Q&A with William F’ing Reed

Go behind the turntables with the Valley's hardest working DJ

Recently we sat down with Valley DJ and famed mustache aficionado, William F*cking Reed. Always friendly and super-excited to talk music, nightlife and his love of Billy Idol, this roving party magnate also busted out his fav fresh tunes to get butts on the dance floor.

When did you start DJ-ing?
In late 2004 I started doing a few guest nights at Boom (now Karumba) called Hot Pink. Then a bartender friend offered me a night at Rogue in Scottsdale, which was a really edgy rockabilly bar at the time, and we started the Saturday Shake rock n roll party and it took off from there.
Where did the name come from?
That’s a funny story. When I first started, I didn’t want to add ‘DJ’ to my name because I know lots of real DJs and, at the time, I was just a party promoter pressing play on my fav rock records. So I was at a Billy Idol concert and he  was introducing the band and finished with, ‘and I’m Billy F*cking Idol.’ So it’s a blatant rip-off of Billy, which I’m proud of.
You’re everywhere now, what nights don’t you work?
I work five nights a week: Wed at TT Roadhouse, Thursday at Hanny’s in downtown, Friday we just launched Sticky Fingers at Rips Bar (formerly the gay Hispanic club, Paco Paco), Saturday I split time between both Vigs, and Sunday is Adult Swim. Plus I do private events and play between national acts at The Marquee and the Dodge Theatre.
So what’s on your personal playlist?
As far as other DJs, I really dig The Twelves and 2 Many DJs from Belgium. As far as more mainstream rock stuff, it’s all about Passion Pit, MGMT, Phoenix and the new LCD Soundsystem tracks that are starting to leak out.

Image via Phx New Times