shouldn\u2019t be working against its identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

A restaurant can be successful with a DJ as part of the ambiance, but if the music doesn\u2019t fit that spot\u2019s atmosphere, it can also lose them customers, says Jamie McConnell, a manager at Steak Modern Steakhouse and Lounge. \u201cWhen I go to a restaurant, I\u2019m there for good food and booze. I\u2019m not there for the music the DJ is playing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

But whether playing EDM or classic pop, DJs in restaurants look like they\u2019re currently here to stay.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to give people what they want,\u201d says Hassan. \u201cAnd people want music.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The DJ era is here \u2014 and not just on dance floors but in dining rooms also, as Ottawa restaurants compete for a younger crowd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[217,221,216,218,223,220,219,222],"class_list":["post-6826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all","tag-dj","tag-dj-zedd","tag-edm","tag-empire-grill","tag-flux-pavillion","tag-steak-modern-steakhouse-and-lounge","tag-the-cornerstone-bar-and-grill","tag-zedd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6826"}],"version-history":[{"count":121,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8247,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6826\/revisions\/8247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}