by JACK OATMON

A quick perusal of the Nightlife section of the Mirror’s recently published BOM readers poll reveals a conspicuous quantity of mentions for local promoters Peer Pressure. They scored first place in the Best Club Night category, and were within the top five in Best Party, Best Afterhours and Best Promoter. Whether you take it as evidence of numerous fans, fierce loyalty or tireless survey-fillers commissioned out of India, one thing’s for sure—they throw rad parties. I hunted down co-founder/easygoing cat DL Jones to get the goods, straight from the source:

Disco Volante: You guys beat out some pretty heavy-hittin’, high-budgeted posses in the BOM. Why do you think Peer Pressure’s style trumped all those clubs?

DL Jones: I think people are becoming increasingly open-minded when it comes to music, but the nightlife right now isn’t really reflecting that. Most club nights will restrict themselves to strictly one category of music, to play it safe, and most that mix it up really do it half-assed. Most importantly though, we don’t just bring different types of music together, we also bring different crowds together. Everybody at our parties is friends by a second degree at most, but come from different scenes. Even the people who don’t know anyone usually come out with a few new friends after all the debauchery. We took it back to the party basics. Big budgets have barely anything to do with a good party.

DV: Seems like the only direction is upwards from here. What are Peer Pressure’s plans for the 2006 summer season?

DLJ: I have a lot of things planned. I’m doing Chromeo with the Kopshop boys on June 8 at Saphir. Then we’re throwing our first Peer Pressure Jam in New York with the Cut/Dirty Down crew. I have an all-night jam with Boxfresh in July. Then I’m putting together a tour for our first anniversary in August. We’ll be doing Toronto, Virginia, New York and Baltimore, among other cities. I’m really excited to rep our city like this. I’ll also be bringing in a lot of guests at my weeklies.

DV: Any words of partying wisdom for all the youngsters and newcomers who want to break in on the chaos?

DLJ: A lot of dudes come into the game with dreams of big money, come up short and then give up fast. My best advice is to do it without expectations. Just be creative, do it for the love and nothing more, because that’s what the essence of a good party is. That’s what we did, and look at where we’re at now.

You can find ’em every Tuesday at Blizzarts, Saturdays at Vinyl (no cover), in lofts all over the joint, and at www.myspace.com/dljones. Other than that, Modeselektor’s premier Montreal appearance is tonight, Thursday, June 1, at the SAT, mashing grime, dub and hip hop right in there with your arty hoo-ha minimal. Don’t miss.

MEANWHILE, I’M AT MUTEK, DANCING MY ACLS APART. jack.oatmon@gmail.com

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