Hey DJ! Friday Q&A: Roscoe 2000

How do you like your rock? Soft? Medium? Or real hard? If you're KALX DJ-turned-Attic-regular Roscoe 2000, you'll take all three, thanks, with a heaping side helping of air guitar arm windmills. The drummer for hammy hard rock heroes Thunderbleed rocks yachts and Starz behind the decks at the Mission's closet-sized DJ outpost, the Attic (nicest bartenders around at that place, I tell ya). This Saturday night, Roscoe will kick out another themed set of jams that could be anything from Springfield to Sabbath. Read up on your host below, a man who will lose his hearing before he'll lose his youthful love for radio icons from days gone by.  

Name: Roscoe 2000

Club night(s): Over The Edge '79

Style(s) of music you spin: Radio Rock - which includes the genres soft rock, medium rock, and hard rock, with an emphasis on the years 1978-1982.

So what's your story, in 100 words or less? I've been playing records for all my life! Started doing college radio at KALX in 1996, then started doing occasional stints at East Bay house parties and places like the Ruby Room.

Around the year 2000, after going through KALX's "Unpop" library, this massive collection of decidedly uncool stuff they were going to put in permanent storage, and realizing how many of these "crap records" were actually good tunes that people had been ignoring for DECADES, I went to work to revitalize soft rock and other radio hits of the 70's and early 80's. It seemed to strike a nerve, many others also liked this stuff.
Finally I found my way over to SF, and started hitting the Attic. Solana Diaz let me DJ with her a bunch of times, and then got my own night. Been playing records there every 2nd Saturday for a few years now. Thanks Solana!

Our nights are just me and assorted friends playing our records. Sometimes those tunes might be on the softer side like Steely Dan, sometimes we blast Black Sabbath, but mostly we rock it to The Records or Rick Springfield. Lots of times we have a little theme, like AC/DCember around Christmas, or Sax In The City in September. Before the 4th of July we do Canada Night! All Canadian jams on July 1st.

Name of a track you can't get out of your head: "Wham Bam Shang-a-lang" by Silver

Top three rock gods who'd be in your personal hall of fame: Emerson, Lake & Powell.

Musical mantra: If it's too loud, you're too old!

Favorite DJ experience: During April Wine April, Brother Ben and Phil Manley playing dueling live guitar solos over the outro of "I Like To Rock", two copies spinning on endless loop. Or maybe getting to DJ the Starz show at 12 Galaxies and putting on "Trouble" by Rex, and Michael Lee Smith saying to me "Hey, you're playing my brother!"

Worst request: Belle & Sebastian. Nothing against the B&S, it's just, c'mon man! Also, I don't take no techno.

Most treasured vinyl score: "Pac-Man Fever" by Buckner & Garcia. Even though I paid only $2.00 for it, losing this record from my collection for even a minute and I would cease to be who I am.

Why does a club as tiny as the Attic attract such great DJs on a regular basis? Because why does the Attic attract such killer bartenders with great tastes in DJs?

What other music-related projects are you currently working on? I play drums, my hardrock cover band Thunderbleed aka Blind Vengeance is looking for backyards to rock this summer. Also recently I've been sitting in with Bart Davenport here and there.

What elements would your fantasy club night entail? A good selection of hardboard guitars to air jam with, a packed house of all ages that won't run away when they hear Britny Fox, and lasers. Failing that, I'll take my pal Stephen Eric Schaefer's fantasy, the three B's: brews, babes, and BÖC.

Question we didn't ask you but you often ask yourself: How can I be more like my them? Namely my favorite DJs - Neil Martinson who does "Smile!", Solana the master of the heavy jams, or John Cobbett, the metal guy who is man enough to play Winger. I really wish he would DJ the Attic some more.

Next time we can see you spin: Saturday night! May 9th, 10pm at the Attic. My buddy BC will be helping out, he's got an amazing collection of obscure shoulda-beens, he's always turning me onto my new favorite band. We'll also play some Maiden for you Mothas.