Explaining his work and his role as DJ of the function, Micah Perrin, the Saint Rose Disco, says, “I’m the curator of the vibe.”
To him, DJing is a type of non-verbal communication. The dance floor “speaks” and he attentively listens, booming forth his reply with sub and speaker. “It’s call and response; it’s serve and return,” he says. And in his own words, “empathy” is the most valuable quality he brings to the conversation.
I would add a strong desire to please and give pleasure and a certain capacity for self-abnegation in service of his role. Though possessed of good taste and strong opinion (which receive free play in the events he produces), Perrin—aka Saint Rose Disco—is not the modern kind of “festival DJ” that needs the audience to face the stage and abase themselves before his rock idol. Though a young man, he’s old-school. He wants dancers to face each other and connect with each other (by dancing in time to his grooves).
“If I could, I would operate behind a curtain like the great Oz,” he notes.
Bringing reluctant wallflowers off the wall and watching dancers lose themselves in the music are his favorite things to see (communicated from the dance floor to his shadowed DJ booth).
Concinnatus Hibbard: Your metaphor of ‘nonverbal communication’ explains the difference between DJing and crafting a fixed playlist. You would no more bring a playlist to a dance than a composed speech to a conversation. How many hours of music would you bring to a four-hour gig?
Saint Rose Disco: I might arrive with perhaps 10 hours of music prepared, ready to distill, and a loose flow in mind—from small talk and foreplay to peak. But I have the capacity to get more [online].
That sounds like a lot of prep.
There is a lot of pre-party visualization. I sort through songs, labeling by key, and adding notes to song titles about what it makes me feel, or what might prompt me to play it like ‘sexy female vocal,’ ‘melancholia,’ ‘super funky baseline.’
It’s sort of in the name, but what are your favorite genres?
Disco and house music. One grew from the other. But I will always have a deep love and affection for hip-hop and R&B. All those genres have their roots in soul and funk music… It’s important for me to acknowledge and honor a debt to Black music, root and branch. To me, it’s something akin to a land acknowledgement.
I see you recently launched Sounds Good Sonoma to distinguish your discos from your client-focused private events—weddings and corporate. What’s your approach to weddings?
Well, there are two clients—and a hundred or more guests. So the goal is to find the music that represents their guests, while showcasing the couple’s favorite music. It’s a collaborative process that I really enjoy. Getting to know the clients and co-curating the music and the energy that flows along with the theme of a day that celebrates their love. It’s not an opportunity that I take lightly.
You booked 16 weddings this season. It must be refreshing to cut loose with an Alien Disco. What should alien babes and disco studs expect from your set this Oct. 23 at Barrel Proof [in Santa Rosa]?
I’m a big sci-fi nerd. And I love a focused theme party. I’m ready looking forward to digging into the spectrum of disco to house music for what feels alien-like or space-like, or feels futuristic. Not neglecting feelings of nostalgia.
Learn more: Contact Micah Perrin on instagram @saintrosedisco and @soundsgoodsonoma. Alien Disco tickets are at AlienDisco.eventbrite.com.
