Being Sal Morale

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“International Playboy”, “Entrepreneur”, and “Fashion’s Top DJ” are titles that surround New York-based DJ Sal Morale like flashing bulbs of the papparazi’s camera. Spinning records for the likes of Dolce and Gabbana and the New York Yankees, his parties are some of the most elite around. Somehow, this man born and raised in the scrappy neighborhood of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn has carved out a niche for himself in nightlife so that a party just isn’t a party without his presence, and now he spends his days flying around the world and his nights playing to huge crowds. On one of his few nights off, Sal picked me up in his black Mercedes with a fan from Tokyo and a six-pack of Red Stripe in his passenger seat. For all the glamour he lives, he is surprisingly down to earth, and he took me to an apartment in New York’s Lower East Side where his friends hang out and play video games. We found a quiet room in the apartment that was scattered with albums, graffiti tags, and models’ photos, popped open some beers, and in a few hours I got to find out what Sal thinks about the future of clubbing, how he met his girlfriend, and what he would do if Kanye stole the mic.

Sal – Do you smoke?
25 – No I don’t. I tried to smoke but I can’t pick it up. I think it looks really cool.
I quit, I started smoking again, I quit… (He lights up a cigarette and inhales) but I don’t smoke as much as I used to.

One of the guys at the party last night switched his brands from Parliament to Newport and I don’t know much about smoking, but that seems like a step down to me.
Well, it’s a step down but Newport is menthol.

Don’t they have fiberglass in them?
Maybe.

That guy said he couldn’t go back to his old brand.
When I went to Europe they didn’t have Parliaments there …so I had to start smoking Marlboro Lights… I actually stopped smoking not too long ago, but last time I went to Japan I started again. Everybody – everybody is smoking cigarettes. I had to be in a meeting with, like, five Japanese people all smoking cigarettes (around me). Like, as soon as they finish one, they light another one, so I was like, “I gotta have a cigarette!” I smoke weed too, so I wasn’t really doing that in Japan to be fair.

I feel like in Japan everyone is five minutes early.
Yeah, and I’m always late. This one guy I deal with though is always late too, so it works out. Today I was late. I can’t help it. I have other people who are worse than me though.

In New York you can be late. How often do you go to Japan?
I’ve been there about twenty times. I was there this October for like two weeks.

Were you DJing?
Yeah and I have interest in (a club called) Feria, too. We send DJs there. For instance, I have one guy there DJing for about two months and I have a promoter, too. From New York.

How are you involved with Feria?
I just became regularly involved. The guy who runs the club is crazy. Crazier than me – and about ten years older, so you can imagine. We get the job done.

Do you think that club mentality is different here than, say, Europe or Japan?
Yeah, well in Europe it’s the same thing. Any market that’s a fashion type city – it’s all similar. I DJ parties in Milan, Paris, Miami and it’s the same formula – you have the promoters who bring the girls. There’s always a dinner before, then everyone goes to the club and it’s all Top 40 music in a mix of hip hop, house, rock, or big hits like Kings of Leon, which is a cool open format. I mean, I try to play everything, but if you get too deep into one genre (the crowd won’t) know it. Like, if you play a rock set that has Joan Jett into AC/DC into White Stripes, and then put Cream or Led Zeppelin on, people won’t know –

And then they’ll stop dancing.
Right! And then they’ll stop dancing, and it’s like sigh, or if you try to play a hip hop song from the early 90’s…

How do you feel about having to play more a nondescript palate of music then? Would you rather be able to play just one genre for an entire set?
I like to play everything. I would like to play stuff that is… I don’t wanna say more intellectual, but a little bit more underground… the music you need to know –

Geek out on it.
Yeah, but unfortunately these clubs sometimes just want to play the big names. Play fucking Britney, etc. They are like, “Go in there, pick it up,” but these are the clubs that pay big money.

So ideally you’d like to do your own thing.
Yeah, I’ve had parties like that and they’ve all been cool, but never made much money.

You seem to be a good businessman.
I’m alright. Not the most punctual. Not the most organized. My house is a mess. If I try to clean my own apartment, I’ll get lost. I don’t even know where to start. (He looks at the ceiling like it has the answer to a cluttered kitchen, then snaps back). We have parties in New York too.

Where do you throw them?
One Oak, NSL, Thompson LES. I get offers from places every day. Gotta go see a new place tomorrow, in fact.

There’s a pretty high turnaround for that kind of stuff.
Yeah, I don’t really like it so much to be honest. Unfortunately the clubs…

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