Bangers ’n’ Mash

[January 2nd, 2008]

Born July 6, 2007, and held every first Friday thereafter, Hot Mess landed at Chinatown hipster enclave Tube as a dance-floor force to be reckoned with. The party night comprises pretty much anything that’ll make you move—from Hall&Oates to Justin Timberlake to club-bangers Spank Rock and beyond. Behind the night are three servants of Portland's music industry: Leigh Feldman (H.R. Paperstacks), who pounds the promotion pavement for Spectre Entertainment; Justin Gibbs, who owns Eugene bar the Indigo District and sets the decks alight as DJ Hoop Dreams; and 25-year-old Aaron Hall, a.k.a. DJ Hanukkah Miracle. Hall is perhaps best known as part of local promotion company Blackbird Presents—though he also helps out with booking at Holocene and Backspace, and tends bar at Someday Lounge. Humor intact, Hall sat down to answer a few questions about his regular night on the decks.

WW: How did Hot Mess come to be?
Aaron Hall: It was sort of a no-brainer. We just wanted to throw a dance party where we could play Weezy and Nu Shooz and our friends could get loose.

Why did Tube offer you the night?
We threw an event there last year and it did well...something for fashion week. We turned it out that night. You can’t beat Tube for a sweaty dance party:The low ceilings, sound and lighting are “unfucwitable.” The only stipulation was no Latin jazz.

How would you describe each of your DJ styles?
That’s a tough one. I think we all have good taste. Gibbs is the most experienced and technically sound. Leigh can make a party out of nothing. I’m the tie that binds, I suppose. [There’s] no way to answer that without sounding cocky.…

Where did the name come from?
It’s a little self-deprecating but implies a clusterfuck. It’s a great place to meet your future ex-wife.

What can one expect from a night at Hot Mess?
What a Friday night should be...scuffed Pumas and a renewed respect for Montell Jordan. There is also a rumor going around that Hot Mess gets you laid. That is incredibly slanderous and 100 percent, completely true.

Surefire way to get a party started?
We try to have at least as much fun as the crowd. We all dance between each other’s sets and behind the decks.... Booze helps.

What’s your typical crowd like?
Tube regulars, our friends and people who get lost on their way to the Dixie Tavern. A couple of months ago a crew of Samoan drag queens turned it out with us.

How is Hot Mess different from other Tube dance nights?
We try [to] make Hot Mess a night where you don’t feel silly singing along to booty bass remixes of SWV or Prince. Music-wise, we blend the lines of electro, dance, club and hip-hop. I mean, Hot Mess is really about letting go and being ridiculous. I’d like to think we fit in nicely with what [Tube is] trying to do with the weekend party vibe.

How do you feel about requests?
If they fit we’ll play em, but generally they’re totally out of sync with whatever else we’re doing, or they’re redundant. I can’t tell you how many times people have requested something “more dancey” in the middle of [Michael Jackson’s] “Thriller.”

Has your promotions experience with Blackbird helped the night?
Perhaps, although I always find it harder to promote myself.… Leigh and Justin have also done promotions work, so they have the hustle down. They send texts and blasts and bulletins and do street-team stuff. We are just trying to make this party grow by having more and more people say, “Yo, Hot Mess is this Friday” in a way that implies it can’t be missed.

Should people go to club nights over concerts?
God no. They’re totally different experiences. Plus, that’s my day job. Go to shows. Go to Hot Mess. Just don’t go home.