By day, he’s Mr. Roberts, teaching social studies and gym to Fairview Junior High students. When night falls, he’s Devin D, a promoter and DJ spinning high-octane house tracks to the night-clubbing masses. It’s an alter ego Devin Roberts takes seriously, as he sets off on a multi-city US tour after the release of his first record, House MVP, this Friday at SubRosa.
“It’s literally night and day, right?” Roberts says over a beer at Tribeca. “The day job is my career and future and the DJ has always been a hobby, but a really neat hobby. I’ve got to meet a lot of neat people and go to a lot of great places.”
It’s pretty easy to understand the allure of the nightclub lifestyle that attracted Roberts to DJing. The Canso native first experienced local dance culture as a Dalhousie student. He worked for the dance promotion company Massive Productions and formed his own entity, Courageous Productions, in 2001. The company now boasts a roster of 14 DJs, as well as singer Menina and a support staff of booking agents and co-promoters.
“My friend Percy Redhead and I started doing shows at the Grawood to fill one of their slow nights,” Roberts says. “Believe it or not, it was a Saturday. It actually started working and making money. It was like, ‘Wow, we should start bringing in headliners.’ We started bringing in Canadian DJs and it just got bigger from there.”
His friendships with artists who played his shows fueled a desire to learn the DJ craft in 2004. Things weren’t as easy for the rookie DJ as he soon discovered that spinning records was a much different challenge than organizing club nights.
“Being a promoter, it’s easy to get gigs because people want to book you,” Roberts recalls. “I’d play early at shows and I didn’t really have the ear for it right away—I didn’t know how bad it was. Luckily, I had some good friends around me to say, ‘That was a bad set, it’s OK. It was early on in the night, no one was really there. Keep going at it and don’t get discouraged.’”
Roberts helped his cause by forming a partnership with the Waterfront Warehouse in January 2005, where he started to book events. The position allowed him to play every week in front of large crowds. As a testament to his efforts, Roberts recorded his debut mix-album live from the turntable booth at Revolution Records.
“That’s the really cool thing about it,” Roberts says. “If there’s a mistake, then you know it’s purely me. Even when I started playing at the Warehouse, I never thought I’d be good enough to record a live CD. It’s hard to put your name on anything, so it’s definitely satisfying to say that this is good enough to put out there, and hopefully people will dig it.”
After he finished recording and pressing the record, Roberts took a step rarely taken by Halifax electronic DJs. He sent off preview copies to the connections he had made as a promoter. He soon had shows in New York, Washington, Boston, Chicago and Toronto lined up for July and August.
“It’s a really big opportunity and I try not to think too hard about it and put the cart before the horse,” he says. “I used to play basketball pretty competitively and I used to have a bad game if I thought too much about it beforehand. I look at it that way: don’t think about it too much and let things fall where they may.”
Throughout the interview, Roberts refers to the effect that his day job has on his alternate lifestyle. While he might feel like a rock star on his summer vacation, when the autumn comes he’ll be back in the classroom, in front of a much different audience.
“The cool thing is it keeps my ego in check,” he says. “I can play in front of hundreds of people and you do get a little full of yourself. On Monday morning, I walk in there and I’m an everyday teacher, I’m not that special. The kids look up to you, but they really don’t care what happened on the weekend.”
Devin D CD release, June 30 at SubRosa, 5680 Spring Garden, 2am, $11.50.
This article appears in Jun 29 – Jul 5, 2006.
this is fucking bullshit devin may well be a promoter but his mix isnt grad-A material to say the least. He must have some well laid connects to get this article.. there are plenty of others djs that deserve to have an article about them. for instance the elders of the community sonny d, nick nonsense, jay hamilton, dale mannette.. and also the new up and commers such as Lee Fraser(who is also with courageous(devin d’s company)) Logan hudak, drc , byrd.. now commmon do a little reserch b4 you do some interviews ok??
this is crazy!! devin d is one of the shittiest dj’s in halifax!! everyone knows this. its like he is a walking joke. listen to his mixes. they are horrible. this whole article is a faqrce and a slap to the face of any respectable dj struggling in this city to get gigs. this is totaly rediculous!
so in the end he still suck right
All you guys need to shut the fuck up. While Devin may have mis-stepped a couple times when starting out, he’s done a hell of a lot more than most local DJs in Halifax, and he no reason to be ashamed.
All you guys need to shut the fuck up. While Devin may have mis-stepped a couple times when starting out, he’s done a hell of a lot more than most local DJs in Halifax, and he no reason to be ashamed.
All you guys need to shut the fuck up. While Devin may have mis-stepped a couple times when starting out, he’s done a hell of a lot more than most local DJs in Halifax, and he no reason to be ashamed.
All you guys need to shut the fuck up. While Devin may have mis-stepped a couple times when starting out, he’s done a hell of a lot more than most local DJs in Halifax, and he no reason to be ashamed.
One of the worst djs in Halifax releases a fabricated mix cd in the dirtyest dive club in town. We all have something to be proud of, something worth feature coverage in The Coast. Please tell me that “article” was really a paid commercial ad and not serious musical journalism.
One of the worst djs in Halifax releases a fabricated mix cd in the dirtyest dive club in town. We all have something to be proud of, something worth feature coverage in The Coast. Please tell me that “article” was really a paid commercial ad and not serious musical journalism.
like whoa
like whoa
I am so glad that people are speaking up here, cause it seems the joke DJ/promoter of the city sure loves to pretend he is a DJ.Werd says “he has no reason to be ashamed”, He sure fucking does. I have been listening to much of this city’s electronic DJs for many years and have not known any any DJ/promoter in the business who was less liked. I have watched him try to play at Knuckles “house-a-thon” only to see that after a few minutes he had to hand over the headphones because he couldn’t change from A record to B record. I also have had the displeasure of hearing him try to play on several occasions and almost every time he tried to mix, there would be what is called a trainwreck, and as you can imagine, it didn’t sound good at all(like 3 sneakers in a dryer). Any of the tracks he plays that are likeable, I would much rather hear by a DJ that can play them smoothly, for example-any other seasoned DJ in this city. And I do know alot of the prominent DJs in this city, and I have heard their opinions on him, and they are all the same – negative.I’m not going to even touch the serface of all the terrible things I have heard of him doing, but most recently though, he asked someone to do a flyer design for him, and that someone did it, and then found out that Devin had already gotten one done by someone else(so this person wasted their time, and that it a is a slap in the face to a graphic designer). This is just a small recent thing, I could go on with more but that should do.In Halifax Devin doesn’t really get gigs, except of course when he is promoting the show, think about it. Imagine Devin trying to play at Reflections, I would be too embarresd for him to go. He might have had a gig or 2 at Sub Rosa lately, but take a look at half the people playing there lately, it’s obviously not full of talent as it was a year ago, and their headcount each night shows it, the place has gone downhill, but that of course is a whole other bucket of worms.I am totaly not adding my comment here to hurt anyone’s feelings but the article does not paint an accurate picture of Devin. I was in awe when I read it.I have not heard Devin’s CD yet, but I would expect it has to be perfect since he took a year to do it. Is it perfect? Anyone wanna tell me it is? Or even a great CD? No? Didn’t think so. I should add that the article makes it sound like the CD was a live DJ set. It obviously was recorded over and over again for year…a good house DJ, could take his records and do this recording in one or 2 sittings.Devin D is as said above, full of shit. Ask around, ask th right people, the ones in the scene that know. My 2 cents.
Devin D “The TrainWreck of Halifax” the walking punchline of the electronic music community in Halifax. This guy is horrible. Shame on the Coast for publishing such crap. Devin sucks.
Devin D “The TrainWreck of Halifax” the walking punchline of the electronic music community in Halifax. This guy is horrible. Shame on the Coast for publishing such crap. Devin sucks.
I’m sorry, but Devin d is a joke of a promoter and a DJ, and is completely blind to the fact. So if he wants to go on “tour” and promote his demo CD (that I’m sure is full of unlicensed tracks, and should not be sold) then let him go out and get booed off the stage to a less forgiven crowds abroad. Maybe the whole experience will make him stay at home, not promote shows, and eventually become good enough to perform in public. P.S. could the coast please get a electronic music secton in there to promote the people that deserve it.
I’m sorry, but Devin d is a joke of a promoter and a DJ, and is completely blind to the fact. So if he wants to go on “tour” and promote his demo CD (that I’m sure is full of unlicensed tracks, and should not be sold) then let him go out and get booed off the stage to a less forgiven crowds abroad. Maybe the whole experience will make him stay at home, not promote shows, and eventually become good enough to perform in public. P.S. could the coast please get a electronic music secton in there to promote the people that deserve it.
Damn, success brings haters. congrats on the write up bro, even if you do suck you’re doing more than any one of the haters.
Damn, success brings haters. congrats on the write up bro, even if you do suck you’re doing more than any one of the haters.
shit…can u say JEALOUS?
yes, we are all jealous of his awesome skills. it couldnt be the fact that this is article is complete crap thats gotten all these comments.
man you guys are nuts. He was amazing at The White Party..and he killed it at Subrosa last week. Grow up and be happy for someone.
I’m sorry. I’m a hater. I’m jealous of his success. This tour is well deserved and the article is awesome dude . Oh and on a serious note I mean no disrespect to devin as a person he is a really nice guy from what i have seen . He is just not a good dj nor is this a well written / researched article . I can back those statements up. When the fcuk did recording a mix cd become pressing a record ? Also ive seen him play more than once and was horrified each time.
love the story.
Devin D has brought out the good in the dj scene around halifax, and abroad, clean talent.Anyone who has to go on here and not leave their own name.. is pretty pathetic, i’d like to see you get up there and do what he’s doing, i doubt you could even handle a beat. Keep the house music playing all night long devin, and never lose sight of the future.
what the hell happened to my comment ? i left my real name and a strong opinion and it just dissapears ?Conspiracy ?