DJ Mia Moretti

Name: Mia Moretti
Occupation: DJ
Home: New York, NY

I read somewhere that you love thrift shops.  Is there a department you’re always excited to dig through?

Hmmm. not really, I don’t discriminate, I like to give every corner the love and attention it deserves. If I’m not feeling lucky with clothes, I can usually always find jewelry, I love loading up on all that cheap 80’s costume crap- that always makes my day.

How did you discover PopKiller in Los Angeles?  What’s your favorite thing you’ve purchased from there?

I bought these vintage dead stock Dwayne-Wayne-meets-John-Lennon glasses there that are to die for.  They’re round metal frames with these pyramids carved into the part that flips up.  That’s a horrible description, but they’re amazing.

When you’re getting ready to go work a club, how do you decide what you’re going to wear?  What’s one thing you wish you hadn’t worn?

I always just look in my suitcase or my closet and say to myself, “What’s the craziest thing in here?”  It’s always last minute. I’m getting ready to play a gig tonight and I’m about to run out the door to find a costume store where I can pick up some Mickey Mouse ears.  I need something fun to bring my spirits up and get me through the night. Usually after I wear something once; I’m already sick of it and ready for a new look.  There’s nothing I wish I hadn’t worn either…you only live once!

You never have a set play list.  What are signs you look for in the crowd that let you know they’re feeling it?  And if they aren’t really digging it, does it throw you off your game?

As soon as I walk into the room a song just pops into my head, maybe it’s DJ ESP, I dunno if it is even really based on crowd or my mood or anything really, but I usually just go with it.  When I walk into a room and no song pops into my head, then I know it’s gonna be a long night. That usually means I’m at a club I don’t want to be DJing at and the DJ before me is playing mash-ups or bad Top 40. How do you tell when they aren’t digging it?  You mean when they are throwing tomatoes at me? That’s not a form of flattery?

A great amount of music mixed by DJs isn’t legally easily accessible to listeners.  Dubset.com is the first legal site that features full-length mixes by some of the biggest club DJs in the world (you included) and gives the masses the opportunity to hear your tracks at their leisure.  What do you think Dubset will do for the Art of Djing, and the music industry as a whole?

I think it will definitely help bring less “popular” music out to the public. If we can reach people who are normally only exposed to the crap that’s fed to them on the radio and introduce them to some new tunes, then maybe there won’t be so many DJs that are slaves to playing radio hits and Top 40. How many times a night do we have to hear Kanye West and Beyonce? It would be nice if we could take some of these cliché big clubs and start playing a broader range of music there– the DJs are ready to do that, but we work for you guys.  The dance floor is our boss so if people can hear some more Indie stuff that we play in small clubs around town or Dubset.com, maybe they will start dancing to it when we play it out at clubs (instead of throwing tomatoes).