Scratch Perverts

An interesting thing happened to me the other night. Well, I found it interesting – as an old man – but maybe you youngsters have seen this all before. I met a young Hungarian waiter in a restaurant who is also a part-time DJ and who sometimes works at The Social and the Rescue Rooms (two of Nottingham's best music venues). He took me back to his house and introduced me to his four housemates, all Hungarian and all part-time DJs too. Between them they demonstrated the intricacies of scratching – how there are two turntables working (I think) at different speeds and each playing a different kind of music; one for the background and one for the scratch, although the background one can also be scratched to create an even more complex sound.

I've seen this done before, of course, but I've always thought it looked both simple to do, and rather unnecessary. Now that it's been explained to me, I realize that it's not at all simple and requires real flair and real talent. Moreover, it is a truly creative activity that requires a solid focus and a 'spot on' ear for sound that I (for one) have never appreciated before. I was shown the various techniques used to create a cluster of different moods and rhythms, depending on the results the DJ is trying to achieve on the dance floor. It was also explained to me that there is new equipment available for 'digital scratching' but that, amazingly, the software for this isn't as responsive as the human ear (or mind) and that it's impossible to create a living sound from it that is really capable of touching the vortex of human emotion. Not until they improve the software, stated one young Hungarian (Balazs), will he be dispensing with his vinyl. Quite so.

This was all amazing, of course. But what made the evening so especially delightful was the way that each boy would, in turn, spend time on the turntables doing "his" own stuff. There was a kind of gentle competitiveness in this that meant that each one of them was trying to perform, both for me and for each other, better than the last one. After a while we were joined by a Spanish boy (who also works the Rescue Rooms) whom some of the Hungarians honoured as 'the Man' and said I had to listen to him because he really knew how to scratch. I have to say that yes, he was good, but to my untrained ear I couldn't tell the difference; they were all extremely skilful and I enjoyed it all.

What was refreshing about all of this was that I was witnessing a show of some kind of male 'bravado' - in as much as they each wanted to out-impress each other - yet it was all so gentle, and so creative. There were no insults, only laughter; no swaggering, only admiration. I thought it was a wonderful way to spend an evening – this was home entertainment at its best and, instead of spending a few hours in the pub working out who can drink the most, this group of lads choose to spend their time creating something that will take them to a wider world.

By the way, the title of this blog is not derogatory – this is the way these guys refer to themselves when they are introduced to you!