Unfiltered beats

DJ Nicotine’s choice blends

By Sherie Dyer

DJ Nicotine spins Saturday nights at Una and Sunday nights at the Alehouse.

DJ NICOTINE: “You walk into a room, set up your tables, and survey the people.”

Walking into Una this past Saturday night was almost like walking into a David Lynch movie. The fine décor, expensive drinks, and … hip-hop?

Well, maybe not quite a movie, but definitely a scene with its own soundtrack. DJ Nicotine was nestled into the corner, hands on the turntables, eyes on the crowd.

“Being a DJ isn’t always about you,” he explains later. “It’s mostly about the crowd. Depending on the environment, you may need to play different music.”

For the crowd at Nicotine’s regular Saturday night show at Una he’s chosen more laid back hip-hop to suit the more reserved audience. The people are drinking cosmopolitans laughing amongst themselves.

DJ Nicotine was born Nicholas Edwards in Baltimore, Maryland. He moved up here five years ago with his wife, Christine, and his two daughters, Sage and Sierra. Maine offered him a feeling of safety for his family, and an outlet for his passion as a DJ. He began spinning with DJ Moshe at Zootz on the weekends where he met up with his current friends, Highdrama, DJ DD, and Blue Soul. On Saturdays he can be seen at Una, Sundays at The Alehouse, and Tuesdays at hip-hop open mic night at Stone Coast.

But Nicotine will soon put his stamp on the scene in another way. Tired of driving down to his home state to stock up on records, Nicotine has started renovating a space to open his own record store. The store will be called The Vinyl Phrontier, and it’ll be located above The Alehouse, a new bar on Middle Street. The plan is to have the shop open by the end of January and to offer a mix of house, hip-hop, trance, drum and bass, even some ambient music, all on vinyl. Some of the music will be imported from London and Japan. The rest will be from the bigger cities, Boston, New York, and Baltimore. It’s the kind of raw, cutting-edge beats that can’t be bought around here without being ordered first.

Nicotine is one of about 10 DJs working the Portland bar circuit. The more mentionable are DJ Moshe at Zootz, and DJ Jon at the Better End. But while he is often spinning hip-hop, the more even-flowed sets of drum-based beats, Nicotine’s roots lie in house, a more sporadic, electronic sound. That’s when he’s in his element. But there aren’t many places in town that cater to the house crowd. His Sunday night show at the Alehouse is really his only outlet for it.

“The Alehouse is one of the only places where I feel 100 proof,” he says. “I have no restrictions, and I can spin unadulterated house.”

Every Sunday night Nicotine hosts an evening of different styles and DJs, and any number of DJN’s friends could make an appearance. Blue Soul, Highdrama, Laree Love, DJ DD, the Brothers Grim, anyone. Sunday night is another steady gig for Nicotine, and it’s his favorite.

It’s easy to separate Nicotine and Portland’s other DJs from other musicians around town. And it’s quite common to exclude them from the local scene altogether. However, the scene is developing the sort of competition, creativity, camaraderie, and variety among Portland’s DJs that you’d find in the town’s higher profile Americana or hardcore scenes. Some prefer to mix drum-and-bass beats while others want to play ’80s music. From jungle to pop there are a plethora of sounds. Regardless of their different styles, though, the DJ’s job is to set the tone, to create the environment.

“You walk into the room,” says Nicotine, “set up your tables, and survey the people. Think about what they want to hear. You never want to drive anyone out the door. You want them to dance and enjoy themselves.”

With thousands of records in his collection, DJ Nicotine has no real trouble catering to different crowds and styles.

Tuesday nights at The Stone Coast’s hip-hop open mic are also a regular gig for him, sitting in occasionally with DJ Moshe and whoever else is prepared to back up the dozen or so MCs that want a turn. Between all the different voices on the mic and the break dancers up front, the weekly show has become a kind of centerpiece for the DJ scene.

Although Nicotine knows his job well and takes it very seriously, he is the first to admit he enjoys it very much.

“As a DJ, you need to love music and be selective about it,” he says. “Sometimes the problem with DJs around here is they forget what it’s all about. Either house or hip-hop, they are driving themselves to be the best DJ. But it’s that kind of competition that makes them forget, it’s about the crowd not about the DJ.”

And a brief note: for those who read Casco Bay Weekly last week, you might have read mention of me and the fact that in my profile of the band Broken Clown in the November 17 “Beat Report,” I didn’t mention that I was on their album cover. Evidently, I should have mentioned it, but honestly I was trying to avoid looking arrogant; I didn’t want to remove the focus from the band. I work with many bands here in Portland, and it’s because of that position that I am an accurate reporter. So maybe, knowing I was on their cover will make you take my article with a grain of salt. Regardless, they are still competent musicians. And really, don’t we all have more important things to concern ourselves with?

Sherie Dyer can be reached at sheriedyer@netscape.net.