The brothers of Sigma Chi put on their stunning finale to Derby Days this past Friday with their SigGLO event. The week of events, ranging from banner designing and derby hat swiping to fear factor and minute to win it challenges, was all to support their philanthropic efforts towards the Huntsman Cancer Foundation. The SigGLO event a “thank you” to the University of New Haven community for their continued support of the Sigma Chi fraternity as they complete their fifth recognized year on campus.
“I’ve always been into music, I know everyone always says that. My family’s been into music for a long time, honestly I wanted to interact with music on a much deeper level than just listening to it. Put my hands in it and create new things with existing content. That’s what really drew me into DJing,” said DJ Anski, whose career skyrocketed in less than a year. Anski was soon flying across the country like the DJ “Rock Stars” he had once been idolizing.
Anski truly makes sure he has his hands in everything, running the business Fundraver, which offers more than just a performer, but an experience. In a time where EDM is so often paired in the minds of parents with danger and drugs, Fundraver offers “Parties for the Common Good” priding themselves on a safe and positive environment and a way for organizations to use it as not only an event, but a fundraising effort, making this the perfect way to end Derby Days.
While this event has been in the works for a while to be a celebration in the residential quad, threats of rain changed the venue to the German Club barely a day before the event. Fundraver’s flexible approach, however, made this no struggle at all. “It doesn’t change the essence of it, everyone is coming out to dance and have a good time. It might change the technology aspect of it a little bit, but we come to it knowing that we might need to be flexible; we try to prepare for that as much as possible,” Anski explained. “In [the German Club] we have a flat stage where as outside we knew we were going to have to build a structure to re-project the sound. It’s all about planning ahead of time. The technology is a small aspect of it; people are going to have a good time no matter what.
With the atmosphere all set up, the focus shifts to the music. When asked how he prepares for a show musically, he offered a very investigative approach. “I do quite a bit of research of where I’m going to be going, especially with schools. There’s a similar age demographic to myself so I know what they grew up listening to, I know what I want to drop in and surprise people with. I try to stay into with what’s most popular in electronic dance music but I like to have that additional nostalgic element, drop in some random Blink 182 loop or something. People get singing along and it gets them pumped up. I’m one of those people that’s out in the crowd so I know what people want.”
When asked how to get a dead crowd really going, Anski brings it right back to the nostalgia. “Even if I’m in the middle of a horrible train wreck mix, all the audio cuts out, something like the horn intro to Jump Around and everyone just loses it. Those 90’s jams always pump people up.”
Sitting down with Anski, it was very clear that he was different than most DJs out there. When I talked with him about it, he offered what makes him unique, “I think I go at it with a much different mindset; a lot of DJs are going at it because they just want to be famous, get the girls and the money out of it. I go at it because I’m personally passionate about it and the way I go at it is almost cunning in a business stance. I treat Fundraver and my DJ career as a company instead of me as a struggling DJ earning my chops. I had a different approach and that’s really what sets me apart. Having a more holistic view of the event.”
He even had some advice for up and coming DJs looking to turn their skills into a career. “Start being professional, develop a logo. It sounds silly to think about presenting yourself visually when music is all you want to do but having a good logo, website, information and mixes online is going to make yourself visible. I found opening DJs for this event by researching online and looking at what they had to offer. Start being creative with what you’re doing, build a fan base because they are going to carry you where you want to go.”
SigGLO was a huge success, bringing in big crowds despite the cold and rain outside. The winner of Derby Days was announced; “Talk Derby to Me,” defeating TeamREC by a margin of 150 points — the closest race in the history of UNH Derby Days.
Over $5,000 was raised for Huntsman Cancer Institute. “Fundraver was awesome, they truly threw a great party” said TeamREC derby team member Mary Perucci, “and I’m so proud of what we all accomplished for this great cause!”
