TRUE HOUSE STORIES W/ BENNY SOTO # 088 - PART 2
Benny Soto quickly learned, and learned from one of the best; the late, great super promoter Rob Fernandez. “The first big thing we did together was Roger Sanchez at Vinyl. I can even remember the date: 2/2/02. I was learning so much - contracts, dealing with managers, hospitality riders, everything.”
Soto continued working with Fernandez until his sudden passing in summer of 2015 - but at the same time, he was gaining the confidence to branch out on his own.
Danny Krivit was an early partner (2002), teaming up with Soto to launch what became the still-vibrant 718 Sessions; another stone-cold vet, DJ Harvey, was an early accomplice as well. From its inception, until its closing, Soto was an integral part of the promotion and bookings team at the now revered, and recently closed, Output in Brooklyn, NY.
The dates started coming fast and furious - flash forward to today, and Soto, who currently spends his time promoting shows around NYC and juggling various independent projects, is in the very top tier of NYC’s party wranglers. So what’s the next step for a guy who’s spent the better part of his life in dance clubs? DJ’ing, of course! “I’ve been going out and listening to DJs for 30 years,” he says, “and after that amount of time, I think you almost have to learn something. You gain a sense of what to do.” But as anyone who has spent time in the DJ community knows, there can sometimes be attitude toward those perceived as usurpers.
“Sure, there’s been a bit of controversy, like people asking, ‘Oh, so now you’re a DJ, too?’ I just answer, ‘No. I’m Benny Soto.’ I’ve given my life to music, and this is just another layer of that life.”
Nowadays, you can find Soto opening up for superstars or holding it down at after-parties, often spinning back-to-back with his fellow dance-music lifer, Nervous Records label head Mike Weiss. “Very few people have the legacy that Mike does,” he says. “I mean, the Nervous catalog…those were some of the songs that shaped the sound of global club music.”
But Soto’s got his own musical identity as well. “I love to play music that feels good to me, that matters to me, that say something to me. Danny Tenaglia said the best thing to me: ‘You have to listen, and you have to find the candy.’ And that’s what I try to do - find music that’s special, that can take you to a different space.” Watch his life for Act 3 “The Final Curtain Call"
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