Electronic Artist Kollective

Have you ever heard of dub-step? Do you know who deadmau5 is? Probably not. But if a group of passionate DJs are successful at growing the Lansing Electronic Artist Kollective (LEAK), these words will soon become part of Lansing’s lexicon.

The idea for LEAK was born last November, after the electronic music night known as Neon Tuesday at Mac’s Bar on Lansing's Eastside.

After the music ended, Lansing DJ’s Rob Perry and Jeff Hoisington were sitting by the door when Hoisington became inspired. The two had been talking for months about forming a tight knit community of electronic music artists. Hoisington said, "Let's do it," and Perry agreed. The next day he called Hoisington with a name.

The LEAK launch party packed the house a few months later at Lansing's Club X-Cel.

DJ Goes Digital

Any time you attend a LEAK event you'll always find wall to wall people grooving to the beats, most of whom are oblivious to how hard the DJ is working. Some think that a DJ just plays music, similar to a radio DJ. Others understand the process is somewhat more technical, but the inner workings still remain mysterious.

In the past, DJs synchronized the beats per minute on two different record players. Today, while some DJ's still opt to do things the old fashion way, the LEAK guys have entered the digital era, dramatically changing the process.

A DJ uses a program such as Traktor to play two songs at once. The DJ synchronizes the beats per minute for each song and adjusts the levels to produce a new single song. By adjusting the levels he can emphasize certain parts and deemphasize others to make sure that the songs complement each other rather than conflict with each other. In order to keep the action going, the DJ can swap out one song for another while the second song continues. This gives the illusion that the music never stops.

Trust me. When the DJ is up there, he or she is working hard. Demystifying the DJ process does not diminish one’s admiration, but rather enhances it.

Getting on Track

It's perhaps a little odd that Lansing's electronic revival began at Mac’s bar, a place known for rock n’ roll music. But when Neon Tuesday, originally a retro night, eventually evolved into an electronic DJ night, one of the first DJ’s to appear on the scene was Perry.

A native of the metro Detroit area, Perry spent his high school years listening to trance, the dominant genre at the time. With his graduation money he bought his first set of cdj’s (like a turntable, but it uses cd’s not records). He spent a year honing his skills in his dorm room before he was ready to showcase them for an audience. When he was ready, he approached Mac’s bar in the fall of 2008, where he began a residency spinning on Neon Tuesdays.

The foundation of LEAK began to be built during a chance meeting at the Detroit Electronic music festival last Memorial Day weekend, when Hoisington and Perry connected through Hoisington's sister, Lindsay.

At the time, Hoisington was living in Grand Rapids, where he had just finished school. He would commute to Lansing to play the wild card spot at Neon Tuesdays, where he eventually gained a residency when he moved back to Lansing.

The two would begin to form LEAK later that November. DJ Noah Deep was brought on, and later created the group's logo. Deep, a prominent producer, got to know Perry by watching him spin at Spiral.

Andy Lynch was the fourth member of the group. Last summer, Andy was introduced to Hoisington by Lynch’s cousin, one of Hoisington’s DJ heroes. The two began DJing together and soon formed the DJ duo known as Disco Girlfriend.

With the team assembled, the group got out pens and paper and got down to work. Their goal was to build an electronic music scene in Lansing.

Starting From Scratch

Before LEAK, gigs were harder to come by. Now “it’s easier because there’s a tangible thing [t]hat we do. They’re not like, ‘Oh, these are just five random kids,'” says Hoisington.

In order to help build up the scene, LEAK has hosted several parties earlier this year at Club X-Cel. Both events saw attendance of about 450 people—full houses.

“We don’t know who half these people are that come to the parties,” says Perry. “LEAK—that name—people just associate good music and good parties with it.”
LEAK likes to keep their numbers small in order to “stay on track.” The group currently consists of the original four members and also Michael McNamara, or BeatLoaf, another Lansing DJ.

Early in the year, the group was considering bringing on more people and it was Perry who suggested McNamara. The others agreed and Mike was added sometime around early February. The group agrees that five seems to be a good number. For now.

While the talents of the LEAK team are not yet luring fans away from the prominent electronic hot spots such as Detroit or Grand Rapids, residents of Lansing can hear the music they love right here in Lansing.

Recently, Adam Francesconi, a DJ from Ferndale, came out to spin at Neon Tuesday and was surprised by how lively the Lansing scene had gotten. “I’m very impressed,” says Francesconi.

The LEAK bandwagon shows no signs of slowing down. The group’s Facebook page, as of this writing, boasts 1,136 fans.

The next official LEAK event is scheduled for July 16 at Club Spiral.

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Adam Molner is a frequent contributor to Lansing Capital Gains. He can be reached here.

Dave Trumpie is the managing photographer for Capital Gains. He is a freelance photographer and owner of Trumpie Photography.

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Photos:

Grant Kwiecinski, DJGK

Digital mixing equipment

Jeff Hoisington, half of Disco Girlfriend

Michael McNamara, Beatloaf

Rob Perry

All Photographs © Dave Trumpie