Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Strip to This

“I’ve got to be the first person ever to play Joy Division in that club,” says DJ Atari, after being hired with Junior the Disco Punk to bring their club DJ sound to Kearny Mesa strip club Dream Girls on Wednesdays.

The duo, which can be found playing everything from ’80s hits to electro- and indie-rock mash-ups and remixes at the AC Lounge, Casbah, Brass Rail, Bar Pink, among others, said they were tapped by Dream Girls management to bring the nightclub atmosphere into the topless bar.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“When I talked to them, I explained that I’m a DJ — I blend music together and create a vibe for the environment I’m in,” Junior says. “That environment is usually dance-floor mayhem. I don’t do requests. I’m not a radio DJ, so there’s no request line.”

Both Junior and Atari said management had just one request: play what they would spin at a club during a weekend night.

“We’re playing stuff that’s never been played in that club before: Björk, Peaches, the Cure, Wu-Tang Clan, the Clash, Donna Summer, the Cars, Devo, Mötley Crüe,” Atari says. “You can’t forget Mötley Crüe.”

The contrast between DJing at a downtown nightclub where almost anything goes — except nudity — and a strip club was evident as soon as they plugged into the sound system. First off, they don’t do any announcing. That job remains in the hands of Dream Girls’ resident DJ, Rev. Drew.

“Me and Atari will just be shooting the shit and we’ll tell him, ‘Thirty seconds until the song is over,’ and he’ll click a button and he’s ‘on.’ [In a booming voice] ‘Theeeerreeee’s Candy Rain on the center stage…’ ” Junior says.

“We came in there, and I felt that Drew would think that we were stepping on his toes, and he’s been helping us, MCing between the tracks and making the girls deal with the music being different,” Atari says. “This is definitely thinking outside the box, and at first [the dancers] were reluctant about us, but over the course of a couple of weeks, they’re starting to figure it out and enjoy it.”

While the atmosphere is different, Junior and Atari say the concept behind bringing club music to a topless bar, while innovative for San Diego, isn’t new.

“A strip club doesn’t have to be some gross place. Have you ever been to Jumbo’s Clown Room [in L.A.]?” Atari asks.

“Jumbo’s is great. It’s like going to Live Wire but with Suicide Girls dancing to Bauhaus and the Cult…or Ratt!” he says.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

University Heights Fall Festival, Haunted Ghost Town

Events October 19-October 23, 2024
Next Article

Novo Brazil puts is kombucha to good use in cocktail

Carnival a Dama brings Brazilian culture to the menu

“I’ve got to be the first person ever to play Joy Division in that club,” says DJ Atari, after being hired with Junior the Disco Punk to bring their club DJ sound to Kearny Mesa strip club Dream Girls on Wednesdays.

The duo, which can be found playing everything from ’80s hits to electro- and indie-rock mash-ups and remixes at the AC Lounge, Casbah, Brass Rail, Bar Pink, among others, said they were tapped by Dream Girls management to bring the nightclub atmosphere into the topless bar.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“When I talked to them, I explained that I’m a DJ — I blend music together and create a vibe for the environment I’m in,” Junior says. “That environment is usually dance-floor mayhem. I don’t do requests. I’m not a radio DJ, so there’s no request line.”

Both Junior and Atari said management had just one request: play what they would spin at a club during a weekend night.

“We’re playing stuff that’s never been played in that club before: Björk, Peaches, the Cure, Wu-Tang Clan, the Clash, Donna Summer, the Cars, Devo, Mötley Crüe,” Atari says. “You can’t forget Mötley Crüe.”

The contrast between DJing at a downtown nightclub where almost anything goes — except nudity — and a strip club was evident as soon as they plugged into the sound system. First off, they don’t do any announcing. That job remains in the hands of Dream Girls’ resident DJ, Rev. Drew.

“Me and Atari will just be shooting the shit and we’ll tell him, ‘Thirty seconds until the song is over,’ and he’ll click a button and he’s ‘on.’ [In a booming voice] ‘Theeeerreeee’s Candy Rain on the center stage…’ ” Junior says.

“We came in there, and I felt that Drew would think that we were stepping on his toes, and he’s been helping us, MCing between the tracks and making the girls deal with the music being different,” Atari says. “This is definitely thinking outside the box, and at first [the dancers] were reluctant about us, but over the course of a couple of weeks, they’re starting to figure it out and enjoy it.”

While the atmosphere is different, Junior and Atari say the concept behind bringing club music to a topless bar, while innovative for San Diego, isn’t new.

“A strip club doesn’t have to be some gross place. Have you ever been to Jumbo’s Clown Room [in L.A.]?” Atari asks.

“Jumbo’s is great. It’s like going to Live Wire but with Suicide Girls dancing to Bauhaus and the Cult…or Ratt!” he says.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Vista imagines car-free downtown

Following Encinitas and Pacific Beach
Next Article

Kaylee Daugherty, Pinback, Chorduroy, Moondaddy, and Mr. Tube & the Flying Objects

Solos, duos, and full bands in Mira Mesa, Del Mar, City Heights, Little Italy, East Village
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader