Vegas DJ has a lot to laugh about these days
Rob Guson emits the best, full-throated laugh I've ever heard from a DJ. He seems to be in a perpetual good mood, and why shouldn't he be?
Guson has been a hard-partying, popular and acclaimed DJ from Northern Ireland for decades under a different name, Fergie. (He is Robert Ferguson on the dotted line.)
But he stopped the partying. He adopted the new DJ name. He changed from playing hard house to a more mainstream style.
And he moved to Vegas, where he has a residency at MGM's Wet Republic pool dayclub. (He performs there Saturday.)
"I'm not trying to be Mr. Happy Man," he says. "But people say to me, 'Do you like living in America?' I'm like, 'Listen, I get in my car every day and I go, 'Yeeeehawww!'
"People say to me: 'Hold on a minute. You've stopped partying, but you've moved to the party capital of the world?"
Yep. That's what happened.
Guson, 31, has played Vegas forever - long before our current electronica explosion.
"I remember Tiesto coming over in the late '90s, and them guys couldn't get a gig. I remember them guys coming over and having to do the early slots," Guson says.
Tiesto and those other DJs are now superstars on the Strip.
Guson largely credits Neil Moffitt, CEO of Angel Management Group. Moffitt created Godskitchen, initially bringing Tiesto, Ferry Corsten and other DJs to Vegas, years ago.
"I've seen the (expletive) change," Guson says. "Neil kickstarted it."
Guson brings up a night in 2001 when he witnessed tourists scratching their heads at DJs in Luxor's club Ra (now LAX).
"There were guys walking about wearing suits, looking at us as if we had three heads, like, 'What the (expletive) are they playing?!' " Guson says and laughs.
(Oh, I remember those 2001 nights at Ra. Guson's description is funnily spot-on.)
Flash forward to last year, when Guson first saw 90,000 people attending one night at the Electric Daisy Carnival at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
"I stood looking over the railings in the VIP and I was like, 'holy (expletive),' " he says.
At that EDC, a guy turned to Guson and asked: Is EDC like Creamfields, the international dance music festival.
"Nah," Guson said. "The size of that (expletive) stage at EDC - you could fit in everybody from Creamfields. It's so ginormous."
(He's exaggerating a bit, but he's making a point.)
"What's happening now (in Vegas) is the same buzz, and the freshness and the energy that surrounds it. It's a monster. It's crazy. And people coming through the gates are so dedicated."
So he moved here.
"Why would you not want to be a part of this? As a DJ, you want to be doing the best parties. You want to be trying new music. You want to be trying new producers. It's all about evolving."
A bonus of living here: When Guson used to be Fergie, he flew more than 20 times a month to gigs. Now he stays grounded more often.
"Since I've moved to Vegas, I've only been to India, the UK a couple of times, Dubai and (Korea)," he says.
He plays music in a much faster-paced way than in the old days in Europe.
"European guys - for many, many years - they would build a set over maybe two, three hours," he explains. "The crescendo being at the end.
"America - you have to come in all guns blazing. The first three records, you need to be laying it down."
He's enjoying this musical metamorphosis.
"All the years I've been playing, you're normally playing to the dance floor," he says. "All you're worried about is keeping (people) dancing.
"But in Vegas, you're playing to the whole space. You're playing to the people in that cabana. You're playing to the people in those loungers there. You're playing to the people on the dance floor. You're playing to the people on the pole. You're even playing to the hosts, to the waitresses, to everybody.
"So you've really got your work cut out. You really need to know your music."
At Wet Republic, he says, "we're just trying to bring a little bit more madness in it. Every gig is a rock concert. They're not really dancing. They're going (crazy, pumping fists)."
All of this is why he's in a perpetual good mood.
"I've got it made. I'm single. I'm living in Vegas. I'm a young man. Not as young as some of these (expletives) going about, but I'm young enough!
"You're spoiled living in Vegas. You have all the best shopping, all the best restaurants, all the best clubs. You have everything. I live in Henderson. It's amazing! (Expletive)!"
Doug Elfman's column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Email him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.
