WOODEN WISDOM at Studio Bar (824 Dundas West), Saturday (January 17), 10 pm. $20. ticketweb.ca.
When celebrities dabble in DJing, most people who show up for their gigs are there for the novelty factor. Elijah Wood and Zach Cowie are aware that the main reason they’re able to book a DJ tour for their Wooden Wisdom duo is because of Wood’s fame as an actor, but they’re not letting that get in the way of enjoying themselves.
“I sort of see it as a sneak attack, and think it’s kind of funny,” Wood explains from his Los Angeles home. “At the end of the day, they may have come because they’ve seen me in a film or because there’s something a bit silly about this. But our hope is that they’ll walk away having heard things they’ve never heard before and that they’re excited by them and able to move beyond the novelty factor.
“The old bait and switch,” agrees Cowie. “Just the fact that we only spin vinyl usually shuts up a lot of the skeptics right off the bat.”
The pair’s insistence on sticking to vinyl (and specifically weird, rare vintage dance music) does put them in a very different category from EDM-spinning celebs like Paris Hilton, an angle they reinforce by repeatedly referencing serious old-school legends like David Mancuso, Theo Parrish, Larry Levan and Gilles Peterson. On the downside, many contemporary DJ booths are no longer set up for turntables, which brings its own set of challenges.
“God bless James Murphy,” says Cowie. “We’ve played a lot of places that he’s previously played, and he must have instructions in his rider explaining what needs to be done so records can actually be played. Still, there’s definitely trouble almost every single night, so we get there super-early for sound check.”
Beyond the technical issues of keeping turntables stable and isolated from vibrations, Wooden Wisdom also face problems when it comes to mixing. Since most songs they play were recorded before drum machines made tempos steady enough for tight beat-matching, they focus more on their selections than their transitions.
“Our philosophy to mixing is more close-our-eyes-and-pray,” Cowie admits, laughing.
benjaminb@nowtoronto.com | @benjaminboles
