Every DJ has one.
A night when everything that can possibly go wrong does - and it does so in spectacular fashion. ClashMusic brings you DJ Disasters, featuring some of the most respected figures in the dance world reminiscing about those moments when it all went badly wrong.
Alex Niggemann has always had a tendency to do the unexpected. As a child, the Dusseldorf producer was addicted to hip hop before converting to techno. Retaining an ability to see beyond trends, Niggemann was able to stubbornly push ahead and build his own identity.
Launching the Soulfooled label together with Marc Poppcke and Oliver Fritsche back in 2010, Alex Niggemann has been able to impact his own whims and idiosyncrasies onto the electronic world.
Yet it hasn't always been so easy...
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One of the most funny, exciting, embarassing…disastrous stories I experienced in my whole life has happened in Barcelona last year in summer during Sonar 2012.
Me and my buddy Theo arrived in the afternoon. After watching a football game in the hotel lobby and dinner we went to a club with a few other DJ friends. It was a nice group of people, everybody was looking forward to a few nice days in the sun and so we immediately got a little drunk. After many many drinks and a long night, we left the club early in the morning. It was still dark outside and 'Las Ramblas' quite empty, only a few drunk and hungry party people walking around, while transvestite prostitutes were searching for horny and certifiable victims.
On our way to find a taxi, it happened what always happens when drinking a lot: We really needed to pee. Since the club was already meters away and no restaurant was opened at this time, we decided to do outside (I know, I know…) After finding a suitable environment for our purpose, we started to relieve ourselves – finally.
Suddenly we heard a car coming closer with squealing tires, sirens wailing, lighting up the whole side street. 4 police men jumped out of the car, another 2 came from the other side. They built a circle around us, apparently they expected us to try to break out. Theo and me still peeing and not sure about what to do now, wether to laugh or to be deeply embarassed about this whole situation. We must definitely have looked a little shocked and I would have loved to see our faces in this moment.
The policemen started shouting at us, asking for IDs and giving us instructions in broken english. Unfortunately they forgot about asking if anyone of us speaks Spanish … which I do, so I understood their conversations. When dealing about the payment conditions for our delinquency, they decided that €40 would be the price, since Theo only had €40 left in his pockets.
Stupid me didn't having any cash left but only my credit card. Suddenly, the price was doubled and they forced me to pay for us both, €90 each, denying they ever said it was €40. I started talking to them in Spanish, letting them know that I understood what they were concluding before. Conversely they offered me to spend a free night in their holding cell. That was definitely not the plan since since I was already paying for a hotel room... So i gave them what they wanted. Though we couldn’t help laughing since this situation was just too funny and stupid at once.
Jesus, this definitely was the most expensive piss in my whole life and I learned my lesson: Never ever go and pee on the street in Barcelona, Guardia Civil is going to find you!
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