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Mark Williams, aka DJ Kryptonite, has been all over the world as a new equipment training instructor for the U.S. government. But there’s just one place he’s excited up to be right now: Northeastern Pennsylvania, and more specifically, spinning tracks at local clubs.
Away from DJing for four years due to his career, Williams will return Saturday, Sept. 5 at Nightcaps in Edwardsville.
Williams explained that he “likes putting on a good show,” so that means in addition to top-of-the line sound equipment, he has a laser system, intelligent lights and a fog machine. It’s all housed in a mobile DJ booth he keeps at home in Dunmore. He said has the same mixer as big-timers like Paul Oakenfold and Tiesto, but joked, “They make a couple hundred thousand more than me a month.”
Saturday’s event at Nightcaps is billed as an Amnesia reunion, bringing back DJs from that former Kingston club. There will also be a car show outside the venue.
Williams, who said he was always interested in music and electronics, bought his first set of turntables in 1994. Without any training, he began DJing at college parties and nightclubs.
While he was away from DJing, the local scene changed, he said.
“In the meantime, back when I used to DJ, you were a resident DJ at this club or that club, and that’s where you spun locally,” Williams said. “When I came back into this area, I saw a lot of DJs popping up, and they’re booking DJs like bands now, playing different places.”
“I really missed it,” he added. “I love my job and working with soldiers, but I still missed getting in front of a crowd.”
When Williams began spinning, he used vinyl records. He’s adapted to technological trends over the years, and he now uses a system that allows him to play CDs and DVD videos.
“I run four decks,” he explained. “My multi-channel mixer, two Pioneer DVD turntables, and I also run a vinyl controller that’s got two 7-inch turntables” that he can mix from.
The complex equipment, Williams said, doesn’t mean he’s on automatic pilot at gigs, however.
“I’m real meticulous with what I want equipment-wise, but when I get up there and spin, I like to go off the crowd,” he said. “I hear in my head what I want to do for the next song or what I want to overlay or remix it with, and I pretty much do it.”
Williams, who will begin a string of Thursday shows at Nightcaps beginning Sept. 10, which will also be a Weekender Night Out, said he got his nickname at a party at Penn State University. At the time, he was known as Super Duper — he’s not sure why — and another DJ came up to him at the party and said he was using the same name.
“I explained to him it wasn’t even a DJ name, I was just doing it for fun,” Williams said, but after the argument continued with the other DJ, Williams told him, “I’ll put a shield with a big green K and call it kryptonite.” The name and the logo stuck, and “it blew up from there,” he said.
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DJ Kryptonite/Amnesia reunion, Sat. Sept. 5, Nightcaps (West Side Mall, Edwardsville). Info: 570.714.9991,
myspace.com/krecordz