Karl Danner, also known as Karl K, has been a professional DJ for more than 13 years. At the youthful age of 12, he started a career that would take him on a voyage that seldom few could hope to experience. While others he knew were washing up for their 9:00 bedtime, Karl was sneaking out of his bedroom window, records in hand, for a night which many would deem inappropriate for a pre-teen. Now, at the ripened age of 25, Karl is counting his blessings that the industry hasn’t chewed him up and spit him out, as has been the fate of so many DJs.

The incessant cracking of his knuckles seemed to be a reoccurring theme throughout our hour together. His fingers seemed too long for his modest height of 5 feet 4 inches. Watching me notice this unconscious routine, he explains, “I’m always cracking and stretching my fingers”. This, I soon learned, aids in his being a Renaissance-Man within the music profession. Karl needs both of his hands to be nimble, whether he is working a club, strumming his guitar, keying the piano, or manipulating is IMAC.

“My hands are my profession”, he adds, stretching the two elongated banana-bunch like masses out towards me. We both laugh and reminisce about a Seinfeld episode in which George was a hand model. “Mine aren’t pretty”, Karl interjects, still grinning, “but they sure help pay the bills!"                                                                        

   

The pressure that he is feeling is apparent. He seems to be pulled as tight as one of his guitar strings. The flip side though, is that Karl is fortunate to be both promoting and DJing at such an event. With serious competition in the industry, many other turntabalists would cut off their mixing fingers for such an opportunity. Karl sees it a bit differently. “I’ve put so many years into my work that if I wasn’t doing parties like this I’d consider myself a failure. I feel that I’ve earned my place in the scene.”    

His grandparents, who he grew up with in New Jersey, forced Karl to take classical piano lessons when he was young. “They stressed the importance of music my whole life. I think they knew that I hated school and were pushing me towards something artistic. I begged them to buy me turntables and I finally got them for Christmas one year. I don’t think that they had a clue about the DJ industry though, or they probably would have bought me paint set. I put them through such hell, always wondering where I sneaked off to. They soon learned to deal with it and I think it’s one of those things that I could have only gotten away with living with my grandparents. My father would have killed me.”                                   

“The one thing I did like about school was the dances.” Karl recalls watching the DJs spin their records and thinking, “That looks like a cool thing to do.” Aside from these events, Karl’s view of education was bleak. The allure of hopping a train to Philadelphia during the day outweighed his desire to sit through history, science or math class. “It sounds cliché to say it, but I got my education on the street. The experiences I accumulated helped me to grow up fast and when I did hang out with my school friends, they seemed so immature. They were only acting their age and I had already grown up…or at least I thought I was grown up.”                              

Years later, Karl reflects on the choices he made. “Sometimes I wish that I had graduated high school. Many of those kids that were in my class are now enjoying the good life with their stable jobs. The hardest part of DJing is riding the money wave. Sometimes you’re getting paid a lot and sometimes you’re waiting for the next check. That’s why I am branching out and producing my own music now. I can sell my own tracks and get royalties for my work.”                                                              

Karl has spent a plethora of time in the studio doing just that. To date he has produced and co-produced over twenty records that have earned him both financial benefits and a fine reputation. One of his tracks was bought by the makers of the Play Station game Grand Tourismo.      

“I get a royalty check for it twice a year”, Karl explains, “but it’s not nearly enough. I wish sometimes that I was receiving a steady paycheck. It sucks being broke. You spend all of this time…years spinning records and to wake up one day and not have money to buy lunch…it’s just the worst feeling. That’s why my suggestion to anyone wanting to be a DJ is to finish school if you can. Maybe take courses in music production. At least you may have something to fall back on when things aren’t going your way. There are times when weeks go by and I haven’t been booked for a club or party and I start to get real frustrated. I try to take out that aggression in the studio and make a rinsing track. Some of my best work is done at these low points and if you have what it takes to get through, you might be able to produce your best work when you’re down.”                                     

“You know what I secretly hope for”, Karl asks me, grinning once again. “I want to be in a rock band. I want to play instruments on stage and sing. I want it to be the evolution of my career. The path I have chosen is music in general and I feel that I can do the rock and roll thing. I feel that I won’t get caught up in the bullshit of it all because I’ve been down that road before. In a couple of years, if all goes well, I’ll be on tour with a mic in my hand instead of a crate of records. Then I’ll have a whole new set of problems to talk to you about.”